Program
The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Culinary Literacy Center opened in June of 2014, providing innovative and accessible public programming to children and adults throughout Philadelphia. The Culinary Literacy Center’s mission is to advance literacy through food and cooking around a communal table. Our goal is to do this work in a way that inspires curiosity and fun among participants. Nourishing Literacy is the Culinary Literacy Center’s multidisciplinary school visit program, now in its fifth year. Class groups of children and older youth, from Pre-K and up visit our kitchen classroom, ranging in group sizes from twenty to thirty-six students . Lessons use cooking as the context for teaching literacy, nutrition, science, and more. Each lesson is part of a larger unit that includes activities and resources that can be used by the classroom teacher to implement before and after the library visit.
The Culinary Literacy Center provides unique opportunities for connecting a wide audience to the resources of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Through Nourishing Literacy, children are introduced to our library system, and inspired to grow as library users. Classroom teachers are given the ability to extend unit learning within various departments, resources, and collections within the library. One of the goals of Nourishing Literacy is to help to nurture students to become lifelong library users.
In this workshop, Nourishing Literacy Manager, Shayna Marmar, Nourishing Literacy Kitchen Teachers, Alex Ringgold & Yulia Tcymbalova, and Culinary Literacy Center Library Assistant, Naquawna Letman will share best practices for involving school students, classroom teachers, and volunteers in school trips and outreach visits. Ideas and insights for applying practical and engaging culinary activities in library settings of all kinds will be provided. While the majority of our cooking classes are taught either in our Culinary Literacy Center kitchen classroom, or with the use of our Culinary Literacy Carts, our lesson activities can be replicated with limited, accessible materials. Information about our Culinary Literacy Kits and tips on putting together a similar, affordable kit will be shared, in addition to other resources. Opportunities to interact with materials will be provided, as well as the chance to get a small taste of our activities and foods!
ALA Unit/Subunit: ALSC
Meeting Type: Program
Cost: Included with full conference registration.
Open/Closed: Open
Shayna Marmar
Nourishing Literacy Program Manager
Culinary Literacy Center, Free Library of Philadelphia
Naquawna Letman
Library Assistant
Culinary Literacy Center, Free Library of Philadelphia
Yulia Tcymbalova
Nourishing Literacy Kitchen Teacher
Culinary Literacy Center, Free Library of Philadelphia
Alex Ringgold
Nourishing Literacy Kitchen Teacher
Culinary Literacy Center, Free Library of Philadelphia