Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Hmmm, I wonder what went wrong...


My FACS classes have been in the lab again. Today we made cookies- snickerdoodles and chocolate chip! Yum!! Teaching foods is always an adventure. A teacher is never sure what questions students will come up. A FOODS teacher is never sure what... product students will come up with. One of my lab groups called me over to their kitchen and showed me their pan of cookies. Then they asked me what they did wrong. This is what I saw:
Where to begin? Where to begin. We discussed the ingredients they used and based upon the flavor of the cookies (very eggish), we came up with a couple of reasonable ideas of what may have gone wrong. I hope it was a good learning experience.
This is what they were supposed to look like:

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Muffins


In Foods we had been studying Carbohydrates. Our lab for this unit was to make muffins- we discussed what a perfet muffin looks like and the process to go about making them. We made 6 different kinds of muffins- each unit made a different one. The students had a good time making and sampling them. One group was so excited (or maybe just bored) for their muffins to bake, that they sat and watched them!
Each group had to bring a muffin to the front of the room so we could assess whether students foolowed the muffin method or not. Group 6 did a great job!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Pizza







My FACS students are finally in the kitchen!! The classes yesterday and the class today made pizza. It was fun to see the students wearing the aprons they made (during the last unit) in the kitchens today. The pizzas turned out pretty good looking and my students liked them. They did a pretty good job in the lab. I was impressed.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Food Guide Pyramid Review

Today in Foods we reviewed the food guide pyramid. The students used tape to create the pyramid, then pictures of food to define each group. It was a good review of the materials and concepts we learned before the really long, great break we just had. The students had a good time working together to create their works of art and it was a good, quick way to get Foods on the brain!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Ice Cream and Apple Crisp


Today the Foods classes made homemade ice cream and apple crisp. My first period class did a great job making my classroom smell nice all day long! Everyone who walked in commented on the yummy smell. The ice cream was a little runny, but the flavor was good. Here are some pics of the products:
The students got a good workout with the ice cream. Since we don't have ice cream machines, we used ziplock bags. For the most part, there weren't any problems. We double bagged each step and duct taped the top. There were still a few groups who leaked though. Students commented on how cold their hands got while mixing the ice cream. Looking at the picture below it is hard to tell there is any ice cream in there! It was a fun lab!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Calzone Masterpeices

Today if Foods we had our Calzone Lab. Students barely had enough time to make and eat, but I think it was a successful lab. They sure smelled good! I think I will make them for dinner tonight at home! Students had the option of pepperoni, ham, olives or pineapple for their toppings.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Apron Projects



My FACS students have been working hard on making aprons. This is a picture of one of the student's aprons. She did a fabulous job. The aprons are double-sided. The students will be wearing them in the foods lab when we start cooking next quarter. For the most part, students have seemed proud of their projects. I think they are always amazed at how easy the projects are when they finish. They have been using the embroidery machine to personalize their projects and they have done some fun things.

I haven't written in a while because I needed to find out if I could get in trouble for writing about and putting pics of my students on the Internet. I still haven't gotten my answer, but I am going to go ahead and continue posting without using face pics.