The Language Enriched Academic Program (LEAP) is a multiage classroom of second through fifth graders. The LEAP classroom at the Manor School makes soup every week for teachers.
This soup idea was born in the first year of LEAP, 2017, while getting to know how to use the kitchen tools and following steps in the kitchen. The class did this by making snacks for each other on a daily basis. In the first year, the classroom had five students and each student had a classroom job to make snack once a week. In 2018, the classroom had a class with eight students. The snack center continued but students had to wait almost two weeks to cook.
With the support of our Occupational Therapist, the soup prep idea was born. Manor’s OT spent two full days supporting the classroom. One of the two OT days was dedicated to soup prep. Students selected one step at a time and learned chopping and measuring skills with the 1:1 support of an adult, including an OT. Students improved their fine motor skills and learned to use a chopper, garlic press, can openers, and learned measurement skills. The class spent one day prepping the soup and the following day cooking and then serving the soup to teachers.
The soup business was started again in 2019, and even added a salad bar in the spring and fall. They used the money they made to buy ingredients for the next batches of soup. In the fall and spring, the class took a trip to the farmers marker in downtown Rochester for ingredients or they walked to HFMP armed with shopping lists and money, learning to grocery shop for ingredients on a budget.
Throughout the fall, the classroom has sold one or two crockpots of soup each week and all the proceeds go to the classroom’s Angel Tree Family. The LEAP classroom raised about $250 and provided a family with many gifts and gift cards for the holidays.
Moving forward, the Leap classroom will donate earned funds to another charity that means so much to the Super Kids of the LEAP classroom - The Little Wings Academy in Kankoole, Uganda. This school was built partially from the funds raised by this classroom over the last six years from hosting the schoolwide Super Kids Adventure Walk each spring.