Sixth graders in South Orangetown Middle School teachers Allyn Flaherty and Tara McCarthy’s Home and Careers Investigations classes have been busy in the kitchen over the past few weeks to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Italian-American Heritage Month!
prepare recipes that are seasonal as well as recognize heritage celebrations throughout the year,” said McCarthy. To recognize Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), students prepared an Elote dip, which is Mexican street corn. Last week, students learned about Italian-American Heritage Month (October 1-31) and prepared bruschetta and this week, they are going to make zeppole. “There is so much that happens within the food preparation. We discuss kitchen safety and cleanliness, food storage, quantity, measuring, temperature, portioning and many other aspects of cooking,” said Flaherty.
Investigations is a class that is part of the Explore Cycle at SOMS and it focuses on strategies to manage the individual, family, career and community roles and responsibilities. McCarthy is an ELA teacher and Flaherty is a math teacher, so they each focus on incorporating their main subjects into the daily enrichment activities in their Investigations classes. Students are currently working on a “Budget and Bills” project-based learning activity where they have to design and calculate their own personal budget as they learn about the basics of financial planning.
