Cooking Week 6

Cooking Investigation: Week of October 29^th, 2012

With the short week because of the upcoming holiday this was a good week to revisit our pasta making adventure, as well as talk about some new ideas about what to make next.  As we flipped through the pictures of our pasta making event the children made comments about the pasta making machine, as well as comments about Grandma.  The children were very excited to work with Ms. Camardese’s grandma making such a wonderful dish.  Having a new face in the classroom is always exciting, especially when someone is willing to share their knowledge and expertise.  They were also very excited about using the pasta machine again.  Turning the crank, problem solving how to make materials move through the rollers and figuring out how to work together proved to be a challenge, but once the children understood the workings of the machine pasta making was a breeze.  When looking through the pictures Ella saw one of her and said, “I cooking.  I making pasta. I mixing, look it Ella.”  The children were very excited to see their images on the computer screen as well as talk about the events which unfolded.  We discussed the process and talked about what happened first (making the dough) and then what happened next (rolling the pasta).  We also spent some time working with the pasta making machine.  The children tried to roll anything and everything through the rollers.  They now had the hang of how the machine worked.  As we revisited we continue to introduce new vocabulary.  The children are beginning to use these words during their play, as well as imitating some of the actions we have done while cooking (rolling, kneading, etc.).  Revisiting helps the children remember their actions, and think about how to recreate them.

Next week we plan to revisit some of our ingredient investigations, as well as plan for our upcoming curriculum night.  We hope to create a dish and show off our cooking skills to the families who visit our classroom.  We will continue to plan for future recipes as well as investigate new ingredients.  We are continuing to strengthen our community bond as well, by wor king together, eating together and planning together.