"Top Chef STEAM Style"

School:: Lake Park Elementary
Subject:: Other
Teacher:: Nancy Garousi
Students Impacted:: 19
Grade:: 3
Date:: September 10, 2018

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Thomas Grady - $1,389.77

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 20

Having “Top Chef, STEAM Style” implemented this year had many positive outcomes, some expected some unexpected! From our first “Top Chef” challenge, the students were hooked into the unit. Their excitement was infectious knowing they were going to take the content that was presented to them from various subject areas and apply it to cooking! From that point on, their desire to learn more, gain skills and work together was magnified. By the nature of the challenges, the children intrinsically pushed themselves to learn more. The class completed 7 challenges this year, and with each challenge they grew in every way imaginable.

Another amazing outcome was the students’ increase in positive communication and collaboration! With each challenge presented to them, students had to step up their skills not just academically but socially. The number of partners fluctuated with each challenge, therefore communication was paramount in order to successfully complete the cooking task. By our last challenge, minimal guidance was needed as these social skills were developed. The evolution of this from September was impressive!

“Cooking with Kindness” was another result from this unit. As these “Junior Chefs” cared for a garden that they planted at the start of the year, a salad delivery business was formed during “Kindness Week.” Students prepared and delivered fresh salads to staff members at LPE. They took such pride in picking, washing, and preparing the salads along with a hand-made sign from “Garousi’s Growers” with a special note to each staff member. Decorating cookies for the veterans for LPE’s Veterans Day program was another special moment. They were beaming as they handed out cookies that they had made from the heart.

Our final challenge, “The Cupcake Wars” not only included our class, but also extended to LPE guest student judges outside of our class, staff members, and former CCPS students, 2 of which were my children and 2 that were former students. It was the perfect storm of education at its finest. Knowledge was necessary, and it truly was real-life learning at its finest. At the end of the day, my class used countless skills that they had learned through the year to complete something that is real life. Memories were made for all of us!

As the grant provided many non-consumable materials, future students of mine will benefit from the generosity of this donor and “Champions for Learning”. As a classroom teacher, to be able to deliver curriculum in this manner is a dream! With limited funding on the school level, programs and donors such as yours livens up our classrooms and enables our students to get more excited about being at school and learning!

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

My goal with this year-long project is for my students to make the connection between the learning that takes place in the classroom and real life experiences. Cooking is one of those hands on activities that incorporates STEAM, (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) and gets students excited to learn! My goal is to introduce a new cooking challenge every 2-3 months that incorporates our learning standards that were recently taught in all subjects. The challenge will require students to utilize the learning that took place up until the challenge in order to successfully prepare the menu item. In addition to the cross over in curriculum, my goal is to have the students use their communication, cooperation, and collaboration skills in order to successfully complete each challenge. The bonus to this project will be that some of our ingredients for the challenges will come from our class garden that the students will have cared for through the year. Food tends to be the universal language that removes barriers and brings people together. I want my students to apply their knowledge, make connections to real life learning, and come together in our classroom family to successfully complete each challenge as they gain a sense of pride in their hard work, commitment to their peers, and their learning!

What will be done with my students

Every 2-3 months, a food challenge will be presented to the class that ties in the various content areas. Each challenge will require the teams of chefs to use science, technology, engineering, art, and math by the end of the culinary project. As each group completes their cooking challenge, they will be responsible for recording a digital entry/diary response to what took place during the challenge. In this entry, the students will have to tie in the elements of the challenge to the elements of STEAM. In addition, photos will be taken by the students during each challenge so that an I Movie can be made at the end of the year. A final component of the video diary will be a reflection piece as to how their team did with cooperation, communication, and collaboration. The hope would be for the students to build on the experiences from each challenge in order to increase the successes in the above mentioned areas. A final cookbook will be made at the end of the year that will include photos of the completed projects as well as written student reflection pieces.

Benefits to my students

"Top Chef STEAM Style" will allow every student, despite the academic, economic, or social backgrounds to successfully participate in the learning transpiring during these challenges. Not only will students have opportunities to reinforce and extend on their learning, this project will truly reinforce the importance of communication amongst their peers! We will tap into the lost art of talking while creating a meal, and enjoying it as a classroom family! Science, technology, engineering, art and math all will be in full force as these young chefs create food that mirrors the curriculum that is placed in front of them, not in a standardized test, but in a REAL LIFE experience!

Budget Narrative

The above budget includes many items that are non consumable. As a result, future classes will be able to benefit from this unit. The material costs above were based on lowest prices on Amazon as well as items that could be purchased at the Dollar Store. All items will enable the children to safely participate in challenges in a Top Chef format. Having enough materials for each team will ensure all children playing an equal role in each challenge presented to them.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Baking Sheets (1 set)	$32.99
2	Oster Counter Convection Oven (3 @135)	$405.00
3	Cupcake Pans (4 @16.99)	$67.96
4	Kitchen Prep Bowls ( 4@12.74)	$50.96
5	chef hats/aprons ( 6 sets @16.95)	$101.70
6	kitchen cooking tools (4 @ 27.79)	$111.16
7	oven mitts	$20.00
8	Cupcake War Ingredients	$100.00
9	Garden Pizza Ingredients	$100.00
10	Sweet Delights Ingredients	$100.00
11	Breakfast Buffet Ingredients	$100.00
12	Paper Products	$100.00
13	Breakfast Buffet Ingredients	$100.00
	Total:	$1,389.77

Please share this page to help in fulfilling this grant.