SAKG

SAKG (Kitchen Garden)

All students have been very busy across the school learning about cooking and gardening as part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program and then linking it back to our science curriculum. For those that don’t know what it is: 

“The purpose of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation is to introduce pleasurable food education to children during their learning years, in order to form positive food habits for life. The recipe for effective food education is ...

Pleasurable food education emphasises the flavours as well as the health benefits of fresh, seasonal, delicious food.

Dishes cooked reflect the vegetables, herbs and fruits grown, season-by-season, by the children in their organic gardens, and also reflect the Australian Dietary Guidelines.

Kitchen educators emphasise balance and moderation, and endorse the concept of preparing fruit-based desserts ‘sometimes-only’.

Pleasurable food education is designed to be fully integrated into the curriculum or learning framework as it offers infinite possibilities to reinforce literacy, numeracy, science, cultural studies and all aspects of environmental sustainability.

Pleasurable food education delivers observable social benefits to all children, including those with special needs.

Pleasurable food education encourages critical thinking, teamwork, an understanding of cause and effect, and increased levels of observation.”

Prep: 

In Prep we have been linking our learning to shapes, which included learning about pizzas and creating our own “pizzas” to take home. We have also started to think about the world around us and have been using our five senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch) to explore the gardens at T.S.P.S. 

Grade 1/2:

In Grade 1/2 we have been learning all about plants, including the different parts of plants that we have in our gardens. We have also worked in groups to explore what is in our garden and we had lots of fun taking out our clipboards and looking like scientists. After our observing of plants, we thought about not only what they need to survive, but also what we need to survive as humans!

Grade 3/4:

In Grade 3/4 we started off our learning by thinking about kitchen and garden safety, we learned lots of interesting things about being hygienic and safe in the kitchen. We then learned about seeds and planted our own seeds to grow at school. We thought about the purpose of gardens and have completed a range of activities including: making recycled newspaper pots, weeding and learning about mulching. We have also started our cooking program by making tasty Lettuce Tacos which used some seasonal healthy produce. 

Grade 5/6: 

In Grade 5/6 we also thought about kitchen and garden safety and how it relates to our three school rules (Ready to Learn, Safe, Respectful). We then planted our own seeds, which have started to turn into seedlings. We also thought about what the living conditions are for plants and how we can change these to help our plants grow better. We also started our major garden project which was building our own ‘no dig’ gardens to look after. Then in our kitchen we have cooked flatbreads and dip, as well as started our journey towards gaining our Cooking Knife Licence by cutting up our own fruit salad!