While March Madness is usually about basketball, Westwind kindergarten students decided that determining the best Oreo was a more important question to be answered. With this mission in mind, parents of students in Samantha Peacosk’s kindergarten class donated 16 different flavors of Oreos to make the brackets.
The brackets were made by randomly drawing Oreo flavors and pitting them against each other. Each student made a prediction on the bracket results and over three weeks, they worked their way through the bracket.
The students were very excited about the process of determining the winners of each round. They would first try to guess the taste based on the smell. Then for the students' favorite part, actually taste testing the Oreos. They would describe the taste, smell, and texture of the Oreos, then compare them. After tasting both Oreos in the round, they would vote on the best flavor. They would use tallies to keep the score and then would graph them together. Students would answer questions like how many more liked one flavor than the other or how many less.
There were very few upsets in this cookie bracket, with the students exclaiming how delicious most of the Oreo's flavors were. With coffee, surprisingly, being among the favorites as it reminded the students of their parents' morning beverages. One of the upsets was the Mint Oreo flavor, they ended up in the trash after an overwhelming dislike of the flavor by the kindergarten students.
After much deliberation and tasting, the champion was determined to be the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie flavored Oreos.
Peacock stated that the activity was very popular with the students, and she will continue to do it every year.
“My students loved it! Some of my students have now started it at home with their family!”
While many would agree that March is a time to cheer on one’s favorite college basketball teams, Peacock’s kindergarten class would argue that it is the perfect time to find your new favorite Oreo flavor.