Pretzels!

Today we made pretzels as we continue to learn about Germany.  One of the things I remember about my trip to Switzerland is the soft pretzels.  They are huge, crispy brown shell, soft in the middle, and melt in your mouth delicious.  So I thought we would make our own, knowing they won’t be anything like they are in Europe, but still a fun experience to learn more. 

We started with yeast and discussed how yeast makes bread rise and it becomes bigger.  We also worked more on our measuring and fractions while pouring ingredients into the bowl.  After the dough was formed we took turns trying to knead the dough.  After that, we placed the ball of dough in a bowl and waited one hour.  When we checked back an hour later the ball of dough was bigger.  So we talked more about yeast and its magic powers.  We were all excited to roll out dough to form our pretzels.  I took a piece of dough to demonstrate what they needed to do and had a big disappointment.  The dough wouldn’t roll.  I have never made pretzels before so I didn’t know what to do so I gave each of the kids some dough and told them to make whatever shape they could.  They had fun experimenting with the dough to see what shape they could create.  While we were rolling out dough we worked on counting, L keeps missing the number four.  Also, we worked on fractions; W cut some of his dough into bite size pieces so he cut his dough into fourths or thirds.  I also, added some conservation and we discussed thick and thin, length, small, medium, and large.  Next we needed to brush egg over the pretzels and sprinkle salt on them.  While doing this we reviewed some German words and tried to count a little in German.  (I need my mother-in-law)  By the time the children had their lunch made the pretzels were out of the oven and cooling.  We all took a pretzel and tasted them.  The crispy outside with the soft middle was delicious.  Not even comparable with European pretzels but still quite delicious.  All the kids agreed they like them and would make them again.  (Which if I have time of Saturday I will be trying another recipe to compare pretzels.)  There was a lot of learning going on today with the pretzels which made it even more fun and fascinating to me. 



Kneading dough



 



Rolling dough



Shapes, letters - r, o.

Enjoying their soft pretzels!

 I love this project and I am thinking of ways to continue it with my own children as well with the community. I thought about creating a class with Parks and Recreation to give children the opportunity to cook.  I didn’t participate in the kitchen when I was growing up and when I got married and needed to make dinner I was unsure of how to cook chicken.  My husband would cook the meat and I would make the sides.  Now I am feeling more confident and having more fun with cooking.  I feel it is important to include children in the cooking process to build an academic foundation that will help them in school as well as later on in their life.  I wonder if people participate in cooking as children do they feel more confident cooking as adults? Do they enjoy it more? Are they more creative with their cooking?  Even if adults don’t feel confident cooking they should still involve their children to create memories, bond, and learn together.  It is surprising what you are capable of if you just give yourself a chance.  Who knew my kids would ever learn German while making a cake and pretzels! 

Germany

This week we focused on culture.  My mother-in-law is from Germany and my husband loves the Black Forest Torte.  So for his birthday I make this cake for him.  This year the kids are old enough to help and we can learn a little about Germany.  We looked at a map and found Michigan then we found Germany and looked at how far apart we are.  Then I told them about the Black Forest region in Germany.  We learned that it is called Black Forest because there are so many trees that the forest is dark.  The region is known for making cuckoo clocks, which the children immediately were excited that we have one.  We even learned a few words in German.  Essen for eat and torte for cake.  We also learned various others including please and thank you.

This week was important to me because I wanted the children to learn about Germany and be able to share their knowledge with their Oma.  Also, we will be traveling to Germany this summer so they will be able to use their new knowledge to make connections when we are there. 

All of the kids wrote in their cooking journals about what they remembered about Germany.  They would like to show their Oma the journals when she comes for the party and share their knowledge. They enjoyed making the cake for their father and are very proud of it. 

In a classroom there will be a variety of cultures and for one teacher to teach all of them through cooking will be difficult.  If the students could make a recipe at home with their family then they can bring it to school and share a few facts with the class.  This gives the students the opportunity to bond with their family and present their knowledge of their culture to their friends.  They will feel proud of themselves and the class can learn about a variety of cultures. 

Listening to the children during their pretend play they are using the word essen while playing house and making dinner.  I smile to myself because they are using their knowledge they learned in the correct way.  This shows me that providing them with a hands-on experience to learn allows the information to sink in.  They remember it and use the knowledge. 

Science in the Kitchen!

My favorite subject is science.  Cooking and baking are big science experiments.  My kids and I were having fun with science today.  We mixed together salt and water and set it in a window so watch over the next few days.  As the water evaporates salts crystals will be left behind and they should cluster and look like snow flakes.  We will see.  We also mixed together sugar, water, and food coloring poured into glasses with sticks hanging in the middle.  Those glasses were also placed in a window so the sugar crystals can gather along the sticks making rock candy.  We will see if that works.  I hope so because it's fascinating looking at the crystals clustering. 

Rock candy. Sugar and water, waiting for crystals to form.

We also made a moon dough that was made of flour and oil.  The kids loved that because they could play with it and mold it. 

After that we put baking soda and vinegar in cups and watch the reaction.  They thought that was pretty amazing.  We actually ran out of vinegar.  My husband came to the rescue though and found out that you may also use lemon juice.  Wow!  I didn't know that.  However, we didn't have any.  But we did have lime juice. We tried it and it worked!  So the kids kept adding baking soda and lime juice until we ran out of juice.  They thought it was so cool.  We discussed how all the ingredients we used today we also use in baking but you can also do fun experiments with them.  The kids told me several items we bake that use the ingredients, such as, cookies, cakes, muffins, and pie crust.     



Mixing baking soda and lime juice.


I was enjoying myself and wanted to continue with the fascinating world of science so I took out a book I have that is about science in the kitchen.  It contains many recipes and explains the scientific aspect of each concept.  They had popcorn recipes so I was looking at those thinking we could make popcorn.  I found out that the kernals have a drop of water inside and when the kernals are heated that water turns to steam and pops open the popcorn!  So cool! So I gathered the kids and told them what I found out and we made some popcorn.  (There is also a popcorn song, so my son started singing.)  We talked about water and steam and we used the tea kettle so they could see the water go in and the steam come out.  We enjoyed eating our popcorn and the kids discussed how the popcorn pops.  

It was a fascinating science day and now I must go buy more vinegar.  I dropped the ball on always be prepared!

My husband to the rescue again! He went to the store and bought more vinegar.  When he returned we poured vinegar into a bottle, put some baking soda inside a balloon attached the balloon to the bottle and watched as the balloon inflated.  The kids were amazed!  After that we poured vinegar into the bottle and added baking soda and watched it fizz up and overflow.  They loved it and we did it many many times.  We also tried putting baking soda in the bottle first then vinegar.  It fizzed but wasn't the same effect as we were getting with the vinegar in the bottle first.



Baking soda and vinegar inflating balloon!

 We all had a fun day with science experiments.  At dinner we each take a turn saying what our favorite thing we did that day was.  My son said, "Doing science experiments with you mom." That made my heart smile.  I think we will be doing more experiments in the near future! Great boredom buster ideas too! 

Healthy Eating

We started cooking journals this week.  The children wrote their names on the front cover and decorated it however they chose.  L colored, W colored multiple colors all over, and M made chicken noodle soup and a lemon.  On our first page we thought back to Saturday when we made bananas.  We discussed how cutting the banana into sections can give you halves or fourths.  They remembered and explained the fractions to me.  So I had them draw a banana and show me it cut in half.  Then draw a banana cut into fourths.  After doing that, my son asked, “What is it called with threes?”  I responded with thirds and we discussed that with an example and they drew that also.  Later on at lunch we only had one string cheese so I asked them how they could share it.  They responded with, “Cut it into threes.”  So I did and they shared. 

For the lesson this week we talked about healthy food.  I explained that a healthy meal should have a meat, fruit, vegetable, grain, and dairy.  I asked them for ideas of healthy foods and they listed some.  After that they drew a healthy food in their journal.  One of their favorite meals is chicken noodle soup.  I mentioned that and right away my son said, “It has chicken!”

 “That’s the meat.  What else do we put in our chicken noodle soup?” I asked.

 M said, “Carrots!” W said, “Celery!” 

 “Those are the veggies.  What else is in the soup?”

 “Juice!” W replied. (Meaning the broth, so I explained that.) “Noodles!”

 “Yes! So we have a meat, vegetable, and grain.  What else do we need for a healthy meal?” I asked.

 M responded, “Fruit!”

 “Great, so we’ll make fruit kabobs. Now we need dairy.  Hmmm…what should we have for dairy?”

  “Milk,” W said. 

I reviewed the meal with them and they were excited to begin cooking.  For the next few minutes we were discussing dairy and the items that are considered dairy and where dairy comes from. 

We made chicken noodle soup discussing each part again as a meat, veggie, and grain.  Next we made fruit kabobs that I think are my favorite.  They are rainbow fruit kabobs.  So we talked about rainbows and the colors that make a rainbow.  The children used strawberries for red, oranges for orange, pineapple for yellow, green grapes for green, blueberries for blue and red grapes for violet.  As they were assembling the kabobs they were deep in thought about the colors so after they were finished they remembered the colors of the rainbow.  I had my son draw a rainbow in his journal and he even wrote the word rainbow. (M was at grandmas.)

I like the idea of journals because the children write down their ideas and it’s good for recall down the road.  As a parent it is fun to see what they have learned and see how they draw and write. 

So far through this project I have found there is an endless amount of concepts that can be learned through cooking.  It is fascinating for everyone involved and everyone has fun with it.  I can tell the vocabularies are growing in my children through this experience.  Also, they remember concepts from week one.  In a couple weeks we will be learning about Germany through a baking activity. So for next week I need to come up with another plan.   

1 Banana, 2 Banana, 3!

Today we made frozen bananas.  I asked the kids to peel the bananas and then slice the bananas into four sections.  They did that and we discussed fourths.  The four sections were too big for dipping in chocolate so I said we would cut them in half.  They took one of the four sections and cut it in half. They noticed when you divide something in half you get two pieces.  The next step was to freeze the bananas so as they placed the pieces on a baking sheet we would say one eighth, two eighth, etc.  I could tell that W and M were understanding cutting things in half to get two pieces.

I am finding that cooking is fascinating that people can learn so much through preparing food.  I was so involved in the process this time that I only took one picture.  I had a brainstorm during this event, that we could also have cooking journals.  With the readings we have been doing that discuss art, creativity, and journals, the idea popped into my head.  This will allow them to be creative, express themselves through drawing, and communicate their ideas with me.  So I think next week we will start this. 

Thinking about the Chex Mix recipe, I think that could be accomplished in a classroom.  It does involve peanut butter and with allergies these days, I don't recommend that.  You may omit the peanut butter and use just the chocolate. The chocolate took one minute to melt in the microwave.  Not very long at all but you do need access to a microwave.  If you don't have access to a microwave then just plain Chex Mix will do.  Each student can even have the opportunity to bring an item in to add to the mix. As long as they participate in putting ingredients together and work on math skills that would be satisfactory.

Frozen bananas will be difficult to make in a classroom, however, students could make their own fruit kabobs.  With this activity they will be slicing fruit and place each piece on a skewer so you are still able to discuss fractions.  Taking fruit on and off the skewer they will be making different fractions. Then when they are finished they can eat it!

I am enjoying the project so far.  I am learning a lot about cooking and all the skills that can be learned.  I am learning how much information children retain when working with items hands-on.  The readings make me realize how important it is to ask questions and let the children be creative, draw, and express their thinking so we know what they are learning.

Fourths cut into halves. 

Update

Yesterday for breakfast M had four strawberries.  She counted them repeatedly up to 24 on her own.  She's working on it and showing improvement each week! 

Math in the kitchen!

This has been an uncreative week for me.  So many things I would like to make and not enough time or energy.  I finally decided on something and I need to break it into two parts this week.  The second part will take place on Saturday so I will post again that night.  For today we started our math in the kitchen with a Chex Mix party mix.  The kids measured, counted, sorted, made patterns, made shapes, and had a lot of fun in the process. 

The recipe is Chex Mix covered with a peanut butter and white chocolate mixture that is poured over the cereal.  Half the cereal is covered with powdered sugar and M&M's and sprinkles were added to the other half (in Valentine colors to be festive).  Then both parts are added together.  During the making of this mix they were able to measure all the ingredients themselves so we talked about 1 cup and 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup.  They counted out 4 1/2 cups.  

Once the mix was combined we had even more fun!  The kids were so excited about this they couldn't wait to taste it!  So we started with a little taste test and then got down to business learning math, I mean having fun playing with our food.  I gave everyone two scoops of the mix and asked them to count how many items they had on their mat.  Everyone had a different number.  My son (5 yrs. old) counted up to 32 no problem.  M (3 1/2 yrs. old) counted to 20 then need assistance on 21 and 27.  She is improving!  L (2 1/2 yrs old) counted to 5 then need assistance. 

After counting we sorted our mix.  It was interesting to see how they sorted their own mix.  My son, W, immediately divided his into piles of white cereal, brown cereal, and M&M's.  M saw what W was doing and divided her piles the same way.  L divided her piles into one pile of cereal and then M&M's separate.  She understood the concept of dividing up the mix and I liked her observation of how to sort it.

After sorting we worked on patterns.  L didn't know what to do and honestly she was more interested in our neighbor's dog in our yard.  The other kids made a pattern and then when they were finished I asked them to make another pattern to see what else they could do.  We also worked on our shapes.  They identified the shapes of the cereal and M&M's.  Next, they made a square, circle, and triangle using the cereal.  W did very well, he created his shapes quickly. M thought about how to make the shapes using the cereal.  She tried making a square but it didn't look like a square so she started over.  She took a little longer to do this task because she needed to think of what the shape looks like and how to make it. 




Counting the mix.





Sorting the mix.

Pattern

Patterns



W's shapes



M's triangle - The one white piece is the point of the triangle 

M's square & circle

Overall they were able to practice their math skills and did very well.  M still needs to work on counting in the 20's. However, she did better than last time!  They learned how to sort and make patterns.  They enjoyed the tasks and we will continue to work on this.  Saturday we will be dividing bananas into several parts...stay tuned.