How do apples grow? How do apples become cider? Where does milk come from? How does goat cheese taste? We’ve had a lot of fun with first-hand experiences to discover the answers to these questions.
This week Farm Sprouts signed in by tracing the letters of their names in sand, which is a well-loved sensory method for practicing early writing. Many lingered at the sand tray, instantly engrossed in creating trails with their fingers. They moved on to harvesting sunflower seeds from the heads of the Mammoth Sunflowers grown by the spring Farm Sprouts. We’ll save the seeds for planting next year! This was such popular work that they decided we should continue to work on it next week. This activity is a beautiful illustration of a life cycle of a plant, from seed, to sprout, to flower, back to seed. We’ll compost the heads to make rich soil for another planting season. We also have a very full and interesting collection of nature discoveries to examine and we’ll continue to collect and add to it as we venture out to new areas of the farm in the next couple weeks.
During our large group gathering, we reviewed previous Spanish greetings, sang our “Apples, Apples” song, and acted out the life cycle of an apple in preparation for our outdoor activities. We also talked about our Wonder Wall, which we’ll begin to visit frequently to reflect on our past learning experiences in order to build new understandings.
Once again we offered apple stamping at the request of the group, but added painting apples/pumpkins at the easel. Farm Sprouts were provided with a variety of sizes of paintbrushes along with red, green, and yellow paint. Mixing was encouraged and some even stumbled on the creation of the color orange! Our “Apple Science Experiment” jars were available for observation and we noted some jars were very brown, such as the apples in the vinegar jar, while the apples with our fresh lemon juice were still very white. Finally, we had a mix of rice, beans, peas, and lentils in the sensory table for cooking, which led to the creation of many tasty dishes.
In the animal barn, we focused on one big chore, which was milking Jenna, one of our Toggenburg goats. She was far out in the pasture, so we had the bonus chore of hiking out to her and walking her to the barn, which was exciting. It was everyone’s first time taking a goat for a walk! How are we like goats? We are mammals! We produce milk, we’re covered with hair/fur, and we have live births. How are the mammals on the farm different than the poultry? How are they similar? We’ll continue to work more with our animals to investigate these questions more in depth! The experience of milking a goat for the first time is truly special. Even Ms. Melanie and Ms. Marilyn enjoyed their first lesson in milking!
When we returned from milking, we were ready for our Harvest Snack, which required more important work. We worked as a team to press apple cider by the orchard and enjoyed a small cup or two. Almost all tasted goat cheese on sourdough bread from Stone House Bread out of Traverse City, MI, many for the first time and with gusto! We also munched on sliced, green bell peppers picked from our own gardens at MSU Tollgate Farm.
To end the day, Ms. Marilyn read the story, Winter on the Farm by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Many of the activities in the story we’ve experienced, such as pressing cider, tasting apples, and milking a goat. Next week we’re off on a big adventure to the pumpkin patch to find out how pumpkins grow and share how we like to eat them, which for Almanzo, the boy in the story, is in the form of pumpkin pie! How do you like cook with pumpkin?
Save
Save
Save