Date: Fri 24-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

schools-chocolate-sandy-hook

Full Text:

The Three Rs Get Dipped In Chocolate

(with photos)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

Reading, writing and arithmetic. Children in Jacky McMahon's first grade class

learn the three Rs the easy way -- with chocolate!

Measuring chocolate, manufacturing chocolate bars, and exploring the various

states of matter possible for polar bear pies (from frozen-solid through mushy

to dripping liquid ice cream with little bits of still-solid chocolate) are

just some of the irresistible, if somewhat messy, activities planned around

the theme of chocolate over the next two weeks.

For two years now, Jacky McMahon and Tiffany Lotko, two first grade teachers

from Sandy Hook School, have integrated studies in math, art, science and

language arts in their unit "Adding Chocolate to the Curriculum."

Mrs Lotko, who is on a one-year leave of absence because she is expecting

twins at Christmas, is enjoying presenting this tasty unit with Mrs McMahon in

her class.

It was the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl that inspired

Mrs McMahon and Mrs Lotko to bring all subject areas together in an in-depth

study of chocolate.

After discussing the book, and exploring the (temporary) demise of the

characters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (all but Charlie had a

weakness, such as gluttony or whininess, which made them unsuitable as the

owner of a chocolate factory) students got to transform their classroom into

their own chocolate factory.

The first graders brought in a variety of ingredients to create their own

original chocolates at school which Zoe Rabinowitz, in first grade, recounted

step by step.

"We made chocolate, mixed plain ordinary candies and poured the chocolate over

them, and that is how you make a chocolate bar." She looked at the collection

of unusually-shaped chocolate things with bits sticking up and said, "but ours

are kind of weird. Mine has candy corn and jelly beans in it!"

Exuberance ran rampant, not only in the creation, but also in the naming and

drawing of the chocolate bars. Eric Riddle said his candy bar was the

airplane, because it had a tail.

Justin Craparo's "worm surprise" was perhaps the most astonishing of all. A

gummy worm poked its little head out of one end. Justin was itching to bite it

off, but he had to wait until he had weighed and measured it, and done a

little write-up about it first.

Predicting and creating patterns, estimating and counting in M&M's is another

important part of the unit. But perhaps the class favorite in this part of the

unit is the integration of subtraction with taste analysis!

With information from so many sources and senses, the children need many ways

of organizing it, which is another main thrust of this material. Through a

variety of graphing techniques, diagrams, story maps (outlines of stories) and

K-W-L (what we K now, what we W ant to know, and what we L earned), students

see the many ways of dealing with their newfound knowledge and understanding.

Students also do literary comparisons, comparing the book Charlie and the

Chocolate Factory with the video Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ,

which is based on the book. Mrs McMahon said that "children practice making

the connection between listening and visual components, and exercise their

skills of observation" through the many comparisons they make.

They will then prepare a Venn diagram comparing the book and video. The Venn

diagram is two circles that overlap in the middle, so there are three places

to put their ideas. Elements can belong to the book alone, the video alone,

or, if placed where the circles overlap, to both the book and the video.

This literary analysis will be extended to include other great works on the

topic of chocolate, such as the book, The Big Block of Chocolate by Janet

Redhead. Then the class with synthesize all their weird, wonderful and

creative thoughts on chocolate and literature in the creation of a class book

on chocolate, which they can read together.

To summarize the unit and give the class a more realistic view on the actual

manufacture of chocolate, the class brainstorms for ideas and writes to the

Hershey company, detailing what they know , what they want to know, and what

they have learned about chocolate. Hershey's reply to their writing efforts

will no doubt leave them with a good taste in their mouths, and the whole

experience will give them an openness and eagerness toward learning the three

Rs unparalleled by any text book versions.

Mrs McMahon and Mrs Lotko received a grant of $50 from the Sandy Hook PTA to

purchase the chocolate needed for this unit.