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Learning Experience/Unit

Chocolate Fever by NYSATL


Subject

English Language Arts (NYS P-12 Common Core)

Grade Levels

Elementary, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade


Assessment

A number of assessments are used throughout the Learning Experience:

  • Observation
  • Group Discussion

 

 

Learning Context/ Introduction


In this Learning Experience, students create new products, learning games and poetry around the subject of chocolate.

Purpose and Curricular Connections
In this Learning Experience, students research chocolate as part of a study of plants and the Rain Forest, and create new chocolate products and poetry. The primary purpose of Chocolate Fever is to challenge students to create new chocolate products and learning games.  See Student Work. This project ties into the study of plants and the Rain Forest.

Authors

Bette Crowningshield, Peru Primary, Peru Central School District
Mary Ellen McTigue, Peru Central School District (Retired)
SUNY Plattsburgh, Field Supervisor

Procedure

What Teachers and Students Do

A detailed Timeline is available below. In this Learning Experience, a variety of activities take place. To prepare for the Learning Experience, teachers:
  • Access Amazon.com for book selections/gather articles on chocolate and the chocolate shortage
  • Make supply list (see Resources)
  • Determine trip costs and availability of sites
  • Check school district bus costs
  • Create rubrics to be used
  • Explain Self-Assessment and Teacher Evaluation
In this Learning Experience, students:
  • Examined the literary elements of books and recorded their notes in book journals. Students read from a variety of genres (see below).
  • Met in book circles to discuss what they had read and how they used inference and deduction throughout their readings, and presented their points of view of selected literature at book circles.
  • Used the characters from the books to create poems. Other students created Chocolate theme poems using suggestions from the teacher and the Poetry Rubric.
  • Presented their candy bar and wrapper creations, games, and "Chocolate Delights" projects to peers. Students had to follow classroom rules during the presentations. These expectations were outlined each time and reviews came from the students.
  • Presented board games to peers. They outlined the goal of the game, directions needed to be followed, and how the group arrived at the title of the game.
Student Work
  • Game Board Directions (see below)
  • Brainstorming List for Game Board (see below)
  • Presented the design of the candy bar and wrapper to their peers. They had to convince their classmates their candy bar was the next best seller. (Speaking Rubric can be found in Assessment section.)
  • Composed a descriptive paragraph describing their newly invented candy bar. (Some included the description of their wrapper, too.) Students had to be able to identify the wrapper by the number posted next to the candy bar. Create a Candy Bar Parent Directions are provided below.
  • Candy Bar Paragraph (See Descriptive Paragraph Rubric in Assessment section.)
  • Created their own video commercial to advertise the candy bars they had created in the early portion of the unit.
  • Responded to questions asked when they presented their games and "Chocolate Delights" projects.
  • Worked with student volunteers invited to make a Candy Invitation (see below.) Cooperative groups were designed for a Tasting Day.  (Even the shyest students were able to interact with adults in discussing chocolate selection and design.)
  • Composed thank you notes to all the volunteers who helped in cooperative groups, candy making, chaperoning the field trip and a note to the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory. (The Thank You Letter Rubric appears in the Assessment section.)
  • Timeline
  • Game Board Directions
  • Brainstorming List for Game Boards
  • Create a Candy Bar - Parent Directions
  • Candy Invitation
  • Literature Outline

    • Student Work

    Below are samples of student work.

  • Thank You Letter
  • Candy Bar Paragraph
  • TNT Bar
  • Hershey Hero
  • Chocolate Limerick
  • Hershey Kiss
  • Board Games
  • Models of Chocolate Factories

    • Website(s)

    Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory
    Amazon

    Resources

    Reading:
    Literature Outline available in Procedure section.

    Activities:

    • Dice, model games
    • disposable cameras
    • candy bars (Sam's Club)
    • Art supplies: markers (thin & thick), colored pencils, poster board, glue sticks, sketch pads
    • selected literature
    • Cooking supplies: chocolate wafers, electric frying pan to melt wafers, wax bags to take home chocolate treats, pretzels, molds
    • candy for estimating jar, jar
    • pocket folders for work in progress, manila folders for team game work
    • name tags for students and parents
    • Technology: Computer, printer, Internet access, digital camera, video camera, and scanner

    Websites:
    There are a number of Internet Websites dedicated to the topic of chocolate. Students can begin by keying in product names such as Hershey's, Godiva, or Cadbury. They should also check http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/.

    Handouts:

    • Game Board Directions
    • Brainstorming List for Game Boards
    • Create A Candy Bar Parent Directions
    • Candy Invitation
    • Thank You Letter Rubric
    • Descriptive Paragraph Rubric
    • Chocolate Delights
    • Poetry Rubric
    • Speaking Rubric
    • Self-Assessment
    • Teacher Evaluation

    Instructional/Environmental Modifications


    • Partners were selected across grade level to insure heterogeneous grouping for the candy bar and wrapper activities.
    • Teachers insured a heterogeneous mix for the game board creations by establishing new groups.
    • A student with autism was always accompanied by a teaching assistant but placed in a heterogeneous group for the game and partnered for the candy bar with a classmate volunteer.
    • Time slots were created to accommodate the schedule of 12 students from the Resource Room as well as Speech, Applied Behavioral Analysis, and Occupational Therapy services.

    Duration

    This project takes some planning ahead. It takes two months to order and organize supplies. It takes about 24 days to implement. Assessment is ongoing throughout each part of the experience.

    Reflection

    Comments from Bette Crowningshield and Mary Ellen McTigue:

    Collaboration of teachers and multiage students was a very positive experience. Working in collaborative groups encouraged students to be risk takers. Presenting their creations helped them to overcome concerns about speaking in front of a group. The use of consensus in the group projects allowed all students to actively participate in the learning process.

    Curiosity about chocolate, its origin and process was stimulated yet conquered in the presentation by a parent who had just returned from a cocoa plantation. We lived chocolate!! This was a wonderful home/school connection. Parents were vital to the sweet success of this tiny morsel. Bar None!

    Probably the most exciting piece for us as teachers was the level of enthusiasm whenever we read a class story or they read independently. So many parents commented on their child’s positive outlook for reading. Many students asked their parents to purchase their own copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Cocoa Commotion.

    It was difficult designing rubrics to reflect poetry assessment. We needed to reach out to other colleagues who were not as biased as we were. We felt all the poems were wonderful. Peer review helped us clarify the direction of our experience.

    We will include the children more in the design of a new experience.

    Acknowledgements:
    Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory
    Many parents who graciously manned the cooperative teams


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