Kids in the Kitchen

Hello family and friends!

This week we did a spin off from our study of chocolate milk. We thought we might be spending some more time on milk, but the kids took it in a different direction. After making our ice cream last week the kids became interested in recipes. We have a few recipe books in our housekeeping center that we noticed them looking through as well as using our pretend oven to bake and cook. It ended up being a really fun week of recipes!

To start off the week, I brought in a wide range of recipe books. We talked about the general concepts of a recipe. We discussed different types of measurements and how combining ingredients creates a new substance. We discussed the importance of reading and following directions so that we get the correct result from our recipe. We kept some measuring tools out in our room the first day for the kids to explore and match numbers from our recipes with the numbers on our measuring tools. We also spent some time researching recipes. During our reading workshop we allowed the kids to look through different types of recipe books and find things that interested them. After looking through them, everyone shared with the class their favorite recipe and why they'd like to try it. Most of these recipes consisted of sweets and foods involving fruit. We discussed and agreed that one sweet recipe and one fruit recipe would be good to try throughout the week.

The first recipe we made was not edible. We wanted to show the kids that not every recipe out there is for food. We follow directions and combine substances to make all different types of objects. For our first recipe we made salt dough. It consisted of a basic recipe that would be easy to follow and "cook". Our recipe called for flour, salt, and water. We discussed the different ingredients and our measuring tools before starting. Next, we let the kids work in groups to make their own salt dough. After combining the ingredients, each kid got a clump of dough and formed it into anything they wanted. Most salt dough recipes involve cooking the final product on low heat for several hours, but we were able to find one that could be microwaved for only 3 minutes...which worked out perfectly for us! The kids were able to plate their creations, put them in the microwave, and cook them all on their own...which they loved! After the salt dough became hard from cooking, the kids painted them. These creations are now out on display in the hallway if you'd like to check them out. And here's our recipe if anyone is interested in making some at home...

1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of flour

Add the salt and flour in a bowl and slowly add water. You may not need all the water as you want the dough to be dry...if too sticky at more flour. Shape the dough and then microwave for 3 minutes. If dough is still wet after 3 mins, put it back in for another 30 seconds until done.

Our next recipe was definitely edible! We let the kids look through the recipe books and find their top 3 favorite sweet treats, then we voted on our favorite. Thankfully this resulted in a simple cookie recipe involving only a few ingredients :) Again we discussed our ingredients and measurements before starting. This time we let the kids taste some of the ingredients to try them before they were combined. We watched as simple sugar and eggs turned light and fluffy. We watched as our ingredients changed colors and shapes as more ingredients were added. This recipe involved using a mixer so the kids thought it was awesome! They combined all of our ingredients and watched as we mixed them together. Afterwards, they shaped the dough and we painted them using food coloring and some water. After the kids got them just the way they wanted them, we baked the cookies for about 10 mins. They turned out great!

Our next recipe was really simple but may have been the kid's favorite (it definitely got the most comments and they kept asking for more). We made fruit kabobs. This actually worked out perfectly because Rabbi Meir gave us a Hebrew copy of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". We read the book in English and talked about the different foods the caterpillar ate, some were healthy and some were not. That morning, Morah Devorah came in and read us the Hebrew translation of the book as well. After discussing and hearing both versions of the book, we made kabobs using the same types of fruits the caterpillar ate in the book. We cut up the fruit into small pieces and placed a number by each plate. The kids got their stick and walked down the line of plates adding the amount of each fruit to their stick that matched the number next to plate. They found out that if they counted and added just like the "recipe" numbers told them, that their stick filled up just right and we were eating a wide range of colorful fruit! We also spent some time this week writing our own recipes. This has been a fun way for us to work on recognizing and writing numbers, as well practicing with some pretend writing. We also drew pictures of these recipes and talked about what they were. All these things are the beginning stages of writing and mastering our fine motor skills.

Finally, I must announce that we have welcomed back David this week! This was a big day for the kids. They have pretty much been asking when he'll back at school since he left for Israel a month ago. We would talk about his return during our morning meeting and show the kids when he would be back and count down using a calendar. They also wanted to make him a gift for his return so we made him a welcome back banner. They actually spent most of one morning working on this awesome banner! Morah Devorah also helped the kids make one in Hebrew so he would have one of each. It has been so sweet to watch their thoughtfulness and excitement to see their friend. We're so happy to have you back, David!!

Approaches to Learning:

Show creativity and imagination using materials in representational play.
Show curiosity in an increasing variety of actives, tasks, and learning centers.
Show increasing ability to maintain interest in self-selected activities and play despite distractions and interruptions.
Understand that a task can be accomplished through several steps

Social & Emotional:

Stand up for rights much of the time.
Use classroom materials responsibility, most of the time.
Recognize effect on others of own behavior most of the time.
Display emerging social skills of trying to take turns and talk with others during play.

Language & Literacy:

Distinguish between descriptions of story events and spoken words of characters.
Retell one or two events from a story read aloud.
Incorporate favorite parts of literacy texts into play activities.
Incorporate information from informational texts into play activities.
Display curiosity and interest in learning new words.
Make connections to prior knowledge, other texts, and the world in response to texts read aloud.

Mathematics:

Generate conjectures based on personal experiences and simple reasoning.
Use appropriate vocabulary to communicate mathematical ideas.
Begin to show an awareness of numbers in the environment.
Compare sets of no more than ten objects using the terms "more than" or "same as".
Associate at least two measurement devices with their purposes.

Pretend play in our kitchen...