Cooking up educational goals at Ovando School

Ovando School recently was awarded $1,500 via the Bright Future Grant from Missoula Electric Cooperative. The grant is being used for Consumer Science and Home Economic classes for grades four through eight. Funds will mainly be used for supplies.

"We're excited to have this grant from Missoula Electric for Consumer Science classes," Patti Bartlett, fourth through eighth grade teacher, said. "Sometimes being away from the books is a great way to learn."

This fall students practiced sewing machine skills by sewing soup bowl cozies. Sewing machines were purchased several years ago with a grant.

After completing their projects, the Big Room students - grades four through eight - coached the kindergarten through third grade students in sewing their own cozies. Continuing sewing projects for the Big Room will include sewing pajama pants, aprons, mending and patching clothes and sewing on buttons.

Learning the physical and chemical reaction when lye - sodium hydroxide - is mixed with a fat to make soap was an additional project. Bartlett used palm oil, coconut oil and olive oil for the fats. Students learned about the various ingredients in soap-making and different results that are possible.

Learning how to make felt by rubbing and shrinking wool with soap and hot water gave the students skills to make felt-covered bars of soap. The felt covered bars of soap were Christmas gifts and students sold them at the Ovando Christmas Fest in November. Melt-and-pour soap was made by both age groups as well.

Other projects to illustrate chemistry for homecare products will include bath bombs, liquid soaps and bars.

"In the future I see including entrepreneurship skills," Bartlett said. "It would be great for the kids to learn a craft and the cost analysis and product development needed for production for Christmas Fest sales."

Students will be integrating math and science into cooking projects using sourdough and dutch oven cooking skills. Increasing and decreasing recipes to suit family sizes as well as learning budgeting skills to plan meals will be included in the lesson plans.

Making sourdough bagels with homemade sourdough was one of the first cooking projects. Due to unknown oven fluctuations, the bagels did not come out as expected.

"It may have seemed like a failure when the bagels were overcooked on the bottom and undercooked on the top," Bartlett said. "But we always learn something."

While most skills are appropriate for the fourth through eighth grade students, younger students have been able to join in for some of the sewing and cooking classes. Bartlett plans to integrate local materials, like clay soils, to color soaps. Making jerky from wild game will be a fall project.