Pictures From Two Weeks of Reggio-Inspired Summer Camp

Just a quick hello and share of some photos from the Summer camp I did at home. What fun!

Space Still Open for Reggio-Inspired Summer Camp!

Still looking for a Summer Camp for your child? I have some spaces left for my camp so I thought I'd share with you what it's all about!

Amrita Love and I will be co-teaching a Reggio-inspired Summer Camp for three weeks this Summer. Amrita has been teaching in India, Virginia and the DC area for over 20 years. She and I met while teaching at Discovery Woods Learning Community, an outdoor school in Vienna, VA. She believes that in every child lives an artist that discovers within herself or himself a myriad of creative representations. At camp, Amrita and the children will have the opportunity to make these discoveries through a variety of media like: paper making, vegetable prints, clay, mosaic, mod podge decoupage, different paints, cray pas, sculpture and good old paper and pencil. I will be working with the children on gardening, harvesting, cooking, composting, and plant preparations. Music will be included every day at camp to inspire learning, movement, and relaxation. Here are the weeks they are offering and the number of spaces still available. Please let me know if you'd like your child to attend and feel free to forward this along to friends and family. There are more details below.

coachchristymarieATgmailDOTcom

Week 1 July 21-July 25-now full Week 2 July 28-August 1-2 spaces open

Week 3 August 4-August 8

9 spaces open Camp will run Monday-Friday from 9 AM-1PM. Snack will be provided by the camp, prepared together with the campers. Lunch will need to come from home. The cost will be $300 per week. The camp will be a mixed focus on gardening, eating local and seasonal foods, nature, artwork, and journaling. Christy and Amrita will provide pictures and documentation of activities via a private Facebook group. The age range of the children is from (potty trained) 3 to 9. There will definitely be a mix of both structured activities and unstructured play. Children will most definitely get dirty and need a change of clothes. They will also be taught how to use (children's) knives and prepare basic food for snacks and drinks for themselves and their fellow campers. Weather permitting children will be outdoors for most of the time, both in the sun and in the shade, but leaders are also inclined to take breaks indoors if necessary. The normal camp day will end at 1:00 and extended day will be charged at the rate of $10 per hour after that.

First In A Series of Fermenting Classes: Kickstarting Kombucha!

Easy Turkey Stock!

Enjoy this simple, healthy recipe for turkey stock. Don't let those bones go to waste!

Classroom Food Lesson-Apples

Believe it or not, even though every aspect of my work has to do with teaching people about feeding children well or actually teaching children how to eat well, I still enjoy volunteering my spare time doing the same thing. What can I say, I'm passionate! I believe that schools are a great place to teach children about food, cooking, and eating well, and when it can be woven into curriculum it really works well for everyone. 

Recently I taught an apple lesson in my daughter's kindergarten class. They have been doing a unit of study on "Old Days, New Days." As part of this I offered to do a lesson on apples in which we  would talk about heirloom apples, taste them, vote on our favorites, and finish the process of making applesauce with a food mill. Because there was no cooking equipment at the school I started the applesauce at home but took pictures to show the students. I am hoping to get money from the incredibly supportive PTA at our younger daughters' school to purchase an induction burner that anyone can use for classroom cooking in the future.

If you are interested in teaching a food lesson in your child's classroom, get on it! Below I have included the components of my kindergarten apple lesson. But first here some tips:

1. Always make sure that your child's teacher wants you to come in and do a lesson. It could be that they need your help in other areas first.

2. Team up with another parent or two and meet or email to discuss a plan.

3. Be organized! Agree on a start and end time with your child's teacher and stick to it. Students have busy days and they need to stay on schedule.

4. Write yourself a timeline. You will get distracted once you are in there teaching a lesson. Refer to your timeline to help you keep moving. Review this timeline with the teacher before the lesson takes place.

5. Keep it simple. For this particular class I had three stations: applesauce milling, tasting and voting, writing describing words. Afterwards we recap and that's it.

6. Make sure you have help. This could come from the teacher, an aide, another parent, or even a resource teacher in the school. Ask your child's teacher who will be around to help.

7. If you cooked, provide a recipe that can be sent home. This may need to be approved or modified so don't take it personally if it gets changed a bit or is not sent home at all.

All but the milling picture was done and photographed at home on the morning of the lesson day.

I was able to buy beautiful local "seconds" apples at Maple Avenue Market in Vienna, VA. I love supporting this local business whenever I can and the owners are awesome!

This picture was taken after the tasting but here are the components. If you make signs be sure to use the same handwriting that would be expected of your child. I printed the lined paper at home and wrote the words that I needed. My daughter's teacher drew up a quick graph where students could vote by writing their names under their favorite apple.

 I found a free clip art picture of apples online and made these sheets. I printed one copy at home and made more copies at school.

Here's the letter I typed up that got sent home:

"On Wednesday our class made applesauce using a food mill like it was done in the Old Days. Everyone got a chance to turn the food mill and help make the applesauce. We also tasted three different heirloom apples and voted on our favorite. We described how apples look, taste, sound, feel, and smell. Here is the recipe we used for our applesauce if you want to make it at home.

Homemade Applesauce

Select your apples.

Visit a farmer’s market and ask for “seconds,” “culls,” or “drops.” These are imperfect-looking apples that are perfect for applesauce! Choose sweet apples and a mix of types is preferable. Here is where I got my apples.

Wash and chop the apples.

Plain water in the sink is fine, nothing fancy. Chop the apples, or use a corer/slicer and add them to a large pot, peel, seeds, core, and all.

Cook the apples.

Put about 1 inch of water on the bottom of the pot. Put the lid on, and the heat on medium-high.  If the water comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook until the apples are soft.

Strain the cooked apples.

The easiest way to do this is by using a food mill. Spoon the cooked apples into the mill and turn the handle. The seeds, skin, and core will separate. Compost the debris.

Season the applesauce.

Add ground cinnamon to season your applesauce. Vanilla is nice, too. You do not need to add ANY sugar to the applesauce. Serve warm or cool."

And there you have it! Yes, there is some work involved but this same lesson could be used for every classroom at the Kindergarten level and easily adjusted for younger or older children. To simplify you could remove any one (or two) of the activities.

I'd love to hear how you are bringing fresh and healthy food to your child's school-please share!

Peace and Health, 

christy

Fall Afternoons

 Instead of rushing home and unpacking backpacks and starting homework and thinking about dinner, today, we slowed down. We made some tea (coffee for me) and we sat outside and took in the beautiful Fall afternoon. We watched the wind blow the leaves off of the trees, we let the sun shine on our faces, we talked about what we loved about the Fall. How does this relate to feeding children well? Everything we eat revolves around seasons. Anticipating times of the year, holidays, specific foods, talking about food memories and when they happened. When you teach your children to love and appreciate the seasons then they love and appreciate what those seasons have to offer, including the food. So try this. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but make it sometime soon.

 Just three easy steps:

1. Grab your children.

2. Hurry outside.

3. Then, slow down.

Peace and Health, 

christy

Free Class This Wednesday!