Ladling up Literature in the Cultivated Classroom!
My students need delicious books that are a feast for the senses & stir up culinary aspirations, with class sets of food-related novels/chapter/cooking books to devour.
"Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body." A quote from Marcus Tullius Cicero, adorns my culinary classroom, reminding students hungry for edible education, we must feed our mind as well as our body. Thus a push of literacy and a desperate need for books for the budding chef.
Our school is an inner-city school located in historic 4th ward, a predominately African-American community with an increasing Hispanic population.
Both demographics have been hit hardest by the onslaught of childhood obesity. 48 of our students screened positive for Acanthosis Nigricans, associated with obesity and insulin-resistant diabetes aka Type II diabetes, and we only screened half the school (1st, 3rd, 5th & 7th grades). If any of these kids develop Type II diabetes before the age of 15, life expectancy decreases by 27 years!
We implemented the culinary arts/garden program with the primary purpose to empower students through edible education, to make intelligent and healthy choices. Our program is a delectable invitation to changing how we think, connect and feel about food and how it sustains us. Our students are inquisitive and hungry for non-traditional experiential learning opportunities that they can in-turn take home and impart to their families.
My Project
We are cooking up a ton of activities tying literary and experiential learning in the kitchen and garden. This year we added a "Chick Chalet" (chicken coop) to our sustainable culinary/gardening program to introduce sustainable and reciprocal organic garden practices. Thus the perfect selection of books such as...The Chicken Boy, and Squashed--to present relatable characters mirroring some of the challenges our students experience not only in class but socially and emotionally.
With books in our hands like A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts: A Collection of Deliciously Frightening Tales, Holy Enchilada! and Pie, we will have a myriad of culturally diverse texts accompanied with a side of recipes to explore for years to come.
As we savor our books as a class in the kitchen and garden, we promote our school-wide theme..."Reading can occur anywhere," we will indeed cultivate our minds as we feed our bodies the deliciousness of life.
Sowing into this program will allow our students to reap the rewards of broadening their literary circle, by exposing them to texts centered around a subject that touches us all...food.
Edible education within the last 10 to 11 years has been embraced as a viable subject important to education of the whole-child. Age specific resources are scarce, so when one runs across literature students can "sink their teeth in," you solicit support to help put it in their awaiting hands.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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