Skip to main content

Bok Choy and Beans

Bok Choy

Our bok choy was ready for harvest! Harvesting is always an experience for me personally- the excitement of picking something that you grew and you know will be enjoyed by others is amazing. But then, there is this other weird part that is slightly, ever so slightly, possessive of it and its life. I love watching it grow so when it is time to harvest there is a delicate sadness that sweeps over me. But... moving on!

When I showed them the vegetable in class, one child correctly labelled it. They were excited to wash it, cut it and the cooking table had lots of helpers. Some tasted it raw. Jack said "It's a little bit sweet and I like it." Emma said "I love it!". Connor said "That's crunchy." and Makena said "There's flowers in there."









We tossed it with some olive oil.


A dash of sea salt. And black pepper.




We sauteed it for just a few minutes and Makena said " Smell it Connor. It smells yummy" to which Connor added "It smells like peas."

To keep things interesting we ate our greens picnic style in a circle. The joy of eating together brought the following comments:

Emma: I like it, It's crunchy.
Rhys: I like it cause it is yummy and crunchy.
Miele: I don't like it.
Jack: I like it because when I tried it.. (pause) it's like (pause) inside it, it's crunchy.
Kensie: I love the crunching cool.
Grace: It's yummy.
Jordyn: I like it because it is a little bit salty.
Makena: It's peppery and salty and I like it.
Rhyan: I don't like it.
Connor: I like it cause it really is frying and it has juice and salt and water.
Koltyn: I like it.
Sebastian: I don't like it.

Joban and Matias did not want to try it...will keep trying:)

Measuring with Scarlet Runner Beans

A couple of weeks ago while drawing scarlet runner beans, several children held the bean up to their leg and started to measure themselves against the bean. After class the teachers discussed this interest and I suggested maybe we use the beans to measure each child. After a long play outdoors we came in and everyone, including the teachers, was measured using our scarlet runner beans.  We all enjoyed this activity immensely. Each child was deeply engaged and they were counting together as a group. We recorded the measurements on a piece of paper and will bring it out next week. I asked the children if they would like to measure themselves on Monday- I think you know how they responded. So, on Monday you will see- a carpet, a big bowl of beans, paper and pencils. Ready to measure and record!




What will happen?
  • I asked them to please keep the beans intact. Will they be able to refrain from shelling them?
  • Will they add more beans to make themselves seem taller?
  • Will they want to write the number down on paper?
  • How will them group themselves?
  • Will they begin to measure other things in the classroom?
Excited for Monday!

Emily



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mosaic Garden Stones

Today our children had an amazing opportunity to work with Glen Anderson, a local artist specializing in mosaics. You can see his work at http://www.mosaicplanet.net . I met Glen last year at Urban Weavers Studio in Strathcona. I asked him many, many questions about mosaics, all of which he patiently answered with expertise. I was gearing up for an art project in our preschool class so I really wanted to get any pointers I could from him. The plan was to have our students make mosaic tiles to place along our fence at the garden plot at Terra Nova Farm. They worked out very well, thanks to Glen's great advice and it was a beautiful moment when child and parent hung the stones at the farm on our last day of school. It was a moment of great pride for all of us. The garden that they cared for with their own hands- tended to its needs in sunshine and in rain. They will always remain part of that space, that land and their stone will remind them of this connection. Even though they turne...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Love for Cabbage

Another day of working with cabbage-our prized cabbage that I babied throughout the summer. The cabbage that I saved from the demise of cabbage worms, watered, and surrounded with copper to scare away slugs. So, yes, babied. After all that care and love I was hoping the children would enjoy working with this gorgeous vegetable and like the taste of it. The coleslaw was a hit last week but would cooked cabbage get the same positive response? We assembled our ingredients for cabbage rolls and showed all the children. They smelled all the spices that were in the recipe and many of them loved the smell of the fresh garlic! They took great pride in recognizing onion, salt, pepper, tomato sauce and ground beef. I wanted to introduce them to another herb so we passed around marjoram, which many agreed smelled sweet. We pre-cooked the meat just so the children could work with the food without any cause for concern. The smell of the onions and meat simmering sparked the interest of many ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Volunteering at Richmond Food Bank

Today was our last day volunteering at the Richmond Food Bank. I am so grateful we had this opportunity– it has been an extraordinary experience for all of us. I, myself, have been very lucky to work in a community where I have seen dedicated volunteers working countless hours for people and projects they believe in. In my own community centre, the staff devote extra hours for many events, all to help strengthen our community. From these experiences grew a desire within me to try to share this with our children. How can we make them generous with their time and energy for the good of others? How can we teach them to be giving people– people that think of others? Are they too young for these concepts? In my need to answer these questions, I sought to find a volunteer opportunity for them. I thought about many different ideas but the food bank always came out ahead. I was lucky enough to come across an open-minded and risk-taking individual– let's face it, preschoolers gett...
Post a Comment
Read more