December 15th, 2009

Today was a great and busy day!

At our morning meeting, we were Problem Solvers. Our problem was that during centers, we found ourselves constantly in conflict over sharing the computers. We were not sure how much time was fair for people to spend on them. To solve the problem, we took turns suggesting how much time each person should get on the computer. Some Problem Solvers said 10 minutes, some said 6, some said 4, some said 3, some said 2, some said 1. Most people voted for 10 minute sessions on the computer. We will try 10 minutes and revisit our solution in a few weeks to think about whether it is still fair and is working for us.



For baking today, we made tortillas! We read a recipe, and took turns adding in the ingredients. This is always a test of patience, and we do so wonderfully respecting the materials and giving everyone a chance to participate. While mixing, we noticed that, unlike other bread recipes, tortillas don't have yeast in them. We predicted that the tortilla dough wouldn't rise without the yeast.



We mixed the batter first with a spoon.


When that didn't work, we adjusted our method. Some Bakers suggested we try using our hands instead of the spoon!





After mixing the batter, we divided the tortillas into little balls - one for each of us. We each got a turn using the tortilla press to flatten our balls of dough into the shape of skinny circles. We thought they looked like pancakes!






During afternoon centers, we cooked our tortillas in on a griddle. We knew they were done when they were slightly brown. We topped them with cheese. They were so delicious. We were right about the yeast! Since we didn't put yeast in the dough, it did not rise!!

On Thursday we will make gingerbread and butter!

Remember: Thursday is the last day of class before December break!

December 14th, 2009

Blog Manager:
"We made biscuits. We used these things to make those shapes and we cooked them in the oven. Some kids did it. Not everybody. But we all got to eat them. The biscuits rose in the oven from the baking soda. We didn't use yeast. No. With our buddies we made play dough. Mine is pink with some glitter. My big buddy squished it right up. I am the substitute. I'll also have to carry the board out because Nate is not here." -Jacob

We took a vote today. As we are all teachers and learners in our community, we talked about whether or not we wanted to continue to study bread after the break. Most of us are "breaded-out." We discussed different topics we would like to study instead. Most of us wanted to study snow and snowflakes. We will try to integrate this into what we study in the future.


Today we made Everett's family's recipe for Soda Biscuits. Instead of baking as a whole group activity as we have done in the past, this week we can choose to bake as a part of center time.

We measured all the ingredients. By now we know how to identify one cup, one tablespoon, and one teaspoon. We also know immediately how to make sure our measurements are just right - by filling up our measuring cups to the brim, then scraping off the excess with our fingers.





We all had different suggestions on how to get the lard from the measuring spoon into the bowl. Patrick tried scraping off the lard in little bits into the bowl.


Gage wanted to try hitting the measuring spoon against the bowl. When that didn't work, he changed his method and scraped the top of the lard into the bowl using the bowl's rim. He then used another spoon to scrape the remaining lard into the bowl. We talked about how when you have a problem with a solution that is not working, it is good to stop and think of other solutions to try that might work better, instead of trying a solution that won't work over and over.


We noticed as we baked that the biscuits did not have yeast in them. But Everett knew that Soda Biscuits actually do rise. We wondered how that was possible without the yeast.

This was the first bread that we had to roll out with a rolling pin. We took turns flattening the dough.



Everett brought in three different cookie cutters - a circle, star, and heart. We took turns cutting out the dough and putting it on the baking sheet.




After the biscuits were out of the oven, we noticed that they had risen! How did that happen without yeast? Some of us thought it was just the oven that made the biscuits rise. Ms. Katie shared that other ingredients (baking soda) could also make breads rise.

Everett brought in honey and butter to enjoy with our biscuits.

The biscuits were so good.

We gave the biscuits a double thumbs up!

We also made play dough with our big buddies today! We showed our buddies how we could read recipes and accurately measure ingredients. It was great to show off our understanding of literacy, math, science and the process of making dough to our buddies.



Some of us had play dough that was too dry. It took some problem solving to fix it. We added more water or oil to make it closer to the consistency of play dough.


Some of us had play dough that was too wet. We had to add more flour or salt to make the play dough more solid.


On Wednesday we will be making monkey bread!

December 11th, 2009

Today was a great and busy day!

At our morning meeting, we were Problem Solvers. Our problem was that during centers, we found ourselves constantly in conflict over sharing the computers. We were not sure how much time was fair for people to spend on them. To solve the problem, we took turns suggesting how much time each person should get on the computer. Some Problem Solvers said 10 minutes, some said 5, some said 4, some said 3, some said 1. Most people voted for 10 minute sessions on the computer. We will try 10 minutes and revisit our solution in a few weeks to think about whether it is still fair and is working for us.





For baking today, we made tortillas! We read a recipe, and took turns adding in the ingredients. This is always a test of patience, and we do so wonderfully respecting the materials and giving everyone a chance to participate. While mixing, we noticed that, unlike other bread recipes, tortillas don't have yeast in them. We predicted that the tortilla dough wouldn't rise without the yeast.

As always, we tasted and smelled our ingredients. We wanted to taste the Crisco shortening because we thought it looked like butter, and some of liked it and some of us gagged. We discussed how the shortening makes the dough stick together and not burn in the pan.

After mixing the batter, we divided the tortillas into little balls - one for each of us. We each got a turn using the tortilla press to flatten our balls of dough into the shape of skinny circles. We thought they looked like pancakes!






During afternoon centers, we cooked our tortillas in on a griddle Sam's daddy Mr. Chris brought us. We knew they were done when they were slightly brown. We topped them with cheese. They were so delicious. We were right about the yeast! Since we didn't put yeast in the dough, it did not rise!!



We talked about how people from different places around the world eat different types of bread. Some eat tortillas, and some people eat yeast bread like we made Wednesday. One of the reasons people from different countries eat different types of bread is that they have different ingredients to use. If people don't have yeast, they would be able to make a flat bread like tortillas!

We added cheese to our tortillas!

Next week we will continue our bread unit. We will make soda biscuits, monkey bread, and gingerbread!