Mentor Texts with a Cooking Theme

Whether you're a reading specialist, librarian, or classroom teacher, it is especially important to know books.  Matching books to student interest is a great motivator.  It forms a bond between you and your students too.  My kids LOVE to tell me about their favorite parts as well as what they hated about a book, and by knowing books, I can make informed decisions on recommending to kids and parents. 

Cooking with kids teaches them so many skills including following directions, measurement, chemistry, and most importantly, reading for a purpose. If you enjoy cooking with kids, you might be curious to know book titles that tie into a cooking theme. Here are my choices and a little blurb about each.

"Cookie" Books by Amy Rosenthal

Of these books, I'd like to highlight a two of my very favorites.  The first on my list is One Smart Cookie by Amy Rosenthal.  Her books are just wonderful for vocabulary development and life lessons.  For young readers, it's important to read books at a higher level to develop word knowledge and usage, and with this book, not only will students get lessons on social skills, but they can relate to cookie making too.  Kids love to make cookies and eating them! Making homemade cookies is an experience some children don't get to have often, so why not make cookies with your class after sharing this lovely book.  Amy's other titles are featured below, and each is a must read to and with your classes.

      

Activities with a Cookie Theme

Here are a few cookie themed freebies I found that readers might tie in with these wonderful stories.

Books with a Soup Theme

If you want something healthy to balance out your cookie making, why not go with soup?  There are a large number of children's books that deal with soup including Growing Vegetable Soup, Chicken Soup with Rice, Mouse Soup (discounted in my store today as part of this post...$2.00 deal), and Pumpkin Soup. Some of these are classics that often get forgotten.  Stone Soup by Ann McGovern has been around for 30 years, and sharing it along with other old time tales such as The Little Red Hen and The Princess and the Pea would be great fun too.  Teachers can even share multiple versions of Stone Soup.  Amazon carries Stone Soup by four additional authors.

Activities with a Soup Theme

Here are soup themed freebies for you to enjoy.

Other Reading Options

     

Cooking with children is very rewarding, and any time you can embed reading with your activities, it's a win-win, right! Plus, thematic teaching just makes sense when you can include multiple subjects into the theme. It is very motivating.

What books have you discovered with a cooking theme?  If you have favorites, please add them in the comments below.

Happy cooking!

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