Say goodbye with pancakes

Today, we say goodbye to this school year and send our third-years on their way to Upper Elementary.  It is always a bitter-sweet day.  To soften the transition, we celebrate with pancakes!

Each cooperative group works together one last time to make breakfast and then sits down at the table to eat together and celebrate their year of learning exploration.




With the support of parent volunteers, the children make scrambled eggs,

pancakes,

banana-orange-yogurt smoothies with a squirt of honey and some mint from our courtyard garden,

and real whipped cream to top fresh strawberries.


The children get the opportunity to tackle challenges such as whisking (and more whisking...and more whisking),















cracking eggs,

measuring ingredients,

and flipping pancakes.

The reward for their labor is to sit down and enjoy each other's food and company.

Meanwhile, another group begins cooking.
When one group is finished eating, they work together to clear and set the table for the next group.

On this special day, children are invited to get comfy with pillows and books for a read-a-thon

or enjoy board games and other non-electronic fun.

checkers

mancala

folding paper airplanes and testing for the best design

Tea for More than a Few

Preparations for Valentine's Day begin early around here.













We start by reviewing table manners:
* Pass serving dishes to the right.
* Do not reach across the table.
* Wait to begin until everyone is served.
* Place your napkin in your lap.
* Chew with your lips together.
* Enjoy quiet conversation.
* No "goofing around" or playing with food.
* Keep your elbows off the table.
* Use utensils for their intended purpose.
* Stay at the table until everyone is finished.
The children use lunch in the cafeteria to practice for a series of days.

Next, we get out the world map and have a lesson on tea growing regions, different tea traditions around the world, and the types of tea.

White tea--Only the newest tea leaves are picked with the white fuzz still on the leaves.

Green tea--fresh tea leaves are dried and rolled or ground into a powder for the Japanese Matcha.

Oxidized, fermented, and compressed Pu-Erh.  This tea is so compressed is requires a special tea needle!

Black tea

On the day of our tea, families send supplies: heavy cream, lemon curd, sugar cubes, scones, madeleines (a French tea cake), ginger snaps, and tulips.  The children then use a whisk to whip the cream, 

arrange the food beautifully on trays and in baskets, 

reorganize our desks and chairs into a long table, and set the table with flowers, teacups, plates, and napkins.

We brew four kinds of tea: a white blooming tea (always spectacular!), genmaicha (a green tea with roasted brown rice), oolong, and ginger peach black tea.  Finally, we sit down together to enjoy.

Closed for construction

May is not my favorite month.  All year, we work so hard to build community together, with traditions, class meetings, intentional problem-solving, acknowledgements, leadership opportunities, working together, exploring together, maintaining the classroom together . . . the list goes on.  Montessori Elementary is a lot about learning to be together in a community. 

If we do it right, May is hard.  Over a period of a week or so, we dismantle our classroom--and our community--for the summer.  We pack away materials, swaddle the shelves in yards of industrial-size Saran Wrap, and prepare for the separation of summer.  We say goodbye to our third graders, our leaders, those who have been with our community the longest (most of whom have now spent one third of their short lives together in this classroom), and we ready ourselves to welcome new first graders to the community in the fall.  Some children are able to put into words their sadness and worry about beginning again.  "It won't be the same next year without the third graders."  "I don't know if I'm ready to be a third grader."  "I wonder which kindergarteners will be in our class next year."  "I'm going to miss this class."  "I'm nervous about being a fourth grader."  Other children tell us it is hard to say goodbye by acting out.  Either way, we hear the sound of the Velcro of our community ripping a little, as we prepare for summer.

Traditions help ease the transition, I think.  On The Last Day of School we celebrate together one last time.  Everyone is invited to wear pajamas to school.  The children bring non-electronic games, books, and pillows.  In our class, it is also Make Your Own Breakfast
day.

Each Cooperative Science Group works together one last time to make breakfast.  The children mix up pancakes.

They make scrambled eggs

and banana-orange yogurt smoothies,
sometimes with mint harvested from our school garden.

They whip cream for strawberries,

and then sit down at the table together.

This year, when the first group sat down to eat, I was surprised and touched to hear their third grade facilitator propose a toast in honor of a great year of working together as a science group.  Wow!

We ended the day with a couple of documentaries, including an episode from the Your Inner Fish PBS series and "First Flight: A Mother Hummingbird's Story," and an art activity.  Several children volunteered to become an "origami master" of a particular origami shape.  They then taught small groups of peers how to make the shape.

The surprise of the day was that one of our Gulf Fritillary butterflies finally emerged from its chrysalis.  Releasing it was a perfect metaphor for our end-of-year transition!  Cycles do what cycles do.  Enjoy your summer!