In this unit, students will conduct Internet searches to find recipes for appetizers, main courses, side dishes, and desserts that appeal to them. Students will report on their dinners and compile their menus into a class Web cookbook. Use the Web to conduct research and publish finished products of the unit. Students use the Web and other resources provided to select several recipes to combine into a menu they can cook for their families at home. Taking into consideration the number of people they plan to serve and the amount of money they have to work with, students plan their menus in preparation for buying the appropriate amounts of the necessary ingredients at the grocery store.
Students report briefly on their experiences shopping and cooking dinner for their families.
Students use HTML editing software to write their menus, including suggestions based on their own experiences cooking them, cultural and social context for the recipes, and pictures or graphics if they choose. These standards may help teachers to focus math and geography learning in their classrooms. The plans for this unit are tailored to fit teaching situations where students have access to several computers with an Internet connection. To accommodate classrooms that do not have access to a computer lab with full Internet connections, students can work in research groups to explore Internet sites and conduct their research. This will allow the whole class to see sites in the preliminary stages when students are exploring sites created by other children.