CJP Green Room: FOOD!

It's been a fun and adventurous week in the Green Room!

The Green Room friends have been showing an interest in food, and we've been excited to learn about it together. Our interest began a few weeks ago when discussing the food in our lunch boxes. It began conversations about different types of food, and what our bodies need to stay healthy and strong. I'm very careful to use only positive vocabulary when speaking about food in our classroom. When speaking about what we would consider "healthy," I call it "Growing Food." I will never refer to a food as "unhealthy" or "bad." When talking about cake, candy, cookies, etc I call it "Sometimes Food." I am aware that each family has different eating habits and philosophies regarding eating. With this in mind, we focus not on each type of food specifically, but rather the importance of eating a variety of things. Further, what types of foods are carbs? What types of food are protein? What is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable?

Another important thing that I keep in mind when teaching about food are the laws of kashrut (keeping kosher). Our class has a diverse religious background, so what each family does at home varies immensely. At school, when creating our imaginary plates, we will not showcase the mixture of meat and dairy or show pictures of unkosher meat or fish. If you have any questions about this, please ask me or Morah Gitty! We also have a special way to pray to Hashem before eating. Different types of food have different brachas (prayers) that we say before eating them, which we've been practicing all year!

On Monday the Green Room friends asked out of the blue if we could turn lunch into a picnic. I said yes! This little thing made the meal so much more special for the friends. After all, eating together should be an enjoyable experience!