Grade Level: 3rd

Duration: 1 class

Goal:

To become familiar with plantain recipes from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.

Objective:

To describe the preparation process for cooking plantains.

Activities:

1. The teacher announces that the class is going to cook three different plantain recipes. S/he asks three students to select three plantains--green, yellow and black--from all of the bananas on display in the classroom.

2. The teacher hands out the aprons and hats for students to wear. S/he talks about the cooking tools that the class is going to use and then passes them around the class for the children to see.

3. As a class, students vote to decide which recipe they want to make first. Once a recipe has been chosen, the teacher reviews the cooking rules i.e., "The Steps to Good Cooking" in English and Spanish. On a large sheet of paper or overhead, the class reviews the ingredients they will use to cook the plantain (see individual recipes below). The list is written in English AND Spanish.

Assessment:

The teacher asks individual students to summarize what they learned using the following questions:

Materials:

Bananas (including the green, yellow and black varieties)
Overhead or large paper with recipes
The Steps to Good Cooking Guidelines.
Cooking utensils and ingredients (see recipes below)

Puerto Rican Tostones/Tostones Puertorriqueños

Plantain Patties from Cuba/Tostones de Cuba

Tostones from the Dominican Republic/Tostones de La República Dominicana