Tales Of A 4-5 Something

Pickle Preserving     In school on Wednesday we got put into different preserving groups. I  was in the pickle and relish group. We made dill pickles, carrot and cabbage pickles and jardiniere relish. We cut cucumbers and smashed garlic. We also got to pour all different measurements. Nancy taught us how you preserve pickles. And how you keep the germs out by boiling the jar that the  pickles are preserved in. We had lots of fun and I can't wait to taste the pickles and relish!  by Maeve

All 4-5 have been processing local foods and have also been learning how different foods begin and how they ends up here in Waynflete School. Not only have we been learning about local foods we have been learning how to preserve foods. We all split up in to groups between Linda’s, Tim’s, Kai’s, and Nancy’s. Kai’s group is doing butter by shaking heavy cream and it slowly turns into butter. Also we took out the seeds of pumpkins and we are going to roast them. We have also been cutting apples and peeling them in order to dehydrate them. A group of kids went outside to get parsley too for the butter! And we will be using the butter for the bread and other foods that other groups have made. But if you can see all different kids from different homestations including Kai’s homestation, we have all learned something new and we enjoy it at the same time.   -Cocoe and Jane

When we are in school we do a lot of thinking about our learning.  We get lots of chances to write what we think in journals and on Drive.  We also share what we are thinking in meetings and book talks.  We like our school.  There is a lot going on. Some other people have been thinking about our school and sharing what they think.  Here is a wordle that was made by all the teachers before school started. Here is another wordle made by the Upper School students. What words do you think about when you think about Waynflete?

One dark and stormy night Nancy had an idea that we should felt rocks. Nancy asked us to bring in a rock. She told us that heart shaped rocks are hard to felt,  but rounded rocks a are easier, smooth ones are easiest,  and they should be the size of our palm. First we chose a color felt and we got some soapy warm water. We laid out the felt and folded It onto the rock. We dunked it in water with soap. We put it back and forth in our hands. We were tightening the wool fibers. The rock was soapy and warm and the wool was shrinking. Some rocks like Joe's, fell out of the wool. Others stayed in tight. After they shrunk we dried them by putting them in the sun. Then we decorated them by adding buttons, embroidered them, and  sewed on french knots. Some people left them just felted. Each rock has its own look,  personality,  and is unique, like all of us.  by Nancy's Homestation

As part of our local foods study we visited Sunflower Farm and Creamery in Cumberland and learned about goats and the cheese making process from Hope Hall. Created with Padlet

On September 23rd we had the honor of having Jay Avis come visit us at Waynflete all the way from Vermont. We think Jay could beat any survival expert in anything. Jay goes out into the wilderness for long periods of time with nothing but a knife to whittle tools to help him through his tough, fun, experiences. We met Jay through Kai's husband, Chris. They met at Chewonki. He visited because we are learning about local foods and wild edible plants. The character Sam Gribley from My Side of the Mountain  is doing a lot of the same things Jay knows how to do. Jay showed us how to make clothes out of hide and we learned that you need to massage the hide with brain from the animal or eggs to soften it. Jay gave us a presentation at school and showed us edible mushrooms, homemade baskets, how to make a wood bowl from fire and coals, how to make string from milkweed fibers, and some cool shelters that some of his friends made. Then we went with Jay to the Fore River campus. He showed u...

We are studying local foods in unit class. We went to the Cumberland Fair to look at local foods and animals. We saw two huge muscular ox pulling weights. The farmer was hitting them with a switch and we were not sure if that was good or not. We also saw pigs, cows, chickens, and alpacas. We sat in the stands and watched kids like us show their goats and some won blue ribbons because their goats were the best for going to the market. In the exhibition hall we saw huge jars of pickles and jelly. There were old fashioned tools and a lot of crafts. We even saw a pumpkin that broke a record. It was 1,165 lbs! It was HUGE! Lots of us were excited about the food. We all got a treat.