St. John's fifth-grade with some of the 114 loaves of bread they baked. (Courtesy of St. John the Baptist School)

KENMORE — "Learn, Bake, Share," were the three main goals conveyed by King Arthur Flour to the students of St. John the Baptist School. Youngsters in grades four through eight participated in King Arthur's "Bake for Good: Kids Learn Bake Share Program," where they learned how to make homemade bread.

"In this cross-curricular program, they learned about baking while using practical applications of math, science, and comprehensive skills," says Paula Gray, Bake for Good: Kids Program manager. "They're excited to take that knowledge home, along with the ingredients needed to bake two loaves of bread. Over the weekend, they were asked to bake two loaves of bread, one to share with their family and the other to share with a community member in need."

Fifth-grader Madison Wells and eighth-grader Alex Mazurek were selected to assist in the demo where they learned how to mix ingredients and handle dough. "In addition to learning the science of bread making, the audience picked up some other cool baking tips and tricks," stated Mary Makar, St. John's STREAM coordinator, "like how to toss pizza dough and how to cut cinnamon buns so they don't get squished using dental floss." Makar explained that they were able to bring the Bake for Good Program because St. John's had been designated a STREAM school earlier in this school year.

STREAM is the process in which the school intentionally combines science, technology, engineering and math, as well as the arts and religion, across the curriculum to create a more meaningful learning environment.

Makar said, "Science and math are the obvious tie-ins with this assembly, but the baking two loaves of bread at home uniquely ties into our faith and the Religion component of STREAM. One loaf was to be enjoyed at home by the family while the other was brought back to school to share with people who are in need. This provides us with a meaningful opportunity to follow Christ's command, 'to feed the hungry,' and puts our Catholic faith into action." In all, 114 loaves of bread were brought into school to be distributed to the parish's Outreach Program, a food pantry that assists people in the Ken-Ton community. Some loaves were shared with other local charities.

"We're humbled to be able to assist our community in this unique and special way," Makar said.