---

---

for New York Family's FREE weekly newsletter with our picks for the best family events, resources, shopping, giveaways, and fun in the city and beyond. CLICK HERE

2008: Independent Elementary School Teacher

Cooking in the Classroom
Rave reviews for Alison Goodman's famed restaurant unit

Opening a restaurant to instant acclaim is no easy task. But every year, The Dalton School students in Alison Goodman’s class pull off the feat.

From day one, Goodman instills a team-first attitude in her 1st graders—which is central to any business venture. She encourages the students to support each other through the use of a Compliment Jar. When the class works together to achieve a goal, a marble goes into the jar, and after collecting 25, the class votes on a community celebration. The jar is then emptied and the students start to “Strive for 25” all over again.
“The motto for my class is to have everyone work as a team,” Goodman said. “If a few people are doing the right thing but the rest of the class isn’t, that’s not how you earn a compliment. Good behavior is contagious and they tend to help each other.”

Goodman’s focus on community extends beyond the classroom walls, beginning with her fall study of transportation. She brings her class to the Transit Museum in Brooklyn and assigns homework for the parents, as well, sending them on a subway field trip with their children.

“Alison is very welcoming,” said parent Sandra Campos. “She includes the parents every chance she gets.”
In the spring, Goodman’s community study shifts to her famed restaurant unit, and she ties her entire curriculum into the study of restaurants.

“We start by taking trips to restaurants and each child comes with an interview question for the employees,” she said. “We get a tour of the kitchen and usually get to make something.”

Goodman’s students have made pizza at California Pizza Kitchen, cookies in the Chelsea Market and even sushi at Nobu. Then they use their research to create their own restaurant in the classroom.

“The kids come up with their own theme, menu, uniform and logo,” Goodman said. “The parents come in as customers and the students are trained as servers, busers, chefs, hosts and cashiers. I’m just the manager. They basically run the show.”

This year’s theme was the Transit Café, building on the students’ fall study of transportation. The café offered a $5 prix-fixe menu with an appetizer, entrée, dessert and drink that the students prepared. Proceeds were donated to charity.

“This year, the class was very in tune with the environment, so they wanted to send the check to Conservation International,” Goodman said. “It really helps tie into our money unit because the students learn all about making change and how to use the cash register.”

Goodman also uses the restaurant unit to continue developing her students’ reading and writing skills, which she says is her teaching passion. Using the Zagat guide for inspiration, each student chooses a restaurant to review and delivers their write-up to the eatery.

“The restaurant series was a terrific experience,” Campos said. “The kids learned where food comes from, the different levels of responsibilities in a restaurant and that the customer is always right. Alison is really able to get the kids to feel confident about themselves.”

— Carolyn Braff