Adapted from "design an ideal community" by Case and Daniels

by Thomas Weber 

Grade Level: 2/3 

Critical Task: Students will design an ideal pioneer kitchen 

Overview: After extensive study of pioneer life through various media, including print, film, pictures and stories, students research, brainstorm and mind web the kind of materials and tools found in a pioneer kitchen(utensils, pots, fireplace, etc.) and the kinds' of foods and the diet that pioneers depended upon for sustenance. Students will then brainstorm the qualities of a kitchen including the kinds of utensils required, proximity of utensils to the cooking area, ease of use and safety. Students then construct an ideal pioneer kitchen, in pairs, with the materials of their choice. Students must justify their choice of utensils, pots, and gadgets, placement of those materials within the kitchen and why their design is an ideal pioneer kitchen. 

1. Knowledge of the lifestyle of pioneers including diet, foods and the elements of a pioneer kitchen including tools, utensils, and cooking area and safety. The requisite vocabulary to name these implements. 

1. Criterion Referenced performance assessment.
2. Assess each design based on the extent to which students included essential qualities of an ideal pioneer kitchen including utensils, cooking space and their choices of the arrangement. Did students consider ease of use and the proximity of utensils, pots and gadgets in the kitchen or cooking area? Safety?  

1. Mind-web 

1. Respect for high quality products and performance.

Suggested Activities: 

• Lifestyles of pioneers - students study foods, diet, the pioneer home, and pioneer work.
• Students research, through various media, the qualities of a pioneer kitchen including implements, utensils, and cooking space (fireplace). 
• Students mind-web the parts of a pioneer kitchen that they gained through research
• Students brainstorm the qualities of a good working kitchen with support from the teacher. Such factors as safety, ease of use and proximity of tools and pots to the cooking space.
• Students construct their pioneer kitchen using materials of their choice.
• Students justify their decisions by explaining, in writing or orally, how and why their diorama or drawing contains the qualities of an ideal pioneer kitchen.

• Invite the class to examine the student projects and identify ways that the design met the qualities of an ideal pioneer kitchen. 
• Invite the class to design the remainder of the home around the kitchen they designed.

Grade 2/3

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