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Summer school classes really cook Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Crista Minneci, 9, gets some hands-on culinary experience with play dough in preparation for the real thing in a "Cool Cooking" class Monday. The class is part of the Medford School District�s Summer Experience program for kindergartners through eighth-graders. About 15 kids show up for Medford course, one of several By Vicki Guarino Students are back in the classroom at Hedrick Middle School this week, but they�ve put away the textbooks and are pulling out the pots and pans. The young chefs in "Cool Cooking" are among dozens of youngsters returning to school throughout Medford just for the heck of it. The Medford School District�s Summer Experience classes give kids the opportunity to learn new skills and develop new hobbies. The self-supporting classes for kindergartners through eighth-graders are being held in two sessions this summer. The first two-week session began just after the regular school year ended; the second began Monday. For many Cool Cooks, the morning classes are a chance to expand some already considerable gastronomic abilities. "I cook at home: spaghetti, cakes, cookies, brownies," says Phoenix fourth-grader Cameron Davis. "My dad teaches me." Nearby, fifth-grade cousins Rachael Kent, Salem, and Lauren Thompson, Jacksonville, signed up for the class because they like to cook and want to do more of it. In "Cool Cooking," the class started out Monday with simple but inedible play dough, but students will be creating full meat loaf and chicken dinners before the course ends in two weeks. The play dough � flour, oil, water and salt, with powdered fruit drink for coloring � was a warm-up exercise to get students familiar with measuring, heating ingredients and a few other basics, says teacher Lisa Rainey. "This is the only day we�re not going to eat what we cook," Rainey says. "The rest of the time we�re going to eat and eat and eat and eat. By Thursday, we�ll be making pies." During the school year, Rainey teaches second grade at Medford�s Jefferson Elementary School � an age group a bit young to be rolling out pie crust. She has discovered that Medford�s Summer Experience program gives kids as well as teachers the chance to pursue their own special interests and hobbies. Teachers like Rainey draw up a class outline, the district posts it, and if enough youngsters show up, the class is a go. "I love to cook, and I grew up cooking," she says. Last summer, "Cool Cooking" drew only seven students. Word of the class must have gotten around, because this week she has about 15 students. The class fills the cooking areas in Hedrick�s home economics room. The entire Summer Experience series of classes is self-supporting, with tuition and materials fees covering expenses. Since the district doesn�t finance the program, enrollment is open to students living outside Medford. Summer Experience is distinct from the academic classes that will begin in a few weeks. Academic classes target students who need extra help to keep up with their classmates. Although the focus of Summer Experience classes is on having fun, activities can have an academic benefit as well. For example, the "Readers� Cafe" is a book club for kids that can help build skills for school. "Cool Computers" provides keyboard practice and instruction in word processing software. "Cool Cooking" gives students a bit of math and reading practice. "There are obvious academic things involved, but the students don�t have to know that," says Rainey. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA