Cooking in the Classroom: Life Skills for High School Students

Funded May 7, 2024

Our students are so grateful for your donations which made the purchasing of these kitchen tools possible. It is still early in the school year, but our students have already made chocolate chip cookies and salmon patties! Not only does the activity of cooking help to support our teens with planning, organization, and time management - it also helps students discover a new skill set and feel pride and excitement in the process of making something and experience success and enjoyment through eating their creations. The process has also been illuminating for myself as an occupational therapist; through problem-solving the steps to baking cookies, one student had difficulty opening packages, so we worked on strategies to support their functional fine motor skills in the moment. We are already making plans for future bakes with students expressing goals of cooking certain foods they've never tried before, e.g., one student said they want to learn how to prepare meat because they've never done it before and this particular student usually says "I don't know" when asked what they would like to learn - cooking is motivating! The development of new skills are endless with cooking and the impact on our students is profound. Thank you so much.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Linda