ww12A Cross-Curricular ResourceCookit! is a truly cross-curricularresource, fantastic for usein many settings – both theclassroom and elsewhere– with today’s emphasis onsustainability and a growingawareness of the importanceof nutrition and healthy eatingin schools.Cookit! is topical, practical andfascinating. A quick visit to the Cookit!site will immediately demonstrate howappealing and inviting this resource is.A huge collection of recipes awaits you,whether you are a teacher, TA, pupil orparent. The recipes contained in the sitehave been gathered carefully by <strong>E2BN</strong>from a number of sources, and they offergreat variety, with recipes for all levels ofcooking ability.Recipes can be accessed by browsingthrough different categories (such asbreakfast, lunch, snacks, healthy eating ormain meals) or by choosing from the A-Zlisting which is available. Alternatively,there is a Cookit! calendar which allowsyou to find recipes which are particularlyuseful or relevant for different times ofthe year. Whichever route you take to findyour chosen recipe, you will see that it isclearly presented, with sections describingbackground information, ingredients,equipment and method. A print view isalso available for each recipe, enabling itto be printed out in a more concise format- ideal if you wish to provide a printout forpupils.Beneath every recipe in Cookit! is acomment facility. The purpose of this is toallow pupils to comment on recipes whichthey have tried; one of the underlying aimsof the site is to encourage pupils to try awide variety of different foods, includingones which they may previously havethought they didn’t like. Often they maynot have actually tried these foods and, insome cases, they will be very pleasantlysurprised to find that they like them afterall!Creating RecipesOne of the most enjoyable aspectsof cooking can be creating one’s ownrecipes – and Cookit! allows this to bedone in a fun, innovative way! CookitCreator, which can be found underthe ‘Activities’ tab, enables pupils tocreate and present their own recipe ina cartoon-style kitchen (with their owncolour scheme and chosen presenter!).Ingredients and equipment are broughton to the worktop, showing what isneeded in each stage of the recipe. Therelevant instruction can then be enteredinto the text space below – or, with amicrophone attached, the pupil mayrecord the instructions required instead.This creative tool offers a very differentway of creating recipes – one whichpupils are sure to enjoy! All recipescreated by Cookit Creator can be storedonline, thus allowing work on them to becontinued at home, or anywhere with anInternet connection.Reference SectionA really useful section of Cookit! is thereference section, which can be foundunder the ‘Cooking’ tab. Here, userscan find out what different cookingterms and techniques actually mean,by viewing short video clips of someonedemonstrating that technique whileexplaining what they’re doing, and whythat technique might be needed.You can also find out the names ofdifferent pieces of cooking equipment,shown as thumbnails. After clicking onany of these, you will be shown a largerimage with the name of that piece ofequipment and a brief description ofwhat it would be used for.Using the reference section enablespupils to independently find out aboutcooking techniques, but it can alsobe used as a whole-class teachingresource. Although it’s great todemonstrate techniques ‘in the flesh’to pupils, this isn’t always possible ofcourse – so the reference section ofCookit! can really prove invaluable inthese cases.History CookbookAlso within Cookit! is the HistoryCookbook, which provides teachersand pupils with really fascinatinginformation on the foods being eatenand about dining customs associatedwith different periods in history.Simply choose from the historicalperiods listed when you first enter theHistory Cookbook, and you will then bepresented with links to ‘Life’, ‘FoodFacts’ and ‘Health Facts’ from that era.There is also a selection of videosavailable for you to view, either as aclass or individually, showing a rangeof recipes which would have been usedin that historical period. Each recipe isshown being made by someone dressedin period costume and in a period-stylekitchen or setting – really giving pupilsthe chance to see what cooking entailedat that time!The videos contain lots of extrainformation, which is given by theperson cooking – telling the audiencewhat they are making, who they’remaking it for, why they’re making it andso on. Make sure you have your speakersconnected and working before using thiswith your class – then enjoy watchingthe video together.www.e2bn.org
10 Ways to use theHistory CookbookIn the classroom, History Cookbook can beused in many ways, including:• Challenge children to find fiveinteresting facts about food and eatingcustoms in that time• Ask children to find specific differencesbetween cooking methods used indifferent periods• Set a quiz• Get children to create their own quizzesbased on the information they find –and then they can answer each other’squizzes• Use as initial research when beginningto find out about a time in history• Listen to and watch the podcasts• Practise taking notes when watching thevideos• See who can remember the mostinteresting facts after watching one ofthe videos• Think about why particular foods wereprepared in a certain way• Trace the development of a food overhistory (for example: Gingered Bread toGingerbread)•cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/Sebastian SwanThis website from Kent aims to help young childrenbecome confident and competent users of theInternet. It contains interactive big books foruse in Literacy, encourages the use of email andprovides opportunities for the children’s work tobe published on the site, making it available to aworldwide audience! This is a really lovely site foruse with KS1 children.www.sebastianswan.org.uk/www.e2bn.org
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