Teachers who have done it know: Cooking with children has powerful benefits. It’s a perfect fit with BC’s new curriculum so read on to find out more.
Teachers who have done it know: Cooking with children has powerful benefits. It’s a perfect fit with BC’s new curriculum, giving students an opportunity to take part in experiential, place-based learning, and enhances many areas of the curriculum, from health education to math and beyond. BC Dairy Association makes it easier to get cooking in class by providing teachers with mini-food grants to enhance the use of nutrition education programs. Read on to find out how BC teachers are using BC Dairy Association mini food grants to inspire their students.
Teach a student to cook and…they make dinner for their family!
A Coquitlam teacher wrote to us that as part of their class lesson, students cooked quesadillas using mini food grant funds. Two of her students went home and made dinner for their families. The teacher later wrote back to say that seven more students were planning to prepare quesadillas for their families that week!
Put it all together with pizza
One class of grade six students explored combination foods by making English muffin pizzas. The Chilliwack teacher shared how getting the students to prepare and sample the food together really brought out the students’ learning.
Making friendship soup
Three teachers shared separate but similar stories about how their students came together to make a class vegetable soup. In each class, the students picked a vegetable to go into the soup, then washed, cut up, and added them to a big pot. In one class, once the soup was ready, the students pushed their desks together and enjoyed the delicious “friendship soup”, like they were at a family dinner table. All three teachers told us it was an amazing experience that really brought the program material to life.
Bannock in the classroom
Three grade two classes made a grain products lesson come alive by making bannock. One teacher found a wonderful video online from a First Nations’ grandmother who lives in Northern BC, and she walked the students through the process of making the bread. Then the students made their own bannock and ate it with butter and raspberry jam – yum!
Finding new foods to enjoy
A grade one teacher in Prince George used food to enhance both her math and fish units. They read a story, and while the children were waiting for their turn to cook, they placed 12 fish evenly into a variety of fish bowls. The teacher thought it was great to see how many children said they did not like fish but after trying it, changed their minds and wanted more!
Learn more
Check out more stories about how teachers are putting BC Dairy Association nutrition programs into action. Refer to Kitchen Equipment for your Classroom for more tips on how to get cooking in your classroom.
No matter what grade the students are in, teachers can bring education alive with our place-based, hands-on and experiential programs and mini food grants.
Whether you’re a teacher, the parent of a school-aged child, or you know a teacher, spread the word about how to get our programs into BC classrooms. Find out more or contact a BC Dairy Association dietitian at nutrition@bcdairy.ca. Food really is a powerful nutrition education tool!
