Party Hearty!!!

After a week and a half of AIMS (state standardized testing,) my students were bouncing off the wall. I decided we'd do a unit on party planning. Their assignment for the week was to plan a party. They had to come up with a theme, number of guests, budget, activities, food, and make an invitation. After the usual complaints ("Mrs. Benson, this isn't the kind of party we have! We just hang out and listen to music") they got to work. As sophisticated as they try to be, it is always refreshing to me when they still enjoy children's activities. They had so much fun coloring, cutting, and creating. I had one group who planned a black tie event...a formal sit down dinner with the theme "Winter Wonderland." Their details were amazing and I told them if they ever planned a real party like this, I wanted to be on their list. I had several plan beach or swim parties, a few children's birthday parties, and a couple of New Years Eve parties. They enjoyed putting them together. My only mistake was to give them free reign on the budget. Most of them had a budget of $2000-$4000. They had no clue!

For our cooking lab today, we cooked party foods. Each kitchen made something different and they all came together to sample. Again, I had a handful of complaints..."why can't we make pizza?" (hello? you eat pizza every day for lunch. Let's try something new.) We made: punch, (which they thought was very fancy, silly kids), fruit kabobs with fruit dip, little smokies in barbecue sauce, pico de gallo (salsa) and chips, muddy buddies, chicken nuggets with a variety of dipping sauces (they were amazed that they actually made these; they didn't come from a box and put in the microwave). When I asked them what their favorite thing was, they said "everything!"

Another success!