Educator Resources for Ninja Kitchen
Speed is important, but in the Ninja Kitchen, safety comes first. Students will use their ninja food safety skills to prepare and serve orders at a lunch counter. Their customers are teenagers from the local high school, and they’re a bit impatient. Ninja Kitchen teaches principles of safe food preparation within a fun and comic restaurant game. Players learn about hand-washing, avoiding cross-contamination, sanitizing surfaces, cooking foods to the proper temperature, and preventing foodborne disease. As they move through the levels, the assignments get tougher, and money earned at the lunch counter can be spent on magical tools and new powers.
For more teacher resources, visit NMSU
Food Safety Lesson Ideas: Ninja Kitchen Game
Grades 3-8
In this lesson plan, which is adaptable for grades 3-8, students will use BrainPOP resources and an online health game to explore the principals of food safety. Students will learn the importance of washing hands before eating and cooking, understand the dangers of leaving food where bacteria thrive, and recognize that meat must be cooked to the proper temperature. During the game’s kitchen simulation, students will also prevent cross-contamination by cleaning plates and work spaces after prepping high-risk foods like raw meat and unwashed vegetables, and determine whether food is contaminated based on how it has been handled.
Common Core State Standards Alignment:
3rd Grade:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.2 Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
4th Grade:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.2 Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
5th Grade:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.2 Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.3 Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area.
6th Grade:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.2 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.7 Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
7th Grade:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7.2 Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
8th Grade:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.7 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.
