Cooking Safety Lesson

Designed for students in grades K-2, this lesson plan will help teach cooking safety rules.

Dogs for lesson plan

Objectives:

Preparation:

Download the "Happy Birthday Sparky" story (PDF, 70 KB).
Download and make copies of the " Kid-Free Zone Worksheet (PDF, 977 KB), story characters (Brutus, Maggie, Spot, and Sparky ), and Letter Home to Parents (PDF, 301 KB) for each student.
Gather materials for "Kid-Free Zone" and puppet-making activities (scissors, glue/tape, crayons, craft sticks).

Lesson:

Pre-reading activities: Activate prior knowledge with questions, and introduce vocabulary.
Questions: Have you ever had a birthday party at your home? Do you help your family in the kitchen? Is there a microwave in your kitchen? Have you ever used it?
Vocabulary: beautiful, cautious, decorating, delicious, exact, extremely, famous, risk, steam
During reading: ask students to be listening for risky situations. Quietly put thumbs down if they hear something risky about to take place.
After reading: Questions and story discussion.
Questions: What things did you learn from the story? Which puppy are you most like? Which puppy -- Dakota or Dudley -- acts most safely? How do you know? Do you remember when Dakota was running into the kitchen? Show how you should enter a kitchen. What do you think the present for Sparky was? Why? (Possible journal entry)

Activity #1 – Kid Free Zone

Download and make copies of the Kid-Free Zone Worksheet (PDF, 977 KB). You may want to number the pieces on the front for the youngest students OR number the pieces on the back before copying to make this a self-checking activity.
Ask students if they remember hearing about the “kid-free zone” in the story.
How far should children stay away from the stove? (If they don’t remember, it is 3 feet)
Ask for volunteers to show how long they think 3 feet is.
Show the worksheet and use a ruler to measure the first section (each is 6 inches).
Discuss with the students the fact that when all 6 pieces are put together it will add up to 36 inches or 3 feet.
Explain to the students that the pieces must be cut apart and put back together to make a safety sentence.
This 3 feet long piece of paper should then be taken home. Each student should act as a safety expert and lay it down in front of their stove and explain to their family that children and pets must stay that far away when a grown-up is cooking.

Extension
Copy the safety sentence in a journal or on writing paper and illustrate.

Activity #2 - Story Character Puppets

Students should color and cut out each character and proceed to glue on a craft stick to make it a puppet.
Groups of four could choose one puppet and re-enact the "Happy Birthday Sparky" story.
Students could use the characters and create a new story about the next party that will take place in the dog family’s house when everyone makes better choices.

Extension
Large paper could be used to make a kitchen background for the puppet show.

Activity #3 - Letter Writing

Print out the Fire Prevention Week Letter Home to Parents (PDF, 301 KB). Have students compose a letter (or create one as a whole class using interactive writing for the youngest students) to their family on the back of the letter explaining the importance of kitchen safety and asking them to complete and return the safety checklist.
Send home letter with students. Hint: Increase the likelihood of getting all checklists back by offering a reward for the return of signed and completed checklists.

Activity #4 - Poster Creation

Ask students to create a poster for their kitchen at home that includes the safety rules learned to remind their family to be safe everyday in the kitchen.
Download the “Recipe for Safety” mini poster (PDF, 262 KB) and have students glue it to construction paper and create a border

Extension
Have a class poster contest. Invite the principal to come to find out what the students learned about cooking safety and judge the contest!