My teaching style is a blend of Reggio Emilia and play based learning. As such, my class tends to 'do' as a way of learning. Cooking is a form of 'Doing', and active learning demands a lot of preparation. For a cooking class to succeed, the teacher must research, imagine, pre-empt questions, prepare materials, and of course, try out recipes.

Through cooking, children are actively engaged in the creation of their own meals, and are connecting with cultural, historical, linguistic, and social facets of food.

The Reggio Emilia approach is defined by the Fondazione Reggio Children, Centro Loris Malaguzzi as, "An educational philosophy based on the image of the child, and of human beings, as possessing strong potentials for development and as a subject...who learns and grows in the relationships with others." Cooking in kindergarten is a group project. This communal approach to creating with food calls for collaboration and teamwork, both ways to learn and grow in relationships with other students. The Reggio Emilia approach also calls for extensive documentation. The need for reflection and documentation serves two purposes here; to notice things that work well, to document problematic or confusing moments, and to reflect on how to improve teaching or cooking practices.

I see my role as a teacher as an observer and a guide, often asking questions to help students make their own conclusions about their actions, their work, and the world. Like Malaguzzi (Reggio Emilia founder), Montessori, Dewey, and Piaget, I believe in child-centered education which is both active and interactive, and involves the interests, ideas, and social world of the child and the community.

For this Unit, some teaching methods used are role play, cooperative learning, hands-on participation, oral sharing on a related topic, and using visuals. These strategies encourage active learning, and allow for various intelligences to be engaged. In addition to this, tactile, auditory, and visual learning-styles are consistently addressed throughout the lessons. This Unit is aligned with the NCSS Curriculum Standards as denoted per lesson.