peaches

I  grew up with a dual relationship to the natural world.  My immediate experience was one of deep love.  Playing in sand and sea, hiking along wooded trails, bouldering canyons and spending nights sleeping under starry skies.  The dual element came in the form of a fearful "save the earth" campaign that permeated my youth.  I grew up hearing about the destruction of rainforests, children starving in Ethiopia, nuclear threat, global warming and a vast array of other daunting niceties. I had no immediate ability to impact these larger concerns that confronted my generation.  This didn't change my love for the natural world but it did engender a feeling of apathetic, bury your head in the sand, frustration.  As a teacher, I feel the weight of providing real connections with the natural world while offering immediate opportunities to steward the world in a positive way.  In short, that means connecting children with what is right outside the door.

So we have spent the last several weeks caring for our gardens and fruit trees, sorting fruit and filling baskets with foods to use and filling the compost with rotten fruits and veggies to revitalize our soil.

We washed, cut and cooked the fruits and veggies into a variety of recipes including pear butter and ratatouille.

We harvested bushels of peaches.  The children sorted these and into labeled brown bags and these were sent home with each child to share the bounty with families.

The remaining baskets were processed by the children on outdoor tables into delicious peach pies.

We ate the peach pies while drawing the peaches.  These drawings followed weeks of observation.  The children had already identified at least five colors visible in each peach, while investigating the texture, taste and smell with our other senses.

These drawings were wonderful opportunities for us to communicate our learning and observations with one another, while solidifying them for ourselves.