TOPIC
BREAD IN OUR COUNTRIES (PART1)
People from all over the world eat breads of different types. The different breads are made
from a variety of cereal grains and come in many shapes and sizes. The type of bread
produced by a cultural group is dictated by the environment which affects the type of grains
that can be grown.
Sub-topics
Content
objectives
Language
objectives
Life cycle of wheat
Making bread
Ss will be able to
 identify the stages of the life cycle of wheat (from seeds to bread)
 make predictions
 design a survey
 collect data and draw conclusions
 classify, relate, compare, contrast
 sequence the stages of bread making
 design a new kind of bread
 know basic information about history of bread
Ss will be able to
 listen and read for information
 identify and name the stages of the life cycle of wheat
 describe how to make bread
 speak about their tastes
 speak, read and write using new vocabulary
 present ideas, report results of a group work
 describe bread
 write and perform a drama
 select information and organise them in a final product
Key- vocabulary: words and phrases to speak about bread (soft/hard/crunchy/long/loaf/bun/wheat, rye…); It
comes from…it’s made from….I think…;It looks like…I like/don’t like? My favourite; it has/ doesn’t have..; it’s
used to
Language support: scaffolding in the form of memory games –glossary- song –games –language frames
Learning
strategies
- questionnaires - brainstorming
- scanning and skimming for information
- cooperative learning (think-pair-share, jigsaw reading…)
- reading and speaking strategies (text circle, …)
- diagrams, graphs, flow charts, visuals
Thinking
skills
-questioning – predicting- sharing ideas – investigating –classifying -comparing – contrasting –
interpreting- discovering – explaining –- experimenting - summarising – making choices - performing
Links to the
outside
world
Visit to crops, bakeries
Exchange with partners
Curriculum
integration
Science - Maths - Geography – English- Art – Music – History
Materials
- handouts (see Bread workbook 1and Bread activity book 1)
- real books, games and flash cards, dictionaries
- different kinds of bread - tools and ingredients for making bread and the yeast experiment
- camera - PC (Word programme, PPT, cooperative website, the Internet)
STAGES
ACTIVITIES
 What do we know about bread? (group work)
TUNING IN Brainstorm ideas from the Ss and show them in a mind map.
Examples from:
Bread/handouts
Bread/activities
(pag.3 Bread Wr.
pag.2 Bread Act.)
 Let’s taste: What’s our favourite bread? (individual/group work)
- prepare a basket with different kind of local breads - ask the Ss to elicit their
names ( Can anyone tell the name of this bread? Have you ever tasted it?),
(pag.4/5 Bread Wr.
describe and classify them by type, form or grains by which they are made;
- organise a “blind taste” test; each student has to identify different kinds of pag.3 Bread Act.)
bread, record them on a handout in the order they tasted them and express
their own opinion about the taste (I like/ I don’t like it. It’s soft…);
- ask the Ss to vote their favourite bread and show the results in a bar graph;
- get the Ss to find different ways to pay for the bread they tasted by using Euro
coins or local currency.
 What’s in the bread we eat? (pair work)
Ask the Ss to read the bread wrappers, underline the ingredients that are in
common and answer the questions ( What do all the breads have in (pag. 6 Bread Wr.)
common? Which one doesn’t have yeast? Which one doesn’t have oil? Which
one doesn’t have salt?)
 What kinds of bread did you eat yesterday? Survey
Ask the Ss to design a survey to record how often they have bread in a day
and in which form:
- Breakfast (toast, sandwich, biscuits, cakes…)
- Lunch (sandwich, pizza, roll…)
- Snack (crackers, jam on bread,…)
- Dinner ( roll, cake, grissini, piadina…)
Ss have to collect the data and list them on a chart.
 What do you know about the life cycle of wheat? (individual/group work)
- get the Ss to plant wheat seeds in two different pots; tell the Ss to place one
ACTIVATING
pot inside the class and one outside in a sunny spot and to water both of
PRIOR
them regularly. Ss have to record the growth of the plants through the months
KNOWLEDGE and draw conclusions (How does the weather affect the growth? How many
(pag.8 Bread Wr.)
days before the first shoot grows? etc.);
(pag.4/8 Bread Wr.)
- ask the Ss to draw the life cycle of wheat in a diagram.
 The Little Red Hen (individual/group work)
- show and read different versions of the story;
- ask the Ss to analyze the content of the story and compare different versions;
- get the Ss to prepare and perform a drama;
- ask the Ss to sequence the stages of the story and to write a different ending; (pag.9/11 Bread Wr.)
- make the Ss to design a new kind of bread, make it with salt dough and (pag.9/14 Bread Act.)
describe it.
 How is bread made? (cooperative work: Think-pair-share)
Ss think individually and then share their ideas about the process of bread (pag.13 Bread Wr)
making in pairs and in groups (We think that…). They show the stages of (pag.15 Bread Act.)
bread making in a flow chart as a group. Explain the Ss they will have to
compare their predictions with the information they will gather through
recipes and the visit to a bakery
FINDING
OUT
 Where does flour come from?
- Bring in class sample of as many types of flour (white/corn/rye) and seeds (pag.14 Bread Wr.)
(wheat, oats, rye, barley..) and something to grind (mortar or an old coffee
grinder);
- ask the Ss to feel and describe different kinds of flour ( white flour is white and
soft- corn flour is yellow…);
- get the Ss to try grinding some seeds and talk about how difficult was for
people to grind big amounts of seeds before there were machines to help
(visit a mill if possible).
- Visit a windmill (if possible) or a mill to observe how grains are turned into
flour and sketch/ make mill models in class
(pag.15 Bread Wr)
 Different types of grains - Jigsaw reading (cooperative work)
Ss are divided in groups of six and one set of cards is given to each tem.
Each team member has to pick up a card (in turns), read it and give the right
information to the group to fill in the grid (where the grains are grown and
what they are used for).
 The History of bread – Place mat (cooperative work/per teaching)
- Divide the class into groups and give each group a placemat with an historical (pag.16 Bread Wr)
time written in the middle of it and some essential information ( Ancient timesEgyptian time- Greek and Roman time- Middle Ages – Modern times);
- Ss have to read the given information, discuss the content with the group and
design a slide for a PPT in its own space on the placemat;
- Ss share their ideas within the group and come to a final project that has to
include the ideas from all the members of the group;
- Each group prepares a slide and presents its work to the other groups;
- All the slides are put together in a final PPT to be uploaded on the
See Annex 2
cooperative website of the partnership.
 Yeast experiment (individual/group work)
- Brainstorm ideas about what yeast is;
(pag.22/24 Bread Wr.
- prepare and label the tools for the experiment. Get the students into 3 groups pag.16 Bread Act.)
and give each group the materials required;
- ask the Ss to make predictions about the result of the experiment: What will it
happen if I mix yeast and sugar in warm water or cold water or warm water
with flour?;
- ask the groups to record what happens during the experiment and to measure
the size of the balloons;
- ask each group to report about the result of the experiment and to draw
conclusions.
SORTING
OUT
 Outside visits: visit a bakery to collect information about different types of
bread sold, their cost and the process of bread making. Take pictures of the
window of the bakery and of different types of bread to be used for the
cooperative European bread PPT.
 Involve local associations (such as Slow Food) to speak about traditional (pag.17 Bread Act)
bread
 Recipe search (individual/group work)
- ask the Ss to look for recipes about bread making on the Internet, on recipe
books or by asking parents or grannies;
- tell the Ss they have to compare their predictions about bread making with
information collected at the bakery and from different sources;
- ask the Ss to choose a recipe to make bread.
(pag.17/19 Bread Wr.)
 How to make bread: Listening with key-words (group work)
- put the class into groups of three or four;
- give out cards with key-words taken out from the recipe and tell the Ss to take
5 words each;
- read the text of the recipe slowly and tell the Ss to arrange the words in the
order they hear them on the table;
- tell the Ss they have to re-tell the recipe by using the words in the order they
are on the table.
 Let’s make bread (group work)
- Get the children to make bread in class by following the steps of the recipe; (pag.20/21Bread Wr.)
- take pictures of the different stages;
- ask the Ss to sequence the steps to make bread: one group puts the
photos in the right order and another group matches sentences with each
picture;
- ask the Ss to fill in a flow chart to show the stages in bread making and to
write an Identity Card of the bread they made.
 Bread and nutrition: links can be made to nutrients and rules for healthy (pag.25/27 Bread Wr.)
eating. Ask the Ss to read the nutritional text about Grain Food Groups and to
fill in the table.
REFLECTING
 What if there were no kinds of bread at all?
Discuss what Ss would have instead of bread. How could they make a
sandwich or a pizza? Have the Ss to illustrate their solutions.
LANGUAGE
(pag.28/35 Bread Wr.)
SUPPORT  Memory game to support learning of ingredients of bread
 Bread glossary to record new words about bread Ss don’t know
 Matching words with definitions of ingredients to make bread
 “Bake the bread” game: Ss sit in a circle; one player has no chair and
stands in the middle. Each player has a word card related to the ingredients
for making bread. T calls out 2 words “Yeast and sugar change places!”. Ss
who have the two words have to swap places while the player in the middle
tries to catch a seat. When the T says “Bake the bread”, all the Ss have to
swap places. After a few tries, Ss take turns in guiding the game.
 “This is the way we make bread” song: Ss sing the song miming it in order
to remember the sequence of actions to make bread
ASSESSMENT
Teacher assessment of learning: handouts and all activities in the project give
opportunities for observation and evaluation of understanding, participation,
cooperation, language use, content acquisition.
 Text circles: Get the Ss in groups of three/four. Prepare slips of paper with (pag.36/43 Bread Wr.
the stages for making bread and give a set to each group. Tell the Ss they pag.18/19 Bread A.)
have to read the sentences and put them in the right order in a circle
 Cut and sequence: Ss work individually. They have to cut out the recipe
about bread making and stick all the stages in the right order
 Complete half sentences: Ss have to cut and match the two halves to make
correct sentences
 Self Assessment: Roundtable (cooperative learning). Ss work in groups of
4; they’ve got a number from 1 to 4 and a sheet of paper on which they have
to write a title (n.1 I liked…; n.2 I learned…; n.3 It was difficult to…; n 4. It
was easy to learn because…). Each student writes a comment on his sheets
of paper and then passes it around. Each group summarizes the answers and
reports to the class
 Comenius Portfolio folder: Ss collect their works in the folder and fill in a (pag.44 Bread Wr)
grid to go with them. Self-assessment form.