Thinking about teaching a unit on meat such as beef, pork or lamb and need ideas? Look no further! Below are resources that may be helpful to you in the planning of lessons. If you have additional ideas or resources, please share in the comment section below.
When I ask my students what they or their parents typically make for supper, I get a lot of similar responses. Most tell me they make and or eat whatever is easy, comes out of a box, comes out of the freezer, can be made in the microwave or picked up from a fast food restaurant on the way home. It’s so sad that convenience foods are so heavily relied on instead of preparing foods from scratch. This is one of the reasons I like teaching about casseroles! Not only are they easy to make, include a variety of foods and nutrients, but they can be made in advance, put in the freezer for future meals and convenience and because they get us in the kitchen cooking and using a lot of staple ingredients from the pantry. Way to go casseroles!
During my unit titled “Off to College”, we talk about a variety of topics related to college living and dorm life. One of these topics includes the “Freshmen 15”. Students always wonder if it’s true and if so, how does it happen. Since students were curious, I decided to let them figure out the answers by having them research the topic and create a game board that incorporated all of the information they learned in a fun, creative and competitive way. Students took turns playing each others games, providing feedback and learning something about the “Freshman 15”!
MyPlate encourages us to make half our plates whole and the dietary guidelines also recommend we increase our intake of whole grains. This is all great and seems like it should be relatively easy to do, when in reality it is often difficult to know what is truly a whole grain and what is refined. Because whole grains are typically a good source of fiber, I decided to marry the two topics into one mini-lesson and activity where students become sleuths and decode a variety of grain products in order to determine which are truly excellent sources of both fiber and whole grains and which don’t make the grade (even if their labels are deceiving).
My junior high classes rotate every six weeks which doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to cover all the material that I need or want to. Because of this, I find myself trying to piggyback multiple concepts and standards into a lesson or activity. So when I teach about how to calculate unit prices and read package labels, both ingredient lists and nutrition facts, it makes sense to combine the two into a hands-on hot cocoa mix taste testing lab. Not only does it get the students into the kitchen, but it ties back to everything we covered so far in the rotation, helping them to review the concepts previously learned. In the lab students determine which product they think tastes the best and then in the follow-up students use the product labels to compare everything from unit price to ingredients to nutrition. Do students know their brands like they think they do? Can they determine the healthiest brand for their dollars? This lesson helps them find out!
There’s a lot of information out there about eggs; often referred to as the perfect food! So, if you are in need of some ideas for teaching a unit or just a few lessons or labs about eggs, here are a variety of ideas and resources to choose from.
Many equate being pregnant with being able to eat “whatever” you want. After all, you are eating for two! However, there are many foods that are off limits during pregnancy. This unique lesson engages students by having them individually examine an assigned food to ascertain whether it should be eaten or avoided during pregnancy. With their newly acquired knowledge, they create a mini-poster using technology for use in a gallery walk activity. From there, t-charts are created and a group discussion ensues as to the correct placement of each food. “To eat or not to eat? That is the question.” Give it a try and see if your students aren’t highly engaged as they discover the answers to this infamous question.
It’s fall, apples are in season and they are relatively inexpensive! Varieties of apples are sold everywhere from roadside stands to grocery stores so why not incorporate them into your foods class? That’s exactly what Jessica Uplinger of Field High School, Ohio did. Jessica created this lesson and lab because she has very large classes and needed a thematic unit where she could divide up her class and have half of them in the kitchen preparing a lab while the other half is engaged with an assignment. The end results? Her students ended up enjoying every aspect of this lesson, especially the labs! Why not give it a try in your foods class?
This unique lesson was shared by Steve Watts and Sue Gottsch, from West High School, Sioux City Iowa. Sue teaches food science and other FCS classes. Sue says that the curriculum tends to get boring for the students so she has been trying to add some new labs each year. Their school system has coaches to help with ideas and technology etc. Steve is formerly a science teacher. Together, they decided to plan an interactive meal challenge.
Gluten sensitivities and gluten free preferences are on the rise in the US, but what exactly is gluten and why are people so effected by it? Below you will find some resources to teach about gluten and it’s role in food. You will also find links to several culinary labs that are gluten free. The only thing not being addressed in this post is how FACS teachers handle this with students who are gluten free in the classroom. If you have successful tips on how to handle gluten free in your classroom, please share them in the comment section below.
