Kindergarten Lesson Plan
Kindergarten or elementary school level
Should take about 30 minutes or more if you decide to recreate the cake
Class size- less than 30 students
Learning about recipes
This lesson plan works with the Memorial Book and Recipes document compiled by Marie Baca in 1957 and specifically the recipe for “Mayonnaise Cake.” This lesson assumes that the students have an understanding of mayonnaise as a condiment that is both salty and savory and cake as a sweet food. What the students probably do not know is that, at its basic level, mayonnaise is a combination of eggs and oil and tastes just fine when used in a cake recipe. Mayonnaise was also used as a substitute for butter. This lesson can be used to show how ingredients can be added together to make something different.
Materials you will need:
Pictures of ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, water, and mayonnaise; Pictures of cake and also pictures of eggs and oil to show how mayonnaise is made
Recipe for “Mayonnaise Cake” from Memorial Book and Recipes
If possible, have ingredients on hand to recreate this recipe
Objectives
Students should learn:
- Ingredients combine to create something new
- Different cultures can have different recipes
- Czechs have preserved their culture in America
- Cooking (and adding things today) can be fun
This lesson could be an introduction to math, and specifically to a lesson about addition. This lesson could also be applied to a unit on food and cooking. This lesson plan is designed to be flexible and to engage the students with food as a central topic.
Class Agenda
Show the students the picture(s) of cake. Ask them if they know how to make a cake. Let them know if the ingredients they say are correct or not, adding ingredient pictures to the board as the students name them. Explain that a cake is made up of many different ingredients that do not taste very good on their own.
Tell the students that a certain group of people in Texas have a recipe for cake with an interesting ingredient. Show the pictures of a jar of mayonnaise and cake together. If students are unsure of what mayonnaise is, ask them about tuna salad or compare it to other condiments.
Ask the students how they think mayonnaise could taste in a cake. Then, show the pictures of eggs and oil adding up to create mayonnaise. Ask the students if eggs and oil taste good when combined in a cake.
End the lesson by reminding the students that adding ingredients together can add up to a new (and tasty) result. If feasible, recreate the recipe in front of the students.