"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery."
-Mark Van Doren
Students in our district are from a small, rural community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Our community has a lower socioeconomic population, with state data showing 57% of the students being economically disadvantaged and 77% of the eligible students participating in free or reduced-price lunch programs. Our attendance averages above 95% daily with only one day this past year below 90%. Our students are dedicated and enthusiastic learners. They react well to research-based instruction. My goal is to purchase supplies allowing us to support academic and social situations and focus on individual living and life skills. When this project is funded, my students will be able to have additional resources that will allow them to thrive educationally and emotionally in an effort to meet each individual’s personal potential.
My Project
Cooking is an excellent and fun way to practice multiple life skills in our resource room. Our overall goal is to support the foundation of basic life skills leading to independent living as an adult. Each lesson extends for a week, with emphasis on math skills taught through an experiential learning environment. Throughout each cooking skills lesson, students will: read a visual/word recipe; order the steps of the recipe using key words such as first, second, then, and finally; measure and mix ingredients; and prepare the food. Students will then take turns serving each other the food that is prepared; clean up afterwards; identify tools and ingredients used during the task; and finally evaluate how s/he liked the food. Needed skills such as: communication, reading, food identification, sequencing, measurement, counting, number identification, manners, and clean up are addressed throughout the week as the lessons are implemented.
Our goal is to support each student as s/he strives to reach his/her potential.
This project brings both storage containers (for the powdered sugar) and the dry ingredients listed to make our recipes for March and April. These ingredients include powdered sugar, jelly beans and candy to decorate items made, and Nilla wafers. The perishable items will be purchased out of our classroom budget when we go to the local grocery store to shop for them. Each student will have items to look for and will comparison shop with the brands on the shelf ensuring we get the best deal and stay within our budget, practicing necessary life skills to help all students reach his/her potential.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Putnam and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
