Mack’s Tasty Fruit Salad

I was having a conversation with Mack about his weekend when he mentioned he had made a fruit salad with his mum.

Being a fan of this dessert, I asked him for more information about the ingredients he had used and how it was prepared. 

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It sounded delicious and I could see how Room 13 could include the making of Mack’s fruit salad into our Inquiry topic, Movement Madness.

We wrote our recipe cards, making sure we were following the success criteria for writing instructions. This included a title, numbered steps, bossy words and short clear sentences.

I thought it would be a brilliant idea to take the finished fruit salad home for pudding. However, the students in Room 13 had other ideas, as they wanted to sample it as well. Tomas even went as far as writing me a letter to make this request. Needless to say, I was seriously out voted.

Our master chef, Mack, was on hand to make sure we were following the instructions carefully as well as being a bit of a whiz with the peeler. As part of our Science investigations, we have been learning how we use everyday objects by applying a force. Either a push or a pull. The students were able to explain what force they were using when they were preparing the fruit.

My hand pushed the scissors.

Peeling the apple was tricky. I used pull the most. 

Grating the apples and pears was using push and pull.

I pushed the knife down and pulled the knife to cut the oranges.

I pushed on the spoon to mix it up.

After sampling the fruit salad the students gave feedback on any changes we could make to improve the method or taste.
After sampling the fruit salad the students gave feedback on any changes we could make to improve the method or taste.

The pear was too slippery when we pushed and pulled it to grate it.

I think you can peel the pears and cut them in small pieces.

We can cut the apples instead of grating them, so we don’t cut our fingers.

I think the instructions have to be clearer so we cut up pineapple as well.

We need to make two bowls.

There wasn’t any fruit salad leftover, and Mack said it was just as good as the one he made with his mum.
There wasn’t any fruit salad leftover, and Mack said it was just as good as the one he made with his mum.

2024 Jackson

Leanne Jackson

I have a long history of being part of the education world. My experiences include being a parent, grandparent, and teacher. I have had training in both Early Childhood and Primary School.

I have been working at Wairakei Primary School since 2014 and I am teaching in the junior school. I have a strong belief that all children are capable learners and I am passionate about developing learning programmes that are creative, challenging, authentic and fun with my team. I nurture the children’s curiosity while encouraging them to become self- motivated and independent learners who understand what they are learning and why they are learning it.

I enjoy working in the supportive learning community of Wairakei Primary School where children, families and teachers learn and grow together.

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