New life in our milk bottles

Our recycled milk bottles at Tawa Montessori have done us well.  It’s been nearly a year now since we first put them up.  They weathered a hot Summer, a wet Autumn and a cold Winter.  Now it is Spring and while the bottles are still in good shape, the plants look a bit sad.  Our new planted pansies are getting a hammering from our chickens who love to dust bath in our flower beds.  We decide that the milk bottles may be a much better home for our pansies.

Take the milk bottles of the shed wall and fill the bottles with new soil.

Get the pansies out of our garden and plant them in the milk bottles.

Water the plants and put a rod through the handles of the bottles to hang.

Fasten the wooden rod to the shed wall and done, they are ready to flower.

Children love working in the garden.  As they plant the flowers, they learn that flowers and plants are delicate and need to be handled with care.  They learn about watering, and the properties of dry and wet soil.  They can admire the instant colour beauty and observe the insects that visit the flowers.  Projects like this are not only a great way to introduce children to gardening, they are also a concrete hands on introduction to sustainability and environmental education.

- Anja

Healthy eating (4), making our own egg spread

With Spring in full bloom, our chickens at Tawa Montessori Preschool and at Little Earth are laying eggs again.  The hen at Tawa Montessori has gone broody, but at Little Earth we thought we can make egg spread for on our bread.  This healthy snack is fast and easy to make.

This is how we make our own egg spread:

Ingredients: a dash of salt, two eggs, melted butter.

Boil two eggs and let  them cool.

Shell the eggs and mash them in a bowl.

Crunch the shell and feed it to the chickens or worm farm.

Add a dash of salt and melted butter and mix it together.

Yummy, especially with pesto!

Slowly our garden is able to sustain our needs for our food preparation at preschool.  The children put a lot of love and care into the garden and animals and they are now enjoying the fruits of their labour.   We have noticed that they are more and more connected to the garden and the animals and taking more ownership.  “The egg is from our hen,” they will say, “I will feed the chickens now. They will give us more eggs”.  We are not only eating healthy, we are also developing a more sustainable and caring community.

- Anja

 Links:
- Healthy eating (1), making our own pesto
- Healthy eating (2), making our own lemon honey
- Healthy eating (3), making our own bread
- Healthy eating (4), making our own egg spread 

Spring in Aotearoa!

Spring has arrived in Aotearoa, there is no doubt about it!

The fruit trees are in full blossom,

and the hen has gone broody.

Now the Spring showers are arriving too!

First we try to catch the rain,

but  who can resist a puddle?

All we need is a raincoat and a bowl,
and we pour and pour,

and we catch and catch,

and we get wetter and wetter.

Spring, who doesn't like the Spring?

- Anja

Healthy eating (3), making our own bread

At both Tawa Montessori Preschool and Little Earth we bake our own daily bread. We used to have our freezer stocked with supermarket bread to make our morning and afternoon snack. We noticed there was quite a lot of wasted bread in the compost bowl. Now we have less waste and healthier bread. Our children love to bake and are used to different baking technique. They are independent with the skills associated with baking. Making our own bread is another ritual in our day that contributes towards our  sustainable and respectful community.

Here is how we make our daily bread:

Ingredients:

4 cups high grade flour
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 ups lukewarm water
1/4 cup oil (we use rice bran oil).

Directions:

- Mix yeast and water and let it stand for a while.
- Combine flour and salt in a bowl.
- Pour the yeast mixture and the oil into the dry ingredients.
- Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and then knead until the dough isn't sticky anymore.
- Cover and let the dough rise (about 45 minutes).
- Knead and then cut the dough into 12 parts.
- Shape the dough into buns.
- Bake at  220 C for 10-15 minutes or until brown.

In the morning, the yeast, oil and water are added to the flour and salt.

Then the mixing begins! Lots and lots of kneading until the mixture is not sticky anymore.

The dough rises in the warm classroom, then the buns are rolled and shaped ready to be cooked. Once the buns have cooled down, we cut them. They are now ready for morning and afternoon tea.

 

We have noticed how the children enjoy contributing to the morning and afternoon tea.  They work with care and attention, wanting to do a great job!  We hear comments like “The crust tastes GOOD!” and  “I like the bread.” It is a good reminder that we, the adults don’t have to make the bread for the children (serve), but we can help them to do it themselves.

We also learned that having whole wheat grains in our bread is much healthier than white bread so now we bake whole wheat bread every morning. It is yummier and much better for our bodies.

The gift real work brings to a child is independence.  Maria Montessori noted that one who is continually ‘served’ instead of being ‘helped’ is deprived of becoming independent, of being truly free.

(The Discovery of the Child, pgs 55, 56, 57)

- Anja