Working our way towards Applesauce

I have 3 grade 6/7 foods classes. Two of them will be cooking applesauce tomorrow, the last class will have their lab next week. I managed to make the same mistake AGAIN in the demo, of not halving the water and sugar. Tasted good anyway. Must have been my assistant chef... she was very careful and competent.

Today's obstacle: saucepans. Not enough saucepans. Each unit in the foods room should have two. With lids. Lids that fit. Stainless steel would be nice. You see how the devil is in the details here?

(Those are CLEAN pots, by the way)

So, not enough saucepans to go around, because they're too small to cook up a 4-apple batch of sauce. Plus, a lot of them are aluminum. The "extras" in the cupboard - um... turns out they're the top part of double boilers. Some of them might do... but others are far too thin... and aluminum.

Looks like we're missing the pyrex liquid measures too. And wooden spoons... Don't get me started on the condition of the aprons. No wonder the kids are fighting over the green one.

Stay tuned for the first cooking sessions of the younger students.

Applesauce - Part 2

Okay! Two classes down, and one to go. Maybe applesauce should be a two day lab. Both classes ran late; one into lunch and one after school. The remaining class is sandwiched in the middle of the day, and cannot run overtime.

I'm thinking that they could peel, core and chop, then store the apples until the next day, then cook, consume and clean again. Today's classes were pretty wiped out after washing their cooking dishes, then washing their eating dishes.

I had no idea that so many children could not use a vegetable peeler. One lad used the chef's knife to remove a small bruise from his apple... and had to go to the office for a couple of bandages.

I'm pretty happy that I had six boiling pots of sugary apples going in a room of 25 preteens without any burns, and the way they handle knives it's amazing that there was only one self-inflicted wound.

Applesauce - Part 3


The third and final applesauce lab for this term was broken into two days. One day to peel, and cut the apples; the next to cook and eat. There was more awkward down time over the two days, but it was a huge improvement over trying to rush and do everything. Unit 2 still didn't get cleaned up before the end of the class, so I shudder to think what the results would have been if I'd tried to condense.

The hidden benefit is that the students perceive that they're cooking more in a two day lab. And they WANT to be cooking more! A few ask each time they enter the room - "Are we cooking today?" "Do we have a demo today?" and the slightly more surly, "Why is this a cooking class if we don't cook more often?" (I have GOT to come up with a new name for the course)

The challenge this weekend is to find more recipes that I can use, and to plan a more challenging curriculum for the next terms.

Today's Lessons: Applesauce and Potato Skins

My first mistake: writing out a recipe in Imperial instead of Metric measurements... and not noticing until AFTER I'd photocopied not one, but THREE class sets. I owe Mother Nature a tree...

I did a demo for a grade six/seven class, but made applesauce with 2 apples instead of the 4 in the recipe, then forgot to reduce the water and sugar. My seventh grade assistant chef, sporting the highly coveted green coffee shop apron, was genuinely helpful and competent. Kudos to his family!

Today was the first cooking lab for the eighth grade students - it was Potato Skin Day! We learned that potato skins are a TWO day lab.

While one potato bakes in a microwave in 8 minutes, four of them certainly do not. And when you use all the microwaves in the home ec room at the same time, you trip the breaker, and none of them work until the caretaker comes to your rescue. (Okay, fine. Yes, I could have fixed them myself. But sometimes you just need another grown-up in the room)

In a 41 minute block - that adds up to a lot of valuable time lost and a lot of frantic pre-teens.

As the clock ticked down I realized the only way out of this was to finish the lab next class - so my fridge is full of half-made potato skins.

Still, the lesson has potential. I'll revise it for next term, and maybe try something else in the other terms. This term, I really need my recipes to be gluten-free. Maybe in another term I'll try some baking. With 7 week terms for the eighth graders, time will fly. Hopefully that means we're having fun!

Potato Skins Afterthoughts:

It didn't take long for the potatoes in the fridge to develop big, black spots on them. I was quite horrified, but realized it was probably just a chemical reaction - I thought maybe the metal of the spoons we used to scoop them out.

When the grade 8s returned to salvage their lab, they were even more horrified. A few students asked to start over. Remembering the initial fiasco, I hesitated. Then I realized with only a few do-overs we probably wouldn't pop the fuses this time, and it might just work out. We still managed to pop the fuses, but I fixed it myself this time. One group was too disgusted by the black spots to try again, so while 2 or 3 groups commenced damage control, the rest of them read through a recent news item on Killer Cantaloupes (a listeria outbreak).

Two applesauce labs and a potato skin salvage operation in one day... things should improve from here!

My First Demo

I don't object to laughter in my classroom. I like it better when they're laughing with me, but sometimes it's not so bad if they're laughing at me.

I attempted my first cooking demonstration today. The grade 8s are making potato skins. (I needed gluten-free recipes). I had planned to take one of the more challenging kids as my assistant chef, but changed my mind almost immediately after that student entered the room.

My newly conscripted assistant chef (previously a sixth grader and seventh grader in my classroom) was clearly unhappy with the school aprons, which are a bit grungy. Flash! I had found 2 nice aprons early in the summer. The blue one I was wearing, and a barista apron with a recognizable brand-name. He was happier in his green apron.

It was a comedy of errors: we missed steps, couldn't find equipment, my helper idly combed his hair with the chef's knife... and the skins were still under the broiler when the bell went and my class escaped. I sent my slightly bemused assistant to PE eating his hot, gooey potato skins.

I'm not even cautiously optimistic about the Lab tomorrow. But I'm glad that I planned to show a video in the block following the first cook of the year. If nothing else, Bill Nye the Home Ec Guy, will buy me some time to tidy up the debris.

I'm thankful the Tech Ed. teacher pops after the bell to see if I survived. I might need someone to laugh with at the end of the day.

Making Butter

It was a brilliant idea! The younger classes could make butter. It would be quick and easy - a bonus foods lab. Generally, I come to regret those "brilliant" ideas. You'd think I'd learn. I never do.

It's not that I couldn't imagine the challenges. I could, and did! Yet, the students still manage to surprise me.

I rounded up some baby food jars, thanks to my kind colleagues. More than enough to have 3 classes work with a partner. Did some after-school math (I try to avoid that) to calculate how much cream I needed for 3 classes to make butter. (It took just less than 1 litre. Half of what I expected).

With jars, cream, and gluten-free rice crackers (that's a story for another time), our adventures in butter-churning began.

I don't like to do a lot of front end loading. I like to see what the students know and what they can predict. I gave the 3 different classes various amounts of information. Mostly, I just gave them their cream filled bottle and told them to shake.

How long do we have to shake for?
What's supposed to happen?
What are we making?
(We're making butter. I did this in grade one)
Oh.
Why is mine lumpy?
(That's the butter)
Teacher! Why did you put butter in mine? I thought we were making it from scratch!

At the end of three classes over two different days, I would call it a success. They took their little glob of white butter and happily ate their crackers. Some left declaring that they were going to try it at home. (Yay!) Only one set of partners broke their jar. Some daringly drank the buttermilk.

I'm not sure yet if I'll repeat the lab next term. I learned that I should really have identical jars with identical lids, not similar jars with similar lids. I'd like something that fastens on better than baby food jar lids. It was less expensive than I feared since we only used half the crackers and half the cream (you'll probably notice that I'm quite obsessed with this budget business). We'll see what other "brilliant" ideas I come up with as the year progresses.

Next projects: applesauce for the 6/7s and potato skins for the 8s.

How I Found Myself in the Foods Room...

Home Ec is becoming Healthy Living. Once we move into our new school in a year, or two, we'll have gardens and dedicated recycling and waste management areas. Home Ec will be really Green... "and wouldn't you like to teach that?" she asked. I did want to teach that. And thus I became a Home Ec Teacher.

It was after the proverbial ink dried that I heard the stories that scared me. Stories that made me wonder just WHAT I had gotten myself into...

Now, I'm not a new teacher. I've been at this for ten years, and quite a few of those years are at this school. It makes sense to try something new where people know you and have forgiven you. It would be harder, I think, to change schools and try such a dramatic change.

At least my staff knows me well enough not to take my dramatics too seriously, and they KNOW it's not as bad as I say it is... and if it really is that bad, I usually settle down with a cup of tea and a big chunk of dark chocolate.

So, as I attempt to teach middle school home ec, go green and stay reasonably sane, it just made sense to start another blog. The other ones are on the back burner, so to speak.