Food Truck Showcase
APRIL 11, 2019
The students had the opportunity to showcase their project to the rest of the school. All classes from K-6 walked through the two classrooms to view the students food trucks. This was was a great learning experience for the grade 6/7 students as they had to explain their business, share their portfolio which included work from throughout the year (surveys, menu, costing spreadsheet etc.). They explained how Makey Makey and Scratch Programming worked, as well as let the students explore the various features of the food truck. This was a good experience for improving their presentation skills as well as learning to communicate clearly their understanding of all the different components of the project. It was very fun to see how excited and engaged the students were from the other classes! Many of the students said they would love to work on a project like this. :) After the showcase, we kept everything up for the afternoon for student led conferences. Students were able to share their learning and celebrate their project with their parents.
Below is a sample interview of two students who provided a reflection of their project. We interviewed each group about the different aspects of their project for assessment purposes. The students also videoed their commercials, and took photos of their truck and self-reflection and posted this information to FreshGrade for their parents. We often use FreshGrade as a way for students to communicate their learning to their parents, this is especially valuable for those parents who are unable to attend conferences or student leds.
Food Truck Celebration
April 3, 2019
To celebrate the work students finished projects, we hosted a food truck party! Both grade 6/7 classes participated, which gave each class an opportunity to share. Up until this point the students had only viewed their own class's food truck. Students were encouraged (it was not mandatory) to bring in a popular food item from their food truck menu. We set up their trucks, Makey Makey and food samples, and for an hour they went around both classrooms viewing and tasting. Most of the students brought in samples and the energy was really positive. One student was so excited about cooking for his truck, he told his mom that he wanted to be a chef when he finished high school!
The last half hour of class we brought all 48 students into the library and debriefed the project. We discussed what went well, what was challenging and what they would change if we were to do the project again. This was a very valuable activity to gain insight into their thoughts and ideas towards the project.
Likes:
- they really enjoyed building a food truck and being able to make it interactive by incorporating coding and Makey Makey
- enjoyed surveying students, parents and teachers to find out what types of food they liked in order to develop a theme for their truck
-building the model food truck, allowed each to be different and used creative skills
-being able to choose your own partner for the project
-going to Save-On Foods and learning about the cost of food
-sampling food at the celebration
-having the owner of the local food truck come visit and discuss his experiences owning and running a food truck
Challenges:
- Scratch programming was challenging for some, especially the newer version where you had to save it differently (was often glitchy)
- working with a partner to come to agreements and make decisions that they are both happy with
- costing price per serving for the menu based on costs from the grocery store visit
- consumer awareness, being able to please a variety of customers
Changes:
- time, time, time for making the truck, coding and Makey Makey (never enough time!)
- have a variety of food truck templates so they all look different (we feel the students could have done this on their own and tweaked the template, but no one did :) )
-create and design the inside of the truck
- spend less time on planning, looking at different food trucks, researching food trucks and costs. (** students wanted to just get to making a food truck and menu but have difficulties seeing the value in learning the foundations and understanding how research makes your product better :))
Likes:
- they really enjoyed building a food truck and being able to make it interactive by incorporating coding and Makey Makey
- enjoyed surveying students, parents and teachers to find out what types of food they liked in order to develop a theme for their truck
-building the model food truck, allowed each to be different and used creative skills
-being able to choose your own partner for the project
-going to Save-On Foods and learning about the cost of food
-sampling food at the celebration
-having the owner of the local food truck come visit and discuss his experiences owning and running a food truck
Challenges:
- Scratch programming was challenging for some, especially the newer version where you had to save it differently (was often glitchy)
- working with a partner to come to agreements and make decisions that they are both happy with
- costing price per serving for the menu based on costs from the grocery store visit
- consumer awareness, being able to please a variety of customers
Changes:
- time, time, time for making the truck, coding and Makey Makey (never enough time!)
- have a variety of food truck templates so they all look different (we feel the students could have done this on their own and tweaked the template, but no one did :) )
-create and design the inside of the truck
- spend less time on planning, looking at different food trucks, researching food trucks and costs. (** students wanted to just get to making a food truck and menu but have difficulties seeing the value in learning the foundations and understanding how research makes your product better :))
Vendy Awards
March 13, 2019
We finalized the projects this week and made sure all the students had met the criteria for the truck and ensured all contact points were working. The teacher-librarian, Tracey and Tammy came up with a variety of awards such as most humorous, best topper, most creative, catchiest jingle and best menu. We made sure each truck received an award and celebrated by handing out "Vendy Awards"! The students loved the excitement built around the completion of the trucks and receiving the awards.
Makey Makey
March 7, 2019
The students worked on incorporating Makey Makey into their food truck these past few weeks plus adding on additional components to their truck. They hooked up their commercials and jingle and then proceeded to make additional attachments to their trucks such as sandwich boards, toppers for their truck, people and outdoor furniture. The Makey Makey component came quite easy to them after we demonstrated with our model truck and from the examples listed in our last post. We placed a grounding button on top of the truck with foil so it looked neater and was functional without wires hanging out from the truck. The Makey Makey circuit board and wires fits nicely right inside the truck so all you see are the foil connecting points. Some of the challenges for the students was making sure the wires were hooked up correctly and did not come loose when placing it all in the van. The students loved the Makey Makey component and found creative ways to add more points to their trucks. Some Makey Makey points were, reading their sandwich board specials, greeting customers, singing a jingle, daily specials, slogans and horn honking. Once everything was completed they shared their truck with the class and we interviewed each group to get feedback on their projects.
Building Model Food Trucks
For Makey Makey
February 15, 2019
The students have started to build their food trucks using a lot of cardboard and hot glue! We created a template for them to trace as a starting point. We are fortunate that our teacher-librarian is quite an artist. She researched making the food truck online, made a mini truck, from that she was able to create the model and templates for all the pieces of the truck.
They created the base model and then used their original design to decorate. From there, they were encouraged to add extra design features to make them appealing to their customers and unique. Our next step when the students have finished decorating is to hook up the Makey Makey to their truck. The minimum requirement is to have three different control points on their truck that will play their commercial, jingle and display and read sections of their menu. They will be able to add additional points once they have met the base requirements and get a better understanding of how Makey Makey works.
To introduce Makey Makey, we used a previous example of a cardboard guitar made from a student in Exploration Friday. This helped demonstrate the coding and the hook up of Makey Makey. Then the students explored using a variety of materials such as, playdoh, foil, fruit and other conductive materials. We used the Makey Makey website that has a set of bongo drums and a piano for them to play, without having to code in order to understand the basics of how it works. This week the students will start adapting their coding to incorporate Makey Makey.
To introduce Makey Makey, we used a previous example of a cardboard guitar made from a student in Exploration Friday. This helped demonstrate the coding and the hook up of Makey Makey. Then the students explored using a variety of materials such as, playdoh, foil, fruit and other conductive materials. We used the Makey Makey website that has a set of bongo drums and a piano for them to play, without having to code in order to understand the basics of how it works. This week the students will start adapting their coding to incorporate Makey Makey.
Scratch Programming
Food Truck Commercials and Jingles
February 8, 2019
The students have completed their food truck commercials and jingles using Scratch Programming. As we progress through the project and add Makey Makey, they will be adding more effects and finishing touches. Below are two videos of student commercials. We are using Scratch v.3, which does not allow you to export the video for viewing. We filmed the video with our phone to share these with you.
The students in the class viewed the videos and provided peer feedback to discuss areas of strengths and improvements. Students were given time to go back and enhance and change their commercials.
The students in the class viewed the videos and provided peer feedback to discuss areas of strengths and improvements. Students were given time to go back and enhance and change their commercials.
ScrATch Programming
January 28, 2019
For the last 8 years at CPE my role has been as Teacher-Librarian. I have worked with all grades in our school (K-7), teaching them the concept of coding and developing their skills using Scratch Programming and Scratch Jr.
The students in kindergarten to grade two start out with Scratch Jr. on the iPads. The kindergartens start by learning the basic blocks in order to move the sprite and then gradually add in additional sprites and backgrounds. I find the Scratch Jr. website and lessons are very helpful and I use their ideas when planning lessons. Every lesson builds on the next and I usually have challenges for the students to try. For example, I ask them to include two sprites in a running race across the screen, I will model on the LCD projector and teach the class and then they will attempt either on their own or with a partner. I usually spend 4-6 classes with the kindergartens using this program.
In grade one and two I will also use Scratch Jr. but increase the complexity of the lessons and giving them challenges to problem solve with a partner without teaching them how to do it. This is great for collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking skills. Depending on the year and class I will also incorporate a paper introduction to block-style coding to learn the basics of programming. This helps develop an understanding of basic coding to move onto Scratch Jr.
The students in kindergarten to grade two start out with Scratch Jr. on the iPads. The kindergartens start by learning the basic blocks in order to move the sprite and then gradually add in additional sprites and backgrounds. I find the Scratch Jr. website and lessons are very helpful and I use their ideas when planning lessons. Every lesson builds on the next and I usually have challenges for the students to try. For example, I ask them to include two sprites in a running race across the screen, I will model on the LCD projector and teach the class and then they will attempt either on their own or with a partner. I usually spend 4-6 classes with the kindergartens using this program.
In grade one and two I will also use Scratch Jr. but increase the complexity of the lessons and giving them challenges to problem solve with a partner without teaching them how to do it. This is great for collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking skills. Depending on the year and class I will also incorporate a paper introduction to block-style coding to learn the basics of programming. This helps develop an understanding of basic coding to move onto Scratch Jr.
Grades 3-5 the students start to learn Scratch programming. We start with the basic concepts of moving Scratch the cat and introducing basic blocks. This is done step by step modelling, then have the students try the lesson. Once the students start to develop an understanding of the basics of Scratch (movement, backgrounds, looks, events, controls and basic sounds) they then work through the Scratch cards independently to learn more about the basic functions of Scratch. These cards are great learning tool as the students develop new skills and they can work at their own pace through the cards.
Once they complete the cards, I will show the examples on the Scratch home page and they can either attempt to create their own program depending on their learning level or I will have some students copy the code from a game or program they like and see how they can change/add/delete blocks to change the program. This helps them develop a stronger understanding of what each block does and strengthen their coding skills.
In Grade six and seven we extend the learning of what was taught in grades three and four and start incorporating garage band for music, manipulation of photos and images, more complex coding, developing math games and incorporating Makey Makey into their learning. The learning usually takes place on our Exploration Friday days. During Exploration Friday, we have all the grade 4-7's (approx. 100 students) mixed into four groups (this years topics are photography, outdoor learning, art & drama and technology) every Friday afternoon for 7 sessions each. In the technology group we are using Makey Makey, Scratch Programming, littleBits and Microbits. Critical thinking, problem solving and student collaboration are a large part of the technology group.
Costing Food
january 18, 2019
The students completed their menu designs and now we are looking at the cost of food and how much one of their speciality items on their menu will cost at the grocery store.
We created a spreadsheet in Excel for students to list the ingredients and quantity required for their recipe. This was challenging as they had to learn to convert all food quantity to metric (ie: cups to grams or ml). We then took a trip to our local grocery store and the students priced out their food items along with the quantity it was sold in. They also took the time to do price comparisons of a food item sold in different quantities (ie: sugar and flour), different brands and buying bulk .
Scratch progamming
january 8, 2019
The new year started off with exploring Scratch programming and seeing the different experience levels of each student. The students were paired up with their food truck partner and were assigned different tasks to explore the different aspects of Scratch v.3. We found that having the students paired up really supported their problem solving skills and where they had to communicate with each other and discover each other's strengths in computer programming and creativity. We are fortunate that most students have had some experience with Scratch as they are exposed to it from grade 3 onwards.
We focused on the components that they would be incorporating into their final projects.
This included:
We focused on the components that they would be incorporating into their final projects.
This included:
- Sprites and costumes
- Importing images from the internet and photos
- Animation
- Text to Speech
- Sounds (using Scratch, Audacity and Garage Band)
Food Truck Designs
December 15, 2018
We have had a very busy month designing our food truck logo and menus. The students researched and conducted surveys in the school on ideas they had for food, location, hours of operation, and truck colours. They created bar graphs of based on their results of their survey. This tied in nicely with our math curricular outcomes.
During health class we looked at healthy eating and the social, emotional, and medicinal factors that influence our eating habits. We also looked at the effects of sugar, fats and salt on our diets.
In math, we have been focusing on fractions, decimals and percent to prepare them for costing out their menu items, understanding money and learning about discounts and calculating taxes.
After gathering much data on the food truck industry the students developed a business plan that provided all the essential information about their food truck. From there, the students created a menu (without prices) and listed the ingredients of one menu item to later price out at the local grocery store. Our plan is to look at food costs in order to price out our menu items.
In math, we have been focusing on fractions, decimals and percent to prepare them for costing out their menu items, understanding money and learning about discounts and calculating taxes.
After gathering much data on the food truck industry the students developed a business plan that provided all the essential information about their food truck. From there, the students created a menu (without prices) and listed the ingredients of one menu item to later price out at the local grocery store. Our plan is to look at food costs in order to price out our menu items.
All of this preparation is to have the students ready to begin working on the technology component of the project after the break. We will be mainly focusing on Scratch programming in January as well as area and perimeter for constructing their food truck model.
The Taco Club Food Truck Visits CPE
november 2018
Today we had one of the owners from a local food truck come talk to the class. He was going to bring the truck for the students to view, unfortunately we had quite the snow storm and he wasn't able to drive it over. We have spent a lot of time researching and discussing food truck themes, concepts, equipment and costs required to run a truck,. Our students brainstormed questions to ask Mike, the owner about the many aspects of running a food truck business. We spent over an hour listening and asking questions, with 48 students in the room it was surprising how quiet and engaged they all were! We ended our visit with an order of tacos, delicious!
Researching Food Trucks
A Starting point
october 2018
We have officially started our Food Truck Revolution project at CPE! Before introducing the project, we asked the students to brainstorm ideas around food trucks and what topics we would need to cover in order to start our own food truck business. We showed a video example of what running a food truck entails and created a web on topics that are important for our project.
The next day, we had the students use the laptops to investigate food trucks on the website streetfoodapp.com and research a variety of logos, truck designs and menu ideas popular in Canada and the United States. They chose their top three designs and we discussed this as a large group.
Our next step from here is to focus on nutrition, healthy eating and impacts to our health depending on the food we eat. In Math, we will be starting to review fractions, decimals and percents so students are familiar with the math involved in running a business.
Our next step from here is to focus on nutrition, healthy eating and impacts to our health depending on the food we eat. In Math, we will be starting to review fractions, decimals and percents so students are familiar with the math involved in running a business.