Are YOU free on Friday 22 June? Do YOU want to win a day with Paul Hollywood?  Do YOU teach food?  Do YOU teach 11-14 year olds?  Do YOU teach in the UK? 

Celebrity baker Paul Hollywood is supporting the grainchain.com Inspire! competition for a second year.  The competition asks teachers to submit a single lesson plan which stimulates learning around one of five areas.  These are: baking for celebration events; incorporating local ingredients; celebrating bread and cake making; exploring a variety of flour and grainc; and making the most of seasonal foods.  There will be four prizes of £500 to enhance food work in school as well as a baking master class with Paul with the chance to ask him your questions and to get some baking tips to take back to the classroom. 

We have also developed a range of resources to springboard your ideas and to get your creative juices flowing.  We have starter activities, main activities and suggestions for plenary and extention activities.  Use all or some or none of these in your competition entry.  Remember, we just want one lesson plan. Reinvent a tried and tested old favourite or try out something new with your G&T students. 

Pancake day is coming up - you could use that to kick start your competition entry under the banner of baking for celebration events?

For further details or to download an entry form visit www.grainchain.com/competitions. The competition closes on 4 May.

Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake Day AKA Mardi Gras falls on Tuesday 21 February 2012 and is the last day before Lent. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up – so Shrove Tuesday is the final chance to indulge oneself and eat foods that aren’t allowed during Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden. Today Christians traditionally give up one thing, such as chocolate, for Lent. In days gone by there was a whole week of celebrations and in other parts of the world the celebrations are still very extravagant. The carnivals held in New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro originate from the celebrations preceding Lent. In fact the word carnival comes from the Latin meaning ‘removal of meat’ which refers to the early Christian Lentern diet.

Why don’t you make a mask to wear in the Mardi Gras festival and/or try out one of our pancake recipes. The savoury and sweet mini pancake recipes even have an accompanying video.

Savoury pancakes

Sweet mini pancakes

Pancakes and summer berry compote

After all that cooking why not visit our section Making and Baking: The Science and Technology and discover what makes bread rise; how making bread at home differs from commercial bread making; some of the different types of bread available; and what the symbols and numbers on the label of a loaf of bread mean.  Or why not watch a video on the industrial bread process.

 

And don’t forget, before you begin any cooking session please make sure you are familiar with the health and safety checklist.

Welcome in the new year by introducing or recapping healthy eating and healthy living with your students.

grainchain.com have a host of resources to help with this. Teaching objectives cover:

• What is energy
• how to measure energy
• how energy is provided by food
• the different food groups
• the role of food in the diet
• the Eatwell plate
• the foundations of a healthy balanced diet
• designing and planning a healthy breakfast.

For the 7-11 age group you can use the topic Energy in energy out which consists of two lesson plans, information pages, an interactive whiteboard game and some activity sheets. 

Also for this age group is Food for life a three lesson topic again with information pages, interactive white board activities and also videos.

 For 11-14 year olds our topic Healthy eating healthy living uses a range of resources including information pages, IWB games and activity sheets to explore food groups and test for fat, starch and protein.

Also for that age group are is the topic The balancing act: energy in energy out.  This lesson looks at the role of energy; how we get this from food; the pattern of energy intake during the day and goes on to creating and planning meals and menus.

Children’s understanding and experience of food issues is better than many people think, according to the results of research recently carried out with over 2,500 school-age children.

 

The research, commissioned by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) in conjunction with Farming and Countryside Education (FACE), found that 79 percent of children aged 7 to 11 said they had cooked at home, with 32 percent doing so on a regular basis (once a week).  The children described making snacks and sandwiches and helping parents prepare meals as experiences of cooking at home, alongside more traditional activities such as baking cakes.

 

grainchain.com has created a new Families section within the main website.  Incorporated in this section is a recipe section where each month a selection of recipes are showcased including a recipe for bread; a breakfast or lunch recipe; a main meal and a sweet or savoury bake.  November’s recipes include pizza scones; cauliflower cheese; and iced fairy cakes.

It's National School Meals Week so why not take this opportunity to teach your students where their daily bread comes from.  What the wheat needs to grow strong and healthy in the fields; how it is harvested and then transported to the mill; how the miller uses his skill to grind and blend the wheat to create the best possible flour for the baker to turn into nutritious healthy bread.

We have a range of videos, worksheets, information pages and recipes to tell the story of the journey of wheat seed to bread.  For the 5-7 age range click here; for the 7-11 age range click here.

This is a busy time of year for celebrations.  No sooner have we finished harvest and Diwali celebrations and than we move on to Halloween, Guy Fawkes Nights and Eid Al Adha.

For Guy Fawkes Night why not bake some traditional Yorkshire Parkin.  There is a delicious recipe on our sister organisation's website. Start baking soon though as the cake is best left for  a few days before eating.

Eid Al Adha is an Islamic festival which in the Gregorian calendar falls this year on 6 November.  Celebrations include family meals, most typically lunches and late breakfasts. This month our new Families section is showcasing Strawberry 'yoghurt' and cinnamon dippers which is a brilliant recipe for a leisurely breakfast and one which children of all ages will be able to enjoy preparing; and a fantastic Pizza scone recipe which is ideal for a shared lunch or for school lunches later in the week.  The scone base means that the pizzas are prepared and baked in a fraction of the time of a traditional pizza.

grainchain.com has recently it's Inspire! competition. Have you got what it takes to inspire your teaching colleagues? Do you cook with flour in the classroom?  We are looking for inspirational lesson plans involving the practical use of flour which stimulate learning in one of the following five areas:

• baking for celebration events
• exploring a variety of different flour and grains;
• incorporating local ingredients;
• making the most of seasonal foods;
• celebrating bread making and/or cake making skills.

So if you do some work on the celebrations above, why not enter our Inspire! competition. You could win a baking masterclass with Paul Hollywood as well as £500 for your school. For more details see www.grainchain.com/competitions

Welcome to the new look grainchain.com website. We asked for your feedback and based on this we have launched our new and improved educational resource for teachers.

grainchain.com remains a curriculum linked resource for teachers but also includes a new families section so that learning can continue outside of the classroom.  It provides teachers with all of the educational resources they need in order to teach children about where grain based foods come from and their nutritional value. As well as resources such as lesson plans, activity sheets and interactive whiteboard activities to help teachers with their lesson planning, the site also includes many fun and exciting games, videos, podcasts and recipes which children will enjoy playing, watching, listening to and trying out. These interactive, educational activities and easy to make recipes, not only develop children’s knowledge of grain based foods but also build their cooking ability and confidence.

Furthermore, an events section has been created to give you the lowdown on food related, educational events which are taking place up and down the country such as the Taste Adventure with Slow Food UK. Teachers can also find information on how to get involved in the cooking demonstrations and continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities that grainchain.com offers. Furthermore, the new families section of the website means that learning can also be taken out of the classroom environment and back into the home.

The United Nations, as part of its Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, has designated 30 July as the International Day of Friendship.

The UN recognises the importance and value of friendships. Friendships, between individuals, countries, organisations, and cultures can inspire peace, transcend differences and provide opportunities to grow. grainchain.com has a handout on special days for families and friends which investigates how celebrations for individuals vary across cultures from Saints Days in Italy to Mother’s and Father’s Days.

The end of term might be an ideal opportunity to reaffirm the friendships between your students before the long summer break. Why not get them making cards or cooking fairy cakes to share.

One-in-eight parents thinks that their children are fat – and most of them confess to being part of the problem; by giving them foods high is sugar and/or fat.  Half of them would also like to do more exercise with their children but cited lack of time as an issue, a study revealed yesterday.

Parents and schools can help with a whole-family or whole-school approach.  grainchain.com has developed a number of teaching resources looking at getting the right balance of food to match lifestyle of each individual. 

You can teach your class how to measure their activity using pedometers (which are available from as little as £2 each) and using the Eat Well plate they can design their own healthy balanced menu.

We have lesson plans, activity sheets and complimentary resources on energy balance and healthy eating for both the 7-11 and the 11-14 age groups. Follow the links below to download them.  They are all free of charge and there is no registration necessary.

7-11 Lesson plans and classroom resources

11-14 Lesson plans and classroom resources

Also available is a fun, end of year activity – The Energenie Energy Trail.  An online interactive board game where children play individually rolling the dice, answering questions, avoiding forfeits and getting round the board.  You can play here.