There was a lot on the menu at Café Lang De Weert at Palmer Elementary. Not listed was one of the specials – a bit of trickery.

 

“I don’t think they realize how much work they’re doing today because it’s cloaked in fun,” said 5th-grade teacher Denise Lang.

 

On Diner Day in Mrs. Lang’s and Mrs. Van De Weert’s classes, Students had to bounce from station to station to calculate menus and recipes, conduct research and write to Windsor Town Council about why their restaurant should be permitted in Windsor.

 

 

 

“We just started short-essay writing. They had stations on multiplication, division, decimals reading comprehension and short-response writing,” said Mrs. Van De Weert.

 

“They said they were serving us math,” said student Olivia Spinelli. “It’s actually really fun, though. We get to do the stations in any order we want.”

 

“They love it. They say, ‘Can we do this every day?’ They like the autonomy,” said Mrs. Van de Weert.

 

This isn’t the first time the pair of teachers have used a theme to transform their classroom.  Earlier this year, they held a Detective Day in their classrooms. The students needed to use all of the skills they had learned in class to solve mysteries, such as the Case of the Disappearing Donuts, the Case of the Ecosystem Mix-Up and the Case of the Missing Clues.

 

Whether acting as detectives or cooks, the students seem to enjoy getting into character.

 

“They’re fun activities. You get to use teamwork,” said student Sophia Bagg.

 

“They’re more engaged than during any other day,” said Mrs. Lang.