SUSTENANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY | THE DALTON SCHOOL
A note from Assistant Head of School Celeste Herrera Awareness of our environment, responsibility to others and our planet are deeply connected to Dalton’s mission, which affirms our commitment to “educating the whole child” and to “engage students as participants in a democratic society and global community.” The expansion of our culinary program as a pillar of personal wellbeing and cultural awareness, and its connection to the environmental impact individual and institutional decisions have on our sustainability efforts are closely tied. I am pleased to highlight and support the work of our colleagues Jaz Johnson, Charlie Stewert, Joaquin Ramsey and Cory Cowles in the Culinary Program and the efforts of David Lindo in his capacity as k12 Sustainability Coordinator. Their collaboration, desire to integrate sustainability work and the teaching kitchen into your classes, clubs and programs, and progress made establishing Dalton as a leader connecting culinary education and sustainability in schools is inspiring.
Ramsey/Kohn House
Recent Curricular Integrations
We had our House make grilled cheese sandwiches during the October Long House. Students traded half-sandwiches and shared with each other how they like to cook them (the raging debate was mayo or butter to toast the bread), what their favorite cheese and sides were, and how to prepare a lactose-free, gluten-free, or vegan grilled cheese (we had options for those students). It helped our House build community, experience each other's preferences and favorites, and integrate expert ideas (Chef Jaz) into tried and true personal favorites. It also created an environment where advisees had to communicate with each other authentically about what is good, what is hot, who is cooking what and how to clean up a communal mess.
Update from Environmental Club Environment Club has been working on organizing their annual high-school thrift shop event. This event encourages sustainable clothing consumption especially in the age of fast fashion. TREEage Dalton has been preparing written testimony for city council in support of Local Law 97, which is a bill that regulates the emissions of public and private buildings within NYC.
NYC Air Quality Project Dalton will be participating in a multi-year effort to measure the impact of air quality on educational outcomes (such as attendance and test scores) for students across New York City, and identify the role that building infrastructure can play in protecting students from harmful air quality. This project is an interdisciplinary multi-organization collaboration between Fordham University, Resources for the Future, and three environmental justice/community based organizations: The Point Community Development Center, TREEage and the NY Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)
Faculty and Staff Cook Along We are kicking off monthly faculty and staff cook along sessions. The kitchen has become an informal place for us all to gather and share a bite. I would like to invite you to share a vegetarian recipe this can be your go-to recipe on a rainy Saturday morning or your favorite holiday dish. I will help you turn this dish into a lesson to cook along with our high school students during flex period/lunchtime. Keep in mind, like every lesson in the teaching kitchen, the goal is to be able to cook the recipe in completion during our time together, eat, enjoy and clean up. Contact Chef Jaz to sign up
4th grade students visited the Teaching Kitchen to make a dish inspired by the immigrants they are studying in their Ellis Island unit. Students learned the reasons eastern and southern Europeans chose to leave their homelands for the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, what those journeys were like, and how the immigrants were received in New York Harbor. They also examined the connections immigrants kept to their homelands and the traditions and customs they brought with them. The kitchen provided the perfect opportunity for the students to see, smell, and taste those customs while making a traditional Italian meal: orecchiette with tomato sauce. 4th graders also learned the practical lessons of how to hold a knife and how to appropriately salt the water for boiling pasta. Andrew Preston
Students in Computer Science 0 have been learning the importance of using precise, detailed, and clear instructions, and finding an effective way for humans to communicate with a “computer” or “robot” (a new language!). In the TK, we focused on key programming concepts: instruction sequence, clear communication, and attention to detail. Students were given a recipe to make lemon curd, however, the instruction sequence was out of order, and some words were jumbled, and only half of each cooking station's group could be in the kitchen at a given time. For each group to succeed in making velvety lemon curd rather than lemony scrambled eggs, students used knowledge shared by Chef Jaz and unscrambled the instructions, and practiced communicating with their teammates as they cooked in "relay" team style. Jessica Valarezo
SUSTENANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY | THE DALTON SCHOOL
