Standards Correlations

R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.7, W.2, SL.1, L.4, L.6

Learning Objective

Students will read and summarize a text about hunger in the U.S.

Key Skills

summarizing, text features, vocabulary, cause and effect, reading for information, inference, critical thinking, informational writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The text explains what it’s like to experience hunger as a teen and what’s being done to fight this problem.

Structure: The article begins by describing one teen’s experience with hunger. It  goes on to discuss how the problem affects millions of Americans and what’s being done about it.

Language: The article includes some domain-specific vocabulary, which is defined in the article and in the vocabulary box.

Knowledge Demands: Some knowledge of the effects of poverty will be helpful.

Levels

Lexile: 500L-600L 

Guided Reading Level: S 

DRA Level: 40

Lesson Plan: Fighting Teen Hunger

Essential Questions

  • How can not having enough to eat lead to other problems? 
  • What can be done to help people who don’t have enough to eat? 

Literature Connection

  • Memoir: Free Lunch by Rex Ogle (older readers)
  • Novel: No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen (younger readers)

1. Preparing to Read 

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article. Then preview the text features by asking the following questions:

  • Look at the image of Ivery at the beginning of the article. Based on the title and subtitle (the text below the title), why do you think he’s shown holding a bag of food and with food surrounding him? The title and subtitle state that Ivery is fighting hunger by making sure families in need have access to food. He’s shown with food because he’s working to distribute food to those who need it.
  • Look at the infographic “A Growing Problem.” What can you tell about how Covid-19 affected food insecurity in the U.S.? The infographic shows that before the pandemic, fewer children were going hungry (1 in 7), but during the pandemic, there were more (1 in 5).

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the terms (swallow his pride, food insecurity, burden, responsible for, income) aloud and discuss their definitions.
  • Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading 

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

  • Set a purpose for reading: Tell students that by reading the article, they’ll learn what life is like for people who don’t have enough to eat and what is being done about this widespread problem.     
  • Point out the Pause and Think boxes. Tell students they can check their understanding of what they’ve read by answering these questions.
  • Point out the activity at the end of the article, and tell students they will complete it after reading. Encourage them to briefly scan the questions and to keep them in mind as they read.

2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Guide students to read the article. Once they understand it well, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

  • Why did Ivery’s family experience food insecurity? (cause and effect) When Ivery was in elementary school, his mom lost her job. As a result, the family had less money than before and had trouble paying for food. 
  • What do food banks do? (reading for information) Food banks hand out food to people in need. 
  • The article says that Ivery volunteered with a group that handed out food to people in need. Why do you think he chose to do this? (inference) You can guess that because Ivery knows how it feels to be hungry, he liked the idea of helping others get enough to eat.

Critical-Thinking Question (5 minutes)

  • The article states that Ivery had to “swallow his pride” and ask friends for food. Why do you think it might have been embarrassing for him to admit he was struggling with hunger? What do you think can be done to make it OK to talk about hunger? (critical thinking) It was probably embarrassing for Ivery to talk about the food insecurity he was experiencing because kids get bullied for that kind of thing. To help combat this problem, kids can be educated in school about the problems of poverty and hunger in our society, and the importance of showing empathy to those who struggle with these problems. It also helps when people like Ivery talk about these issues openly (for example, by being featured in this Action article).

3. Skill Building and Writing (30 minutes)

  • Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill activity at the end of the article.
  • Use our Summarizing Skill Builder, available in higher- and lower-level versions. (Click here to view all your Skill Builders for this article.)
  • Writing prompt: Imagine that you’re volunteering with a food bank, and your job is to get more people to volunteer. Create a flyer to get people interested. Include facts about the problem of food insecurity, the other problems it can cause, and how food banks can make a difference in people’s lives. 

Learn Anywhere Activity

An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey at home or in the classroom

Compare two stories

In the article, you read about Ivery’s experience with food insecurity. Now watch our video “I Used to Be Hungry” about another teen’s experience. When you’re done, use our Venn diagram to make notes about how Ivery’s and Draven’s experiences were similar and different.

  • Label the two circles “Ivery’s Story” and “Draven’s Story.”
  • In the outer parts of the circles, write things that are different about the two stories. Think about where Ivery and Draven live and how old they were when they became food insecure.
  • In the space where the circles overlap, write things that the stories have in common. Think about how Ivery and Draven felt when they were food insecure and how they now feel about helping others.

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