Pizza! Pizza!

Now that the sixth grade students have several foods' labs behind them things are settling down a bit. Each class was able to get the lab completed on time. The students also did well with their clean up tasks this week.

We made cheese pizza in our lab this week. The students did a great job making the dough and assembling the pizzas. I was impressed with how well the pizza crusts turned out. The students also did a fine job consuming their pizzas.

Have a nice weekend.

Sincerely,
Mrs. J. Bretl

Wise Consumers

The sixth grade students discussed how to be smart shoppers and discovered the importance of reading nutrition facts' labels on food packages.

Students also learned about shopping for value. What do you buy most in a grocery store? It's not just food. Many of our dollars are spent for slicing, dicing, portioning, and packaging. We watched a video which illustrated how much "extra" we pay when we buy processed foods. The sixth grade students were able to share strategies to use to avoid many pitfalls when shopping for food.

Have a nice weekend.

Sincerely,
Mrs. J. Bretl

What did you eat for breakfast?

We continued our Nutrition Unit this week by discussing daily food choices and the importance of eating breakfast every morning. Students worked with a partner to plan a healthy breakfast menu that included food choices from at least three of the food groups. I was pleased to see how many students eat breakfast every day. Studies have shown that "students that eat breakfast do much better in school than the breakfast-skippers". I still need to encourage a few non-believers.

Our cooking lab this week was a great example of how easy it is to make and eat a healthy snack. The students were able to prepare and eat Fruit and Cheese Kabobs with Cinnamon Yogurt Dip in one class period. Students measured accurately and worked together efficiently; the result was a very successful lab. I was very impressed with the great effort each class put forth. Nice job!

Have a nice weekend!

Sincerely,
Mrs. J. Bretl

Is baking a science or an art?

Our lab for the week was Wacky Chocolate Cake. The students made their cakes and baked them on the first day of the lab. They discovered that the recipe involved a chemical reaction with vinegar and baking soda. There were no eggs in the recipe and yet the cake turned out tender and moist!

On the second day of the lab the students made their own Butter Icing and devoured the cake. A few students shared some of the cake with their teachers. It was a big hit!

We began a preview of our nutrition unit by investigating new vocabulary words. These included nutrients, carbohydrates, fiber, cholesterol, proteins, amino acids, and osteoporosis. Students used concept maps and worked in groups to predict meanings and connections to vocabulary words. After reading and discussing the chapter on “Meet the Nutrients” each student completed a "word detective" activity sheet and then discussed the findings with a lab partner.

Sincerely,
Mrs. J. Bretl