A Thanksgiving Celebration Filled with Gratitude

A Thanksgiving celebration filled with gratitude.

"Each of us is one small flame, but together we're ablaze."

Happy Peace Day!

Here is the first part of our art installation, Pinwheels for Peace, in front of the Uylsses Philomathic Library in Trumansburg. We will be installing the second part of our installation in front of our school tomorrow morning.

Preparing Our Pinwheels For Peace

In the primary classroom the children are making pinwheel to celebrate the International Day of Peace on Tuesday September 21, 2010.

We are also making a "giant" pinwheel for display in front of the Trumansburg Library.

We use a pinwheel at circle sometimes (and in our breathing room loft) to practice our breathing. After one friend uses it at circle she then share peace and the pinwheel with another friend.

A Sure sign of Spring....Sugaring Time

We tapped our Maple trees this week. We eager await as the warm days and cools invite the sweet sap to flow from the trees. Did you know it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup?

Field Trip To Farmer Ground Flour

Here are some pictures from our field trip to Farmer Ground Flour.
The mill is located in the old Grange building at 125 Cayuga Street in Trumansburg.
It was used by Regional Access until recently and now is the home of Farmer Ground Flour.

Greg talked to us about how he started....from a simple conversation with a local farmer and an idea...

With an electric powered mill stone he grinds locally grown organic grains into flour. Most of the grain is grown in Newfield. You can purchase 25 pound bags of his flour at Regional Access or buy it in bulk foods section of Greenstar. He also sells a great deal of flour to specialty bakeries in NYC.

Greg makes spelt, wheat, buckwheat, corn, and polenta flours from these grains...

Bran is sifted out to make a finer baking powder....sometimes the extra bran is fed to the pigs at The Piggery...

The children asked great questions about distribution, timelines, safety, and more. They are inspired by his work and can't wait to get back to school and do some baking.

Here are some related links you may want to check out:

http://ithacasfoodweb.blogspot.com/2010/01/nose-to-the-grindstone-at-farmer-ground.html

http://cayugapureorganics.com

http://regionalaccess.net/home.html

http://sustainabletompkins.org

Maple Syrup and Budding Entrepreneurs

In March we tapped the six maple trees in front of our school (check back to earlier posts for pictures). The children watched, collected and waited for weeks as we boiled and filtered our sap in the "sugar shack". Did you know it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup?

The children designed artwork for our labels and created signage for our "Maple Syrup Store". We researched market price for maple syrup and calculated our own costs (bottles, fuel, etc.). We decided to price the syrup at $8 for a small 8 oz. and $12 for a large 12 oz. bottle.

The older children used the Montessori math bead material to practice adding total sales and making change to prepare for operating the store. Today was our first day of sales and the the children were very excited to unveil their product. They have definitely caught an entrepreneurial bug! Thank you parents and friends for all of your encouragement and support.

May Garden Work Day

Hatch Day!

Field Trip to Sapsucker Woods

Happy May Day!

We celebrated the first day of May with a ribbon dance around a may pole...