Cooking Chili in Our Special Ed Class

No, no, no 3 Alarm Chili! Let's stick with templado.

Supremely versatile cooking tool.

 It is high school football season here in SoCal, and our Special Day Class is going to cook some chili--not the fancy,  competitive kind found in Chili Cook Offs--no, just pretty straight forward chili. At least until we get our STEM garden going and we have our own veggies and herbs.


Although we are considered a Life Skills class(Moderately/Severely Handicapped for Grade 9 and 10), we don't have access to a kitchen. So we will use a slow cooker and rice maker.

Woo-hoo, we're getting a new ricemaker!

I put rice on the lesson plan because my experience living at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, gave us a marvelous chili experience (with Zippy's Chili being a fast food franchise and the chili was always over rice.)

We will check the weight measurement of beans and tomatoes. We will measure the rice and liquid. We will discuss temperature and time.

We will discuss courtesy and custom while eating.


Then we will plan the space for laying out and eating in our classroom. Checking number of diners, and what each will need to eat. Time, again will be a consideration--actually, we will discuss these topics integrated throughout our academics for a few days prior to the event.

How to handle food while cooking, serving and eating? Wash hands. Don't forget the cleanup. Hygiene and sanitation.



We will follow the recipe on the seasoning packet, except for the little red onions from my own backyard herb/veggie garden. The students are starting their own Recipe Books, and will are also going to copy this recipe. I am hoping they will report back on chili discussions at home!

Will report back on our cooking project!

I am developing complete lesson plans for PDF on this series of activities for Cooking Chili in a Special Ed Class, and will make these available on my website. Will let you know when they are available!

My sweet little red onions from the Melanie Link Taylor Teaching Garden--including evidence of seeds--to be included in our classroom chili.