Cooking, Spring, Week 5

Worms in Dirt with Alex, Maki, Henry N., Lucy

Our brainstorming session on Monday focused on our favorite foods (a big one was pudding) and spring. Using those two ideas, we decided to make the age-old "worms in dirt" snack.

We made chocolate pudding on Tuesday and a healthier version of a chocolate wafer cookie on Wednesday. Using organic cocoa powder, honey, whole wheat flour, baking soda and vanilla, we came up with  a concoction that worked well for smashing these cookies into dirt.

Since ChildRoots was closed on Friday, we crushed our cookies, and assembled and ate our "worms in dirt" on Thursday.

Cooking, Spring Week 1

Rainbow Macaroons with Elijah, Hanix, Jude, Lulu, Matea and Max

*Teacher Meghan is taking an afternoon class two days a week, so Teacher Teresa taught this cooking atelier on Tuesday and Thursday.

Our brainstorming session on Monday involved only two friends, but their ideas were inspiring! We started by discussing imagination and what that meant in terms of cooking. We reviewed recipes and talked about ways in which they could have been changed using our imaginations. We next moved on to write down our favorite foods and Elijah shared that his favorite is macaroons. We talked about the two types and (I) determined that the French macarons would be pretty difficult given our time constraints, so we decided on coconut macaroons.

Jude had been playing with the light table quite a bit that day, so he was thinking about color and brought it up with us. Our conversation remained on color for enough time that we eventually talked about color combinations, as well as light refraction. This lead us into a discussion about the rainbow and we decided to combine these two things to make rainbow macaroons. We moved to the art tables and used colored pencils to draw our interpretations of rainbows and to explore the colors we wanted to use for our macaroons.

We practiced dying play dough prior to dying our macaroon batter. We mixed all of our ingredients on Wednesday and even whipped our egg whites by hand. Our arms hurt a little, but we took turns whisking to make it easier.

We dyed our macaroons on Thursday using only four colors: red, blue, yellow and green. From those colors, everyone experimented with mixing and creating new shades. Some friends used bowls to dye their batter, some friends dripped the liquid color over them, some friends squeezed the colors in with their hands, and some friends used a combination of all those techniques.

I (slightly over-) baked the macaroons on Friday and we ate our rainbow concoctions in class that afternoon! Some friends liked them more than others...

Cooking: Winter II, Week 3

Exploring Change Through Pasta Making

Ben, Brooklyn, Henry D., Maki and Neva

The process of pasta making is an excellent way to discuss and visualize physical change. From mixing and kneading the pasta dough to flattening and cutting the noodles, every step of this process involves change. We were able to watch the flour and eggs come together in a new way and feel the textural difference after letting it rest overnight in the fridge. We were also able to watch the change as the dough was rolled and flattened, and the noodles were cut.

We spent the first two days exploring our pasta maker and using play dough to experiment with its functions and capabilities. Next we moved on to mixing and kneading our pasta dough and learning more about pasta making on the whole. After the dough rested overnight, we flattened and cut our noodles!

Throughout the week we learned about pasta through several cookbooks and the classic Strega Nona stories.

The pasta dough transformed as we created a well, added the eggs, and slowly swirled the flour to incorporate it into the egg mixture. Once enough of it was absorbed, we used our hands and turn it out onto the table to knead. Friends remembered kneading from when we made challah bread. They used various techniques (some stretched, some pulled, some used their fists) to work the dough. By the end of kneading, they noticed that the dough was elastic and stretched back into place after being moved. We talked extensively about gluten and made comparisons to exercising our muscles.


We ended the last day by re-reading Strega Nona and some of our pasta cookbooks to compare and contrast the noodles we made to those in the stories.

Cooking: Winter II, Week 2

Exploring Change Through Pasta Making

Malvina, Elly, Jesse, Rya, Isaac. L., Zooey

The process of pasta making is an excellent way to discuss and visualize physical change. From mixing and kneading the pasta dough to flattening and cutting the noodles, every step of this process involves change. We were able to watch the flour and eggs come together in a new way and feel the textural difference after letting it rest overnight in the fridge. We were also able to watch the change as the dough was rolled and flattened, and noodles were cut.





We spent the first two days exploring our pasta maker and using play dough to experiment with its functions and capabilities. Next we moved on to mixing and kneading our pasta dough and learning more about pasta making on the whole. After the dough rested overnight, we flattened and cut our noodles!

Throughout the week we learned about pasta through several cookbooks and the classic Strega Nona stories.

Cooking: Winter, Week 1

Exploring change by making pasta

Anya, Camille, Cora, Jude, Sam and Zane

Monday
When I introduced the fact that we were going to be making pasta this week, everyone was immediately thrilled that we were going to be making macaroni and cheese! After a good laugh and some quick clarifications, we moved on to expand our interest in pasta beyond this dish. We looked at a recipe book full of pasta dishes to find examples of fettucini and spaghetti noodles similar to those we would be making.

Next we explored the pasta maker and each of its capabilities. We spent a great deal of time talking about safety and keeping our hands away from certain areas. We used some play dough to practice rolling out large pieces, flattening them and cutting them into noodles.

Each time we changed the way our play dough looked, we talked about why and how it was different: whether it was bigger or smaller, wider or skinnier, longer or shorter. Sam noticed that we could use our hands, as well as the pasta maker, to change the play dough. Cora noticed that we could use the rolling pin to make the pasta dough smaller (thinner). Jude noticed that the harder we press our hands down, the thinner the play dough becomes. Zane noticed that tearing pieces of play dough is also a form of change.


Tuesday
Everyone was excited to use the pasta maker again, so we quickly made our pasta dough. We remembered that in order to measure flour, we need to "make a mountain" and "flatten it out" with our fingers to measure the correct amount. We practiced measuring a few times, and then we each tok turns measuring our flour and pouring it into a new bowl. We made a well in the middle of the flour and cracked our eggs into it. We used a spoon to break the yolks and began to slowly stir the eggs in a circle, slowly incorporating the flour. After almost all of it was mixed together, we each got a piece to knead on the table. Everyone remembered kneading from challah bread and began to use their own techniques.

We put the pasta dough away and used our playdough to make shapes and explore various changes for the rest of the atelier.

Wednesday
Teacher Meghan out- students were in cooking with Teacher JesseAnne.


Thursday
Teacher Meghan out- students were split up among other atelier groups.






Friday
Since Teacher Meghan was gone, we were not able to cut our pasta dough into noodles earlier than today; therefore, we did not have time to cook and eat them. However, we really loved rolling out the pasta dough by hand and then finishing it using the pasta maker. Everyone noticed that the machine was able to make the dough much longer (and flatter) than we could. We cut lots and lots of noodles and hung them to dry.

 We finished by reading Strega Nona and The Story of Noodles.

Cooking: Winter, Week 5

Exploring tradition by making challah bread and butter.

Alex, Anya, Avalaine, Jacob, Jude and Zane

Monday
We started the week by discussing tradition and what they had learned from their other ateliers. We moved into discussing food traditions and that people have been making this type of bread for thousands of years. Next we looked at our recipe for challah bread and talked about braiding. We made oatmeal play dough and spent a great deal of time talking about flour and water and how the dough is affected when we add more or less of one of those two ingredients. Since challah is primarily made from these two things, it was beneficial for them to start thinking about that before we began mixing our bread dough.



Tuesday
Today we made butter! We took a walk to the kitchen to get our heavy cream and talked about the various kinds of milk in the fridge and the differences between them. After that we went back to our classroom and discussed how to make butter. We poured the cream into a glass jar and added salt and shook it for a very long time. We stopped to look at the cream in a few if its stages before it turned into butter. We tried some of the butter when it was all done and everyone seemed to enjoy it, but some friends thought it needed more salt. They love salt!

Wednesday
We started our dough today! We discussed each of the ingredients and since we were familiar with them from making pumpkin bread last time, everyone was able to talk a little about them or share whether they liked the flavor or not. We spent some time talking about yeast, since that was a new ingredient. Friends didn't particularly enjoy the smell (we didn't taste it raw), but they liked the way it felt and looked.

We took turns mixing each ingredient, counting while our friends stirred, so each person had the same amount of time. After all the ingredients were mixed, we turned the sticky dough out onto our floured table and began to knead it. Each friend had a little piece to work with and they each had a different kneading technique. Some friends pinched the dough, some friends punched it, some friends pulled it apart and put it back together. After our dough was done being kneaded, we squished it back together and put it into an oiled bag so that it could rise overnight in the refrigerator.



Thursday

We worked together to cover the table (and some of the floor) with flour so that our dough wouldn't stick to the table as we punched it down and braided it. After we turned our dough out onto the flour, we all took turns gently punching it down. Next, we split it into three sections and worked with a partner to push and pull it into a long "snake."

We lined our pieces up next to each other, pushed them together at one end and braided our dough. This batch of challah turned out really, really well and I it's due to their interest in kneading! They did such a great job with that the previous day that the dough was really well formed.

We had some extra time at the end of class, so we read a few books together.



















Friday

We finally got to eat our bread and it looked incredible! We examined the crust's color, shape and texture before cutting it open to do the same to the inside. We compared the two and discussed why the bread might look different on the inside and outside.

After we sufficiently stuffed ourselves with carbs and talked about the taste of the bread, we cleaned up and read a few more books. It was a great week!

Cooking: Winter, Week 3

Exploring tradition by making bread and butter.

Ben, Isaac R., Matea, Lulu and Rya

Monday
We started the week by discussing tradition and what they had learned from their other ateliers. We moved into discussing food traditions and began talking about what they thought they were going to eat for the upcoming holiday. Each friend shared a few things and then we talked about the fact that a lot of the food we eat is a tradition because we eat it over and over and we were taught how to make it by someone we know.

Next we looked at our recipe for challah bread and talked about braiding. Each friend recognized the pattern and commented on the fact that people sometimes do this to their hair.We talked about each ingredient and the directions for making the bread and the fact that we were going to spend several days making one loaf.

Tuesday
Today we made butter! We took a walk to the kitchen to get our heavy cream and talked about the various kinds of milk in the fridge and the differences between them. After that we went back to our classroom and discussed how to make butter. We poured the cream into a glass jar and added salt and shook it for a very long time. We stopped to look at the cream in a few if its stages before it turned into butter. We tried some of the butter when it was all done and everyone seemed to enjoy it, but some friends thought it needed more salt. It was great to hear them identify the flavor which they thought was missing.

Wednesday
We started our dough today! We discussed each of the ingredients and since we were familiar with them from making pumpkin bread last time, everyone was able to talk a little about them or share whether they liked the flavor or not. We spent some time talking about yeast, since that was a new flavor. Friends didn't particularly enjoy the smell (we didn't taste it raw), but they liked the way it felt and looked.

We took turns mixing each ingredient, counting while our friends stirred, so each person had the same amount of time. After all the ingredients were mixed, we turned the sticky dough out onto our floured table and began to knead it. Each friend had a little piece to work with and they each had a different kneading technique. Some friends pinched the dough, some friends punched it and some friends pulled it apart and put it back together. After our dough was done being kneaded, we squished it back together and put it into an oiled bag so that it could rise overnight in the refrigerator.

Thursday
We worked together to cover the table (and some of the floor) with flour so that our dough wouldn't stick to the table as we punched it down and braided it. After we turned our dough out onto the flour, we all took turns gently punching it down. Next, we split it into three sections and worked with a partner to push and pull it into a long "snake."

We lined our pieces up next to each other, pushed them together at one end and braided our dough.

We had some extra time at the end of class, so we read a few books together.

Friday
We finally got to eat our bread! We examined the crust's color, shape and texture before cutting it open to do the same to the inside. We compared the two and discussed why the bread might look different on the inside and outside.

After we sufficiently stuffed ourselves with carbs and talked about the taste of the bread, we cleaned up and read a few more books. It was a great week!

Cooking: Winter, Week 2

Exploring tradition by making bread and butter.

Annabelle, Jackson, Henry N., Isaac L., Malvina and Thomas

Monday:
We began the day by examining our recipe and discussing the large picture of Challah on the board. We talked about its color, texture and shape. I pointed out the lines in the bread and Malvina said, "It's a braid!" We talked about braiding for a while and the fact that this type of bread is usually baked in this way.

We also talked about tradition and what it means to make the same thing over and over for a very long time. Isaac asked how long people have been making Challah and we drew a timeline to visually represent "thousands of years."

Tuesday
We made our own play dough to practice the braiding technique we had discussed the day before. Everyone (generally) remembered how to make it from their sensory atelier last time. When we pulled out the big bag of flour, Jackson reminded us that flour comes from wheat, which we learned in our cooking atelier while making pumpkin bread. We practiced kneading and braiding and then everyone made their own shapes.

Wednesday
We started by talking about butter and where we get our milk. Henry N. said, "cows!" and then lead his friends in a group "mooooooooo." We took a walk to the kitchen and and looked at all the milk in the refrigerator. We talked about the process of getting the milk from the cow and the different types of milk and how they are made. We went back to room 7 and poured our cream and salt into a glass jar and started shaking it. Everyone was surprised at how long it took to make the butter, but everyone really loved the process. We opened the jar and examined and tasted the butter at each stage. Most friends liked the final product, although a few said "yuck." We added a little more salt and everyone seemed to enjoy it more.

We ended the day by making our dough! We took turns measuring each ingredient and discussing the ones with which we were familiar. We spent a little time kneading the bread and everyone had their own technique. Some friends smashed it together, some friends rolled it and some friends tried what they remembered from braiding. We put it in an oiled bag and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator.

Thursday
We first began the day by punching down our dough and feeling the texture differences between when it was inflated and when it was deflated. Everyone loved poking holes and watching the dough rise back up again.

After we punched down the dough, we braided one large loaf as a group. Each friend took turns gently lifting up the pieces and placing them over one another. We put it on our sheet pan and covered it so that it could rise overnight in the fridge again.

Friday

Teacher Meghan baked the bread this morning, so the first thing we did is examine the color and texture of the bread crust. She let it rise a little too long (whoops), so it was a little puffier and yeastier than it should have been. We each tore a piece off and commented on the differences between the inside and outside of the bread, and then we ate it with our delicious butter!

Cooking: Winter, Week 1

Exploring tradition by making bread and butter
Hanix, Sofia, Carson, Koda and Colton

Monday:
We began by discussing tradition and what it meant to have people repeat the same activities every year. We talked about bread and butter and learned that people have been making it for thousands of years. One friend asked if dinosaurs ate challah bread.We also made our own butter! We poured cream, salt, honey and cinnamon into a jar and shook it until our arms hurt.

Tuesday:
Teacher Meghan was gone that afternoon, so she made the challah dough in advance. Teacher Lani showed everyone how to knead dough and each person got their own piece to knead until it wasn't sticky anymore.

Wednesday:
The dough had grown a lot overnight in the fridge! We kneaded it some more and then braided our challah. We took turns going over and under and being very gentle with our dough. Everyone loved the braiding process and noticed that it looked similar to how some people where their hair.

Thursday:
Teacher Meghan baked our bread that morning, so we examined it and talked about its appearance, texture, taste and feel. Everyone was surprised at its dark color and size. It was huge (so huge, in fact, that we'll cut the recipe in half for the next group). We ate lots of bread and butter that day!

Friday:
We made our own playdough and practiced braiding. We discussed how the bread dough and playdough were similar and realized that they both had flour, salt and oil in them. Even though the textures were different, there were a lot of similarities. After we braided our playdough many tiumes, we talked about flour and read Pancakes! Pancakes! to remind ourselves of how it is made. A lot of our friends remembered this process from when we discussed it during our first atelier and through making pumpkin bread.

Cooking: Fall, Week 6

Numerical Values in Cooking: Maki, Koda, Lucy, Brooklyn, Carson

Monday:
We began the week by discussing the word ‘value’ and what that word meant from their other ateliers. We began discussing value in terms of numbers and counted to 37 together! Next, each friend traced and cut out a circle. We discussed “whole,” “half,” and “quarter” and folded our papers into each of these amounts. After that we drew lines to designate each of these amounts on our papers and colored each section a different color to represent the varying the amounts. 

Tuesday:
We explored our measuring cups and measuring spoons and talked about which ones were bigger and smaller. We used our paper circles from the day before to show compare what those values (“whole,” “half” and “quarter”) looked like on a 2D object such as a paper circle and on a 3D object such as a measuring cup. Next, we talked about our recipe and explored several types of squash. We described their texture, color and shape and started talking about autumn and all the foods which grow during this season. We ended the class by reading The Little Yellow Leaf. 

Wednesday:
We started talking about pumpkin bread and exploring our ingredients. We talked about wet and dry, and separated our ingredients into these two groups. We examined each ingredients by tasting, touching, smelling and talking about each one. The highlight for everyone was the cinnamon. We used both cinnamon sticks and cinnamon powder and grated a little bit of our own. We also discussed the fact that cinnamon is the bark of a cinnamon tree and used the branches in the classroom to demonstrate. 

Thursday: We revisited all of our ingredients and spent most of the day measuring each one. We learned the method of measuring by “making a mountain” and then leveling it off with our fingers, in order to make an even measurement. We took turns measuring our ingredients and stirring our batter. We poured the batter into our bread pan and finished class by reading Minnie’s Diner and Pancake, Pancake. 

Friday: We spent most of the day examining and eating our pumpkin bread. We discussed the different colors and textures, as well as what we tasted. Everyone could taste the cinnamon and the sweetness from the honey.
We re-read Pancake, Pancake and ended the day with the story Cooking with Grandma.

Cooking: Fall, Week 2

Numerical Values in Cooking
Cora, Avalaine, Thomas, Jude, Rowan

Monday: We began the week by discussing the word ‘value’ and numbers. We started counting and reached 20! Next, we traced circles and Teacher Meghan cut them out for us. We discussed “whole,” “half,” and “quarter” and folded our papers into each of these amounts. After that we drew lines to designate each of these amounts on our papers and colored each section a different color to varying the amounts.

Tuesday:
We talked about numbers again and remembered “whole,” “half” and “quarter” from Monday. We started exploring our measuring cups and spoons and relating those sizes to the amounts we had already discussed. Cora noticed that 1 cup is bigger than ½ cup and Jude noticed that ¼ cup is smaller than ½ cup. We spent some time measuring bird seed with our measuring cups.

Wednesday:
We started talking about pumpkin bread and exploring our ingredients. We talked about wet and dry, and separated our ingredients into these two groups. Rowan noticed that water and oil are wet and Availane noticed that flour and salt are dry. We tasted each ingredients and some friends liked some more than others. Thomas loved the cinnamon! Everyone’s favorite seemed to be honey, though. We spent some time talking about how honey is made and acted out the process by pretending to be bees gathering nectar from a flower and taking it back to ‘our’ hive.

Thursday:
We revisited all of our ingredients and spent most of the day measuring each one. Jude and Cora measured the honey, Availaine measured the oil, Rowan measured the salt, and Thomas measured the nutmeg. We measured the rest of the ingredients together, taking turns stirring after each one. We poured the batter into our bread pan and spent the rest of the time reading the story Pancake, Pancake by Eric Carle. This story is really great because it discusses the origin of each ingredient in the recipe, many of which we also used. We learned about wheat being ground into flour at the mill and about gathering eggs from chickens.

Friday
We spent most of the day examining and eating our pumpkin bread. We discussed the different colors and what we tasted. Everyone could taste the cinnamon and the sweetness from the honey.

We re-read Pancake, Pancake and we ended the day with the story Cooking with Grandma.

Cooking: Fall, Week 1

Numerical Value in Cooking
Sam, Jacob, Zane, Alex, Camille

Monday: We started the first day by exploring our recipe for pumpkin bread. It was written on a large piece of butcher paper, so each friend could see the ingredients and directions. We discussed what it meant to cook and our friends all shared that they like cooking at home. Jacob shared that he liked cooking Macaroni and Cheese the best, and several friends agreed and said the same. We also talked about how Chef David makes something similar for our afternoon snacks. Sam said that he “loved” our bars and Zane said “Chef David… yummy!” After reading our recipe, we explored gourds and acorn squash together. All our friends touched, smelled, rolled, licked and played with the squash. We used words like “bumpy,” “smooth,” “hard,” and “soft” to describe what we were exploring and then tasted the pumpkin puree that we will use for our recipe.

Tuesday: We discussed value and numbers and began class by counting as high as we could. Some friends got to 10, and others got as high as 17! We played with measuring cups and measuring spoons and talked about which ones were bigger and smaller, as Teacher Meghan held two up at a time. Alex was very excited to share his thoughts during this activity. Next we played in Room 8’s birdseed sensory bin and spent time measuring with our cups and spoons. Sam and Jacob spent more time with the measuring cups and Zane and Alex spent more time with the measuring spoons. We filled the cup and put enough in so it mounded over the top (“make a mountain”) and then used one finger to level it off (“make it flat”). Each friend seemed to really like the feel of the birdseed and we spent the rest of the day measuring with our various cups and spoons.

Wednesday: We began the day by re-visiting our ingredients. We discussed all the dry ingredients and touched, tasted and smelled each one. We started with our whole-wheat flour and Sam said that it was “white” and Alex said that it was “brown”. We talked about how it was a little of both, and then tasted it. Zane really enjoyed the feel of the flour on his face! We explored the rest of the ingredients, including: salt, nutmeg, clove and baking soda. The highlight for everyone was the cinnamon. We used both cinnamon sticks and cinnamon powder and discussed that cinnamon comes from tree bark and then grated a little bit for our pumpkin bread! We smelled the cinnamon powder using “small breaths” so we didn’t inhale too much and sneeze or get watery eyes. After we went through each one, we took turns measuring them and mixed them which our whisk. We put a lid on the bowl and saved it for the next day.

Thursday: Continuing along the same theme, we explored and discussed each of our wet ingredients. We went through the recipe and touched, tasted and smelled the pumpkin puree, vanilla, canola oil, eggs (we didn’t taste those) and honey. Everyone really loved the honey and we started talking about where honey comes from. Sam said “bees!” and then we all made a buzzing sound and talked about bee hives for a little while. We measured each of our wet ingredients, mixing each one after we added it.

Friday: We spent the day exploring our baked bread, discussing color, texture and taste. After we ate our bread, we read Pancake, Pancake by Eric Carle.