The Wonderful World of Kindergarten

Welcome to our Reggio Emilia inspired classroom at Dr. David Suzuki School.
JoAnne Pizzuto, OCT & Jocelyne Brent, RECE, BASc (Hons)

Friday 3 October 2014

Star Power at Zehrs!

Our first field trip of the year was a fabulous success!
Our students were shining ***stars***
as we travelled to our local grocery store.
Many children recognized
as the place where they shop with their families.
 
But first...the bus ride! We have no ordinary bus ride with Greg the bus driver extraordinaire.
We have rousing songs and fun fun fun!

 
 You may be wondering why we would go on a field trip to the grocery store
...a place that we are so familiar with
...a place that the children go to so often.
But the wonderful world of kindergarten and the wonderful world of healthy food is a perfect combination!
 
 
Children had a chance to bake. Our junior chefs have plenty of experience in that department.
We had parent helpers and there were many stories of the baking children do in the classroom and at home. Measuring ingredients, taking turns, following steps, using the oven...and waiting...waiting...waiting
makes it all the better when we take a bite of delicious blueberry orange muffins!
Things taste so much better when they are made with fresh ingredients.
 Dry ingredients and wet ingredients get mixed together separately.
 
 
We learn about how the children get to help bake...or help eat the baking...at home.
Family stories abound when the children feel a connection between home and school.
Talking about taking turns and favourite muffin flavours and helping each other makes the cooking experience so meaningful for the children.

Learning how to crack an egg with a tap on the side of a bowl takes just the right touch.


 
The science of mixing ingredient shows the children how liquid or wet ingredients change when they are stirred together.
 
 




The dry ingredients don't look very different when they are combined and mixed together.



 
Adding the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients really made the mixture change.
 
 
The final addition is the delicious blueberries. We learn that if we stir them too much, the blueberries will break and we will have blue berry muffins instead of blueberry muffins.



Then it's time to spoon the batter into the muffin tin. One spoon for getting just the right amount of muffin mix and one spoon for sliding the sticky mix off.



It takes a bit of practice to get the right amount and to slide the mix off into the muffin tin.
 


 

 



A perfect muffin tin ready for the oven!
 



And while they are baking lunch is prepared.
 A cook always uses their time wisely!

 
Platters of fresh vegetable are available for each table.
 


The children use special cutters to chop the vegetables and prepare their food.
Chicken is also chopped for those children who would like to add it to their wrap.
We are making fresh chicken vegetable wraps for lunch.





 
 
 

It's fun to make them.
 But way more fun to eat them!
 
 
And just when the smell of the baking muffins is too good to be true, the timer tells us it's time to pull them out of the oven. They are cool enough just in time for a yummy dessert treat!
 



When we did the store tour part of our trip, we learned so many things about the healthy food we eat.
Like, where it comes from...


And why it is good for you.



And what foods we eat a bit of...


And what foods we eat a bunch of!
 


Then the dietician told us about the most interesting thing.
She told us all about the real stars of the grocery store!


We can shoot for the stars when we grocery shop using the
when choosing our food. When you click on the link, you will find out all about choosing one, two or three stars when you are filling your cart at the grocery store.
How many stars can you count in your cart?




 
Before long,
with happy bellies,
and stars in our eyes,
it was time to board the bus back to the wonderful world of kindergarten.
 







A star spangled  field trip!
 
We'd like to especially thank the many parents who were able to attend this trip with us
and the wonderful ladies at Zehrs who helped us bake, make a healthy lunch and learn about the Guiding Stars program.

4 comments:

Kim said...

What an amazing idea for a field trip! Where are you located and how did you get in touch with zehrs?

The Wonderful World of Kindergarten said...

We are in Ontario and our local Zehrs offers a cooking program to the public. We contacted them and worked out the details of offering baking, a healthy lunch and a tour. They were very helpful!

Kim said...

We are in Ontario too. I wonder if all zehrs do this. Was the trip costly?

The Wonderful World of Kindergarten said...

If memory serves, it was about $6. This included the food, tour and bus. The children each received a cinch bag for the Guiding Stars program.