A Classroom Where the Lessons are Baked In
When Amy Cavalieri’s third grade students at Buchanan-Verplanck headed home for the Thanksgiving holiday, they brought freshly baked loaves of pumpkin bread with them. The class prepared the batter at school, and Cavalieri baked the loaves at home. Each loaf featured the recipe attached to it, so families could enjoy it together in the future.
“Baking is so much more than what most people think,” said Cavalieri. “It touches on so many different academic areas.”
When students were introduced to the tools that they would be using (teaspoon, tablespoon, measuring scoops, measuring cup, spatula, handheld can opener, etc.), it was similar to the way scientists choose what tools they will use in their work. The students also discussed where the term “teaspoon” and “tablespoon” came from, how to measure dry vs. liquid ingredients, and how measuring cups display liquid ounces/cups and milliliters, something that connected directly to a class lesson on metric measurement.
Students got a quick introduction to fractions when they used a ½ cup scoop to measure 3 cups of sugar. They used the tape diagram strategy to solve for the total number of half-cup scoops they would need to use (1 cup = two ½ cup scoops, so a total of six ½ cup scoops).
The students learned new vocabulary, such as the term, “combine,” which is used in both cooking and math to indicate things being “put together.” The students also learned how recipes are written in sequential order (directions), and how you need to follow those directions in the correct order to get the desired result.
Touching on social studies, the students smelled two different spices, cinnamon and nutmeg, and learned which country and continent they originated from, as well as what they looked like before they were ground.
Baking can serve as a delicious science lesson. Cavalieri explained how baking soda is used in many cake and bread recipes as a chemical leavener. Baking soda reacts with an acid (pumpkin) to produce carbon dioxide, which produces air that makes the bubbles in the pumpkin bread batter expand/rise.
The baking activity also served as a lesson in collaboration. As students took turns measuring, cracking eggs and whisking them into the batter, and stirring to combine all the ingredients, they learned how to work together. For example, one student would measure a dry ingredient while another would “level it off,” or one student would hold the bowl steady as another stirred the ingredients together.
“Making the pumpkin bread in school was a fun activity!” said student Lana Marte. “I really enjoyed helping measure and mix the ingredients, and I had fun baking with my teacher and friends -- I can't wait to bake together again!”
“Students love the hands-on experience that baking provides,” said Cavalieri, who studied restaurant management before becoming a teacher. “For some students, this was their first time cracking an egg!”