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Everyone Eats Bread
by Drs. Betty J. Belanus and Cathy Kerst
Wheaton, Maryland

 

Part I: Introduction to Bread

Instructional Objective: Explain what an important food bread is, and how it comes in many forms used by many cultures

Instructional Focus: Everyone eats bread almost every day, and it comes in many different forms. Bread is made from grains and other ingredients and is used by different cultures.

Performance Objectives:

1. Identify bread in different forms
2. Identify the type of ingredients bread is made from and different ways it is cooked
3. Recognize that different cultures eat different types of bread
4. Even in the same culture, different types of bread are eaten for different reasons

Description of Content:
Students will explore the different forms of bread and the types of ingredients bread is made from. The idea that bread is eaten by many cultures around the world will be introduced.

Suggested Activities and Procedures:

1. What is Bread?
Allow students to "brainstorm" about what bread is. Possible answers to the question "What is bread" could include: something you eat; something you made a sandwich with; something you bake; something you buy at the grocery store; something soft/brown/white.

2. Is This Bread?
Have on hand several types of bread, including a simple loaf of white bread from the grocery store, loaves of Italian or other crusty, shaped breads, breads made of different grains (whole wheat, rye, corn), rolls, unleavened breads (pita, tortillas, matzo). Also, include some "non-bread" or questionably bread items: waffles, cereal, rice, crackers, etc. In each case, ask children "is this bread?" and discuss answers. Place the "bread" items on one side of a table and the "non-bread" ones on the other. Why do they recognize certain items as "bread" and not others? What are the differences between types of bread (some are flat, some are "puffy", etc.) By the end of the activity, students should agree that all of these items can be called "bread."

3. What is Bread Made Of?
Ask students if any of them know what bread is made of and how it is made. Have any of them watched their parents or friends make any type of bread, and maybe even helped out? Introduce some common ingredients of bread (flour, yeast, sugar, shortening, liquid) and discuss. Pass around different types of flour (in doubled plastic bags securely fastened). Talk about how different breads use different ingredients. Introduce the idea of yeast as a leavening. (Dissolve some yeast in a small amount of warm water and allow students to smell it.) Use breads from above exercise as examples. Which ones do the students think use yeast?

Next, discuss how bread is cooked: baked, fried, etc. How do people learn to make bread? Where do they get the recipe? Is it always the same?

4. Who Eats Bread? When and why?
Poll students to find out how many of them eat bread. (This will most likely be unanimous!) What kinds of bread do they eat? When do they eat bread? Is the bread they eat everyday different from the bread they eat on weekends or holidays or other special occasions (visiting their grandparents; out to eat at a restaurant,etc.)? Can they name any of the special breads?

Next, ask students if they think people around the world eat bread. Do they all eat the same kind of bread? Using examples from the breads on the table, point to areas of the world that they come from (pita from Middle East; flat bread from Norway; baguette from France, etc.) Show the students Bread, Bread, Bread by Ann Morris and Ken Hyman (Lathrop, Lee and Shepard Books, 1989). (If there is not enough time to read it to them, tell them their teacher will be reading it to them, and that they can look through it themselves later.) Explain that bread is eaten around the world, and that we are going to learn more about bread and the people who eat it the rest of the month.

Homework for the Week
Teacher should assign the students to keep a "bread journal" for the next week. Mark each time they eat bread on a daily calendar form (see attached). If possible, write down (or have parent or older brother or sister write down) the kind of bread it is. Students can also draw a picture of the bread they have eaten. These will be due next week.

Weekly Bread Diary

Friday:

breakfast:

lunch:

supper:

Saturday:

breakfast:

lunch:

supper:

Sunday:

breakfast:

lunch:

supper:

Monday:

breakfast:

lunch:

supper:

Tuesday:

breakfast:

lunch:

supper:

Wednesday:

breakfast:

lunch:

supper:

 

 

Part II: Bread for Every Occasion

Instructional Objective: Although bread is eaten by most people everyday, there are some kinds of bread that are only made and eaten on special occasions or holidays. Different kinds of bread can be purchased at a grocery store, a bakery, or made "from scratch" at home.

Instructional Focus: Explain that in every culture, there are some kinds of bread that people eat on a regular basis, but other kinds that have special meaning to groups of people and are used to help them celebrate at special times of the week or year.

Performance Objectives:

1. Learn to distinguish between everyday and special breads.
2. Identify ingredient differences between everyday and special breads and possible nutritional reasons for their differences.
3. Recognize that different groups of people prepare and eat special kinds of breads at different times of the year to help them celebrate their own traditions.
4. Recognize that bread comes from many sources: bought at a large supermarket, at a bakery, or made at home.

Description of Content:
Students will explore the kinds of bread that are eaten on a regular basis, and other that are eaten on special occasions or holidays. The fact that bread comes in different shapes, sizes and with a variety of decorations will be emphasized through a hands-on activity. The different means of obtaining bread (supermarket, bakery, baked at home) will be explored.

Suggested Activities and Procedures:

1. Everyday vs. Special Breads
Allow at least one day to look over the bread diaries that students prepared during the last week. Discuss what breads the students seemed to eat everyday versus some special types of bread that show up in the diaries (pancakes on a weekend; Italian bread with a spaghetti supper; other types of ethnic or special breads). Can the students think of any other special breads that are eaten on holidays or special times -- for example, Passover, Easter, birthdays, Friday nights, Chinese New Year, Christmas? Introduce some examples of "special" breads (either through the actual item or through photographs). These could include highly decorated breads, breads in different shapes, sweet breads or rolls. Discuss why these breads might not be eaten every day.

2. Creating Our Own "Special" Breads
Tell the students that they will be creating their own special breads in this activity. Have on hand: thawed, frozen bread dough, enough for a large fist-sized piece for each student, or if there is time, mix a batch of bread dough with the students earlier in the day. Also give each student: a small amount of raisins and broken walnut pieces. Allow time for the students to create their own "loaf" of bread for a special occasion. (An invented occasion such as "Bread Fun Day" instead of a real holiday may make more students feel included.) When the students are finished, ask them why their breads are special. Is it the shape, the decoration, or both? Would these breads be eaten for a special occasion or for everyday, and why? Compare the different shapes and decorations, emphasizing that "real" bread from different cultures also comes in many shapes and forms.

3. Where Do We Get Bread/ A Pretend Bakery
Discuss the different ways that bread is obtained: from a super market, from a bakery, or made at home. Why do people bake bread when they could buy it? Why do they buy it at a bakery when they could buy it at a supermarket or bake it themselves? Discuss the fact that special breads are baked at and can be purchased at a bakery, in anticipation of next week's visit to a bakery. Ask the students if any of them have been to a bakery. What was it like? What type of things were for sale there? What did it smell like? Set up a "pretend" bakery with the breads that the students have shaped and decorated. A table can be the counter, and teacher can be the attendant. Ask students to pretend they are customers, and choose the breads they wish to purchase for "Bread Fun Day." Why did they make these choices? If this were a real bakery, what else do they think would be available to buy?

4. What Else is Eaten on Bread? Fun Day
Finish lesson with a brief discussion of other foods that would be eaten on special occasions; for instance, turkey and cranberries on Thanksgiving. Emphasize that bread is only one food eaten on special days. Ask the students if they can think of other examples from their own families.

Optional Activity
If the resources are available, the bread shapes could be baked, and eaten later by the students.

Homework for the Week
Ask the students to think about special kinds of breads that their families make for celebrations, and to ask their parents, grandparents, guardians, etc. about these traditions. If possible, have them collect a recipe for such a bread. Explain that in two weeks, the class will be participating in an "International Bread Fair" at the school, and some of their parents might wish to attend and/or bake a bread for the event. (A letter to parents about participation in this event should go out this week if it hasn't already been sent.)

 

Part III: Let's Visit Bakeries

Instructional Objective: Plan and execute a trip to ethnic bakeries in the school's neighborhood. (Another type of bakery, preferably family-owned and run, can be substituted if an ethnic bakery is unavailable in your area.)

Instructional Focus: Ethnic or other commercial bakeries exist nearby the school and the student's homes. The people who run the bakeries and make the breads are from very different cultures, but the bread making is similar in every culture. People come to the bakeries to buy fresh bread and other products from the cultures represented.

Performance Objectives:

1. Recognize that fresh ethnic breads are prepared in neighborhood bakeries.
2. Learn how bread is made at different ethnic bakeries.
3. Recognize that the owners/bakers are a good source of information not only about bread but about their cultures in general.
4. People buy bread from different sources (supermarket or bakery) for different reasons.

Description of Contents:
A) Orient students to upcoming visit in the classroom through slides of the bakeries and bread making. Students prepare questions to ask the bakers; and B) visit the bakeries on the following day.

Suggested Activities and Procedures:

A. Orientation in Class.
1. Introduction to slides
Explain to the children that they will be seeing slides of the neighborhood bakeries that will be visited tomorrow. Hand out map and show where the bakeries are in relation to the school. (Map will be marked with the bakeries to be visited and other bakeries in area.) Discuss how the field trip will proceed (students will go on a bus, it will take x amount of time, they will be split up into x number of groups, etc.). Explain that the students should be thinking of questions to ask the bakers.

2. Slide program
Slides of the bakeries and the bakers at work are shown, and the children should given a little background on the bakeries and the baker/owners (what culture they are from, when they came to America, what type of breads and other products they make and sell, what types of special occasions they bake for, etc.) The students will see photos of the exterior and interior of the bakeries; the bakery products; and the bakers at work from dough to oven to display. Photos of the exteriors of other ethnic bakeries in the neighborhood will be added to emphasize the fact that there are many other types of bakeries nearby. Student should be encouraged to ask questions during slide presentation. If known, some idea of what will happen at the bakeries should be incorporated into this presentation. (Tell the students that they will get to taste some of the bread or help shape it, etc. if this has been worked out with bakers prior to trip.) Some safety instructions or other information could also be included. (Example, "This is the oven they use...it's very hot, so while we are at the bakery, we can't get too close to it.")

3. Question and answer period
If the students have any other questions, they should be answered. Ask the students what questions they would like to ask the baker/owners. Find out if they have any misconceptions or false pretenses about the fieldtrip. Homework: Think about any more questions to ask the bakers. Everyone should have at least one question to ask. Write down your question(s) and bring them on the field trip.

B. Bakery Fieldtrip.
1. Orientation
(before boarding bus or on bus)
Tell students where they will be going first (this will vary according to what group they are in). Repeat safety or other instructions (don't get too near ovens; stay in group; etc.)

2. Visit
When students arrive, introduce them to the baker/owners. They will have a tour and activity planned for the students. Introduce student questions at appropriate time in visit. Make sure activities are not going too far off schedule if more than one group is visiting.

3. Follow-up to visit
Discuss what the students learned from their visit, and what they liked best about it. Assign children to create "thank-you" letters and/or pictures after the visit to send to the bakers. For next week: students (and teachers) who are able to, will bring in bread for the class to sample, along with information about the breads. (Recipes if possible)

Part IV: Let's Celebrate With Bread -- International Bread Fair

Instructional Objective: There are many local sources for different types of bread, and one of the best is the student's own families. One class or several classes can provide the basis for their own "International Bread Fair."

Instructional Focus: Breads come from as many cultures as the students themselves do. Many people right here in this school have interesting bread traditions that the students themselves may not have known about before.

Performance Objectives:

1. Learn some of the different cultures represented in the classroom and school.
2. Distinguish between different types of bread from different cultures by their smell, taste, shape, size, etc.
3. Students who have helped bake or select breads with their families gain individual knowledge of their own traditions, to be shared with the class.

Description of Content:
Students participate by tasting breads sent or brought in by parents, teachers or other sources. Emphasis on the many different cultures or regions represented.

Suggested Activities and Procedures:

1. Preparation for "Fair" Activity
If a room larger than the classroom is available, such as the gym or cafeteria, try to reserve it for this activity. Preparations are perhaps better done by teachers beforehand, although some students could be involved if appropriate. Parent or community volunteers would be asked to help with the preparations as well. Set up table(s) with tablecloths or craft paper. Cut breads into bite-sized pieces and arrange on plates or platters. Make easy-to-read signs for each type of bread represented, and place recipe next to bread if available. If possible, try to leave some of the bread intact so students can see what it looked like before cutting.

2. Bread Fair Discussion
Before tasting occurs, assemble students and discuss some of the breads represented. Show them where some of the cultures represented by the breads are on map or globe and discuss. Review the ingredients in bread and methods of baking. Briefly discuss the differences between some of the everyday breads represented, versus the special ones. Ask students who brought breads in to tell a little about their bread and how they obtained or made it. Emphasize the idea of tradition: how long a recipe has been in a family, where the tradition began, etc.

3. Tasting Activity
Allow ample time for students to taste breads and talk among themselves and with teacher(s) and parents present. If photographs were taken of the students at the bakeries, post these for their viewing. Engage students in individual or small group discussion about which of the breads they particularly like or dislike, and why. Ask individual students who brought breads to tell their friends some more about their experience buying or helping make the breads. This should be highly informal and fun for students.

4. Writing about Bread After the tasting, ask students to write a short piece on their experience at the "Fair."

APPENDICES: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

A. Unit Assessment:

(adapted from suggestions made by Norma Biesecker, Irving Elementary School, Altoona, Pennsylvania, who uses forms of alternative assessment in her classroom.)

Use a checklist to assign points to various tasks and activities during the unit. For example:

1. Bread Diary (see above).
Possible 10 points.
a. Entry made every day -- 5 points
b. Neatness -- 2 points
c. Turned in on time -- 3 points

2. Bread Recipe (see above).
Possible 5 points.
(If students have not collected a bread recipe at home, they can either make one up, or copy one from a child-oriented cookbook or one of the resource books on list in appendix D.)

3. Thank-you to the Bakers.
Possible 5 points.
Students write a short letter or draw a picture and send it (or, teacher delivers it) to the bakers at the bakeries visited.

4. Participation in Bread Fair.
Possible 5 points.
Points could be earned for one of the following: a. describing the bread you brought in to the class, including how you helped bake it if you did, where you bought it if it was purchased, and the bread's significance to your family; b. help with set-up or clean-up of Fair; c. sharing recipe for bread in written form (in student's own hand), if it was made at home; d. indicating on a map of the world, or on a globe, the areas the breads came from (use push-pins on map or stickers on globe).

5. Writing about the Bread Fair (see above).
Possible 10 points.
a. Originality -- 5 points
b. Neatness -- 3 points
c. Use of vocabulary words -- 2 points

Other suggestions for assessment:

1. Have students draw Venn diagrams comparing everyday bread with special breads and seeing where the two intersect.

2. Have students write a story using vocabulary words (see Appendix C). Be sure to include words in a word box. Teacher could even write sentences leaving blanks for proper words, i.e., "Today we visited a ."

3. Compose a quiz to test student's knowledge of "bread" versus "non-bread" food items.

4. Have a volunteer or teacher's aide take Polaroid photographs during the unit: for instance, while engaged in "Is This Bread?" exercise in Part I; while making "special breads" in Part II; visiting the bakeries in Part III and sampling breads in Part IV. Have students place the photos in chronological order. They can compose a "time line" of activities using the photos.

5. If you use portfolio assessment in your classroom, have students choose a piece of their work to include in their portfolio, with an explanation of why they chose that particular piece.

B. Follow-up Activities:

* Prepare a bread cookbook from the recipes provided by parents or others for the Bread Fair, and other recipes collected by students. Include not only the recipes, but pictures drawn by students; photographs of the bread being prepared, or of the students visiting the bakeries, etc., or pictures of bread from old magazines if available. Have students write one or two sentences about each recipe, explaining when the bread is made or eaten, how it tastes, how he or she helps make the bread, etc. Make sure attention is paid to the culture or region the breads come from, as well as whether they are a special or everyday bread. A special section of creative "made-up" recipes could be included for fun.

* If it hasn't been done already, plan a time for students to mix and prepare one or more types of bread "from scratch" in the classroom. A mathematics components may be added by discussing fractions, as ingredients are measured and the bread dough is divided into loaves or buns. A science component may be added by discussing how the wheat grows, and how yeast reacts to warm water and sugar. See the Curtis and Greenland, and Baskerville, books on the book list for more information.

* At the Bread Fair, make a large "Tasting Graph" to post on the wall. Have students record their reactions to each type of bread represented (keep it simple, like a smiling face for breads they liked and a frowning face for breads they disliked). Later, use this graph in math exercises. For example, count the number of people who liked certain breads; see which bread (if any) was the most popular. Create a pie chart of bread popularity. (A "bread chart" in the shape of a loaf of bread with different colors to indicate popularity of certain breads could be used as an alternative.)

* Have students record their stories of what they learned about bread on a tape recorder. A volunteer could "transcribe" these stories and students could illustrate them. A book of bread stories, or individual books for each student, could be put together. Of special interest would be stories about how students helped their parents, grandparents, or guardians bake the bread for the Bread Fair.

C. Bread Glossary:

bake: To cook at a very high temperature (usually 350 degrees F or higher) in an oven

bakery: A place where bread and baked desserts are made and sold

bread: A kind of food made from flour or other types of ground grains, made into a dough by mixing in a liquid, and baked. "Raised" or "leavened" bread uses yeast to make it lighter and larger; "unleavened" bread does not use yeast, and is flat.

celebrations: Special times of the year when a family or community eats bread and other foods not eaten everyday. There may also be church services, games, presents given, and other activities done only at special times.

dough: A mixture of flour, liquids (water or milk) and other ingredients that makes up bread or other baked goods (cookies, cakes, doughnuts).

flour: Kernels of wheat or other grains, ground up until it looks like powder.

grain: Types of food plants, related to grass, that have small, hard seeds (kernels) which are ground into flour or meal. For example, wheat, corn, rye, oats, and rice.

ingredients: All of the things that are put into a recipe to make a food, like the flour, water, yeast, and other items used to make bread.

knead: To make dough smooth and even by pressing, folding, and stretching

rise: To swell or puff up, like bread dough when yeast is added

yeast: A very tiny plant that helps make bread dough rise. The yeast is made active by the ingredients in the dough, and as it grows, the bread rises.

D. Bread Bibliography:
Here is a list of a few resource materials that may prove useful in supplementing your existing Bread curriculum activities. Included is information on how to order these items for your school:

Books

Baskerville, Judith. Bread. Ada, Oklahoma: Garrett Educational Corporation, 25 pp., photos, 1991. [Original edition published in 1987 by A & C Black Limited, London under the same title.] Discusses what bread is, its ingredients, and how it is made. Describes how bread is consumed for everyday use as well as for celebrations. Includes ideas for making bread and activities to learn more about its ingredients. Available for $11.95 from: Garrett Educational Corporation, P.O. Box 1588, Ada, Oklahoma, 74820 or by calling (800) 654-9366.

Curtis, Neil and Peter Greenland. I Wonder How Bread is Made. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 24 pp., photos, 1992. [Original edition published in 1990 by Heinemann Educational Books, Ltd., Oxford, England] Describes the complete process of making bakery bread, from wheat field to bakery. Available for $13.50 from: Lerner Publications Company, 241 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401 for by calling (800) 328-4929. If you send in your order through your school with a check, there is a 25% educational discount on the price of the book and also free shipping--$10.13.

Morris, Ann. Bread, Bread, Bread. [Photographs by Ken Heyman.] New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 29 pp., photos, 1989. Celebrates the many kinds of bread made and eaten throughout the world. Mostly color photographs of people enjoying bread with only a small amount of text. The book includes annotations describing the breads, their significance to the cultures featured, and where the photographs were taken. Available from: William Morrow and Co., Inc. 39 Plymouth St. P.O. Box 1219, Fairfield, NJ 07007 in both paperback ($3.95) and cloth ($12.95) editions or by calling (800) 843-9389.

Dooley, Norah. Everybody Cooks Rice. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, Inc., unpagenated, [27 pp.], illustrations, 1991. Tells the story of a child who is sent to find a younger brother at dinnertime. As she searches, she discovers that rice is being prepared for supper at every home she visits in her neighborhood. The cooking in each home reflects the different food traditions of that family's native culture--Barbados, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, India, China, Haiti, and Italy. Includes recipes from the eight ethnic groups featured in book. Although this book is not about bread, it presents a multi-cultural approach to another food staple of the world and nice connections can be drawn between the varieties of rice preparation and bread. Available from: Lerner Publications, 241 1st Ave. N, Minneapolis, MN 55401 in both paperback ($6.95) and cloth ($14.21) using the school discounted rate or by calling (800) 328-4929.

Audio-visual resource:

Bread, from wheat to table. [motion picture] Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation; produced and directed by Paul Buchbinder; script written by Christine M. Herbes, Chicago, IL, 1988. Available on one 16 mm. film reel or in a VHS format (13 min.) with teacher's guide, for primary through intermediate grades. The film explores the process of growing wheat from planting to harvest, and then continues to industrial bakery, where wheat bread is being made.

 

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Bio
This exercise was originally developed by Drs. Betty J. Belanus and Cathy Kerst for first graders at Glenhaven Elementary School in Wheaton, Maryland, using the format of the Montgomery, Maryland Social Studies curriculum. Belanus is a Folklorist and Education Specialist at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and Kerst is a Folklorist and Archivist at the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center, but they developed and carried out the unit in their "spare time" to try out the idea of a project linking young school children to their community. The unit, especially the fieldtrip to the bakeries and the "Bread Fair" featuring homemade breads from students' families, was a great success.