Monday, February 22, 2010

Little Cooks with Books: If You Give a Pig a Pancake


Tomorrow is National Pancake Day. To celebrate, I thought we should do our Little Cooks with Books lesson on Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Pig a Pancake.  This book about an adorable, but demanding, piglet, is one of our favorites.  When Wes was 2 I must have read it at least 1,000 times!

My intention was to have the girls take pictures of the different steps in the recipes they cook.  However, we did not do to well with this one.   Sam and Gracen had a bit of trouble working together.  They both wanted to do everything. We had to talk about taking turns and dividing up the tasks.  Hopefully, our next lesson will go a little more smoothly.

My Goals (or Objectives) for This Lesson ~
  • Practice reading a recipe.
  • Discuss abbreviations commonly used in recipes (For example:  T for tablespoon and tsp for teaspoon).
  • Measuring dry ingredients.
  • Cracking and whisking eggs.
  • Flipping a pancake.

The Recipe ~ I have been working on a healthy whole wheat pancake recipe that is tasty and not too heavy.  I combined several reciepes and came up with the following one.  My kids love these, so I think I have found a keeper.
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

The Results ~ Overall, our first lesson went well.  Sam was able to read and comprehend the recipe easily.  She does have trouble with fractions (1/4 cup) .  We will be working on that skill.  Both girls can crack eggs with  no problems.  They can both measure dry ingredients, as well.  The skills we will need to practice are whisking eggs and flipping pancakes.  We all loved the pancakes and the book (especially Wes).

***If you aren't up for making your own pancakes, stop by IHOP tomorrow between 7am - 10pm for a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes. 

If You Give a Pig a Pancake Activities