Every night in America 750,000 people are homeless.

This Spring, Newspaper In Education and Sleepless San Diego will present local schools with an edcuational supplement about homelessness. This unique curriculum will help students learn about the faces of homelessness, local organizations that provide assistance, and how to help people in poverty.

For more information on the Sleepless San Diego event visit www.SleeplessSanDiego.org.

Download the following to extend the lessons provided by Sleepless San Diego.

* Open Your Eyes Quiz - Find out how much you truly know about homelessness.
* Word Search featuring survival essentials
* Answers to the quiz

Additional Classroom Activities

English/Language Arts
• Write down your definition of ‘home’ and its attributes. Now, write down your definition of ‘homeless’ and its attributes, and contrast the two.
• Advocate for the homeless and write a letter to your local or national government officials.

Social Studies/History
• Use the map of the United States on the corresponding NIE piece and compare the number of homeless and hungry in each state. Discuss the reasons why some states may have higher numbers than others.
• Study historical events that may have caused hunger, homelessness, or extreme poverty.
• Discuss the following Social Justice statements:
o Money and charity alone will not solve the hunger problem. Instead, we need to understand why people are hungry in the first place, what they need, and what we can do to help them.
o Ending hunger is possible.
o Hunger is not caused by a shortage of food, but by a shortage of democracy. When you realize that, feelings of guilt, passivity and cynicism are replaced by exuberant, confident and clear-sighted desire to provoke change.
The Arts: Theatre, Music, Visual Arts
• Discuss how the arts may be able to help the homeless or those living in poverty. How can they use art to express themselves? How can you advocate for them through art?
• Who are some living artists who advocate for the homeless in their art?
• Create a piece of art (through creative writing, painting, acting, music, video, composition, etc.) that features a person who is homeless. Discuss the piece with the audience.

Math and Statistics
• Make a budget based on your family budget. Compare those budget numbers with a family of four living on the poverty line.
• Chart how many cans or pounds of food are needed by the local food bank in order to serve their target population.
• Compare statistics on hunger and homelessness in the US with other countries’ statistics.

Physical Education
• Discuss the effects of lack of food, water, and shelter on a person’s physical health and well-being.
• Volunteer at a food bank and ‘get physical’ with sorting cans.

Computers and Technology
• Discuss reasons why computers and technology help the homeless.
• Use the web to research homelessness in your community. What kind of resources did you find? Was the research process easy because you had access to a computer and Internet? How long would that same research take without using a computer?
Science
• Examine the food pyramid. What are the nutritional needs of children and adults?
• Study the effects of hunger on children in school or adults in the workplace. Does hunger stunt achievement?

Independent Study
• Night in a Box (http://mynightinabox.com/) Spend a night outside without life’s luxuries and write a paper about your experience.

References on hunger and homelessness:
Books
“Our Wish” by Ralph da Coasta Nunez with Jenna Mandel (3rd-5th grades)
“But I Waaannt It!” by Dr. Laura Schlessinger (K-2nd grades)
“Fly Away Home” by Eve Bunting (1st-5th grade)
“Mr. Bow Tie” by Karen Barbour (Middle school)
“Someplace to Go” by Maria Testa (Middle school)
“Make Lemonade” by Virginia Euwer Wolff (Middle school)
“No Place to Be—Voices of Homeless Children” by Judith Berek (High school)
“Rachel and Her Children—Homeless Families in America” by Jonathan Kozol (High school)
“From Cradle to Grave—The Human Face of Poverty in America” by Jonathan Freedman (High school)
“There are No Children Here—The story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America” by Alex Kotlowitz (High school)
“Under the Overpass” by Mike Yankoski (Post High school)
“Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne (Post High school)

Movies
• August Rush
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Homeless to Harvard
• Milo & Ottis
• My Fair Lady
• Oliver Twist
• Pursuit of Happiness
• The Soloist

Websites
• Virgin Mobile’s Regeneration Campaign for Fighting Youth Homelessness http://www.virginmobileusa.com/regeneration/
• Singer song-writer, Jewel testifies before Congress on Homeless Youth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCErrHvOwk0

More Information on Homelessness:
• National Coalition for the Homeless (www.nationalhomeless.org)
• US Department of Housing and Urban
Development (www.hud.gov)
• National Law Center on Homelessness and
Poverty (www.nlchp.org)
• National Low Income Housing Coalition (www.nlihc.org)
• National Alliance to End Homelessness (www.endhomelessness.org)
• National Resource Center on Homelessness and
Mental Illness (www.nrchmi.samhsa.gov)
• United States Census Bureau (www.census.gov)
• National Center for Children in Poverty (www.nccp.org)
• Regional Task Force on the Homeless San Diego (www.rtfhsd.org)
• Plan to End Chronic Homelessness (www.ich.gov)

Open your eyes to homelessness and register at Sleepless San Diego today! www.sleeplesssandiego.org

Visit the Sleepless San Diego Partners to see how they are impacting your local community.
• San Diego Rescue Mission (www.sdrescue.org)
• San Diego Food Bank (www.sandiegofoodbank.org)
• Feeding America San Diego (www.feedingamericasd.org)
• Hunger at Home (www.hungerathome.com)
• Volunteers of America (www.voa-swcal.org)