We recently celebrated our fourth annual Food Day Festival here at Learning Circle Preschool with a fantastic group of volunteers, engaged children, and visitors from the community.
Children spent the morning on our playground cleaning out garden beds and planting garlic, printing with fruits and vegetables, investigating and documenting observations of a variety of heirloom squash and other plants, snapping beans, exploring rainbow chard, reading books about gardens and harvesting and more. There was tremendous interest among both children and adults in composting. We have our new compost container in position, and we’ve already begun to collect “good garbage” for the compost in every classroom! We hear that families are starting to compost at home too.
In one classroom, children spent some classroom time chopping apples to make applesauce. What a wonderful sensory experience – the smell of that sauce filled our school!
We had two neighborhood walks to Brookwood Farm. On the way, we looked carefully for signs of life near the stone walls we passed, and enjoyed familiar landmarks we pass on our way to the farm. Children noticed how steep and rocky the reservation land across from us is (we are at the foot of Great Blue Hill) and noticed the many vibrant colors of leaves around us. When we arrived at the farm, we saw work in progress as beds were being cleared, and spent time in the sensory garden, observing and experiencing the variety of seeds, smells, textures, and plants of the season.
Sharing a beautiful fall day like this is truly inspiring. It gives renewed energy to the work we do with children through our early sprouts curriculum and with the many aspects of our curriculum that help children connect with their environment and the natural world. Thanks to all of you who shared your time and enthusiasm with us.
We hope you’ll find time to share these photos with your children as you remember the day. And for those who could not attend, please don’t hesitate to ask questions and share your ideas about how these themes will continue through the projects and themes we share with children throughout the school year.