Tag Archives: Food

Creating Chilean Empanadas in Spanish Class

Leave a reply

Spanish teacher Mr. Cáreces has a deep love for the cuisine and culture of his native Chile. As Grade 7 students read their first TPRS (Language Learning Books Online) novel Casi Se Muere, they began to explore various aspects of Chile, including food. To enrich this experience, girls spent a class period making empanadas and reflecting on Chilean culture. This morning the delicious empanadas were shared with the entire Grade 7 cohort.

Understanding Character Traits Through Food

Leave a reply

Grade 2 has been doing a deep study of book characters in order to understand outside and inside traits. As part of this investigation, girls did a lesson using food and recipe writing. Ms. Biale brought two kinds of biscuits, sweet and savory. The biscuits looked the same from the outside, but tasted differently on the inside. This hands on experience helped students see that the outside is just a part of the story. Then the girls wrote “recipes” to describe characters in their books. They wrote descriptions like “1 cup of bravery, 1 teaspoon of fear, and a dash of cleverness,” alongside a drawing of the character. Later, students also created recipes to describe themselves. This integrating of food with literature provided a wonderful and profound learning experience.

Plants to Pizza: Cooking in Grade 2

Leave a reply

Guest post by Natalie in Grade 2 

For our last Living Wall project, Grade 2 planted herbs and cooked or baked with them. On Monday (5/6), Ms. Biale gave us a bunch of different recipes and each group used their herb as the main ingredient. We made lemon-verbena scones, peppermint lemonade, mini-pizzas with oregano, rosemary shortbread, and cucumber chive sandwiches. I was in the pizza group. Chopping up the oregano was pretty hard because we got the tomato sauce all over the place and it was slippery to cut. After the food was baked and cooked, we celebrated in our class by having a garden party and ate or drank everything we made. It was delicious! My favorite part was eating the food. From now on, I will make pizza at home with my oregano.

Grade 4 Builds A Superfood

Leave a reply

As a part of the puberty and body image unit in science (a collaboration between Lower School Science Specialist, Konika Ray and Lower School Counselor, Kylie Cobb), Grade 4 learned about how different kinds of foods help our bodies. Using the idea that building our body is like building a car, girls discussed how carbohydrates are like the gasoline, proteins are the frame of the car, healthy fats power the car’s control system, and vitamins & minerals are oil for a car, keeping the internal systems running smoothly.

Students then made Superfood oat-based energy balls. They followed a recipe, then got to customize, adding ingredients like: cranberries, raisins, coconut, lime zest, flaxseed meal, blueberries, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, mango, and banana. Students found the final product absolutely delicious!

Hamlin’s New Food and Cooking Elective

1 Reply

This year, students participated in Hamlin’s new Food & Cooking elective. Girls learned all the basic skills required to cook delicious, homemade meals. They developed their own recipes and learned about various food topics, from seasonal produce and whole grains to the cultural histories and identities behind favorite dishes.

As the class wrapped up, the Grade 8 Food & Cooking elective invited the whole 8th grade to come taste what they made.

Below was the menu:

Soy glazed turkey meatballs with scallions and parsley
Tofu and pork dumplings with cabbage and carrots
Bean & Cheese burritos with homemade churros
Homemade pigs in a blanket and mac and cheese
Grilled teriyaki chicken skewers with veggie fried rice

Ten Grade 7 girls will be taking this elective in February.

Special thanks to Wanda M. Holland Greene who generously shared her kitchen with our students.

Hamlin University: Year 2

Leave a reply

At The Hamlin School we want parents to learn with us. We feel that a community functions best when we are all knowledgeable about the philosophical and practical approaches to educating children. With this in mind, today we launched our second year of Hamlin University.

The following classes are taking place over the course of this academic year:

-Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) for Parents, taught by Kylie Cobb

-The Birds and the Bees, taught by Konika Ray

-The Beginning Reader, taught by Lindsay Bothwell

-Public Speaking, taught by Tim Johnson

-Moving Beyond the Leveled Letters, taught by Lindsay Bothwell

-Think Like a Mathematician, taught by Gillis Kallem

Continue reading →

Hamlin Kindergarteners Make A Bakery

Leave a reply

A Hamlin Kindergarten class (Ortiz/Burnett) has been focusing their emergent class study on baking. This study is based on student interest through questions, observations, and curiosity. When possible, baking has been integrated into various aspects of class, including math, science, and writing. The girls have also been baking bread all year long with a bread-making machine.

Their study culminated with creating an actual bakery. Rainbow the Bakery opened June 1, and will be operating during the early part of this month. The girls have been busy refining their baking skills and are very excited to share their passion with customers.

The money raised from the items purchased at Rainbow the Bakery will be donated to Cake4Kids. Cake4Kids is a nonprofit in the Bay Area that provides birthday cakes for children in youth programs who would not otherwise have the opportunity for such a treat. Part of their mission is to: Bake and deliver custom birthday cakes to underprivileged children. We raise children’s self-esteem by simply showing we care.

To learn more about Cake4Kids please visit: http://www.cake4kids.org/

 

Kindergarten Visits Jane the Bakery

Leave a reply

A Hamlin Kindergarten class (Ortiz/Burnett) has been focusing their emergent class study on baking. This study is based on student interest through questions, observations, and curiosity. When possible, baking is integrated into various aspects of class, including math, science, and writing. The class has been baking bread all year long with a bread-making machine, but visiting Jane the Bakery (on Geary Street), provided students with an engaging firsthand experience.

Born from a deep-seated love of all things culinary, Amanda Michael founded JANE to satisfy her passion and deliver memorable experiences to the many loyal and transient guests who have come to love the institution. Amanda’ s career in food and hospitality spans decades and she has spent many years cooking and baking in a myriad of restaurants.

Amanda opened Jane on Fillmore in February 2011 with the mission of serving top quality coffee, pastries, breakfast and lunch. We serve healthy food with an emphasis on flavor and quality of ingredients. Everything is made fresh daily from scratch.

Jane on Larkin opened in 2013 and our expanded space allowed us to introduce our own line of breads in addition to our house-made pastries. We also introduced our full catering department.

In late 2016, Jane the Bakery opened, allowing us to expand our bakery program even more. We bake several dozen breads daily as well as a full line of laminated items and pastries. Our breads and pastries have quickly gained recognition as some of the best you can find.

As part of their Jane experience students:

-Watched the baking of baguettes

-Watched the baking of cookies

Continue reading →

Baking Math Into Cakes

Leave a reply

Today Grade 5 students had the opportunity to bake a cake and learn about fractions as part of the process.

Students began by completing various math problems in order to determine the quantity of an ingredient required for their specific cake.

Example:

Ingredient 1:

Bennett had 1 & 1/12 hours to play. He walked to the park for 1/2 of an hour. He played at the park for 1/3 of an hour. He ran to a friend’s house for 1/6 of an hour. What fraction of an hour does he have to play at his friend’s if it takes him 1/4 of an hour to walk home from his friend’s house?

The answer (to the above problem) provides the amount of vegetable oil needed for the cake.

Students completed a series of math questions, unlocking the ingredient amounts needed to make a successful cake.

The girls then answered questions related to their recipes, followed a procedure, while also making a couple of hypotheses about the project.

Continue reading →

Chef’s Table at Hamlin

Leave a reply

Created by our Food Manager, Tali Biale, middle school students from The Hamlin School are participating in Chef’s Table, where 15 girls meet in the afternoon, using fresh ingredients to prepare delicious dishes.

Today, students prepared Vietnamese spring rolls using mint, cilantro, basil, beets, avocados, onions, tofu, carrots, peppers, and a variety of other ingredients and sauces.

Ms. Biale states:

The vision is to have girls create their own food, be part of the process, and build community around collaborative cooking.

A Hamlin student shared:

Being a teen in San Francisco you usually rely on take out food or your parents cooking. Food tastes better because you know exactly what went into it and how it was made. It was a fun learning experience with friends.

Keep an eye out for the next Chef’s Table taking place in February in the East Dining Room.