Knife Skills- Adventures in onion tears and dull knives

Have you ever demonstrated how to cut an onion for your class and silently prayed ( just this once please don't make me cry)? I did this for a couple years before I watched a YouTube video that explained the "root" of the problem lol - those of you who know this already are laughing at me.... Basically you don't typically cry until you cut the root off! (Video is a snooze and not worth showing kids - just tell them them that tid-bit and you will blow their minds!)

For my knife skills lesson I start with a short video about knife basics and safety by Learning ZoneXpress. Then I do a live demo. I show them each of the knives they have available in their kitchens to use and what they are best for. I show them how to sharpen the knives, steady a cutting board, prep fruits and vegetables and various cutting styles. All the while feeding them the food as I cut it up!

I usually follow up with a lab that involves a lot of cutting vegetables such as omelets, veggie pizzas, or tacos depending on the class or time we have! For each of those labs I give each kitchen a pile of veggies, such as garlic in the red kitchen, onions in the blue kitchen, peppers in Orange, etc. etc. each kitchen is then responsible for cutting up those veggies to be put in a big bowl for the whole class to use!

I also make them do this worksheet: Knife Skills Worksheet