| Reviewers Comments: | Like Get Cooking 1 , Get Cooking 2 is a cooking curriculum consisting of six two-hour classes designed to taught as part of an after school program. The first five classes are centered on the different food groups featured in MyPyramid – whole grains, vegetables, fruits, protein and dairy. The sixth class cover label reading skills including basic concepts of calories, sugar, fat, protein, fiber and salt.
Classes are organized similar to classes in Get Cooking 1 . They can be taught together as a series or individually as a stand-alone session. Each session includes a food preparation component, where students prepare a recipe based on the food group being covered that week. Recipes incorporate basic, inexpensive and readily available ingredients. A nutrition facts panel for each of the recipes would help reinforce label reading skills, which are fully reviewed in the final class. While a full kitchen is not required to prepare the recipes, some cooking equipment or utensils, as well as a sink and a clean work area will be needed.
The Instructor’s Guide for Get Cooking 2 reviews each lesson in detail. The educator will benefits from a lesson overview, guide to lesson and recipe setup and shopping list for each lesson. Many lessons include exercise, activities or demonstrations to enhance the students’ learning. Each lesson includes an assessment test to help the educator measure students’ progress. The Instructor’s Guide also includes tips for the instructor and several appendices which review seasonal fruits and vegetables in Northern California, additional web resources, an overall tool and consumable list, rules for kitchen etiquette and reference information for measurements equivalents and conversions.
While the Instructor’s Guide includes some basic background information, educators should already possess an in-depth knowledge of nutrition and MyPyramid, including foods in each group and how much is needed. Experience teaching children and teenagers would also be helpful. The curriculum recommends there is at least one instructor for every 8-12 students and an assistant (or several assistants, depending on class size) to help with recipe preparation and answering questions. Instructors will need to do some advance preparation before each class, including food shopping and preparing some food elements ahead of time.
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