Two groups of Sacred Heart junior kindergarteners spent last Friday morning at Grand Food Center in Winnetka.

That is, thanks to the letter “G” being studied by students last week. And as many of these 4-5 year olds already know, ‘”G” stands for good, groceries, and the Grand.

Store manager Rick Pasquini enjoys these impromptu tours of his Winnetka store on Green Bay Road. He likes to begin these student tours with a walk down the produce and vegetable aisles. He’ll pluck an odd-looking piece of fruit or vegetable, and then ask with a smile, “Who can tell me what this is?”

Next come the samples of freshly cut apples, which is always a treat. But it’s the visit to the orange-extracting machine that usually captures the kids’ interest the most.

One-by-one, he invites each a chance to climb a small step-stool and deposit a few oranges into the machine. The reward immediately follows: a small cup of the sweet, extracted juice.

Today’s special treat for the kids: individually wrapped, yellow-frosted cookies, each in the shape of a “G.” The kids line up quickly to get theirs.

At Grand Food Center, this never gets tired. Not even for the parent chaperons.

“Oh, I think it’s adorable,” says parent Liz Smylie, whose five-year-old, Claire, is among the student group. She’s also a board member for the Winnetka Community Nursery School, so she knows what to expect from her favorite grocery store.

Adds Smylie, with a grin, “Those ‘G’ cookies were a bit hit today.”

“We come every year,” explains Sacred Heart teacher Jennifer Tyler, who couldn’t resist taking a few snapshots herself. “We’re learning about letters,” she says, “and it’s ‘Letter G’ week.

“We’ve already set up a grocery store, and the kids brought empty cereal boxes and other items to ‘sell’,” she says. “They each pretend to be a stocker, a cashier, and a customer. They also learn,” she adds, “some of the stresses that each of these jobs can have.”