Homemade Muffins

Something new was in the housekeeping area today; a cupcake tin, bowls, a whisk and mixing spoons. Cody and Luke knew just how to proceed, and Cody found the potholder to use when handling pans. At circle, we talked a little about baking, then set to work on some pumpkin muffins. Everyone examined the ingredients and took turns pouring and mixing. We could smell the muffins baking as we danced with Dancing Nancy, and later the children devoured the warm and delicious snack that they had made.

Adamah Apple Crisp

It took a few days to finally enjoy the fruits of our labor, but the Adamah class finally tasted the delicious apple crisp we baked last week.  We studied our recipe, chopped apples, measured, mixed, poured and took our delicious treat to the oven. 

Busy Baking

 

The Keshet class was hard at work today on a special surprise for a special day. The children love to bake and enjoy referring to a recipe to identify ingredients and quantities. "Power tools" also interest the children and today they waited patiently for a turn to use a hand mixer. They were able to turn the mixer on and off, and to adjust the speed--always helpful when we are trying to keep the ingredients in the bowl. Then a trip to the kitchen and the excitement of seeing (and smelling) the finished product!

More than Muffins

The Keshet children baked pumpkin muffins today, and the baking experience revealed a growing level of awareness of how we follow a recipe. The children demonstrate that they understand that print has meaning; the words on the box, accompanied by pictures, tell us what (and how much) of other ingredients we must put into the mix. We measured one cup of milk and 1/3 cup of oil, and we counted and broke two eggs. The children counted twelve 'cups' in the muffin tin, and counted out twelve paper liners to fill them. We counted fifty strokes with the spoon, to be sure we had mixed the batter enough. These pre-reading and pre-math experiences are especially satisfying when they produce a dozen delicious muffins for snack!

Baking Hamentaschen

Please enjoy a window into our classroom today as we rolled, cut, shaped, filled, and baked our wonderful hamentaschen cookies.

Mmmm....Pumpkin Bread!

How do you bake pumpkin bread?  The Levana children know.

They looked at their recipe poster taped to the closet, as they came into the classroom on Tuesday morning.

Then they checked to make sure we had all the ingredients we needed, including the boxed mix, eggs, oil, and water.  We also needed to make sure we had our tools -- the bowl, a spoon and whisk, and measuring cups and spoons.

Then we took turns pouring in the different ingredients, and mixing them in the big, red bowl. (I hold the bowl still so that it doesn't tip.)  

 Lindsey notices that the batter smells good, even before we put it in the oven.

 After we take it out of the oven and bring it back to the classroom, everyone wants to take turns smelling the warm, baked pumpkin bread. Haley thinks it smells delicious!

But before we can eat it at snack time, we have to cut it into slices.   Lily takes a turn cutting, first.

Then Ellen takes a turn slicing, followed by Harold, Samantha S., and Haley.

 Unfortunately, we didn't get any photos of the children eating the pumpkin bread at snack time, but it was a hit!  Many of the children thought it was delicious and asked for seconds.

How do Keshet children play?

The Keshet class was alive with activity and energy today.  There were some puzzles to explore as part of our Shabbat celebration.  In the photo collage below, the pictures show children who are playing next to one another, doing similar activities with no direct interaction.  They're engaged in parallel play.  Today I caught a moment where Allison and Isabella were engaged in dyad play - two children playing together.  When a teacher is involved, a small group may form and engage in an activity like dancing, trying some yoga poses, or making pumpkin muffins.  With Savita's guidance and support, the kids made part of their own snack once again today.  The sweet pumpkin smell filled the room and drifted into the hallway this morning.  It was tasty alongside the delicious challah that Ben shared with us today.  Thank you Ben and the Greenstein family.  Shabbat Shalom to you.  

Last One to the Top is a Rotten Egg

Our conversation about the harvest lead us to discussing what you can do with corn after it has been picked which lead us to making cornbread today!   One of the ingredients in cornbread is an egg.  We found some eggs in our fridge with different expiration dates which provided us with the perfect opportunity for an experiment.  We formed a HYPOTHESIS (the older eggs will do something different in the bowl than the fresher eggs), we did an EXPERIMENT (put the eggs in a bowl with water), we GATHERED AND ANALYZED DATA (the older eggs with an expired date floated to the top and the newer eggs sunk to the bottom of the bowl), and came to a CONCLUSION (Fresher eggs sink to the bottom of the bowl - use these!)  We'll learn why this happened tomorrow!  On a sidenote, the cornbread was a hit!

Muffin Baking

The Rainbow class made their own snack today.  They measured, poured, stirred, and baked some very tasty banana muffins.  The children were excited to participate in all of the steps, and have learned to trust that they will each get a turn to help.  The muffins looked, smelled, and tasted delicious.  We also shared some mandarin orange slices and dried apricots for snack.  Baking is so much fun!

Rainbows make Hamantaschen

Sophie's mother, Mrs. Sherman, was very kind to come and

teach us how to make the special hamantaschen cookies we

enjoy at Purim. We loved making them and then eating them

for snack today. Thank you so much for your help, Mrs. Sherman!

Rainbows make Hamantaschen

Sophie's mother, Mrs. Sherman, was very kind to come and

teach us how to make the special hamantaschen cookies we

enjoy at Purim. We loved making them and then eating them

for snack today. Thank you so much for your help, Mrs. Sherman!

Date Bread

The Levana children are still enjoying the fruits of Tu B'Shevat, including some that had not ripened in time for our seder. Today we baked a delicious date bread, using dried dates and apricots. Among the highlights were Bennett's technique with the egg cracking, and the way in which all the children helped one another with stirring and bowl-holding. We ate the warm, delicious bread for snack, and shared some with Ebert and Rachel, who both do so much for us.

Making Challah

On Tuesday, Rohan helped the children make challah dough. Today each child had a chance to shape her own portion of dough to make individual challahs. We had a variety of shapes on the pan at the end. We hope that everyone enjoyed sharing their challah with their families. We missed having Jack and Rose with us and look forward to making challah another day when they are at school with us.

Follow the Recipe

The Rainbows were happy to welcome Rohan to our classroom today. She came to make challah dough with us. First, there was a trip to the kitchen to gather all of the ingredients. The kids helped Rohan bring them back to the classroom on this cart. Do you see there is flour, sugar, oil, salt, honey, and vanilla? There is some yeast there somewhere as well.

The recipe that Rohan is holding will help us to measure the correct amount of each ingredient and tell us which order to combine them to make a tasty challah.

The kids took turns stirring and measuring. They were quite excited!

Once all of the ingredients were combined, it was time to store the dough in the refrigerator for next time. We can't wait!

Baking with Max's mom!

This week in the Unicorn class, we were lucky to have a special guest come in to our classroom!  Max shared his mom Lauren with us and she taught us how to bake Cranberry-Orange muffins!  What a delicious treat!  Lauren had all of the Unicorns helps her measure, mix, stir, crack eggs and enjoy!  Learning and baking with Lauren was such a great time and it made for a great snack!  Thank you so much Lauren and Max for sharing one of your favorite activities with us !

Our Round Rosh Hashanah Challah!!

Here we are, on the day of Erev Rosh Hashanah, and the Haifa class spent it making round challah!! Our families will get to enjoy the sweet taste of homemade challah that their children worked very hard on!!

L'Shana Tova!!

-Alison and Sauci

Making Challah...on a Tuesday?!

The Haifa children were filled with the Rosh Hashanah spirit today and spent their day making challah dough! Yesterday the children ended their day reading the book How the Rosh Hashanah Challah Became Round. So today, we started the process of making our own round Rosh Hashanah challahs!
Tomorrow we will bake the challah so that it comes home in time for Erev Rosh Hashanah!

-Alison and Sauci

Bird Talk!

Thank you Ali, for bringing Swooper in for a visit. We learned how to talk to Swooper by pressing our fingers to our lips and making kissing noises. Sure enough, when we made our noises, Swooper hopped over, squawking and peeping in response!


Decorating our visors was fun and messy. Look at the concentration! Jackson Pollack watch out!














What a busy day! We also found time to make our own Challah. There were many comments on the yummy smell! Everyone took a mini-challah home in their backpack.

Baking Mandel Bread

Last week we made Mandel Bread in class. They were so excited to bring home what they made. If you want to make some at home,
Here is our secret recipe

Baking for Purim

The Rainbows joined in the holiday baking today, making hamantaschen together. Unlike the more traditional three-cornered versions, these were one-of-a-kind, as the children brought their individuality to the patting, filling and forming. Despite the irregular cookies, the children know that these represent the three cornered hat of Haman, that he is the villain of the the Purim story, and that we will boo heartily when we hear his name or see his image.