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This school year, the BCTN was once more awarded grants by the Bethel Education Foundation. We are very thankful to be better able to provide opportunities for our students to practice daily living skills. Our grants this year were: The Community is our Classroom, and Culinary Arts Program.
Culinary Arts Program
The Culinary Arts project would allow for BCTN students to attend classes focusing both on nutrition and cooking. For example, During the first part of the week, students in class study the basics of nutrition and related topics, such as the farm-to-table movement, the food pyramid, the effects of fast food and the cause of obesity, in the classroom. The latter half of the week is spent meal planning, budgeting, grocery shopping and getting in the kitchen and preparing healthy dishes like fish tacos or salads with quinoa. The BCTN Culinary arts class can also help students develop other life skills, such as creativity, self-expression, and cultural awareness. We would also like to incorporate a few opportunities to go to an inexpensive restaurant and order a healthy dish, working with local businesses and food establishments that have fresh farm to table food. The class would consist of direct teaching and hands-on learning in the areas of:
Nutrition:
Emphasize variety. Explain that all food groups are important and that there's no one right way to eat. Encourage students to eat a variety of foods and to be consistent, not perfect.
Teach about labels. Show students how to read nutrition labels and help them understand how to use them to make healthy choices.
Invite local experts, like dietitians, to teach lessons on topics like portion sizes or shopping on a budget.
Connect with Bethel school gardening programs. This can teach students how to care for plants and fruits and vegetables, and can also help them eat more vegetables.
Use journaling. Journaling can help students learn about their nutritional needs and preferences and can help them develop a better relationship with food.
Basic Cooking Skills:
Knife skills: Learn how to grip a knife, the names of different knives, and various cutting techniques. This can help you prepare food more efficiently and safely.
Kitchen safety: Learn how to handle, cook, and store food safely to avoid contamination. This includes practicing proper hygiene and cleaning standards.
Baking, broiling, and roasting: Learn how to bake, broil, and roast in the oven.
Stir-frying, boiling, and sautéing: Learn how to stir-fry, boil, and sauté on the stove.
Kneading dough: Learn how to knead dough to prepare breads, pizzas, and pastries.
Making sauces: Learn how to make sauces. Sauces can add flavor and make food more memorable.
Making stock: Learn how to make stock, which can elevate your cooking to a new level.
Using a peeler: Learn how to use a peeler to prepare vegetables like carrots and potatoes.
How to operate kitchen machinery such as: an oven, air fryer, toaster oven, microwave, juicer, blender and other.
Baking a potato, boiling rice/pasta, making eggs, and other staple items in the kitchen.
Meal Planning/Recipe:
Plan a meal, encourage students to think healthy and to consider the amount of time they have to cook.
Look for recipes online, or in cookbooks, or family or friends' favorites. Teach students to also consider what ingredients they already have on hand or what's on sale.
Make a grocery list. Teach students how to be thorough so they don't forget anything important.
Students follow the recipe and cook the meal.
Budgeting & Shopping:
At a local grocery store students will work on price estimation, best buy, next dollar and coin identification. They will also have opportunities to use a self checkout and or cashier, reading a receipt etc.
Teach students the benefit of generic brands. Teach students how to check for sales and coupons: Utilize weekly flyers and coupons to find deals on items you need.
Compare prices: Look at the price per unit to compare different sizes and brands.
Social Skills and Confidence:
Providing students a warm and welcoming environment to sit down together, visit, and eat and enjoy their meal.
Teach students that there is no such thing as imperfection in the cooking. If you undercook, put back in the oven and cook longer. Everyone makes mistakes and practice and repetition is how we learn to cook.
Provide students the opportunity to be able to cook independently and together with staff monitoring.
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The Community is Our Classroom:
This grant would allow for the BCTN students to have hands-on experiences with Community Based Instruction (CBI) in the students community. This is a strategy that promotes providing students in their natural environment with age appropriate activities. CBI, is a hands-on learning approach that is a critical component of the education program for students with disabilities, primarily because, as adults, the community is where they will need to use the skills acquired during and after their school years. Trips to community locations occur concurrently with classroom instruction. Many of these activities for CBI may have an admission fee for either Vocational opportunities, continuing education, and recreation or leisure. The promotion using the community as our classroom allows for students to participate in activities not alone, such as physical fitness activities and extracurricular activities. The community domain addresses many different areas that relate to the quality of life, including access to community resources, such as the following:
Travel
Community safety
Shopping (food, clothing, etc.)
Dining out (fast food and restaurants)
Community services (social security administration, medical, dental, legal services and libraries)
Recreation and Leisure
Teaching students in the community helps students develop life skills that prepare them for the “real world” after aging out of school services at the age of 21 years old, and it can also help build relationships between the school and the community. Residing in the rural Bethel area is often limited to community activities for these students. For transition aged youth under ODE one the domains of transition is to provide recreational activities and leisure pursuits. At BCTN, we have limited to no resources to do these types of activities. If this grant was funded we would be able to take students to places in our community that have admission fees that they typically would not be able to afford. Examples of places might include: Defy trampoline park, Cinemark, SPLASH, Putters, Round 1, Enchanted Forest, Bowling, Science Center, Omzi, gym memberships, Portland Zoo, Oregon Coast, the movie theater, art and pottery classes, Museums and similar related recreational places. Our hope is that by providing the students opportunities within the school day to participate in community leisure activities it will increase their overall student wellness such as: Sense of freedom, independence, and autonomy. As well as increase positive personal relationships and student attendance. Ideally these activities would support the students in having a more positive outlook on life, and give them additional purpose to come to school and to enjoy life.
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