CHAPEL HILL - 7:04 a.m. From behind newspaper and empty cereal bowl, I observe my gangly seventh-grade daughter fix breakfast: apple cinnamon oatmeal, 1 percent milk and orange juice. Consuming breakfast in our family is as automatic as brushing teeth. Her high school brother will soon stumble into the kitchen, mumble something indecipherable and prepare his own.

My renewed interest in Sally's morning routine was stoked by a National Public Radio segment about breakfast that I heard on the way to my teaching job. So moved was I by the content that I read the printed version out loud to my classes.

8:25 a.m. My seventh-grade reading students file in and answer the breakfast question with four affirmative nods and one sheepish "no".

We are making progress. Two weeks earlier here were the responses:

"No, 'cause I didn't really feel like eating. I can make it to lunch."

"Didn't have no time. I was getting dressed and watching TV. Then I brushed my hair and teeth and did my hair, and it was time to go."

"I never do. I hate breakfast food."

"Wasn't hungry."

These answers concerned me. The NPR segment "A Better Breakfast Can Boost a Child's Brainpower" provided evidence that eating breakfast helps kids learn.

Oatmeal versus empty stomach studies aren't new. Kids who eat their oatmeal are repeatedly found to have better memory, verbal fluency, visual and spatial understanding and ability to grasp new concepts. After sleeping all night, the body has run out of fuel. My students had been running on empty.

"I ate two cookies," one boy proudly reported. I'd been nagging him to change, but it's hard for a 12-year-old boy when no one else in his family eats breakfast. Earlier I would have thought cookies were better than nothing, but not now.

I did further research, and this is what I found: Breakfasts of Fruit Loops, cookies or toaster pastries are absorbed quickly and cause blood sugar levels to surge. By third period, these levels crash, causing mood swings and decreased ability to concentrate.

I thought it was hormones. Now I understand why the boy often has his head down on his desk.

Researchers at Tufts University studied sweetened oatmeal versus Cap'n Crunch. The oatmeal eaters did up to 20 percent better on academic tasks. The sugar content in both foods was equal, but oatmeal contains protein and fiber, which are absorbed slower and provide enough energy to last children until lunch. So think outside the Frosted Flakes box.

My students are mostly African-Americans and English language learners. They read two or more years below grade level. I wondered whether there was a connection between eating habits and ethnicity.

There is. One study of 1,683 third-graders reported that 4 percent of Caucasian students skip breakfast, compared with 11 percent of Hispanics and 8 percent of African-Americans.

Breakfast consumption declines further as students get older. Other studies have reported higher percentages of skippers, particularly African-American girls. Sadly, each study noted that omitting breakfast is more common in low-income homes.

Eating breakfast is a "gimee" opportunity. My son recently spent a computer-free week because he chose not to make corrections on his history test, a gimee to change a "C" to a "B". We have a gimme opportunity by filling breakfast bowls.

Schools expend brainpower and money to try to close the achievement gap. Employing reading specialists like me to work with at-risk students is one way. What if the difference between passing or failing a geometry quiz were as simple as the circumference of an English muffin spread with peanut butter?

We remind students before the annual End of Grade tests to get lots of sleep and eat healthy breakfasts. We need to say it every day and educate parents that it is their responsibility to provide it. Spread the word in doctors' offices, clinics, churches, community centers. Think of ways to get the message to those who need to hear it.

My students did by writing home. Here is one of their notes:

"Dear Mom,

"I need to eat breakfast because I am starving 1-5 period. I need to eat breakfast because it is healthy and I will do better in school. I would like pancakes, butter toast and milk, please. "

(Sara Johnson is a reading specialist at Phillips Middle School in Chapel Hill.)