Lower Elementary Cooking Program, Part I

Though they have missed having the Upper Elementary students on campus this school year, the Lower El decided that continuing some version of the cooking program should go on, and better late than never! The process, which involves planning, budgeting, shopping, and finally, cooking, it too much for one blog post. We will visit each of the elements in separate posts. Today, we will see the cooking aspect, which begins on Friday morning with the ingredients the children have purchased earlier in the week. First up on the menu: spaghetti and meatballs. We adults can tend to take for granted all that goes into preparing a meal: the manual dexterity it takes to open cans, for instance, or the skill of chopping onions. Observing these four children go through the process was a good reminder of the complexities involved in prepping a meal start to finish!Chopping onions, for instance, requires knife skills and strength, and a whole lot of persistence, especially when those strong onions begin to sting your eyes and make them water!Each child had the opportunity to attempt to open cans before allowing the expert of the group to take over. There was plenty of patience, guidance, and encouragement for those who struggled.And the onions...Oh, the onions!!!The children followed a recipe they had previously printed out, and checked back often to make sure they were following it closely.With guidance from Lower Elementary assistant Melinda, the children took turns with each step of the process to build their skills and understanding of the cooking process.And of course, the important last step before serving their delicious meal: cleaning up!They did an excellent job, and the entire Lower Elementary building was filled with wonderful smells of cooking sauce, spices, and onions. A large portion of the Lower Elementary classroom opted to pay for the meal from the money they have budgeted for the cooking program. Be sure to check back in for Part II!