Edible Lessons

Who doesn't love a deliciously edible lesson? I know as a student, I always found such lessons extremely memorable, and I am sure students still echo the same sentiments.  You want to limit how often you do such lessons, for health and money purposes and so your students don't begin to think the only way they can learn is by eating.  A good way to incorporate such lesson is as a class reward. As you know there are many, many edible lessons. One of my favorites is using candy, or for healthier purposes raisins, cheerios, etc.., as math manipulatives. Incorporate these treats into lessons for sorting, adding, multiplying, fractions; the opportunities are many. I have posted a couple of my favorite edible ideas as well. If you are a teacher that has a great edible lesson that you would like to share, post a link to it in the comments and I might just choose to feature a link to you and your lesson in an upcoming post.

1.. Bake a cake!- Bake and decorate a cake to go along with whatever unit or lesson you are teaching. Get creative! Be sure to take pictures and talk about the cake design with students  and incorporate it into a lesson. Perhaps have students make observations. 

For a night and day Lesson I created the following cake: I was pressed for time, so it's nothing fancy and was very cheap to make. I'm sure you crafty, amazing teachers can really make some amazing cakes..in fact, if you decide to make a cake, feel free to share it with us! (The picture of course)

night and day edible lesson

Learning through song

Learning through song and music  is a wonderful way to engrain material you have taught in your students' brains. I have found that students truly love music. As a class we have created our own songs to explain lessons, and have also listened to and recited songs from around the internet. If you are having your own class create a song, it might get a bit loud..but typically they are going be on task and will truly enjoy making their songs. Set ground rules (location, how loud, content that needs to be included, length, type of genre). I have heard some wonderful raps, country tunes, and playful kid songs come from my own students. Having students create their own songs makes them responsible for their learning in a fun manner, and they are likely to remember their song and classmates' songs.

I have a few links for free songs that may go well with a lesson you are teaching. They are fun and cute. Think about your audience when you are choosing songs. I find that a 5th grade class will not appreciate cutesy "itsy-bitsy spider" style songs as much as younger students. Try to understand the type of music your students listen to. As a teacher, they will especially appreciate you if you come up with your own original song for the class.

1. Have Fun Teaching Songs - a large amount of songs for various subjects (writing, phonics, science, math, ELA, counting, etc...) and grade levels. The songs have lyrics, are free, catchy, and the students will love them! Other wonderful resources are available on this site as well.