Eating the Rainbow in JK

Chef Zac introduced the topic of spring season and asked students what they noticed around them during spring. Student responses included buds on trees, blossoms on flowers, rain, puddles and birdsong, to name a few.

Conversations about spring showers then turned into talk about rainbows. Students wondered aloud about rainbows, including where they come from and where they go when they aren’t there. When Chef Zac asked if students knew the colors of the rainbow, the vast majority eagerly shared their knowledge. 

Chef Zac validated their responses, confirming that rainbows consist of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. He then led students in thinking about the colors of the fruits and vegetables they eat. “What are some red fruits and vegetables?” he queried. As students shared their responses, Chef Zac would reveal pre-sliced bowls of some foods they mentioned, resulting in a rainbow of fresh fruits and veggies for students at the center of a shared table.

Students then received a piece of paper featuring a black and white rainbow on a cafeteria tray. Chef Zac challenged them to use tongs and their fingers to manipulate their palette of nutritious materials and create an edible rainbow of their very own. 

Each student brought their own unique approach to the rainbow fruit and veggie project. Some students worked completely free-form, using the lines on their paper as mere suggestions and arranging their colorful foodstuffs in a gestalt manner on their trays. Others took a more literal approach and carefully positioned rows of specific-colored items next to each other, carefully following the lines. 

Regardless of how their finished pieces appeared when complete, all students took their food rainbows back to the classroom to enjoy as part of that day’s snack.