Happy Ramadan!

The children have been learning about Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar during which practicing Muslims engage in a time of introspection, self reflection, and worship. During the month of Ramadan, healthy adults fast from sun up to sundown. In the morning, families share a a hearty meal called suhoor; then, they abstain from eating and drinking until iftar, the fast breaking meal which is consumed after sunset. The meal begins with the eating of three dates, followed by the Mahgrib prayer, and a lavish meal.

Fasting provides an opportunity to practice self control, sacrifice, empathy for those who are less fortunate, and encourages acts of charity and generosity.


This year, the children were fortunate to have a member of our parent community, Dounia Mouhouche, volunteer to come and teach the class to prepare kesra, a traditional flatbread. Kesra is an amazingly tender whole wheat bread.

Dounia began by teaching the children about Ramadan. She explained that it is a time for self-reflection- to think about your life, what you are doing well, and what you could improve upon. She explained that it is a time to make promises to yourself about things that you might try to change, to do good deeds, to help those who are in need, and to consider people who are less fortunate (those who are hungry, without family, etc). The children were very interested in hearing about Ramadan, and considering what it would be like to go all day without food. When it was time to begin cooking, Dounia began by expertly mixing whole wheat flour, salt, yeast, oil, and water together, without the need for measuring devices, until the mixture reached the desired consistency. She allowed the mixture to rest for about fifteen minutes until the dough had risen and divided it into equal portions (so each child could have one ball of bread dough).

Then, she taught the children how to carefully roll their ball of dough into eight inch circles (full moons!). Several of the children aptly remarked to Dounia that she was "a good teacher."

Then it was time for the children to try. They absolutely loved rolling out the tender dough and shaping it into perfect orbs.

Once the dough had been formed, the children assembled to hear some Ramadan books, while our gracious volunteer busied herself with baking the kesra on a flat griddle pan until they were golden and brown.

The children dined on warm kesra, golden dates, and milk. Dounia explained that a conventional Ramadan fast is broken with the consumption of dates and milk to quickly restore blood sugar levels after the long hours of fasting (by providing food that is rich in calcium and potassium).

The children absolutely adored the kesra! In an amusing moment, one boy observed that the smell of the kesra reminded him of street vendors on the Pearl Street mall! In fact, we could barely keep up with the demand! No sooner would kesra come off the pan, have time to cool, and get cut into small pieces, then a child would report that the serving vessels were empty. It was hands down one of their favorite treats.

When the meal was complete, the children took home some kesra to share with their parents. One excited four year old girl proudly reported to her mother that "I love African food; it's delicious!"

In a world which is all too often marked by intolerance and ignorance of other cultures, it was particularly wonderful to see a young child beam with pride as he told his companions about being taught to make kesra by his grandmother during a trip to Africa, and have the opportunity to share an amazing culinary and cultural tradition with his appreciative and enamored friends. It was also an amazing opportunity for these young people to gain an understanding and appreciation of a different culture, and to learn about a beautiful celebration of the human desire to live, to love, and to serve others.

We wish to extend our sincere thanks to Dounia Mouhouche for sharing her time and talents with us, and for sharing her cultural traditions with us.

Bon Appetit!

Are these pictures from an end of summer garden party?

No. It's a typical school lunch for preschoolers.

Today marked the first day of the Bloom! Montessori School hot lunch program.

For the 2011-2012 school year, we are fortunate to be partnering with Revolution Foods to provide the children with approachable, nutritious, hot lunch options. Revolution Foods was founded in Oakland, CA in 2006 by Kirsten Saenz Tobey and Kirsten Groos, two mothers who wanted to reverse the growing tide of childhood obesity and the poor eating habits that proclaim America's youth. To date, Revolution Foods has served more than 23 million meals to school children and serves more than 70,000 meals daily to school children in more than 600 programs across the country. Revolution Foods serves meals that are appealing, delicious, and nutritious. Their meals consist of lean proteins, whole grains, a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats. They utilize whole, not heavily processed convenience foods, in age-appropriate portion sizes. Their mission is to instill life-long nutritional habits which will support student health and the maintenance of a healthy weight. All of their ingredients meet Whole Foods Market's stringent quality standards.

Revolution Foods meals never contain:

-NO rBST or hormones in milk
-NO fried food (including flash fried food)

-NO high fructose corn syrup

-NO trans fats

-NO artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners

-NO flavored milk or juice.

If the idea of "school hot lunch" conjures images of worn cafeteria trays, hair nets, and hamburgers, think again. The excited children participated in the ritual of setting the communal tables- carefully laying out the muslin tablecloths, setting the tables with a full place setting of china, and adorning the tables with their beautiful flower arrangements. When the preparations were complete, the children politely passed the serving vessels around the table, chatted politely about the day's events, and practiced using their best table manners. The children dined on all natural bean and cheese burritos, steamed carrots, salad, and fresh, local, peaches. Our meals are served with the child's choice of Horizon Organic Nonfat DHA Omega 3 milk, Silk Soy DHA Omega 3 with Calcium, or filtered water.

By the time lunch was over, practically all of the children had taken second helpings (interestingly, the steamed carrots and fresh peaches were the first to go) and the serving platters were completely empty! Everyone was very pleased with the quality, flavor, and appearance of the meals;

however, the main point of interest for the children was the ambiance. They were absolutely delighted with the embroidered tablecloths (embroidered place settings allowed them to set the table by matching the plates and silverware to their corresponding outlines), and they spent the majority of lunch practicing their table manners and mastering the skill of cutting food with a knife and fork (this was a new skill for all but one child- and I suspect the reason that the carrots disappeared first-they were the perfect food to practice cutting and eating).

As I watched the elated children learning to use knives and forks, I could not help but think of a recent Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution episode which addressed the subject of giving knives to young children: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOLTGT1Aexg

Just as Jamie Oliver surmised, it took the children less than one meal to have the basics down, and taught them a valuable skill that they will use for the rest of their lives.

We would like to extend a sincere thanks to Revolution Foods, especially Jenny Herman, Jacqueline Gleason, & Pat Donovan, for their commitment to the revolution and for making this wonderful program available to our small school. For more information about their program, please visit their website at: http://www.revfoods.com/

We would also like to thank St. Vrain Community Montessori School. We were too small to serve as our own "drop off site," and SVCM has graciously allowed us to use their location during the school year. Thank you so much for your kindness!

Finally, I wanted to thank my husband, Josh, for spending the weekend installing the new stove at the school and doing the vent and HVAC work to make this possible.

Thanks!

Chinese New Year Celebration

The children have been learning about Chinese New Year, a traditional Chinese festival which begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese lunar-solar calendar (each month follows one cycle of the moon) and ends fifteen days later, on Chinese New Years Eve.

The children have been busy making red paper lanterns (traditionally used on the fifteenth day of celebration for the lantern walk) and red envelopes (traditional gifts given to children, usually containing money) and decorating the classroom with dragons (to scare away bad spirits).

The Chinese New Year celebration concludes with a sumptuous feast known as the reunion dinner, so it was only fitting that our study culminate with a celebratory meal of our own- fried rice and dumplings.

The children really enjoyed learning to carefully fold the tasty filling in the wonton wrappers.

A few minutes of pan frying, a quick steam bath, and voila! (er... qiao!), a delicious platter of irresistible dumplings.

No sooner had the crackling of dumplings in the pan subsided than the excited children gathered around the table and put their chopstick skills to the test with the special snack of homemade dumplings and vegetarian fried rice. Gung Hay Fat Choy!

We would like to thank Mei Lai for her informative, gracious, and delicious dumpling making tutorial, and for donating the supplies for the project. The children absolutely loved it!

Thank you!

Autumn Harvest: Field Trip to the Family Table Farm Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday, we commemorated the beginning of fall and the end of our Farm to School Community Supported Agriculture program with a trip to visit The Family Table Farm.

For the past six months, we have partnered with The Family Table Farm to raise the next generation with increased awareness of the importance of enjoying nutritious, local, seasonal, sustainably produced food. During the course of our partnership, the children had the opportunity to visit the farm to learn about the cultivation of food, to maintain an organic, heirloom vegetable garden at the school, and engage in food preparation activities using the produce that we received in our weekly CSA shares from the farm. The children also had the opportunity to engage in a large variety of hands-on, developmentally appropriate, science activities and acquired a lot of botany knowledge over the course of the program (the life cycle of plants, the parts of plants, the role of insects as pollinators, different methods of seed dissemination, etc).

A few weeks ago, during "line time," I told the children that we would be going on another field trip to visit the farm. The children were immediately excited. I began asking them about what they remembered seeing at the farm on their first trip. Immediately, they answered "Farmer Mike" ("Farmer Mike" is a bit of a celebrity at the school- on the days that he dropped off the CSA shares, the children would literally shriek "Farmer Mike is here," and race to the door to say hello). After some more thought, the children also remembered the tractor, the hay bales, the horses, and the vegetables. "Do you know what else Farmer Mike has at the farm," I asked the rapt crowd? "A pumpkin patch," I whispered. The children spontaneously applauded. I knew we were off to a good start.

Friday morning, the children were literally beside themselves with excitement. They stood watch at the fence, anxiously awaiting the first glimpse of the school bus (some of them compulsively chanting "Come here school bus" until it arrived).

Twelve little children in one straight line, boarded the school bus and met Mr. Patrick, our driver.



As always, our elated children had impeccable manners on the bus, making it a very enjoyable ride (in fact, in what has become a common trend on these trips, Mr. Patrick commented several times on the self-control and courtesy demonstrated by the children- telling me that they were "so polite that it was a pleasure to drive them" and referring to it as "a welcome break" from the rest of his day) . Some of them chatted quietly with their friends, others pointed out familiar landmarks, and a sizable group erupted into an impromptu performance of Yellow Submarine (or more precisely, an impromptu performance of the refrain "We all live in a yellow submarine").


At last, the bus arrived at the farm. We were extremely fortunate to have chosen a beautiful, sunny day, for our trip. The excited children spilled out of the bus and raced toward the barn, where they saw Farmer Mike approaching.



Before leaving the school, I had solicited volunteers to present Farmer Mike with a little token of our appreciation; to my amusement, all of the children insisted upon participating.



After a few moments spent getting re-acquainted, the children ambled down the path to the farm, literally walking hand in hand (and, to our host's great amusement, still singing their Yellow Submarine refrain).

We walked for a bit, until we arrived at the pumpkin patch. Farmer Mike paused, turned around, and began "This is the pumpkin patch...". Apparently, no further explanation was required; before Mike could finish his sentence, the flock of children descended upon the field of twisted vines and beloved squash.

It took longer than you might expect for the surprisingly judicious children to make their selections. In fact, selecting the perfect jack-o-lantern is much more difficult than I remembered; in addition to aesthetic considerations, there are significant logistical concerns as well. Several children tested (somewhat comically, through repeated trial and error) the limits of how large a pumpkin specimen they could manage to carry out of the patch, while still managing to step over the tangles of pumpkin vines.

At last everyone had chosen a jack-o-lantern!

Then, Farmer Mike offered the children some refreshments. The children enjoyed some fresh apple cider and chatted politely with their gracious hosts.

I honestly doubt that there could be a better place for a preschool field trip than a farm. What could be better than wide open spaces in which to run, climb, and explore?

To my surprise, I have noticed an increasing number of local farms being converted into seasonal "pumpkin patch amusement parks" (places to go, pick out a pumpkin or two, and spend the rest of the afternoon riding go karts and bumper cars, eating corn dogs, and posing for a photo opportunity in front of a kitschy Halloween mise-en-scene). I am not certain of the intended demographic, but I suspect that this results from confusing what children find enticing and stimulating with adult notions of entertainment.

"So, what is there to do on a field trip to the farm," you might ask? Well, there are vegetables to be examined, frogs to be found, fields of tall grass to run through,

there are good friends to relax with,


and, if you're really lucky, there might even be something challenging to climb on! The children spied thie pile of tree stumps, which provided the children with a perfect little obstacle course. They entertained themselves for nearly thirty minutes with climbing on the stumps, trying to balance on top of them and jump from stump to stump, riding them like horses, and laughing at each others antics.

The children were extremely content enjoying these simple pleasures until one small boy looked up to see Farmer Mike and his daughter Emily coming with the tractor. Despite the giggling and commotion, a single excited shriek "The tractor is coming" was the only provocation necessary to send the children racing back through fields to pile into the wagon.

Once the children had piled into the wagon, Farmer Mike distributed bags to the children for harvesting vegetables, and Farmer Emily took the delighted children for a ride around the farm.

The tractor came to a stop in front of the turnip bed, where Farmer Mike provided a brief demonstration before turning the excited children loose. If you have never considered raw turnips to be a kid-friendly food, you are not alone. On our first trip to the farm, I was very surprised (as was our bus driver!) to see the children walking around gleefully munching on fistfuls of them. Since then, turnips have become one of the most highly coveted rations from the weekly CSA share (the children literally race outside and begin ransacking the cooler in search of them); so, I must admit, I was not particularly surprised to see that my normally restrained students were taking full advantage of our host's generosity and greedily stuffing their bags with arm fulls the fair tap roots.

The children emerged from the field with their bags brimming with turnips. Farmer Mike asked the children if they would like to assist him with some "real farm work." Needless to say, they were very enthusiastic! In fact, I imagine that the only thing that might have pleased them more was if he asked whether they would like to drive his tractor.

The children returned to the pumpkin patch where Farmer Mike told them that he wanted their help removing the rest of the pumpkins to turn over the patch. The children busied themselves with stripping the field of its yield, until all that remained was a big pile of pumpkins.

It was already time to return to the bus, but the children clamored for another tractor ride until Mike agreed to one more ride around the farm.





The children boarded the bus clutching their bags full of turnips and their treasured pumpkins. After an extended chorus of "I'm not ready to go back to school," they conceded defeat and returned to the school.

Once the prized pumpkins were safely stored in their cubbies, the thoroughly exhausted children ate their lunches and settled into the nap room (to dream of pumpkins and tractors, no doubt).

After nap, the children were invited to clean out the school's pumpkin in order to make pumpkin pie. They carefully extracted the seeds and stringy membrane; then, the pumpkin was roasted until it was tender.

Then, our little pastry chefs donned their aprons (with some help from the older children) and

combined the pumpkin with brown sugar and fragrant spices to make a lovely pumpkin custard.

Each child carefully rolled out their own little pie crust,

cut it with a round, placed the crust into their own small pie tin, and filled it to the brim with the spicy filling.

While their pies baked and the heady aroma of cinnamon and cloves filled the school, the children went outside to play in the leaves and satisfy their voracious appetites with the last of Farmer Mike's turnips. It made me a little sad to think that this would be the last time this year that I would watch the children wandering around the yard munching on turnips.
Once the pies had cooled, the children assembled on the patio to enjoy their final CSA meal together surrounded by frolicing squirrels a canopy of beautiful fall foliage. In a most fitting conclusion to our CSA program, we ended by celebrating the fall harvest with pumpkin pie,

fresh from the farm, in the company of good friends.

Our sincerest thanks goes to Mike, Lisel, and the entire Record family, for all of their beautiful produce and for providing the students with an unforgettable experience. We feel so lucky to have found you and we are so grateful for your friendship, kindness, and for sharing your considerable knowledge and talent with us. I have no doubt that the children have a greater willingness to try new foods, and a better understanding of where food comes from and an appreciation for the hardworking people who grow it as a result of the program. You will be greatly missed.

For more information about The Family Table Farm, please visit their website at: http://:www.thefamilytablefarm.com

I would also like to thank my assistants, Katie Dirrim and Jennifer Voggesser, for using their considerable talents to take the photographs that appear here.