Foods 12 Recipe evaluation

Last week my students made chocolate chip cookies for annual high school camping trip. I asked them all to evaluate the recipe as fresh cookies and as less fresh cookies eaten while camping on the Kettle River.
I won't share all the recipes they make, or every evaluation, but it will be fun to see their progress over the semester.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ½ cups flour

½ cup oatmeal

1 tsp baking soda

½ cup butter

½ cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Stir together flour, oatmeal, and soda.  In a mixer bowl beat butter and shortening on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugars and beat till fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.  Add dry ingredients to beaten mixture, beating till well blended.  Stir in chocolate pieces.  Use a food scoop to make evenly sized cookies, and drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in a 375^o oven for 8 to 10 minutes or till done.  Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.  Makes about 48.

M

I thought the recipe for the cookies was pretty good. I liked adding oats to it because they give it a firmer, healthy taste. We baked them for too long, so they were a little burned, but overall the recipe was good.

B1

The cookie dough was really tasty and delightful. I only had one on the trip but its the kind I like to eat, lightly soft and not too hard. There were too many chocolate chips in the dough, so they were over powering for me.

B2

This past Thursday we made chocolate chip cookies for the high school camp out. It was an interesting adventure! M and I had fun with it. We didn't exactly do the recipe right. We forgot to add the brown sugar before we added the eggs, so we didn't follow the instructions to the tee. Although, that didn't seem to hurt the cookies too badly! Plus, M ended up adding about an extra 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, not that that was bad, just made it a little more chocolate oh! We also ended up burning a batch which was sad, but I scrapped the burnt stuff off! They were still good though. Even on the weekend! It was fun and yummy! 

T

I really enjoyed these chocolate chip cookies. I will say I've have different recipes I've liked better but these were quite good right out of the oven. The ones I had during the camp out I didn't like nearly as much but that's usually how it is for me when I eat cookies. I would have liked the cookies to spread out just a bit more. It usually just makes the bites a bit more evenly spread out for me. So they were good but not the best I've had.

A

This recipe was a delicious success. I not only enjoyed the cookie dough before we baked them, but also fresh out of the oven. Then on our campout we ate the cookies, and they were equally as delicious. Some of them were a little more "browned" than others but again, they were still yummy!
Overall, and as always, I love making chocolate chip cookies!

New Paint for a New Year

I repainted my classroom, and the transformation reflects the hope and optimism I feel going into this school year. I still love my yellow walls, but the new trim colors help me feel even more at home. I based my color choices on a beautiful bulletin board border which I found last summer in New Mexico. New paint led to so much more - - -

 Next I needed to cover the windows so that students could really see what I was projecting on the Smart board. I also wanted to be able to work at my desk in the early morning without fighting sun glare. Curtains let me block light right at my desk without keeping out the view.

Then I discovered that two of the book shelves were missing a little support plug, so I bouth a package of those.

 Next I put black paper on each of the bulletin boards, and centered a little quilt made by some Math 11 students a couple of years ago. Math really is everywhere!

 I bought a few containers, painted those a denim blue, and then added pencils, hole punches, pencil sharpeners, erasures, and highlighters. Each set of 4 desks has a container, which should, in theory, keep my grade 6 students from spending 5-10 minutes each class block looking for basic supplies.

 

I hung my diplomas and  certificates behind my desk, added a poster I love, and have a cozy little corner to work in.

 

 I have a large bulletin board just waiting to showcase student work,

 a microwave for students to heat lunches, and a space for two or three plants by a window.

 Then, I decided that black chalk boards would look so much nicer than green chalkboards, so painted those also!

 Today I finished prepping the chalk boards, finalized my lesson plans for the week, made grad folders,and re-tidied everything. Tuesday I'll take the plants to their winter home and be all set for students. 

I think the year will be a happy one. I know my classroom is cheerful!