February 21, 2022
Students of the district’s developmental kindergarten program recently completed a unique, creative learning unit that incorporated interactive play and real-world experiences while also developing important soft-skills such as teamwork and communication.
While students of the program enjoy playing kitchen during free-play, the behind-the-scenes operations of a restaurant often remain a mystery. To give purpose to this play, students participated in a restaurant-themed unit that helped them gain a better understanding of how a meal makes it to the table of a restaurant.
Students learned about the roles of customers, servers, and cooks, and how they all work together to create the dining experience. Naturally, students then extended this learning by incorporating lessons into play to explore concepts in a hands-on way. To see professionals in action and gain a firsthand look at how a restaurant operates, students even took a field trip to Bondurant’s Boxcar BBQ.
To conclude the unit, with the help of their teacher, students turned their classroom into a restaurant of their own and invited their parents and family members to participate in the fun. On the afternoons of February 17-18, Ms. Collins’ classroom turned into the Garfield Street Pizzeria, with students taking turns as cooks or servers, and then joining their family members as customers of the restaurant. The menu included pizzas with an English muffin base, pudding offerings, and lemonade or water.
During this one-of-a-kind restaurant unit, students had opportunities to work with their peers to solve problems, role-play jobs in a restaurant, learn about healthy eating, and develop language and literacy skills.
More photos on our Flickr account at www.flickr.com/photos/bfcsd/albums.
