What’s Cooking in Your School?

As a teacher, I find that cooking in school is a lot of fun. A cooking activity can be a reward for good behavior, a science experiment, a fundraiser, or even a math lesson. At the same time, if you’re not prepared, it can be a complete disaster! Imagine ingredients spilling on important papers, cuts, burns, and other minor catastrophes.

Here are some easy steps I’ve done to ensure that cooking in the classroom is fun, safe, and memorable:

1. Be prepared. Plan your workstations, ingredients lists, and supplies ahead of time. Order more than the recipe requires so that students can spill or make mistakes without worrying about running out of ingredients or supplies. Make sure your students are not allergic to any of the ingredients. If you can, try out the recipe in your home before you attempt it with your students in the classroom.
2. Create safety rules. As you plan the cooking activity, think about how you can make the process safe and injury-free. Does the recipe call for any hot water? Will students be tempted to eat a batter with raw eggs? Create safety rules on a colorful poster that you can hang at the front of the classroom and review it with the class before you begin cooking.
3.  Allow students to be a part of the process. Help the students participate in the preparation since that’s a huge part of cooking. Students can help set up workstations, measure out ingredients, and clean up the classroom.

Cooking can also be a great activity for virtual or hybrid learning. Turn the home kitchen into a classroom and become the star of your own cooking show! Students will be engaged and excited for a chance to peek-inside your home.

Some food for thought:

• Have you done a cooking activity in your classrooms? Why or why not?
• How can cooking in school enhance your curriculum? Be creative!

Bring fun activities into your curriculum! Learn how with the online PD class: Curriculum Development from Professional Learning Board.  

About the Author
Ellen Paxton is a respected expert in education and best known as the Chief Learning Officer of Professional Learning Board. As a two-time National Board Certified Teacher, Ellen has successfully published and customized online professional development courses and Learning Management Systems for 20 years to help teachers meet their state continuing education renewal credit requirements. Through ProfessionalLearningBoard.com, RenewaTeachingLicense.com, and ConnectedPD.com, Ellen has established solutions and maintained partnerships with several accredited universities, higher education institutions, teachers’ unions and state Departments of Education while setting strategic direction that makes a difference and overseeing implementation of popular online PD for schools.