Bank Street College of Education Educate Graduate Student Independent Studies Spring 5-1-2017 Cook to learn: A Food-Focused Curriculum for Grades 3-5 Ryan R. Cherecwich Bank Street College of Education, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://educate.bankstreet.edu/independent-studies Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Elementary Education Commons, and the Health and Physical Education Commons Recommended Citation Cherecwich, R. R. (2017). Cook to learn: A Food-Focused Curriculum for Grades 3-5. New York : Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved from https://educate.bankstreet.edu/independent-studies/178 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Educate. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Independent Studies by an authorized administrator of Educate. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 Cook to Learn: A Food-Focused Curriculum for Grades 3-5 By Ryan R. Cherecwich Literacy and Childhood Education Mentor: Mollie Welsh Kruger Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master in Science of Education Bank Street College of Education 2017 2 Abstract Ryan R. Cherecwich Cook to Learn: A Food-Focused Curriculum for Grades 3-5 In this Integrated Master’s Project, I argue that a new curriculum is needed to address the following: (a) plant-based foods and from-scratch food preparation practices are strongly connected to positive outcomes for children, (b) diets high in processed foods can lead to negative health outcomes (c) students aged 8-10 are particularly well suited to learn more about food, (d) studying food offers many opportunities for interdisciplinary learning across many subjects (literacy, math, science and social studies) and (d) food-focused learning connects particularly well to common learning objectives for students in grades 3-5, yet (e) there is currently a dearth of appropriate curricular materials to meet the needs of today’s student population. As a career-changer with some domain experience in both food and education, I have created a curriculum designed to address these areas of need. Having tested this curriculum with a group of eight children in this age range, I share my findings, reflections and changes made to the curriculum based on their feedback. I discuss the future implications for this work–and the implications for our students’ futures if we do not continue to take up this work and improve upon it. Keywords: food, education, public health, equity, nutrition, interdisciplinary education, elementary education, curriculum design 3 Acknowledgements I am grateful to my former students, eight children aged 8-10, who helped me to teach and test this curriculum in the fall of 2016. I am also thankful for my patient and encouraging co-teacher, Jacob Samuels, and to the director of our after-school program, Amanda Schatz, for their role in providing their feedback for my ideas. I similarly encourage anyone using this curriculum to allow this collaboration between educators and children to drive the use and adaptation of the activities I have shared. I had the privilege of visiting America’s Test Kitchen in the summer of 2016 while planning this unit. I am grateful to the friends who hosted me there. This experience helped me to envision the type of inquiry-based, fun-filled, “real world” learning environment I wished to create for my students. As I thought about how to build community, I further benefited from the innovations of other educators in my Progressive NYC community, through mentorships and professional development. I am thankful to the team of educators with whom I co- taught third grade from 2014-2015, particularly my co-teacher Cara Regan. Their approach to education--prioritizing hands-on, student-driven activities--helped me to see what was possible in a baked-from-scratch curriculum. As I moved into teaching the recipes and content in this unit, I leaned heavily on the work of educators who had gone before. I have mentioned in many places the capacity-building work The Edible Schoolyard is doing in New York City to support food-focused learning; credit is due to Liza Engelburg, their director of education, for being the driving force behind these efforts, and for their squadron of kitchen and garden educators, who are eager to share their ideas. 4 I am grateful to my friends and family for their support as I engaged in this labor of love. This work would not be possible without my grandparents, who fed me when I was hungry; to my parents, who taught me to hold the work of cooks and gardeners in high regard, including my own; to my friends, particularly those who were kind enough to share their own expertise as cooks and teachers with me; and my dog, who cheerfully cleans up my mess. And above all, my incredible husband, Rich, for his role in supporting and believing in my work (and never once complaining about the dishes). This work is dedicated to him. Finally, I owe an enormous amount of debt to Mollie Welsh Kruger, my thesis advisor, who patiently shepherded my written work along as an experienced elementary school educator with decades of experience. As children well know, it can make a world of difference to have a teacher who can guide your work while allowing you to retain ownership over your decisions, especially those that are guided themselves by your own values and identity. She is a role model for me in both her respect and her restraint. May we all approach our future adventures in food and education with equal heaping measures of both. 5 Table of Contents Introduction to this Integrated Masters Project (IMP)……………………………...……..6 Rationale……………………………………………………………..…………....8 The Personal: My Sociocultural Context…………………….……………9 The Political: Our Students’ Sociocultural Context (And Our Own)........12 Developmental Considerations………………….……………....…….....24 Examination and Critique of Existing Materials………………………...29 Differences Between New and Existing Material……..…………………41 Introduction to this Curriculum…….……………………………….……...…………....46 Mis en Place…….……………………………………..………..………..48 Creating a kitchen classroom…………….…..…………………..48 Safety norms for kitchen classrooms………....………...………..60 Finding learning resources for the kitchen classroom: an anti-bias framework………………...……………………...……………....65 Books to support this unit…………...………....…………...…....75 Suggested accommodations for students with special needs....….82 Activities and Lesson Plans…………...……………….......................….87 Community building activities……………...………...………….89 Early immersion activities……………...…………....………....107 Primary recipe investigation……………………....…...…...…..147 Investigation extensions……………….…...…………………...257 Social Studies………………………....………………...257 Science……………….………………...……………….258 Literacy…………………………....….………………...259 Math……………………..…………....………………...260 Ways to Use This Curriculum……………...……………………..…………………….261 Inside the Classroom……………...………………………...…………………..261 In After-School Programs……………...…………………….………………....264 In Youth Programs……………...…………………………....………….…..….266 At Home……………...………………….………………………..…………….269 Modifying This Curriculum for Different Age Levels………………………....……....272 For Younger Children (Grades 3 and Younger)…………………………...........272 For Older Children (Grades 5 and up)…………………………………...….….275 Modifying This Curriculum for Different Cultural Contexts……………………….….277 Anti-Bias Food Education: A List of Dos and Don’ts……………………...…..279 Findings……………………………………………….……………………...………...281 Final Thoughts……………………….………………………………………………...298 References………………………………………………………………………….......302 Appendix Supplementary Lesson Materials………………………………………....…….313 Permissions………………………...…………………………………………...351 6 Cook to Learn: A Food-Focused Curriculum for Grades 3-5 This Integrated Masters Project, submitted to the Bank Street Graduate School of Education in the spring of 2017, is an original, interdisciplinary curriculum for children in grades 3-5, using food as a focus. This curriculum is appropriate for use in a variety of formats. These may include: a multi-week unit of study inside the classroom, particularly as a way to kick off a school year and get to know one’s students; a stand-alone after- school class that meets weekly, as mine did; a youth program hosted within a community center, culinary school, camp, garden, or farm; or within a private home setting, with one’s own children. (For notes on the best ways to implement this curriculum in your specific setting, please see Applications.) I created this curriculum for several reasons. First, because food is a personal passion of mine and an area with which I have some expertise. I came to teaching after a first career in journalism–a career during which I focused on food, travel and the environment. Secondly, because my personal experiences with food and diet-related disease have led me to become acutely aware of how poverty and lack of food knowledge intersect to circumscribe some students’ lives and not others. I believe that as educators, we have an ethical and political duty to remedy this situation through our teaching. 7 Thirdly, because I believe that the collective expertise we have developed as a species, as well as the social, psychological, philosophical and spiritual connections we carry forward in our communities through food, may be lost to us if we do not take steps to preserve them, and by extension to preserve what it means to be truly human. Finally (getting down to brass tacks), I created this curriculum because I