Tuesday is Tuna Noodle Day!

Tuna Noodle Tuesday! It was our last casserole of the year for Rosie's Place. Elias and Micah Rosin could not have been more excited to start chopping the butter and cheese.  They used their expert fine motor chopping skills to dice the cheese and butter into tiny cubes so that it would easily melt over the hot pasta. Later Zach and Micah Gladstone came and helped out. They were eager to use the can opener. Such strong kiddos! The casserole was made with care and love and they should be very proud of the cooking skills going to such an important organization!

Dinner's ready!

It is interesting to see how the manner in which children play with the same materials evolves and becomes richer over time.  There are often two or three children working in the kitchen area together in our classroom.  They might share some food or cook together.  This morning Ethan set the table in the kitchen with about a dozen different plates.  He chose and prepared food for each one: a slice of challah, a tomato, some lettuce, or some carrots.  He grabbed a pot and a spatula and banged away - extending an invitation to the rest of the children: "Dinner's ready!"  He was very excited when Harrison and Nancy joined in to sample his cooking.  It's great fun to cook, but to have others enjoy what you've prepared is a wonderful feeling.  Yum, delicious!

"Put Some Veggies In A Pot..."

We have been talking about plants and how they can provide delicious and nutritious food for our bodies! Thursday we did a taste test experiment of different steamed veggies. We first chopped them up using plastic knives which was hard, but the Tel Aviv kids knew what to do and got the job done! Then we walked the pot full of veggies to the community room to have them steamed...

We had a delicious group snack with all our steamed veggies and some raw veggies. We saw how cooked carrots and raw carrots look and feel different. We encouraged kids to try new foods. If they didn't want to try them, they still had the opportunity to smell them, touch them and learn about the different kinds of vegetables and how they are different cooked than they are raw. Our veggie options included, carrots, red peppers, green beans, broccoli and cauliflower.

After snack, we had the opportunity to chart which vegetables we liked and which ones we didn't. We found a place on the chart to write our names and then could put either a smiley face or check in a b0x to indicate that we liked a certain food or an X to indicate that we didn't. This chart is an early introduction to math skills that they will be continuing to use in elementary school. Kids were able to look at the chart and see that some kids liked all the veggies or that Lily liked carrots. There is a lot of information on the chart, and it is a learning opportunity both to put your own information in the chart as well as look and read the chart as a whole. It was neat to see how invested each child was as they filled it out. Many realized that they hadn't tried the vegetable so they didn't know to mark whether or not they liked it. So we ended up having a second taste test as we were filling out our graph. Micah Gladstone learned he liked ALL the veggies, and he hadn't tried any of them during snack!

It was a great project, and we were excited to see all the healthy foods Tel Aviv kids like. Come on in and check out the chart to  see which new veggies you can introduce to your dinner table!!

Lots of Latkes!

Yesterday we made latkes in the Tel Aviv class! Micah and Elias loved grating the potatoes and Micah Rosin loved being able to smell the latkes cooking while the oil was bubbling. He even exclaimed, " I'm always going to choose cooking cause then we get to eat it!" It was neat going through the entire latke making processes yesterday and fun watching them enjoy eating them for snack today!

The Tel-Aviv Tuna Factory!

This week in the Tel Aviv class we have been talking a lot about ways to be nice people. So we decided what a good week to make a tuna casserole for Rosie’s Place!? The Tel Aviv kids loved watching the pasta boil and enjoyed being part of each step of the casserole making process. We learned how to use a can opener and then Noah, Elias and Josie each took turns opening our three cans of tuna. We use plastic knives to cut the butter and quickly Micha Rosen learned that even if the butter is stuck to your knife, if you dip the knife in the pasta then the butter will melt off!! Elias thought the tuna would melt in the hot pasta as well, but after a bit he realized that we needed to stir the tuna around so that it would be even-it wouldn’t just melt evenly. Lily did a great job pouring all the cheese on and we were able to watch the cheese melt as well. Who knew the cooking could lead to such  great scientific  discovery!

 After our dish was made we carried it up to the kitchen so we could freeze it until next pick-up. 

Great work Tel Aviv friends! What a great way to start the year!

Apples at the Sensory Table!?

Today the Tel Aviv kids entered the room to find what was the bean filled sensory table filled with water and apples. As soon as circle was over the majority of the class rushed over to explore. The class enjoyed picking up and dumping the apples and the manipulatives allowed for their imagination to run wild. Throughout the morning applesauce, apple stew and apple cakes were all made. The water table also is a good place to practice sharing and turn taking. Also it is inevitable that there is some splashing at a table filled with water and Tel Aviv kids had to ask their friends to be gentle so that they wouldn’t get soaked.  All had fun, and we can wait to see what the “Apple Chefs” will make tomorrow!

Making our own hummus!

Today in "Jerusalem" the Tel Aviv class made their own humus with Rohan! They mashed chickpeas which is not an easy thing to do without a food processor. We added lemon juice, oil, cumin and garlic. There were lots of scents and textures to explore throughout the humus making process. A lot of the Tel Aviv kids were apprehensive to try the humus. I told Eliza that in Israel there are restaurants that only serve different types of humus and she was amazed. We decided to save the humus for tomorrow and we will eat it with falafel and Israeli salad. So many wonderful foods to create and explore in Israel!!

Ellen Sets Up Shop

So..... if you peeked outside the Unicorn door this morning you would have found our resident Passover Pancake Maker - Ellen! Here is Ellen on batch one (of four!)

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The Unicorns loved making the pancakes as much as they loved eating them! Huge, tasty success!

Micah shared "I got to crack my first egg!"

Passover Pancakes (a great recipe for kids to help with)
1/2 c matzah meal (or matzah cake meal)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 eggs
3/4 c cold water
oil
Mix matzah meal, salt, sugar together in a bowl. Add eggs, water, and mix well. Heat oil in frying pan and cook pancakes.
For extra light pancakes, separate the eggs. Beat yolks and add water. Add matzah meal mixture to yolks. Let stand for one hour. Beat egg white until stiff, then add to batter. Fry as usual. Serves 3-4

We Cooked a Tree!

Today in Lunch Bunch Max, Jared, Molly and Alana cooked a sugar cookie tree! We made sugar cookie dough and used food coloring to make it green and brown. It was great to add in the food coloring and kneed the dough and watch it tune different colors. We then made the tree on the cookie sheet remembering to make roots, a trunk, branches and leaves! When it was all done we sang happy birthday n english and hebrew to celebrate Tu B'shevat! It was quite a yummy afternoon!

Pop!.....Pop!......POPCORN!

Today Lauri brought in her super fun pop-corn maker for her lunch bunch group and as soon as the Tel Aviv class saw it they decided that they wanted to make popcorn in the morning too! It was a great end of circle activity and the class saw the oil and corn kernels go into the mixer and in minutes it started popping! Everyone ran back over to watch the kernels explode and begin to fill up the pop-corn maker. Eli shrieked with delight each time we heard a "Pop!" Many of the students had not seen the individual kernels before and it was neat to watch their fascination with the pop-corn popping process. After the maker was filled each child got a cup of popcorn to eat and they LOVE it. Most went for seconds and some went for thirds and fourths. Eli even asked if we could make popcorn again tomorrow!

Chocolate Pudding

Today, the Rainbows helped make instant chocolate pudding. Each child had a turn pouring the chocolate powder and milk, as well as stirring with the whisk. The children watched eagerly as Savita scooped the pudding into individual cups so that each child could enjoy one at snacktime. Some of the kids came with me as I carried the pudding cups to the refrigerator so they would be cold for. The chocolate pudding was a success since most of the kids ate every last drop!