Children who are lethargic, hyperactive or disengaged may simply be hungry, say organizers of a national program that sends food home each week with 35,000 low-income children in 39 states and D.C. New York elementary teacher Susan Phillips said she saw a dramatic change in behavior in those of her students who participated in the program.

Her school got proactive and started sending its neediest students home every Friday with a backpack full of ready-to-eat provisions like peanut butter crackers, granola bars, and SpaghettiOs. Five of Phillips's twenty-eight students got permission from their parents to participate, and Monday mornings became a lot easier. "I saw a dramatic change," Phillips says.

Although some signs of hunger, such as hoarding food, may be obvious, subtler changes in behavior or energy levels on Monday morning -- everything from hyperactivity to poor attention span -- can also signal a weekend with too little food. Physical symptoms such as puffy skin, dry eyes, or dry lips, furthermore, may indicate a vitamin deficiency. Pruitt says teachers are often surprised to learn that a "problem" student is really just hungry: "They will say, 'Oh, my gosh. I never thought of him being hungry.'"

In 2006, Feeding America estimated that one in every six U.S. children lacks adequate amounts of nutritious food on a regular basis. No comprehensive study has been conducted since then, but teachers and food-bank workers have observed the problem getting worse as rising food and fuel prices, high unemployment, and rampant home foreclosures squeeze more families.

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Source: Edutopia magazine (12.3.08)