Apple Crisp and More Field Trips
/This week we continued exploring our larger Forest Grove community. We took a field trip to Pac Thai where we met Nini, an ELC parent and one of the owners. We learned that Nini is from Thailand and got to hear about some traditions that Nini celebrated growing up in Thailand. We learned that in Thailand many people celebrate New Years in April and she fondly remembers having squirt gun fights to cool off during these celebrations. We also learned about some of the foods that grow in Thailand. The crops that are able to be grown in a region influences the types of dishes that people prepare there. In Thailand coconuts are a prevalent crop and so coconut flavors can often be found in Thai cooking. When Nini’s family opened a Thai restaurant here in Oregon, they adapted some of the recipes based off what crops grow well here in Oregon. For example, they add broccoli to some of their dishes because we commonly grow broccoli here in Oregon. We got to learn how to enter an order on the restaurant computer and taste Thai food too. On Tuesday we visited the police station to learn how our local police officers help the community. We met some officers who explained that many of their daily calls involve helping stranded citizens or people with medical emergencies. Yesterday they helped someone in motorized wheelchair whose wheelchair stopped working. We got to meet the puppy they are training to be an emotional support animal for the officers and for people in the community. On Wednesday and Thursday groups of students visited Slow Rise Bakehouse to learn more about how a bakery operates. We met Baker Dave and learned why the bakery is called Slow Rise. We saw people working and visiting in the bakery and got to taste their delicious morning buns. We learned that cultures across the world eat bread, but the type of bread they eat may differ depending on where they live. We read a book called Same, Same, but Different. College students from Pacific’s Center for Sustainable Society visited our classroom to present about how composting helps our communities and the environment. We will begin composting at school in the coming weeks.
This week we also learned about some of Oregon’s natural resources and the crops we are able to grow here. Roland’s family picked apples from a local farm for us to use in our baking. His mom came in to make apple crisp with us. We discussed how many of us have autumn traditions that involve apples or pumpkins. The crisp was delicious! Jett’s family came in to discuss sustainable forestry. They explained how they carefully consider how logging can affect the environment and local animal populations. They told us about how they avoid cutting down trees near rivers, because the fish in the rivers need the shade from trees to keep the water cool. They also avoid cutting down trees with nests and they explained how it’s important to plant more trees than they cut down so that their logging practice is sustainable.
In other exciting news, our reading groups are in full swing! We are loving sharing books together while students are doing the hard work of improving their accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. In the engineering corner a team of students created an amazing helicopter with moving parts. Another group created a wagon to give rides to our stuffed animals. We also learned how to safely use the hot glue gun in our Remeda art studio and introduced some new board games to encourage math development and strategic thinking. Chess was an especially popular choice.
