Cooking

The Enrico Teaching Kitchen, located in the Eastin Family Innovation Lab, is utilized by all students over the course of the year.

The fully-stocked kitchen, with ovens, refrigerator, and induction burners (which don’t get hot if a pot or pan is not set on them) is the setting of many food-related experiments and feasts.

PreK students joyfully nibble through their ABC’s cooking up delicious batches of Applesauce, Biscuits, and Chicken enchiladas. During science lessons on the color spectrum, Early Childhood students mix up some homemade Playdoh to learn about primary and secondary colors.  While studying cotton and wool fabric in science, students dye a piece of fabric using natural dyes from turmeric, cabbage, and beet juice. And during Spanish class, students make homemade guacamole and pico de gallo from tomatillos and cilantro grown in the hydroponic towers near the teaching kitchen.

The first grade garden provides vegetables for students to create their own personal pizza in late spring using the oregano and lettuce from our herb and vegetable gardens. Students work in teams and spread pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and green beans on the pizza.  After baking they add oregano and lettuce to their pizza and they always say it's the best pizza they ever ate!  During the second grade pioneer unit, students can and pickle vegetables, dehydrate apples and beef, bake cornbread, make homemade butter and cook pinto beans, just like in the old days!  

Environmental science uses the kitchen for the fourth grade Herb Feast.  Students harvest herbs from Lamplighter’s herb garden, then prep and display their chosen herb.  They enjoy all their herbs on potatoes, cheese slices and butter with crackers.   They even brew mint tea with mint from the garden!

Students in Lower School Spanish classes also cook native foods from Hispanic countries, with guidance from a variety of parent and grandparents who come to help.