7th Grade Latin America Geography Recipe Project

[CarolAnn856]

What is significant enough to you? He has an IEP. He has a 504 plan. He had delayed speech for the first 3 years of his life and then speech therapy until 4th grade for speech articulation issues. He has cognitive delays. He has slow and delayed processing issues. He reads on a 3rd grade level in 7th grade. Is that enough at this point or should I continue to go on for your approval?!

I am not asking to do his project for him. I am not picking out the theme that he wants to do. I am asking for tips on easy portable recipes that are delicious enough that other 7th graders would enjoy trying. I am asking for some other things but at this point they aren't Dis friendly enough to share.............

I work with students with delays, some severe, some less so, and many with reading levels far below their grade level. I am very sorry that I my assumption was that your son does not have special needs. And I am in no way saying that you, or any other parent of a special needs child, should identify him/her as such when asking for advice. However, it has been my experience that most parents of special needs kids tend to mention that when they ask for advice or help that goes beyond what a student in that grade would typically require. Thus my assumption. Again, I apologize.

May I offer a suggestion for the assignment? To help involve him in the recipe selection process, as that is a life skill he can use in the future, many libraries have cookbook sections for young readers. If he would be embarrassed to check out a book from the children's section, you could choose several to bring home and then help him select an appealing recipe.

 

[Malibustyle23]

I work with students with delays, some severe, some less so, and many with reading levels far below their grade level. I am very sorry that I my assumption was that your son does not have special needs. And I am in no way saying that you, or any other parent of a special needs child, should identify him/her as such when asking for advice. However, it has been my experience that most parents of special needs kids tend to mention that when they ask for advice or help that goes beyond what a student in that grade would typically require. Thus my assumption. Again, I apologize.

May I offer a suggestion for the assignment? To help involve him in the recipe selection process, as that is a life skill he can use in the future, many libraries have cookbook sections for young readers. If he would be embarrassed to check out a book from the children's section, you could choose several to bring home and then help him select an appealing recipe.

-I try not to mention it unless it is actually necessary. I didn't feel that it was at the time. There is a stigma in society around those with special needs no matter how far we have come. I don't want to label my child and make him realize or feel like he is limited as to his abilities, goals or future. Although most of his issues are well known to those that get to know him in any sort of way he doesn't honestly realize any of them. My husbands cousin has a young son that has a autism, aspergers, processing disorders, and whatever she would like to label him with that day. At times she doesn't even call him by his name she calls him her little Aspie. She has to announce all of his conditions to everyone even strangers online. To me it is unnecessary and unnerving. I work in the complete opposite direction.

-So that you are aware, my plan when making this post was to select several recipes suggestions and take them to him for him to choose one that he would like to try. These recipes taken from real people meeting the criteria I had requested would hopefully be more successful than him perusing a book or online with no actual direction. While he does have a month to do the project the time it actually takes for him to make a choice could take that long. I did not want him to take a long time to decide and then find a recipe or two that he wasn't successful with that he had his heart set on at that point. I kind of wanted to set him up for success with limited tried and true choices.

 

[danielocha30]

I like the idea of a piñata, also leaning fir the food again, what about Arroz con Leche is a latin version of rice pudding is delicious and easy to take to school.
I have a child with autism and I'm planning to help him with his homework as long as I see it fit which i'm also planning to do with my non special need kid, it was out of line to criticize you for getting involved in you kids homework.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it the boy is set on make a dish to share.

I see. Although I will also throw another vote for the pinata in the hat too, lol. Latin America is HUGE with many countries.

I recommend finding a dessert. I would not go for the Leche (milk) desserts. The texture is different.

If you want to connect to something, I would look up "carnivals". Some of the pictures from "Carnival" from Brazil for example are STUNNING!

Most major cities in Latin America have "Carnivals". (Of course you MIGHT have to ignore the naked people & political stuff. Latin Americans are very expressive with their bodies. Body painting is a common thing in Brazil for Carnival, just saying.)

I would find a food associated with a Carnival. You can even order Brazilian stuff online, I am sure. Maybe you can make a candy or cookies associated with a country?

OH, one more thing. Make sure to do test recipes before you decide on one!!! So get a short list and make them.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

DD just had cultural day at school a few weeks ago. She's 11 and in 5th grade. DD wanted to make something for her class so my grandmother and DD made a traditional Puerto Rican dessert called tembleque. It's a coconut custard. They weren't that hard to pack up and transport. We sent in 27 individual servings and DD only came home with 7 of them. The kids LOVED them. My grandmother doesn't use a recipe but this recipe sounds pretty close except my grandmother buys coconuts and uses fresh coconut milk.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/238693/tembleque-puerto-rican-coconut-pudding/



ETA: We put the pudding in little plastic mini bowls and then put the little bowls in a cupcake holder tray. Everything was bought at Dollar General.

 

[magik]

CultureGrams is a great online resource for country research. It does require a subscription, but it would be worth checking if his school or your local public library subscribe. It includes tons of recipes based by country.

 

[nkereina]

What about Sopapillas? It's a dessert and isn't that hard to make.

This! I have a friend from Chile who makes a variation of sopaipilla that is to die for! I can't imagine anyone *not* liking it. Depending on the country you want to represent, there are different ways to make it. It's a sweet dessert. Good luck!

 

[prprincess]

If you go with a food, I think the easiest would be empanadas--you can buy the dough disks in the frozen Goya section and fill them with ground beef or chicken.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

So my son has come to the part of school where he must choose to do a themed project for geography class. Each student must choose to do either make a flag, make a craft, write a children's book, learn a song or dance, or bring in a traditional recipe from a Latin American country.

While I know it is his project to decide, do, etc, etc. I would like to ask those that are familiar with the recipes, heritage, cultures, etc if they have suggestions on recipes to try or types of things to start looking for? I would love to hear from actual people that know what they are talking about instead of him just looking at random recipes online. Something that you think others may not bring in? Would be easily portable? They do have class first period in the morning. Something that most 7th graders would probably enjoy?

It must be homemade and include a recipe. Any suggestions on things for him to try and see what he likes? Project is not due until April 28th.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

How long does the food sit before the class and do they have proper storage? That will be a huge consideration in what I would bring.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If you go with a food, I think the easiest would be empanadas--you can buy the dough disks in the frozen Goya section and fill them with ground beef or chicken.

That sounds delicious. Meat can be in a crock pot.

 

[scrapquitler]

So my son has come to the part of school where he must choose to do a themed project for geography class. Each student must choose to do either make a flag, make a craft, write a children's book, learn a song or dance, or bring in a traditional recipe from a Latin American country.

While I know it is his project to decide, do, etc, etc. I would like to ask those that are familiar with the recipes, heritage, cultures, etc if they have suggestions on recipes to try or types of things to start looking for? I would love to hear from actual people that know what they are talking about instead of him just looking at random recipes online. Something that you think others may not bring in? Would be easily portable? They do have class first period in the morning. Something that most 7th graders would probably enjoy?

It must be homemade and include a recipe. Any suggestions on things for him to try and see what he likes? Project is not due until April 28th.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

For very good authentic Ecuadorean food recipes, look for a website called Laylitas.com the recipes are posted both in English and in Spanish. I'd reccomend the recipe for "Ensalada Rusa" which is a potato salad. It's easy to make, familiar enough that most students won't be afraid to try it, and it's got an interesting twist on the normal potato salad. She even has a you tube video for it.