Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 26

Though the pots, pans and utensil sets that were funded did not arrive in my classroom before spring break we did begin our Baking a Business program.  The students in the Modified Curriculum classroom were very excited to learn that we were getting new pots, pans and utensils for our program.  Students have worked very hard and shown an increase in motivation in the classroom.  Money skills, which before were considered "boring" or "too hard". now had a real life application and that has made so much difference.  Students worked with money, one way or another almost every school day.  They were either estimating how much we would need to spend to cook a particular recipe, counting change for our customers or determining how much of a profit their hard work had returned.

The other area in which we saw a tremendous amount of growth that could be directly attributing to our business was in pragmatic language skills.  Students who were reluctant to speak in the classroom were blossoming when asked to deliver baked good to faculty and staff.  The practiced what they would need to say; repeating orders, stating the amount of money owed, and of course, always finishing with "Thank you for ordering from The Cool Class Bakery".  The smiles and growing confidence were a thing of beauty.  

Students have participated in 'virtual cooking" in science class since we began e learning.  And through this process have seen and been able to participate in a cooking lesson with our  new materials.  The 19 students who will be returning to our class next year, as well as the upcoming 6th graders, will benefit greatly from the continuation of "The Cool Class Bakery" project.