Summer Enrichment students build new skills learning old tradition... pasta making

Students in the Summer Enrichment class "A Taste of Italy" are learning traditional pasta making, exploring the culinary arts, culture, and their creativity with every delicious dish!

Led by Park Avenue Elementary School teacher Krystie Alier Velez, the week-long camp teaches fourth-grade students how to make pasta from scratch. Each day, students focus on a different pasta shape and technique. They are learning to roll and cut dough using both traditional rolling pins and hand-cranked pasta machines.

_{See a gallery of photos from the kitchen below this story!}

While the students are focused on cooking, the class naturally reinforces several academic subjects, especially STEM. Measuring and balancing ingredients serves as a practical lesson in fractions (let’s call it kitchen math), while operating the pasta rollers demonstrates applications and usefulness of simple machines.

When a batch of dough turns out too dry or too sticky, students troubleshoot the mixture, which builds practical problem-solving skills. By navigating a busy kitchen and following recipes together, the students also learn to communicate and collaborate effectively. The students get a real sense of accomplishment from each perfectly prepared pasta.

Additionally, learning the origins of different pasta shapes introduces the students to Italian geography and cultural history. They are doing more than just picking up a wonderfully useful and delicious life skill; they are learning that food has history and tradition behind it.

Ms. Velez even shared how tradition brought the craft of pasta into her own life. She learned from a close family friend who asked if Ms. Velez would be interested in learning her homemade recipes so that they could be passed on to a younger generation.  

"I am so lucky to have this woman in my life; I call her my grandma," Ms. Velez said. "She doesn't have children of her own, but she has these wonderful recipes and wanted to share them. So, she taught me how to make all of these different pastas. We still have Sunday dinners together, where we cook and eat together." 

And now, those recipes have even found more longevity with another younger generation, showing the students firsthand how kitchens can connect us to others and the wider world.

The nonna pasta recipes that the students have been learning this week are...

• Monday: Farfalle
• Tuesday: Cavatelli
• Wednesday: Pappardelle 
• Thursday: Fettuccine 
• Friday: Spaghetti

And now for the best part! A portion of each pasta has been flash-frozen and packaged for students to take home and share with their families every afternoon. 

One student, Alexandria, even shared a photo of the dish her and her classmate and sibling Liam put together with their parents using the Monday farfalle.

"We used the patsa and added some fresh basil from our yard for the sauce. It was so good," Alexandria said. Her classmates, Carlos and Richard, agreed that their favorite so far had been the farfalle, and both had high hopes going into today's (Friday's) spaghetti lesson!

As a week of trying their flour-covered hands at new recipes and kitchen techniques comes to a close, the Taste of Italy students have definitely given the class their own chef’s kiss of approval. Each day has offered a fresh opportunity to explore, create, and collaborate—resulting in new skills rooted in old tradition... not to mention all of that tasty pasta made with learning and love! 

PASTA PICS