Hillandale Elementary students partaking in a Manners Meal last week waited as patiently as possible for their classmates to be served their hot dogs and brown beans before starting on their own plates.
Waiting until everyone had their food before them was just one of the lessons learned by students in Trini Fares’ 1st grade class, Yvonne White’s Exceptional Children K-2nd grade class, and Becca Martin’s 3rd-5th grade class.
They also learn how to properly set a table, how to properly cut and eat their food, how to signal when they’re finished with their meals, and how to clean up after themselves.
“Ms. White and I have learned that by doing this lesson as early in the year as possible, it not only builds a positive working relationship between my class and hers, but our students learn the importance of eating their lunch in a positive and enjoyable environment,” Fares said.
And it ensures that lunchtime in the cafeteria goes smoothly – and is less messy – throughout the year.
Before sitting down to their pretend “fancy meal,” students set the table, using placemats they’d made featuring pictures of food items cut from magazines.
“They picked a main dish, side, a healthy choice and desserts,” Martin said.
Paul Brown, a 5th-grader in Martin’s class, is practically a table-setting expert now, since he’s been practicing his dining etiquette at home.
“His mom showed me a picture of him setting the table and she said they had several ‘fancy meals’ because he was practicing,” Martin said.
Fares, White and Martin circulated the tables to check that the silverware was in the right order from left to right – fork, plate, knife and spoon – before asking students to place their napkins on their laps. They reviewed how to drape their napkins over the backs of their chairs in a restaurant if they had to leave the table but planned to return, then talked flavors.
“What happens if you get served something you don’t like?” Fares asked the group.
“You can say you’ll try it,” said 1st-grader Ara Michua.
Other students said they’d tell the server, “No thank you,” and promised not to make grossed-out faces over foods they didn’t like.
Once the hotdogs were served, students practiced holding the meat in place with their fork in their non-dominant hand while cutting pieces with their “writing hand.”
“How do you get the beans on your fork?” Fares asked.
“You use your knife to scoop it on the fork,” said 4th-grader Steven Cosimeno.
Once students had finished their Manners Meal, teachers waited to collect empty plates until students had arranged their silverware on the plates in the proper fashion: fork flipped over with tines pointing down and knife with blade facing inward.
“We have actually co-taught this for five years now, Ms. White and I,” Fares said, adding that they were excited to include Martin’s students this year.
“We do this every year because this is part of what they need to know to get along in life,” White said. “They transfer those skills to the cafeteria, and hopefully they transfer when they go out to eat with their families.”
(By Molly McGowan Gorsuch, HCPS Public Information Officer.)