I am excited about offering my students cooking and nutrition classes for many reasons including improving health, strengthening the home-school connection, providing equal access of curriculum for all learners regardless of academic ability or English proficiency, creating curriculum integration with classroom standards and experiencing the joy of cooking.
My students are very enthusiastic about school.
I notice that, like most 6-year-old kids, they are especially engaged in hands-on learning, which is becoming rarer and rarer in today's standards-driven education. There is nothing like the joy, wonder, and curiosity that goes along with preparing food and then getting to taste and enjoy the fruits of your labors. Parents have told me that they can't believe their children are actually requesting healthy grains, fruits and vegetables at home, and students love coming home with recipes and trying out the dishes with their families. As a teacher, it is so easy to make lessons relevant by connecting them to the cooking class with step-by-step writing, measuring, reading recipes, creating class cook books, health, nutrition, food science, small motor skills, five sense, descriptive writing...I could go on and on.
Cooking classes naturally engage students in both academic and social development. My students need hands-on cooking and nutrition classes which are appropriate for first graders throughout the year.
My Project
The students will begin by learning about the ingredients that they will use that day. They will learn where the ingredient comes from, the particular way that ingredient serves our bodies, and perhaps some history and folklore of the food item. Then they will go over the procedure of the recipe, break into small groups and prepare the food, and finally get to enjoy it with their classmates and parent volunteers. The students are also responsible for washing their dishes and cleaning their area.
This class structure will provide the predictability, comfort and sense of ritual that these days seems harder and harder to find in our often chaotic world.
As teachers, we are constantly searching for ways to help our struggling learners succeed.
Cooking classes are an amazing self-esteem boost for these children. Likewise, because of the visual and hands-on nature of cooking, the lessons and experiences are pretty much equally accessible to all languages and abilities. What could be more important than instilling lifelong healthy cooking and eating habits?
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