K'nex Connects Ideas

Have you watched the children play with K'nex? It is so fascinating. One day we see an arrow or a spear (not my favorites) and the next it is a robot or a clock. This inventive toy is the craze in the blue room right now. You can see anywhere from 1 to 8 children building at the same time. They seem to attract both boys and girls. It is great for small motor skills not only putting them together but pulling them apart to put them away. They are using spacial development and I have noticed that they are balancing their work; same pieces and colors being put on each sides. Their structures are also getting larger and more complex. Then they use them in pretend play after they have them built. They are so proud to show off their finished products and describe what the new thing can do. Here are some examples: Erik and his helicopter. Luke and his Robot. Nico and his robot. Ryan and his hat. trent and his clock.

A Bit of the Irish

On St. Patrick's Day we had a wonderfu

l day. We started in Teacher Michelle's room making hats with big clovers on them. Next we ran around outside until we were tired. Then we came in and made Irish bread with the help of Vicky, Madison's mother. It was so much fun measuring, mixing, measuring, mixing and then we got to roll, roll, roll. We shaped our rolls into hearts and put them together into 3 leaf clovers. Then we decorated them with sugar and cinnamon and baked them in the oven. We ate them after lunch and they were yummy!!! We also played with magic sand and decorated the classroom with 3 leaf clovers and window decorations. It was a very fun day!

"Irish" Bread Sticks

2 cups warm water

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon or packet active dry yeast

1 Tablespoon salt

2 Tablespoons Olive oil or butter, barely melted (optional)

2 egg whites, beaten until stiff

1 cup whole wheat flour

5 to 5 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons water (optional, for wash)

pretzel salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, herb mixture, sugar, (optional, to sprinkle on top)

Mixing: Pour the water into a large mixing bowl. Add and dissolve the sugar and yeast. Mix in the olive oil or butter then beaten egg whites. Add the whole wheat flour and then the salt. Stir in the balance of the flour until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Kneading: Turn out onto well-floured board and knead until the dough is smooth and springy. Divide the dough in half and give it a 10-minute rest to relax the gluten., (You can use this dough to make one large loaf of bread and one batch of bread sticks or you can make 2 batches of bread sticks, one to eat and one to freeze.)

Shaping: Cut one half of the odugh into 16 equal pieces. Roll eachpiece into a rope 18 inches long. If you want long bread stickes, leavem at they are or cut them in halves or thirds for a variety of lengths. If you make them a bit fatter than usual, they'll be chewy as well as crunchy. Repeat with the remaining dough. We too each peach and then divided it into four pieces. We made small thin ropes into 3 heart shapes and connected them at the tips. The fouth piece became the stem of our 3 leaf clover.

Topping & Baking: Place these on lightly greased baking sheets, cover and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes while you preheat your oven to 450 degrees. For simple bread sticks, you can brush the tops with cold water just before they go in the oven and bake as is. Or brush them with the egg wash and sprinkle on the pretzel salt or whatever inspires you. There are a variety of herb and seed mixtures that are excellent salt substitutes. We also used cinnamon which was quite yummy.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Pancakes!

The blue room made pancakes today. I know what you are thinking; we used bisquick or a prepared mix. Well you would be wrong! We made pancakes from scratch. This recipe comes from Fanny Farmer and is actually called Griddlecakes. Teacher Debbie, her husband, and grandchildren love them. They are one of our favorite dinners with eggs and fruit. We used science techniques to measure acurately. We learned how to crack eggs (we only wasted one egg, oops). We even beat the eggs up, um, I mean beat them using an old fashion egg beater. That was really cool! The batter smelled yummy and when they were cooking we could not believe how good they smelled. But the best part was eating them with butter and maple syrup. Teacher Debbie said we could have only 2 because she did not want us to ruin our lunches. :0)

Griddlecakes

The amount of milk you use will determine how thick these

griddle cakes or pancakes are. Start with the smaller amount

suggested and add more if the batter seems too thick. Try to

have the milk at room temperature before mixing and take care

not to overbeat: a few lumps in the batter will do no harm.

You can make lighter, fluffier griddlecakes by seperating

egg, beating the white, and folding it in last. Serve with maple

syrup or honey.

1/2-3/4 cup milk 2 teaspoons baking powder

2 Tablespoons melted butter 2 Tablespoons sugar or

1 egg 1 Tablespoons of malted barley

1 cup white flour or 1/2 cup white 1/2 teaspoon salt

flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

or 1 cup whole wheat flour +

1/4 cup milk

Michaelangelo Painting

The Blue Room had a fun time painting upside down last Wednesday. Nikita's mom, Supriya, came in and shared with us about Michaelangelo. She showed us pictures of the Sistine Chapel and explained how he had to hang upside down on ropes to paint. We also got to see a picture of Michaelangelo and learned he lived a long time ago. That is why the children painted under their desks. Their masterpieces came out amazing! They are hanging in the classroom for all to admire.