Imagine that you are just learning to follow a recipe and cook your own meals. Now imagine having to learn without the use of common kitchen appliances! Difficult!
My students, who all have a significant disability and are aged 14-20, are from a small, rural public high school in Maine.
Each student struggles with learning independent skills, such as preparing healthy meals, cleaning and understanding proper food care. Our school lacks basic kitchen appliances to assist my students in learning how to cook, clean and be responsible in a kitchen setting. My students are very concrete learners and need to have hands-on learning experiences in order for them to fully incorporate any new knowledge into their lives. Currently, my students use a stove and refrigerator that were new in the 70's and getting a standing mixer would help them learn how to use the appliance properly and safely.
My Project
My project will enable me to teach any recipe that the students find interesting and have them follow the instructions without having to make substitutions, which my students find difficult. My students will learn the proper use of common kitchen appliances and be able to transfer those skills to their other environments (including their own homes). This "life skill" is vital to them learning how to be independent! Getting the standing mixer will be invaluable in helping my students learn how to use the appliance safely and properly, in addition to being able to follow recipe directions, which is important to the success of cooking. Currently, when my students use a recipe, the outcome sometimes is not favorable, thus decreasing their enjoyment of learning how to cook. Even though I explain why the recipe did not turn out correctly, my students need proper equipment to ensure that they retain the learned knowledge.
My project will assist my students in becoming independent in the kitchen, which is very important to their futures.
The more "life skills" that my students can learn, the better their lives will be! The standing mixer will give my students the knowledge of how to use common kitchen appliances safely and through the use be able to lodge the knowledge in their long term memory for future use.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Watson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.