Hopatcong School Students Learn Spelling and Speech Deliciously

Chocolate chip pancakes, hot dogs, an egg cream: That’s what’s cooking at Hopatcong's Tulsa Trail School, thanks to Café Kids, a unique teaching approach being used at the school, according to Superintendent of Schools Cynthia Randina.
 
Each week, students in Danielle Kovach's third grade class are in the café whipping up culinary delights such as berry smoothies, grilled cheese and scrambled eggs. The menu correlates with students' spelling lessons. Through their work in Café Kids, the students review spelling sounds, while also learning basic cooking skills, interacting with staff members and working cooperatively with each other. 

The program is a weekly part of students' speech and language therapy and is overseen by speech language specialist Pat Pietrzak. The students learn to follow multi-step directions, answer questions, enhance their vocabulary and gain social skills important for life outside the classroom. 

The Café Kids kitchen was the result of a grant from ING and Donor's Choose, along with the help of Home Depot; which the superintendent said was  instrumental in obtaining the appliances, counter, cabinets and sink. 


On Oct. 29, the Emmy Award winning show, "Ciassroom Close-Up New Jersey," came to the café to film the students. The show is expected to air in February.