After-school cooking class

           

            When my daughter was in second grade and I was making a living as a substitute teacher, I was recruited by the PTA to teach an after-school cooking class at her school. I assumed I would be working with the older kids, grades 3-5, but when the flyer came out it listed the age range for the class as  grades k-2. I had no idea what kind of cooking one does with kindergarteners so I called a friend who taught kindergarten for ideas. She had a lot of good suggestions, and I planned to use them all.

            One unforeseen problem in teaching a cooking class at Landing School was that there was no kitchen for us to use, so the PTA president got permission for us to use the teacher’s lounge, which had a stove, on the condition that we cleaned up thoroughly after ourselves. My daughter and her best friend were among the 10 or so kids who signed up for the class.

            First, we made English-muffin pizzas- a success. Pudding painting got a bit messy, but the pudding stayed on the table. The Halloween popcorn balls didn’t stick together, but the carmelized popcorn was delicious.  And then, we made rugalach. The recipe that I have is very labor-intensive, and I figured it would keep those little fingers busy. The dough is rolled out on powdered sugar, and then sprinkled with more powdered sugar before it goes in the oven. It didn’t occur to me that five and six year olds would be unable to stop licking the powder sugar from their fingers, and they would also wipe those sticky fingers all over the chairs. A lot of powdered sugar also made it’s way onto the floor, which was carpeted. When they finally headed home with their little baggies of yummy cookies, I was left with a colossal mess.  The entire teacher’s lounge was thick with a layer of spit and sugar, and soap and water didn't begin to clean it up. I did the best I could, left a note for the custodian and went home.

            It was early the next day that I got a call from the PTA president. Everyone was furious at me. The teachers and the custodian were angry about the condition of the lounge, and she was understandably angry that I made the PTA look bad. The room had to be professionally cleaned by an outside firm, and I have to tell you, they did a great job. Not surprisingly, I was not invited back to teach any more after-school classes, but the lounge looked so great when the pros were finished, a couple of the teachers later thanked me.