When you teach about grains, do you include quinoa?  If not, you might want to consider exposing your students to this ancient grain. In this Quinoa Mini-Lesson & Lab, students get a quick overview followed by a tasty 43 minute lab and quick project! Take a look, give it a try and give your students a chance to try a potentially new food!

Set

• Introduce the topic in one or both of the following ways: First, show students the actual grains and see if they can identify them. Second, play “build a snowman or flower” using enough blanks for the word quinoa. See if students can guess the food before the snowman or flower gets built! It’s also fun to hear them pronounce it!
• Give students an overview of quinoa via the YouTube video by Dani Spies, titled, “Quinoa 101: Everything You Need to Know” and complete the guide sheet while they do.  The guide sheets can be discussed in class or you can collect them for a grade….your call!

Materials

• iPad or Laptop
• Projector & Screen
• Quinoa Sample (optional)
• Lab Ingredients

Activities

• Prior to the lab, assign your students the pre-lab questions that correspond to the quinoa lab.  Once students have read the recipe and completed the questions, go over the answers before students sign up for the preparation and clean-up jobs.
• The lab takes one 43 minute class period to prepare and eat!  If time remains, go over the Quinoa 3 Ways guide sheet so students know what they will be doing the next class period.
• After the project is complete, students can share some of the many ways quinoa can be prepared!

Attachments

• Quinoa 101 Video Prompts
• Quinoa Pizza Bites Recipe & Pre-Lab Questions
• Quinoa 3 Ways Project & Rubric
• Slide Sample

Photo by Vie Studio