Project Title: Development of Demonstration Site to Improve Special Education Student Outcomes in General Education Curriculum

Kulshan Middle School Bellingham School District Contact: Gige Morganti gmorganti@bham.wednet.edu 1250 Kenoyer Street Bellingham, WA 98226 (360) 676 4889

Population	Special Educ	504	Title I/LAP	ESL
668	85	7	0	24

Kulshan Middle School Life Skills Program

Vocational Cookie Program

by Mary Lindsey, teacher

In January of 1996, in order to meet the need to enhance the vocational opportunities for students with significant cognitive developmental disabilities, we started a new vocational program. This program is a cookie business based in the life skills program. Cookies are sold each day in the school cafeteria's snack bar. Students and their peer tutors, perform a variety of cookie jobs, which include baking, packaging, labeling, counting, delivering, and clean up. Specific work skills taught include: reporting to work on time, staying at your work station, following written and verbal instructions, working with others cooperatively, proper use of equipment, asking for help appropriately, performing tasks at a high quality level, and maintaining health and safety standards. These skills are aligned with our district's Essential Student Learnings of being "quality producers", "competent thinkers" and "responsible citizens", and the Washington State Student Learning Goal to "understand the importance of work and how performance, effort, and decisions directly affect future career and educational opportunities'. The cookie program also enables individual students to meet vocational training IEP goals and objectives.

In addition to being a hands-on vocational work experience, the program is also an additional funding source for the life skills program. Cookie profits pay for swimming every other Friday, ten sessions of bowling, enables lunch pals to each receive $1 to help buy their lunch in the community every other Friday, additional technology equipment and software, and a variety of classroom materials and equipment. Cookie profits also pay for an annual bus trip out of town to such places as the Vancouver Aquarium and Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo. Incoming students for the next school year are included on this day trip and all expenses are also paid for them.

The program has expanded since 1996 when the average number of bags (2 to 3 cookies per bag) sold each day was 34 to the last school year when the average was 97 bags per day. Our net profits have increased from $1,087 to $4,115 a year during the same time period. We now sell cookies after school in the life skills classroom, which accounts for 40% of our sales. Selling cookies after school brings in a number of Kulshan students into our classroom. It is not uncommon for two or three students to come in to purchase one bag of cookies. Since we re selling an average of 41 bags after school, the number of students coming into the room ranges from 40 to 100 students daily. This exposure to the classroom enables other students to see the program and the classroom has the reputation of being the "cookie room". It is now our intent to maintain our current level of sales to continue to provide a quality vocational experience as well as an additional funding source for our program. It is not our intent to increase sales further due to the fact that the vocational program is just one aspect of our life skills program.

  Project assignment sample:

Castle Kids Cooking Proiect

This activity will include student work, which is to be completed both at home and at school.

A. Recipe Selection
Find or create a recipe that you enjoy.

1. Type or print your recipe so that it is easy to follow. Include the following:

• Name of recipe
• Your name
• Number of servings
• List of needed ingredients
• List of equipment needed
• Number and list the steps to prepare your recipe

2. Make a shopping list as if you needed to buy every ingredient for your recipe. List the item needed, how many you need, and the size.

• For a Bonus Stamp, take your list to the grocery store and write down the prices for each ingredient. Add up the total cost.
• For an additional Bonus Stamp, make your recipe at home to share with your family.

B. Recipe Conversions
Change your original recipe to four converted recipes after you have:

1. doubled the ingredients (i.e., 8 servings instead of 4).

2. cut your recipe in half (i.e., 4 servings instead of 8).

3. increased your recipe by 3 1/2 (i.e., 1 cup becomes 3 1/2 cups)

4. decreased your recipe by 3/4 (i.e., 1 cup becomes 3/4 of a cup)

* Extended Activity- Cooperative Cooking at School

When you have completed the activities listed above, you will be eligible to participate in the cooking activity at school. Your name will be drawn from those eligible.

You will be preparing a recipe at school with 3 other students.

• You will need to read the recipe thoroughly before your cooking day (you may want to prepare the recipe at home for practice).
• You will need to divide the tasks amongst your kitchen group. Everyone must participate and everyone must clean up before eating.
• Following written and oral instructions is critical to the success of the finished project.

Castle Kids' Cookbook
Type your original recipe so that it is easy to follow for the team cookbook. Use graphics or artwork to decorate and highlight your recipe page.

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Program learning objective and evaluation sample:

Essential Academic Learning Requirements

Castle Kids' Cooking Project Self-Evaluation (+,V, -)
Name of recipe
Your name
Parent signature

Reading Activity (Recipe selection and preparation)
1. The student understands and uses different skills and strategies to read.
To meet this standard, the student will:

• build vocabulary through reading
• reading fluency, adjusting reading for purpose and material

2. The student reads different materials for a variety of purposes.
To meet this standard, the student will:

• read to perform a task

Math Activity (Recipe conversions)
1. The student understands how mathematical ideas connect within mathematics, to other subject areas, and to real-life situations.
To meet this standard, the student will:

• relate mathematical concepts and procedures to real-life situations.

Communication Activity (Cooking activity at home and/or at school)
1. The student uses listening and observation skills to gain understanding.
To meet this standard, the student will:

• focus attention
• listen and observe to gain and interpret information
• check for understanding by asking questions and paraphrasing

2. The student uses communication strategies and skills to work effectively with others.
To meet this standard, the student will:

• use language to interact effectively and responsibly with others
• work cooperatively as a member of a group
• seek agreement and solutions through discussion

Art Activity (Designing recipe page for Castle Kids' Cookbook)
1. The student acquires the knowledge and skills necessary to create, to perform and to respond effectively to the arts.
To meet this standard, the student will:

• use skills of craftsmanship to produce quality work

2. The student applies the creative process with arts knowledge and skills to reason and solve problems.
To meet this standard, the student will:

• use the senses to gather and process information
• generate and analyze solutions to problems using creativity and imagination
• use arts criteria to consider the effectiveness of personal work and that of others

3. The student understands how the arts connect to other subject areas, life and work.
To meet this standard, the student will:

• apply ideas and skills developed in the arts to daily life

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