Celebrating Another Project

Each year for the past six years my StrongStart centre has taken part in

 the Spuds in Tubs program.

Each year I share it with at least one other teacher in the school

so we can share ideas and come together at the end

to celebrate.

This year I shared the tubs with Ms Irwin's grade 2 class.

And our big buddies class had their own tubs too.

So today was celebration day.

We started off the morning mashing our potatoes 

to have Mashed Potatoe Sundaes.

Then all three classes met in the multi-purpose room where the potatoes and 

toppings were waiting.

I learned today that the connections between our StrongStart children and their 

big buddies are real and can be a comfort when one is anxious.

One child who is fairly new to my program, but has met the big buddies before,

entered the multi-purpose room for the first time and yelled.

That is a reaction I noticed he does when he is transitioning to a new location.

I approached him and offered to show him around and asked

if he recognized any of the buddies.

At that same moment his big buddy, who was across the room, started

waving his hand at us.

I could see the little buddy's body sag with relief and he

went running over to join his big buddy

with no further concerns.

Perfect!

We started with a brief talk about potatoes 

and shared how many potatoes were harvested.

Then it was time to eat.

For toppings we had shredded cheese, sour cream, green onions, bacon bits,

hard boiled eggs, corn, gravy and dirt.

Students who have participated in the Spuds in Tubs with StrongStart before

remember having dirt as a topping.

Some could keep the real name of the dirt a secret.

Some hesitated to try it until a friend told them it was 

crushed Oreos.

If you work in British Columbia and have a chance to participate in this great

program I would highly recommend it.

Fascinating Frogs

Another creature that we raise at this time of year

is the frog.

This year we've had great success with watching tadpoles

grow into frogs.

Back at the beginning of May we visited a new pond

where we found these tadpoles.

The children have been watching them closely waiting for back legs to appear.

It didn't seem to take as long this year. 

Not sure what was different but we now have several fully formed frogs.

And some that still have a bit of their tail left.

While we watched I set up a frog pond on the floor for the children to play in.

There is water in there as well as rocks, lily pads and frogs.

Even a tadpole and froglet could be found.

This child spent time lining all the frogs along the edge of the pond.

This one rescued all the frogs from the water.

Tomorrow the children will that I changed the pond.

Can you guess what song we might be singing?

Harvesting Spuds

We participated in BC Agriculture's Spud in Tubs program

again this year.

We shared our tubs with a grade one class and our big buddies

grew spuds too.

Today we harvested the potatoes to get ready for our celebration

which will be on Wednesday.

We explored the tops and the bottoms

(stalks and roots).

There were not many leaves left since the bunnies,

that live in our school yard, found a way into the garden.

While we dug for potatoes we found some of the seed potatoes

that started this experiment.

We laid them out to count (about 200) and compared how many were in each tub.

Then took them inside for a washing.

The children enjoyed using a toothbrush to scrub the potatoes.

They talked about brushing their own teeth with 

a toothbrush.

Today we made Potato Scones.

 I mixed the flour, baking powder and cold butter

then the children added mashed potatoes.

We used our hands to mix the mash potatoes into the flour.

Very few were hesitant about getting their hands messy.

They were each given a small amount and they rolled it out flat.

Then put them in the frying pan.

Flip when golden brown.

We decided they looked and tasted more like pancakes

then scones.

We topped them with raspberry jam or apple butter.

Delicious.

StoryWalk - Nose to Toes

At our picnic this week I set up another StoryWalk.

With many of the pages I added an action suggestion.

The families walked, read and did.

The StoryWalk ended with a spot for the families to sit and share

what they would pretend to be.

Another great book that was great for the younger StoryWalkers.