West Richmond Preschool

I was stopped dead in my tracks while prancing down the street the other day. There, in front of my eyes, was a most wonderful sight. A gigantic pile of cardboard boxes. Empty. Beautiful. All shapes and sizes. Unmarked. Not dog eared. Clean. Unscathed. And, free- as in available to use ( it happened to be in front of my friend's store as they unpacked their holiday shipment) and as in no cost ( always appealing to preschool teachers!). So, piled high on my arms, I left with many many many boxes to bring to school. My mind swirling with ideas. Boxes....what can we do with boxes? Or rather what can't we do with boxes? Or what can boxes do? Sure I had thoughts. Decorating. Puppets. Art work. Building. But I was interested what the children would do with them. Getting better each day at leaving my own visions to rest on the sidelines, I put the boxes out on the carpet without direction or words. Oh yes,  beside the boxes were a few rolls of masking tape. A couple of childre...

I felt like a child on Christmas morning! I was so excited to share the farm and all its offerings with our Dixon buddies. A couple of weeks ago I met with Ian Lai, Director of the Richmond Schoolyard Society ( http://www.kidsinthegarden.org) to design the day. Kevin (the Dixon teacher), Ian and I had worked together last year so we had an idea of what we wanted to explore with the students; we also wanted to keep it fresh and do some different activities. We created a general outline of the day, knowing that depending on the students interests, some activities may be shortened or lengthened. Two weeks ago, as I wrote on our blog, we collected our Red Fife wheat seeds and each student estimated their weight. This exercise provided a unique learning opportunity to discuss food production. It was apparent that many children had never thought about where flour came from- they thought it just appeared at the grocery store. A discussion ensued about the thought, energy and commitment it t...

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...