///THE PLAN | cooking

What is

The Plan?

You Are What You Eat~

Food is often seen in light of what it does to our body; how it nourishes and sustains us. Another way of looking at food involves understanding how what we eat represents who we are. Food is a part of our culture and geography, and comes with rich stories to tell.

Through this unit, we will explore what people around the world eat, how they eat, and how food is tied to culture and tradition. We will also notice the evolving nature of diets around the world, and how globalization has affected how and what we eat. These are just some of the topics we will explore in this unit. By tying cooking into the social studies curriculum, students are able to approach content authentically, and come up with their own questions, observations, and findings organically.

Food for Thought

This Unit is comprised of five sections:

The first section explores the concept of food, how it is grown, where different food originates from, and how technology and transportation have made it easier for us to access foods from far-away places.

The second section is our first step in exploring foods from other cultures. By learning to make onigiri (Japanese rice balls), we learn about different ways people around the world prepare and eat their food, and are exposed to foreign language in both written and oral forms.

The third section covers breakfast around the world. Students taste and experience different breakfast foods, compare and contrast meals, and learn to make a popular French breakfast treat.

The fourth section takes a large view on a world-staple food; bread. Bread is a universal food which varies from country to country. As we make chapati, we learn different ways of cooking and eating, and connect food to countries and culture.

The final section views food as celebration. Food is a precious and valuable commodity, and serves as sustenance for all of us, but food does more than just sustain us. The concept of food used for celebration is a universal one. We will explore a typical Ethiopian New Year's meal, try our hand at making gomen, and learn about different ways of eating, sharing, and celebrating with food.

This Unit covers issues of history/social science education, critical thinking, and problem solving skills. It touches on the following NCSS Thematic Strands:

1. Culture

2. People, Places, and Environments

3. Individuals, Groups, and Institution

4. Science, Technology, and Society

5. Production, Distribution, and Consumption

6. Global Connections

In addition to this, these lessons incorporate the following subjects:

Math: counting, adding, measuring, weighing, estimating, dividing, sorting.

Science: exploring with senses, sensory exploration, discovering food groups, making predictions, learning how food changes while cooking, learning how food grows

Literacy: following directions, sequencing, reading recipes, routines based literacy, phonological awareness, listening comprehension, print awareness, storytelling.

Health &Nutrition: expanding palates, learning about food groups.

Essential Questions

1. What is the connection between cooking and culture?

2. How and what do children around the world eat?

Literacy, Technology,

and Cooking

Emergent Literacy and Cooking

Preschool educators play a key role in promoting literacy. However, literacy in the preschool classroom is not approached from an academic standpoint, but from an experiential one by providing concrete language embedded activities in the classroom. In order to foster emerging literacy skills, students are exposed to various forms of literary experiences such as books, story props, posters, routines-based literacy, activity-based literacy, read-alouds, word plays, finger plays, dramatic recreations, and music. It is though the child's experience and interaction with the written and spoken word that literacy is learned. Cooking expands on this theme by providing literacy-rich and experience-rich opportunities. Below, I will demonstrate how this Unit incorporates evidence based literacy strategies.

Lesson 1: Phonological awareness through circle time game, t-chart poster in small group instruction, singing, creative a responsive literacy environment through recipe poster, connecting images to words through recipe poster.

Lesson 2: Singing, 'My Pyramid' poster, understanding the concept of foreign languages, second language literacy (learning how to write onigiri in Japanese), recipe poster.

Lesson 3: Number recognition through bar graph, read-alouds, singing, a responsive literacy environment through recipe poster, sequencing, connecting images to words through recipe poster.

Lesson 4: Read-alouds, connecting food to the five senses, using descriptive words, responsive literacy environment through recipe poster, sequencing, connecting images to words through recipe poster.

Lesson 5: Singing, creating bilingual recipe classroom poster, read-aloud, a responsive literacy environment through recipe poster, connecting images to words through recipe poster.

All lessons take part in a communication-rich environment, with meaningful activities in the natural context. The lessons promote the development of a wide range of vocabulary and concepts which provide a strong foundation for early literacy.

Technology and Cooking

Each lessons incorporates technology through content. Below are the ways technology is woven in the lessons:

Lesson 1: Tiggly Chef App. Using technology to synthesize information.

Lesson 2: Using an iPad to view different bento box lunches Japanese children might bring to school. Using technology to experience different cultures.

Lesson 3: Using iMovie, we will create our own cooking show to share with friends and family. Using technology to create and communicate knowledge.

Lesson 4: Using a surveymonkey pool. Using technological tools to synthesize information.

Lesson 5: Using the camera to create a classroom recipe board. Using technological tools to create and communicate knowledge