Cooking in the Children's House--#1 Community Fruit Salad

Every year we begin our cooking program at school with a project designed to build community. Each member of the group brings a piece of fruit from home (this is important to establish an early home/school connection).

We take time to present each piece of fruit describing its sensorial qualities and recognizing the contribution made by the child. It's amazing how this step deepens the experience, and you will hear the words and sentiment expressed over and over as the fruit salad is consumed later at the snack table.

The children wash their fruit, chop it up, and add it to a communal bowl, thus creating an infinite variety of delicious fruit salad.

Everyone enjoys this first cooking endeavor immensely. The excitement of practical life work with real tools is a draw for most. The older students lead the way with their adept use of the utensils and memory of the procedures (including dish washing at the end).

When it comes time to eat the glorious mix it is nice to take a moment or two to observe the children. Some pick out their favorite fruit and eat only that, but most are happy to sample all that went into the salad. "I'm eating Josie's New Zealand kiwi now," they may say to their snack table companion, or "Do you know that my grandpa has raspberries growing right in his yard?" Socialization of the class is taking place now and it is so lovely to hear one child ask another, "Did you like my watermelon in the fruit salad? It's my favorite, is it yours, too?"

At the end of the day we take time for a bit of grace and courtesy and thank each member, again, for their contribution to the group cooking project. We also try to remember to thank the parents at pick up time, and sometimes get to listen in a bit as their child explains the first cooking class in excited tones. They are so proud of their accomplishment and joyfully recount the task they undertook with their new group.

The formation of a community is well underway.

Cooking in the Children's House--Fall

Oh, glorious harvest time!

It is such a joy to share the bounty of the garden with children when school starts again in the fall. They marvel at the dangling bunch of potatoes pulled from the ground and the bounty of heavy tomatoes hanging from vines. Some of the older students are extremely excited as they recall planting these very plants or seeds before the school year ended in spring. The experience of connection to the earth and the nourishment of their bodies brings it all full circle.

"What can we make with this?", they ask as a carrot comes up out of the earth. Picking a bean from a pyramid of leaves, they run to ask, "Can I just EAT this right now?"

YES,YES,YES!

That is, of course, the beauty of having the children's garden right there in the schoolyard. The Montessori method is extended to the outdoors in such a natural way for the children to explore, discover, take care of and consume the small miracles of the earth.

Next: Recipe #1

Cooking in the Children's House

Cooking in the Children's House aims to show how we have incorporated the Edible Schoolyard into our Montessori primary classrooms throughout the year. We learned directly with the children at our school and along the way created a gardening and cooking program for young children that felt right for us. Teachers, children and parents contributed many ideas and countless hours of planting, weed pulling, picking and chopping to realize this dream.
We thank them one and all!
Our inspiration springs from our dedication to the children who traverse the garden paths, but also from our commitment to the educational methods of Maria Montessori and the guiding light of Alice Waters, founder of the Edible Schoolyard project.

"There must be provision for the child to have contact with nature; to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony and the beauty in nature.” Maria Montessori

A Children's Garden

We had been working so hard for this moment--for the garden to go live. The children took to it like ducks to water-- touching, smelling, tasting, running through. Finally our time had come to observe them in this environment we had made, and it was glorious.

The stepping stone path proved to be the perfect guide for the children to follow on their way to discover the garden.

 There were plenty of late summer vegetables ready to pick and taste in the moment or gather for our snack table or cooking class.

Bela the bunny got his fair share, as well.

 

Already that first week of school we were on our way to realizing the Edible Schoolyard, Montessori Children's House style. Happy Day!

Next: Harvest Recipes and Ideas--how Cooking in the Children's House began.

Garden Party

Every garden begins with a seed. Ours was planted years before the land was even purchased on the outskirts of Northfield, MN. Edible Schoolyard creator, groundbreaking chef and former Montessori teacher, Alice Waters, was a huge influence and inspiration as I dreamed about my ideal school environment. The school garden, from which we would gather vegetables and herbs for cooking and sharing with families, was the very first thing that took real form at our school site.

The months before our opening in the fall of 2007 were filled with renovation and construction. Lots of trucks, lots of debris, and what felt like very slow progress. It was quite an overwhelming and anxious time. The clearing and plotting out of the school garden was, in contrast, a much more manageable task. The demolition of a small barn behind the house had left a plot of very fertile soil (the barn had housed some calves over the years, I believe). Although we raked and raked the soil that summer, each spring we still find remnants of that structure, mostly window glass and splinters of red painted wood.

Many friends  came out to lend a hand, one was a master gardener who tested our soil and dispensed invaluable advice to this non-farming teacher.

The garden began to take shape. We were so eager to plant so that everything could grow over the summer and greet the children when they arrived in the fall. We chose vegetables, herbs and fruits that would be complements to the cooking program I had always enjoyed in my classrooms.

Enrollment was in full swing for this new school and we were ready to host an informal "Garden Party" for families to join us out at our property. The building was still very much a construction zone but everyone was eager to come help plant and finish off the edible schoolyard for their children.

Planting the garden was so satisfying and symbolic for all of us. It wasn't September yet, but already our school felt like a community--filled with love, joy and the promise of new growth.

Next: The garden goes live.

It's Summer--What's Cooking?

Summer cooking at Montessori Children's House means an outdoor kitchen. Our entire program moves outside for the months of June, July and August. The children arrive each morning and enter an environment designed to extend the Montessori method into a natural outdoor space. What a joy to be able to provide this environment, but it is not without an element of preparation. During these warm lazy days of summer I would like to outline the preparation of a Montessori summer kitchen, beginning with the details of how we built our outdoor environment.

Next post: "Garden Party" - a dream, a plot of land, a community working together for children

Cooking in the Children's House--Peanut Butter

Spring Recipes

-Peanuts

Peanut Butter     

Ingredients:

·         roasted peanuts in the shell

·         vegetable oil                 

·         honey or sugar

Tools:

         

Ingredients:

Let’s go:

Peanut butter is a fun and easy recipe to make!

Crack open the shells and remove the peanuts.

We place peanuts in plastic bags and use a clean stone from our garden to crush them.

If you want chunky peanut butter, put the peanuts in a food processor or grinder and run the chopped mixture through three or more times until the peanut butter is the consistency that you like.

For creamy style peanut butter, chop up the peanuts in a blender. Add about one to two tablespoons of oil in small amounts and regrind or blend the mixture until the peanut butter is the desired consistency. Add sugar or honey by the teaspoon until the taste is just right.

Store in refrigerator. Homemade peanut butter contains no preservatives or other

additives and has a wonderful fresh peanutty taste.

   

Summertime at MCH

 
A playful, meaningful connection with the world outdoors needs to be a fundamental ingredient of every childhood. An integral part of the Montessori philosophy is the belief that children learn through personal experience. The summer at Montessori Children’s House focuses on increasing the child’s awareness, particularly in the area of life sciences. The summer is an ideal time for exploration of the natural areas, bird life and other animal life surrounding our school. Many practical life activities like washing, scrubbing and polishing are moved outdoors. The program is designed to involve children in environmental education through interactive stories, songs and games.  They create arts and crafts projects and conduct experiments and scientific studies.  Regular cooking classes take place in our summer kitchen and feature healthy products picked on site. Outdoor exploration includes nature walks and scavenger hunts as well as tending our MCH school garden and creating a mini-farmer’s market and lemonade stand.

A special session in late summer focuses on increasing the child’s awareness in the area of music learning. Parents recognize the earliest signs of musical interest when children begin to capture portions of songs and move in response to music. To reinforce a child’s spontaneous musical activities leads to enhanced natural development of communication, expression, and cognition. It is also a lot of fun! Along with the American Orff-Schulwerk Association we at MCH are united in our belief that music and movement—to speak, sing and play; to listen and understand; to move and create—should be an active and joyful experience.

Summer programs at MCH are open to current, past and future families who seek a nature based play environment where their children can explore and learn in a community of friends.