Preparing authentic African dishes

As part of RiverRun's cooking program, an African luncheon was prepared by students with the guidance of Amy, and Hamza and Hasan's mother and grandmother!  Dishes from Ethiopia, Ghana, Egypt, and Zimbabwe were included on the menu.  After the meal, a  presentation by Fatima Serville and her mother (natives of Africa) gave the children an opportunity to learn fascinating facts about Africa. " The whole experience was cool," as one student was heard to exclaim!   

Thank you, Fatima and Fatima's mom!

 

Authors' Tea

Before the holiday break, the students hosted their families for a delightful "Authors' Tea".  Each student had a turn at going up in front, reading the story he or she had written, and sharing his or her illustrations.  After all of the authors were finished sharing their books, the entire RiverRun community enjoyed delicious scones and jam along with hot tea.  The children loved making their tea and using the dainty little tea cups!

 

In our mixed-age and collaborative environment, the students are used to helping one another.  During Authors' Tea, when a student needed help reading a word, other students were eager to help out their friends!

Ben and Sean's mom enjoys having scones and tea with the boys.

 

November Cooking Days - More Pics

Here's a second batch of pictures from November's Cooking Program! 
Many thanks to Madeleine and Gwen's mom Heidi for volunteering her time to work with the children and help the cooking go smoothly!

Preparation, preparation, lots of preparation 

The students shared poems

And then they enjoyed the feast!

November Cooking Days - Pics

The kids enjoying the pumpkin soup, vegetarian chili, and cornbread they made.  Many thanks to RiverRun parent Heidi Kelly for volunteering her time to help with recipes, ingredients, and food preparation!

Family Luncheon - Irish-Themed

On March 18th RiverRun students prepared an Irish Breakfast for themselves and family members. They prepared fried potatoes (with sides), scrambled eggs, fruit kabobs, and Irish Soda Bread.

First they had a lesson on breaking the eggs.



Then they scrambled the eggs and cooked them on the skillet.

Nancy and Mary Kaye sampled the Irish Soda Bread. Yum!

RiverRun Cooking Program

Objective: To teach the students about preparing a well‐balanced meal, kitchen safety, following recipes, using measurement tools, organization skills, and working together in order to accomplish a task.

Procedure: Students will be put into groups by the head directress(es) to ensure well-balanced groups and to allow for lessons to continue during prep times. Parent volunteer(s) will have stations set up on tables provided and a plan of jobs the students need to do.  Teaching staff can assist with this if needed. Directions and/or demonstrations should be given to the working groups before they begin. Parent volunteers are asked to remember that they are in a teaching role for this project.  They are role modeling for the students.

All work should be divided up as fairly as possible among all the student groups. If cutting tools are being used, an adult should stay near the table and monitor use. We have found that prep time often takes hours and may require more than one day.  Therefore, one cooking group may be working while lessons and work continue for the rest of the students.  When this is the case care should be taken to keep voices low and minimize distraction.

This program is an important part of our work to foster community and to teach independent living skills. We hope that many of you will consider taking on this role. We have crock‐pots and a microwave available. Meals can be simple and we would be glad to help with ideas.

If you are interested, please let one of the teaching staff members know. Thank you.

January Family Luncheon

RiverRun students spent the afternoon of Wednesday, January 26th preparing the soups and desserts for Thursday's family meal.

Thursday's RiverRun Family Meal

Jaden and Grace kicked off the meal by reading a poem. 

Students and their guests enjoyed the delicious soups, wraps, and desserts. 

Some students entertained the group by singing the Star Spangled Banner and other songs.

After cleaning up, students and some of their siblings stayed for game day.

Reminder - Family Luncheon 01.27.2011

To everyone who has RSVP'd, we look forward to seeing you at the school tomorrow, Thursday January 27, at 12:30 for our next family luncheon!  As you know, Debbie Proulx is leading the students in preparing wraps and soup, and we look forward to dining together.

Many thanks to Debbie for volunteering her time this month to this important on-going (and fun!) component of our Montessori curriculum - practical life skills. 

If you unfortunately can't join us but haven't already done so, please don't forget to send in $5 with your child to help cover a portion of the food costs.  We ask for $5 per student (even if no family members are able to attend or if your child doesn't think s/he will like what's being made) so that the children can continue to have this wonderful experience of learning about, working with, preparing, and trying various foods.

So far this school year, RiverRun students have enjoyed and learned so much by making:

• assorted sandwiches with fruit, veggies, and Moon Cakes led by Nancy Adis 
• both meat and vegetarian chili with rice led by Amy Poole 
• a full Thanksgiving feast led by Teresa Foster 
• an assortment of holiday treats led by Mary Kaye Sutton
• and now wraps and soup led by Debbie Proulx

If you would like to volunteer your time by working with the children on a family luncheon, please e-mail wadis@nycap.rr.com to discuss and learn more about this unique and rewarding opportunity.

12.22.2010 Holiday Celebration

RiverRun students demonstrated their singing skills to family and friends at the Holiday Send-Off Celebration.







Proud parents enjoyed getting into the holiday spirit with their children's songs.



Katelyn read a winter poem.



Students also shared many yummy treats they'd prepared in class the day before.  Many thanks to the oversight and help of Mary Kaye Sutton, Heidi Kelly, and Ileana Hancu!

Classroom Reminders

Hello Families -

I wanted to remind you about our community service project of gathering items for families in need who are served by the Northeast Parent and Child Association. We'll be collecting unwrapped new items until Friday.

Also, I apologize that we didn't get a chance to post photos from the NYS Museum field trip on the blog last week after I told you to take a look at them.  Teresa Foster has been posting photos for us all fall and I thought I might be able to do that in her absence (the Fosters are away on vacation), but I cannot seem to figure it out.  So those photos will get up there later on.  In the meantime, a big thank you goes out to the parent drivers for transporting and helping to chaperone our students. Thanks Rob, Kate, Teresa, and Debbie.

Finally, I'm writing with the ordering information for our Chinese Food Friday this week.  We are going to sample four different dishes from the Lucky Wok lunch menu:

Beef with Chinese Vegetables
Shrimp Lo Mein
Chicken with Broccoli
Chicken with Cashew Nuts

We are asking that each student bring in $3.00 to cover the cost of a half portion of lunch and a half of an egg roll.  Please also pack a larger than usual snack for Friday in the case that they don't actually prefer the taste of the food they are sampling.  We'll be getting both white rice and Chicken Fried Rice with the meals.  Hopefully everyone will find a little something they like, but it's expected that not everyone will like it well enough for a whole meal. Mainly it will give us the opportunity to try out a new type of food and practice with our chopsticks in a fun, buffet-type atmosphere.  If you know that your child prefers only one of the above four choices, please send me an email back to let me know that. 

Thanks so much, Nancy Adis

Thanksgiving-themed Community Feast

RiverRun students welcomed their families into the classroom last Friday afternoon to enjoy the meal they had worked hard to prepare.  Their final menu consisted of:  

• ham with roasted potatoes and onions 
• cheesy mashed potatoes 
• sweet dried corn 
• green bean almandine 
• mixed herb and baby greens salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers 
• dinner rolls 
• strawberry yogurt trifle
• peanut butter bars

(and a hot pumpkin pie made and brought in by Nancy's daughter Emily - thank you, Emily!)

Before eating, Spencer read aloud a poem about thanks.

Time to eat!