March

National Noodle Month

"Maccaroni" with various sauces was a fashionable food in late 18th Century Paris. The future American president Thomas Jefferson encountered the pasta in both Paris and northern Italy. He drew a sketch of the pasta and wrote detailed notes on the extrusion process. In 1793 he commissioned American Ambassador to Paris William Short to purchase a machine for making it. Evidently the machine was not suitable, as Jefferson later imported both macaroni and parmesan cheese for use in Monticello. In 1802 Jefferson served a "macaroni pie" at a state dinner.

Use macaroni and other dry pasta as math manipulatives:

• Construct addition and subtraction facts.
• Develop multiplication algorithms.
• Use pasta pieces to create patterns.
• Sort dry pasta pieces into groups by shape, size, color, etc.
• Count dry pasta pieces by ones, twos, fives, etc.
• Create bar graphs to show how many of each kind of pasta students have counted. Glue one of the pasta pieces at the top of each column.
• List all possible arrangements and combinations of the kinds of dry pasta provided.
• Use spaghetti to construct models of parallel, intersecting and perpindicular lines.
• Use dry spaghetti to demonstrate fractions. For example, divide one spaghetti strand into equal pieces to serve four mice. Now divide it again to serve eight, 16, etc.

Bring a variety of cooked pastas for students to sample. Include whole wheat pastas and pastas made with spinach and other vegetables. Provide a simple spaghetti sauce and canned Parmesan cheese for a snack.

• Students write observations and compare and contrast. Students develop their own criteria for comparison (e.g., texture, shape, flavor, etc.)

Use macaroni and other dry pasta for art projects.

• Place a handful of pasta in a plastic bag.
• Add food coloring and a larger amount of rubbing alcohol.
• Work the bag until all the pasta is colored.
• Spread on a box lid to dry.