Starring:
Leann Schwartz

 

"All kids love to eat! I love to tie Tasty Tuesday into a lesson and help the lesson become more meaningful," says Leann Schwartz.

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"I've been doing it for ten years, and some of my first students still come back and ask about it. It's something they will always remember. I usually inquire if they have their recipe books, and most still do."

On one day per month, known as "Tasty Tuesday," Schwartz's students prepare a snack to go along with a season or theme theyre studying. They discuss a recipe and copy it in their neatest writing. While the class records the recipe, small groups of students gather at a table to work on their snacks. They keep their copies of the recipes to form a section in their second grade scrapbooks at the end of the school year.

A student "plants" candy corn with gummy fish to create a snack that would make Squanto proud

As part of Tasty Tuesday, Schwartz's students have made "Cat in the Hat" cracker treats, "Boo Stew," and more. During a November unit on Native Americans, they used a cup of "dirt" made of crushed cookies and planted candy corn with gummy fish "fertilizer" to remind them of Squanto's helpful guidance in growing corn.

"I don't always do the same recipes each year. If I run across a new, fun idea, we use it!" Schwartz explains. "We've made apple smiles, cool spiders, candy cane cups, penguin treats, sweetheart toasts, end of the rainbow treats, and spring bugs."

The "Frog Float" of sherbet and soda is a student favorite.

Schwartz requests ingredients from the families of the students in her class on a rotating basis. Each student has the opportunity to bring in an essential item 2-3 times over the course of the year. Requests go home on Thursday, and students are asked to provide the items by Monday for Tuesday's activity.

"I have a parent volunteer come in each time to help, and he or she sits at the table with the kids and passes out the ingredients and answers questions," Schwartz stated. "That frees me up to monitor the kids who are working at their seats, and to take pictures."

Healthy "Apple Smiles" put smiles on the faces of the kids on Tasty Tuesday.

Tasty Tuesday is more than just a delicious break. The activity helps Schwartz address the Indiana state standards in handwriting, sentence structure, capitalization, comprehension, and measurement. She shares photos and recipes for the snacks on her classroom Web site.

"The favorite snack is always Frog Floats," she added. "That goes along with my love for frogs and my classroom theme, The Learning Leap. The recipe includes lime sherbet, lemon lime soda, marshmallow and chocolate chip 'eyes,' and a long red licorice 'tongue.' We drink it with a straw. It's yummy!"

Article by Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2007 Education World

04/06/2007

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