7th Grade Kitchen Safety Unit
Lesson 1 – Food Safety and Sanitation - 3 Days
Objective: SWBAT identify sources of food contamination, explain how to handle food safely, describe ways to keep the kitchen clean
Activities: Chapter notes, videos of food poisoning cases, study guide, small group discussions, Virtual Kitchen Interactive Game, Kitchen Observation Padlet, Review Jeopardy
Lesson 2 – Kitchen Safety - 3 Day
Objective: SWBAT identify causes of common kitchen accidents, describe ways the prevent the five most common categories of accidents in the kitchen
Activities: Chapter notes, videos of grease fires, study guide, small group discussions, Virtual Kitchen Interactive Game, Kitchen Observation Padlet, Review Jeopardy
Lesson 3 – The Bad Bugs - 1 Day
Objective: SW explore five different types of harmful bacteria, their effects on the body, common food sources and preventions
Activities: Bad Bug Book Study Guide, www.badbugbook.com
Unit Test- 1 Day
Objective: SWBAT identify sources of food contamination, explain how to handle food safely, describe ways to keep the kitchen clean
Activities: Chapter notes, videos of food poisoning cases, study guide, small group discussions, Virtual Kitchen Interactive Game, Kitchen Observation Padlet, Review Jeopardy
Lesson 2 – Kitchen Safety - 3 Day
Objective: SWBAT identify causes of common kitchen accidents, describe ways the prevent the five most common categories of accidents in the kitchen
Activities: Chapter notes, videos of grease fires, study guide, small group discussions, Virtual Kitchen Interactive Game, Kitchen Observation Padlet, Review Jeopardy
Lesson 3 – The Bad Bugs - 1 Day
Objective: SW explore five different types of harmful bacteria, their effects on the body, common food sources and preventions
Activities: Bad Bug Book Study Guide, www.badbugbook.com
Unit Test- 1 Day
Reflection
On day one of class I stress the importance of safety within the classroom, both for sewing and the foods lab. It is a constant sense of concern for me; I am responsible for the safety of twenty-four students who have access to knives, hot pans, boiling water and potentially hazardous food products. Because the safety of my students in the kitchen is such a priority, the proper, thorough education of the students is important.
If my students are life-long Aberdonians, they will have had kitchen safety lessons in the 6th grade, either at Simmons of our sister middle school Holgate. This is not necessarily true for students who transfer into the school system from another district. When a new student comes to Simmons, I have conversations with them regarding their previous experience in the kitchen and FACS classes. To provide a knowledge base for these students, and to refresh the memories of my current students, I do a review of concepts learned in sixth grade, and then build the seventh grade concepts onto their previous knowledge. In addition to general education students, Achieve students also participate in FACS classes. All students participate in all the various activities, but assignments are leveled and tailored to meet the needs of each individual child. Modifications include shortened assignments, scribes, chunked assignments and test, alternative testing locations, and oral tests.
During note taking, students are encouraged to ask questions and, during the designated time, share examples of different kitchen catastrophes they have witnessed, or caused. Since causing outbreaks of food borne illness and setting fire to the lab kitchen are highly discouraged, I employ the liberal use of vetted YouTube videos to help demonstrated the potential severity of food poisoning and the very real damage caused by grease fires in the kitchen. Students participate in small group discussions on topic related to kitchen safety and safe food handling.
Students are driven by technology; it makes sense then to use any technology resources available to supplement classroom learning. The Bad Bug Book is a website created by the Food and Drug Administration designed to educate youth about food poisoning without becoming overly graphic. The information is written using terminology is at an appropriate level for middle school students. The Virtual Kitchen game allows the students to interact with different kitchen safety hazards through an avatar. When the students identify a hazard, they are tasked with choosing the best possible solution for the resolution of the problem. Students are engaged in the activity, they do not want to be the first person to start over when they have injured their avatar. The Kitchen Observation Padlet challenges students to identify the potential hazards and provide a solution based off our classroom discussions.
The entire kitchen safety unit culminates in a test. There are four versions of the test administered to my students. Two versions are for general education students and are identical save for the order of the questions. One version is geared for student in special education and is shortened and chunked. The score for the special education students is figured proportionally compared to the general education students. The last test is geared to students in the Achieve classroom. This test is more pictures based than text and is also score proportionally. For my fifth hour students the ranges of test scores were 41-55 out of a possible 50 points with a potential 5 extra credit points. The mean score was 48.44 with a standard deviation of 4.17. The sixth hour scores had a range of 40-54 points out of a possible 50 with an optional 5 extra credit points. The mean score was 47.82 with a standard deviation of 4.07. Students must score a minimum of a 40 out of 50 to be eligible for participation if foods lab. Students who do not initially achieve this score are required to rework their incorrect answers, citing the page in the book where the answer can be found.
Even though the kitchen safety unit comes to an end, the content is never far from the minds of my students. Every time a student steps into the foods lab, they are expected to demonstrate the application of the content covered in the kitchen safety lessons. Students are quick to point out potential issues throughout the kitchen to their peers and to myself as well. I have even had reports from parents that their child is correcting their practices at home while they are cooking. While somewhat embarrassing for both myself and the parent in question, I see it as a sign that my students are absorbing the content from their class experiences.
If my students are life-long Aberdonians, they will have had kitchen safety lessons in the 6th grade, either at Simmons of our sister middle school Holgate. This is not necessarily true for students who transfer into the school system from another district. When a new student comes to Simmons, I have conversations with them regarding their previous experience in the kitchen and FACS classes. To provide a knowledge base for these students, and to refresh the memories of my current students, I do a review of concepts learned in sixth grade, and then build the seventh grade concepts onto their previous knowledge. In addition to general education students, Achieve students also participate in FACS classes. All students participate in all the various activities, but assignments are leveled and tailored to meet the needs of each individual child. Modifications include shortened assignments, scribes, chunked assignments and test, alternative testing locations, and oral tests.
During note taking, students are encouraged to ask questions and, during the designated time, share examples of different kitchen catastrophes they have witnessed, or caused. Since causing outbreaks of food borne illness and setting fire to the lab kitchen are highly discouraged, I employ the liberal use of vetted YouTube videos to help demonstrated the potential severity of food poisoning and the very real damage caused by grease fires in the kitchen. Students participate in small group discussions on topic related to kitchen safety and safe food handling.
Students are driven by technology; it makes sense then to use any technology resources available to supplement classroom learning. The Bad Bug Book is a website created by the Food and Drug Administration designed to educate youth about food poisoning without becoming overly graphic. The information is written using terminology is at an appropriate level for middle school students. The Virtual Kitchen game allows the students to interact with different kitchen safety hazards through an avatar. When the students identify a hazard, they are tasked with choosing the best possible solution for the resolution of the problem. Students are engaged in the activity, they do not want to be the first person to start over when they have injured their avatar. The Kitchen Observation Padlet challenges students to identify the potential hazards and provide a solution based off our classroom discussions.
The entire kitchen safety unit culminates in a test. There are four versions of the test administered to my students. Two versions are for general education students and are identical save for the order of the questions. One version is geared for student in special education and is shortened and chunked. The score for the special education students is figured proportionally compared to the general education students. The last test is geared to students in the Achieve classroom. This test is more pictures based than text and is also score proportionally. For my fifth hour students the ranges of test scores were 41-55 out of a possible 50 points with a potential 5 extra credit points. The mean score was 48.44 with a standard deviation of 4.17. The sixth hour scores had a range of 40-54 points out of a possible 50 with an optional 5 extra credit points. The mean score was 47.82 with a standard deviation of 4.07. Students must score a minimum of a 40 out of 50 to be eligible for participation if foods lab. Students who do not initially achieve this score are required to rework their incorrect answers, citing the page in the book where the answer can be found.
Even though the kitchen safety unit comes to an end, the content is never far from the minds of my students. Every time a student steps into the foods lab, they are expected to demonstrate the application of the content covered in the kitchen safety lessons. Students are quick to point out potential issues throughout the kitchen to their peers and to myself as well. I have even had reports from parents that their child is correcting their practices at home while they are cooking. While somewhat embarrassing for both myself and the parent in question, I see it as a sign that my students are absorbing the content from their class experiences.