Chefs in the classroom

One of my FAVORITE units is our Cooking unit. Here is what we do:

First we make chef hats. Use a plastic grocery bag, cut off the handles and cut off the corners of the bag to give it a rounded look. Use poster board or construction paper to make a head band (decorate it as they wish!) and tape the altered plastic bag on the inside of the band. Voila! Every little chef in your class has a hat! Include a discussion about why chefs wear hats when they cook to get a little extra lesson in =)

Then we look at the recipe. I make sure I choose recipes where the kids can do 90% of the steps themselves vs an adult-impressive recipe where the students can't touch most of it. We made muffins, pigs in blankets, fruit salad, and a milk shake. I created a template that leaves room so the kids can illustrate each step when we're done and rewrite the recipe using words they can understand.

We make sure we have the necessary ingredients and utensils and then we cook! They seemed to really enjoy using plastic knives and big spoons and mixing bowls.

Preparing the fruit.

Opening the oranges.

 

Adding the yogurt.

Stirring in the yogurt.

After we've tasted our masterpiece we draw what each step looks like in the appropriate boxes. This helps them remember what THEY DID in the recipe so they can make it again at home!

This unit takes a lot of teacher preparation for each recipe to run smoothly so make sure you get a lot of sleep throughout the week.