Cooking With Kids - Making Apple Pie

Hello!
This is Cindy From LOVE THOSE KINDERS; otherwise known as Kinderkay!

Do you cook with your students? I admit that cooking with little ones can be a DAUNTING task! There are so many things to think about when you cook with children - so much more than gathering ingredients and finding a recipe!

First of all,  when I cook with my students, I want it to have an educational purpose. It needs to meet some type of learning goal. For example, when I made apple pie with my kinders this week, I wanted my students to understand that in order for our families to make an apple pie, a purchase had to made. We discussed where we  buy the ingredients needed to make a pie and then discussed where the grocery store gets THEIR items. Trading money for goods and creating a new product from the purchased goods was the educational goal for this project!

Second, you need to decide how much time your students will need to complete the task as well as whether you will be cooking in small or large groups. If you cook in small groups, you must come up with something that the rest of the children will be doing while your small group is cooking. Sometimes I will use my guided reading group time to bring children back to the table to cook while the rest of my students are doing their centers. The children rotate to me just as they do in a regular rotation. I feel justified in doing this because learning to follow directions is a Common Core State Standard! It is nice to enlist the help of an aide or parent volunteer on these days so that you have someone keeping the peace in the literacy centers while you are working with your small groups. The excitement of coming to the table to cook can be a bit noisy!

The third thing that you must think about is where you will get the ingredients necessary to make your product. I have done this in various ways. The easiest way for me has been to put grocery store gift cards on my Giving Tree at the beginning of the year. I then use the gift cards to purchase ingredients myself as needed. I have also organized a sign up sheet where parents sign up for specific ingredients to send in on a specific day. We do this for our Thanksgiving feast. We put out a sign up sheet during Parent/Teacher conferences and use these donated items to make our lunch items. A third way is to ask for help for a specific recipe through an email list or classroom sign up sheet a week or so ahead of your project. Parents send in the ingredient a day ahead so that you have an idea of what came in and what did not. Also, it is VITAL that you are aware of the allergies in your classroom and that you do not cook ANYTHING that can cause an allergic reaction in your students!!

Another thing to have ready are your supplies. Do you need measuring cups? Measuring spoons? Mixing bowls? If your recipe requires baking or cooking, where will you do it? I have 2 toaster ovens in my classroom that I use, but I recommend that you check out your fire codes before you invest in them!  In my classroom, I have my own set of measuring utensils, 2 toaster ovens, an electric skillet, mixing bowls and spoons, a blender, hot pads, cookie sheets, muffin pans, cooling racks, a sharp knife, a can opener, various spices, waxed paper, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and HAND SANITIZER.

So............... Here is how I began the Apple unit. (We are presently still in this unit and I will be sharing more of what we do in my own blog for the next week or so.)

We read "The Apple Pie Tree" by Zoe Hall. This is a fun story that has so much going on in it! I refer to it many times during our apple unit. The child in the story says "My sister and I have a tree that grows the best part of apple pie. Can you guess what that is? Apples!'' The story progresses through the stages of the apple tree seasons and ends with a recipe for apple pie. The recipe in the book is a good one, but I wanted something that was MUCH simpler to make. Plus I do not have an aide and I made the decision to cook too late this week to enlist parent volunteers, so I was on my own for this activity!

 I am proud to say that my 17 little kinders completed the steps necessary to make their own mini apple pie AND we did it as a whole group! Yes, it got a little crazy and we were a little noisy, but everyone followed directions and the pies were completed in less than 30 minutes - minus the cooking time. The only thing I was a little sad about was that we did not have time to taste the pies at school. If we had, I would have graphed the results as to who liked their pie and who did not. If you would like the steps and ingredients needed for this classroom apple pie, click the picture to take you to my blog!

I have an Apple unit in my TPT store available if you are looking for something that deals more with the science and social studies aspect of apples. Here is a preview of what is included in the resource. Click on the image to take you to my store for a more detailed description of its contents.

Happy Cooking!