Farmer Buchanan + the Hens

On Friday, we wrapped our week of Farm to Table with 

(Chef, Farmer, Husband, Father) Buchanan 

and the two family hens, Curly and Eggy!!

Children were able to feed the chickens, 

pet them,

and peel and taste hard-boiled eggs!

They also learned about what chickens eat, where they live - both on farms, in backyards and in the wild, and how they call to one another.

Worms and Dirt with the Botanic Gardens!

On Friday, we had our first of three visits from the Botanic Gardens this summer.
The topic? Worms and Dirt.

We learned how worms are an important part of healthy soil in the garden. 

We touched a worm - 

We colored pictures of worm tunnels under the earth,

and took magnetic worms on a walk through them.

Next came the worm races!

Students laid on the floor with hands behind their backs

racing peers to the other side of the room.

Homemade Butter

Our recipe includes only one ingredient - heavy cream. 

We used a small carton of Kroger's Heavy Whipping Cream. 

We poured about a cup of the cream into a quart-sized glass canning jar and

screwed the lid tight, and shook...

to the right...

to the left...

to the middle.

We shook up high..

We shook down low..

Singing "Shake, shake, shake - Make, make, make - Make that butter!!"

All of that shaking was hard work!!

The perfect batch is like a smooth scoop of ice cream sitting in a bowl of milk.

We poured the buttermilk (leftover milk in the jar with the butter) into a cup and put our milk on a plate and then smeared the soft cream over soft bread.

With a spoon full of our homemade Strawberry Jam,

we were in heaven.

Strawberry Jam

On Tuesday, we made Strawberry Jam with 3 simple ingredients:

Sugar, Pectin (found in the baking aisles of the grocery), and strawberries.

We measured the sugar and pectin and stirred them together.

Then we smashed fresh strawberries until they were squishy and chunky.

We then poured the berries into the bowl of sugar and pectin

and stirred until it was a beautiful, jammy consistency.

We poured them into jars and let them chill for two long days. 

Today we spread the jam on bread with our homemade butter.

It was a little taste of heaven, 

and well worth the wait!!

Pickle Tasting!

Today we tasted the pickles we made yesterday!!

They were crunchy, 

and tasted like MORE!!

Pickles!

Today we transformed our classrooms into kitchens; 

mixing salt, sugar, peppercorns, mustard seed, dill, garlic,

vinegar, cucumbers and water,

we shook....

and shook....

Until all of the ingredients were combined. The salt and sugar dissolved, the garlic, dill, mustard seed and peppercorns moved. 

Practicing patience, tomorrow, we taste pickles.

Week 2: June 8 - 12 - Farm to Table

Farm to Table

Week 2 - June 8 - 12:  Making Food with items from the Garden and Farm

Building upon our 5 senses that we explored in Week 1, we will go into the garden, making pickles from cucumbers, jam from berries and butter from cream. 

Chef Buchanan visits again with his chickens and we'll taste hard-boiled eggs. 

The Botanic Gardens will wrap-up the week with a presentation on worms and dirt, helping us to understand the importance of worms in producing healthy soil in the garden to help us grow produce. Next week, we'll move into bugs, and explore insects and spiders. 

Our originally scheduled Petting Zoo has been postponed until June 26th with the sudden passing of a beloved Holy Rosary parishoner. The Petting Zoo is in Spalding Green - a park section of the Parish parking lot; many people will attend the funeral mass and a petting zoo would be disruptive. We can't wait to see the goats, lama, pony, pig, chickens, roosters and bunnies on Friday, June 26th.

June 8:     Cucumber to Pickle

• 9:00 -    9:45       3K
• 9:45 -   10:30     4K1
• 10:30 - 11:00     4K2
• 10:00 - 10:45       K1
• 10:45 - 11:30       K2

Using simple ingredients (salt, sugar, peppercorns, mustard seed, dill, garlic and cucumbers), preschoolers will transform cucumbers to pickles! They will practice fine-motor skills while measuring, pouring and shaking the ingredients! 

They will use their sense of touch, smell, and taste while preparing the recipe. 

They will practice patience while waiting for the brine to work it's magic on the cukes!! 

June 9      Strawberry Jam

Using 3 simple ingredients, (fresh fruit, sugar and pectin) children will make a homemade berry jam that they'll test on bread with homemade butter we make on Thursday! 

Strawberry jam will be made in 4 classrooms; blueberry or blackberry will be used in the 4K1 classroom with a strawberry allergy.

June 10     Water Wednesday

Please send your child in a swimsuit with a towel and change of clothes!! Please label all items!!

June 11      Making Butter from Cream 

Children will shake, shake, shake jars of cream to create the best butter ever! We'll try it on bread with homemade jam!! 

June 12     Botanic Gardens - Worms and Dirt

The Botanic Garden visits to introduce us to worms and the important job they do to create healthy gardens. 

also on June 12: Chef Buchanan and Chickens! 

The amazing Chef Jordan returns this week with backyard chickens!

and Ice Cream Dream Machine:

An ice cream truck will visit our school in the afternoon. Preschool children will enjoy snacks after nap. Kindergartners will enjoy snack after story time with Mrs. Douglas.