Students at Welch Elementary School took a behind-the-scenes tour of the school’s cafeteria as part of a lesson focused on real-world business.
Mary Thompson’s 5th grade gifted class learned about proper management skills for running a successful business. A recent assignment challenged students to create a business plan for their own business idea. This includes building a model for your business, creating a menu, and determining the materials you will need to start your business.
To gain a more comprehensive and direct understanding of running a business, Thompson students studied the lunch selection trends of all Welch students. Every Tuesday after lunch, Ms. Tompon’s class used a school-wide lunch selection spreadsheet to predict, calculate, and track lunch selection trends. on tuesday.
“They have been ‘pretending’ school cafeterias to be business cafes where employees have the option of purchasing or bringing in food,” Thompson said. “We want our students to gain real-world experience managing and working in a cafeteria setting.”
Before becoming a teacher at Welch, Thompson was a trainer who approved employees to become ServSafe certified. She used this knowledge to teach her classes about proper food safety, how to prevent fires, burns, and accidents, and the dangers of cross-contamination and bacterial growth.
“I try to keep the connections as close as possible,” Thompson said. “So, since we were learning about restaurants in our learning unit, we asked the school’s cafeteria manager, Ms. Kimberly Smith, to look at trends in daily lunch options and how many students purchase lunch each day. Then we started brainstorming how we could provide a real-world experience.”
Thompson said the next step in the project was to visit the behind-the-scenes kitchen.
“The school cafeteria and kitchen were a great place for students to gain hands-on experience in the food industry.”
Before taking the tour, Kimberly Smith, Welch’s cafeteria manager, and Robin Goad, Coweta’s school nutrition director, gave a presentation to the class about the business side of running a cafeteria.
Mr. Smith taught students how to plan meals and reviewed proper safety precautions when working in the kitchen. Hair nets and rubber gloves were distributed to the class to demonstrate the various sanitary equipment used in the cafeteria.
“Technically, we’re in the food service industry, so there’s no better place to actually see them going to school,” Smith said.
In addition, Mr. Gord discussed the county-wide health requirements that Coweta school cafeterias must follow and the management side of operating various lunchroom facilities throughout the county.
After the presentation, students toured Welch’s cafeteria twice.
The first tour took place in the morning, allowing students to see cafeteria employees at work. The class watched from afar as employees made breakfast, washed dishes and went about their morning routines.
Smith made sure students saw the cafeteria health inspection score sheet, which included a 99-point health score rating for the kitchen.
Smith & Welch Principal Lewis Brown said the cafeteria received a perfect score of 100 in a recent inspection.
“We’ll make sure you see that 100 on our second tour at 2 p.m.,” Smith said.
After cafeteria workers served lunch for the day, Thompson’s class took a second, more detailed tour of the kitchen.
Students got a close-up look at machines such as sinks, ovens, steamers, and storage spaces.
“Their absolute favorite was the walk-in freezer,” Smith said.
Gord said seeing the work in the kitchen firsthand was an invaluable learning experience. You can also teach students about the origins of food, the importance of food safety, and introduce different types of cultures through different cooking methods.
“This has also led to a better understanding of where school meals come from and how they are made,” she said.
Many students were surprised to see how complex operating a kitchen was, but discovered a new appreciation for employees in the process.
Student Ella Ford said: “Being a chef is a lot of hard work. In my opinion, it’s really interesting how quickly bacteria grows.”
Another student, Samantha Mirabal, wants to open her own bakery. She said the tour helped her learn about maintaining a sanitary work environment.
“Now we know what it should look like and how it should be,” Mirabal said.
Opportunities to learn outside of the classroom are invaluable to the class, Thompson said.
She said she tries to find opportunities for students to see and do things they wouldn’t normally do in a regular classroom environment.
“My hope is that students will understand the skills of hard work, being grateful and serving others, and being organized and following rules,” Thompson said. “These are qualities that our cafeteria staff and manager, Ms. Kimberly Smith, embody.”
