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Grades level iconsGrades 1–6
Genre information iconNarrative, Poetry
Resource type iconSparks

Creative Recipes

by Jillian Wasick, 826 Valencia
What are students made of? This activity prompts students to reimagine recipes and write about their life experiences.
What Your Students Will Learn

Students write poems with rich, descriptive language using food and recipes as a metaphor for their experiences.

Student Writing Samples

Grades 1–6
Writing
How to Prank Your Mother

by Lina, 826 Valencia

Informational

A mischievous recipe calling for 3 tablespoons of candy, 10 gallons of not laughing, and 100 gallons of mother.

What You Will Do

Forget recipes for baking. Ask students to write a recipe that captures who they are and what they value. What are the “ingredients” in their life that make you you? What are the “ingredients” that make something amazing or special?

Start by reviewing the first two poems. Then, possibly in small groups, have students review “Recipe for Friendship.” From there, as a class, ask a willing student to read the ingredient section. Next, ask for someone to read the exact direction sentence. Finally, ask another student to read the italicized “explaining” sentence. As you read, have students underline each cooking verb, noticing where the directions are precise with strong verbs.

After reading, ask students what part or sentence they liked the most and why.

Recipe for Chex Mix:

Ingredients:
3 cups Corn Chex™ cereal
3 cups Rice Chex™ cereal
1 cup bite-size pretzels
1 cup bagel chips, broken into 1-inch pieces
6 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

Heat oven to 250°F. In large bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels and bagel chips; set aside. In ungreased large roasting pan, melt butter in oven. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in cereal mixture until evenly coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Recipe for Basketball Bliss

Ingredients:
Basketball signed by Stephen Curry
Teammates with heads that can turn 360 degrees.
Lightning-laced sneakers
Velvet springs inside that help you dunk
Basketball jerseys that smell like rotten eggs
Nose plugs for just your team
Crowd of super-fans
Half-time show with Beyoncé and Jay-Z

Directions:

For a game of pure basketball bliss, do the following steps. First, sauté a basketball signed by Stephen Curry and sprinkle in teammates with heads that turn 360 degrees. This way, your teammates will always see you’re open. Next, fold in lightning-laced sneakers. On a fast break, you’ll sprint down the court so quickly that the audience will get whiplash from watching you. Toss in velvet springs inside your sneakers. How else will you dunk even though you’re only 5’7”? Stir in basketball jerseys that smell like rotten eggs. Your opponents will never dare to get close enough you to guard you. Blend in nose plugs for your team. Sprinkle in a crowd of super-fans. They will roar like lions each time you score. Mix in a half-time show with Beyonce and Jay-Z and bake everything at 350 degrees.

Recipe for Friendship

Ingredients:
1 quart of kindness
1 cup of patience
3 teaspoons of jokes about your evil older brother
4 cups of adventure
½ cup of silliness
2 cups of honesty

Directions:

For the ultimate friendship, boil one quart of kindness. This will be helpful when you lose in the student government election, you fail your math test, or you fall off your hover board and break your ankle and you need someone to cheer you up. Second, pour in one cup of patience. This will be needed when you need someone to tutor you in math because it’s as confusing to you as Egyptian hieroglyphs. Third, toss in three teaspoons of jokes about your evil older brother. Who else could notice that his jelled hair looks like a porcupine after a hard night’s sleep? Fourth, mix in four cups of adventure. Trips to Raging Waters and Great America, sneaking into your evil brother’s room, and plunging into the cold Pacific Ocean are just the beginning. Finally, blend in two cups of honesty. This friend will tell you their secrets and their fears, and you’ll trust them with your personal worries and dreams. Let everything simmer for two hours, and a lifetime of friendship will be ready to serve.

Begin Drafting

Students now create their own recipe about something special. They might want to write a recipe for peace, for happiness, for a fantastic year, for the best day ever, for the perfect birthday, for the most wonderful school trip, most amazing brother, or something completely different!

Materials
  • “Creative Recipes” handout

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