Last week we discovered that yeast needs sugar to grow.  This week, we conducted another experiment to determine, which kind of sugar does yeast like best?  We formed hypotheses about which sugar the yeast would like best and why.  We mixed yeast with warm water and a variety of sugars: white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, red hot candies, molasses, candy canes, honey, and chocolate chips.  We covered each container with a balloon or rubber glove to trap the air that would be produced when the yeast “ate” the sugar.  We thought that the balloon topping the container with the sugar the yeast “likes” the best would expand the biggest.

We carefully observed the gloves and balloons we put over each jar or bottle and noted how each expanded throughout the day.  We were amazed to discover that molasses “fed” the yeast the most and made the yeast “grow” and “breathe” and fill up the balloon and gloves to an enormous size. Our conclusion is that yeast likes molasses the best, though we are not sure why.  We will need to do a little more research on molasses next week.

We made pumpkin bread this week.  Students took turns measuring, adding, and mixing ingredients together.  We are starting to know which tools are best for the job and learning how to choose wisely. When the dough became very sticky, the hand mixer and whisk were abandoned and the wooden spoon became the tool of choice.  We are also starting to become proficient at making our measurements more accurate.  We are practicing leveling off full measuring spoons with a finger or spoon, and tapping measuring cups filled with dry ingredients against the table to settle the ingredients. Our pumpkin bread was delicious too! Thank you to Sawyer's grandma for sharing her recipe with us!  

This week we worked on comparing and contrasting yeast and sourdough as different starters! We noticed they smell differently, and the sourdough starter doesn’t bubble [yet] like the yeast does. Some on the Mountain Lions are skeptical as to if the sourdough starter really works in the same way yeast works. Maybe it’s because the starter is just as old as our students!  We now also wonder, how old is yeast?  We also worked on grinding grain into flour using a mortar and pestle, just like in the story, “The Little Red Hen.”  This tool has been around for a long, long, long time.  It is hard work to grind grain this way, but with extra muscle power, it can be done!  

We had an awesome field trip to 460 Bread on Thursday and Friday. We learned so many new things about bread, including how to shape dough into three kinds of loaves: “boule” (a round ball), “batard” (a short oval loaf), & “baguette” (a long cylinder).  We also learned how the loaves are scored, cut on the top in different patterns, to help the bread get bigger during baking with a special tool called a “lame.”  We loved seeing the giant French Bongard deck oven that weighs 12,000 pounds and the long “loader” rack they use to slide the bread into the back of the oven to bake.  They have a special button that puts steam into the oven while the bread is baking, which sounds like a cat meowing or a coyote howling.  When the bread is done, they take it out of the oven using a big “peel,” just like in the story “Walter the Baker” by Eric Carle. They need such a large oven because the bakers at 460 produce between 500-1500 loaves of bread every day! We also saw how they grind grain into flour using a big electric grinder that has stones inside it to crush the grain, just like the stone that makes up a mortar and pestle, which we experimented with this week after reading “The Little Red Hen.”  The flour comes out through a long tube that is made from old blue jeans and then it is deposited into a big bucket.  Another interesting tool they have is a cutting machine that slices an entire loaf of bread in a few seconds.  They also have a “pet” at 460: their sourdough starter!  They have to feed it every day so that they can keep making the bread. We sampled the different kinds of bread they make, and decided the sourdough is our favorite because it is “tangy” and “sour.”  We hope you enjoyed the loaves of bread we made on our field trip.  Your children worked very hard to shape the dough into beautiful loaves to share with you.

We learned so much on our field trip.  Here are some of the insights, observations, and comments your children had to share:

I learned those kinds of shapes for bread, round and long, and how to cut it. I liked eating the bread and when he put it in the oven to bake.  I liked to see the flour machine. They make a lot of bread. A mortar and pestle wouldn’t work for them because they need a lot of flour and a big flour maker. Or they will run out of bread for people to buy. (Dylan)

They have a special sink. I liked watching the bread go in the oven. (Brooks L)

The oven was super big. I don’t have one that big. Because they make a lot of bread they need a big oven. They bring it to the grocery stores and restaurants. I liked seeing how big the oven was. (Woods)

Some of the bread was colored from markers on our hands. The oven sounded like a cat. I liked eating the bread and making it. (Laila)

They use steam. I like kneading the bread. (Ava)

The oven says meow because of the steam. I liked eating the bread and baking the bread. I liked the sourdough bread, it tasted so good. The pokey thing with the sharp teeth cut the bread. (Murphy)

The oven was loud when he pushed the button. I liked making the bread. Did you see that oven?! (Brooks H)

He cut the bread on the top to make the patterns. I like the big oven. (Ellie S)

They put the grain in the big machine and it goes in with rocks, then into the blue jeans, into the bag, and into the tub. I liked making bread because it was fun folding it and making a ball. The oven made the bread so yummy. They had a cutter that cut the bread. We didn’t see it yesterday, it is new. I tasted sweet bread. It had butter, milk, water, and sugar from honey in it. (Marleigh)

They used old blue jeans for the flour to get in the basket.  I liked eating the bread and baking the bread.(Kate)

I like the big oven. They turn the mixer on with the button. He gets it out of the oven with the thing. The big oven is so cool because the bread goes all the way back with the loader. When it is done he used the thing Walter the Baker has, the peel, to get the bread out of the way back. (Willa)

They make the dough with water, sugar, salt, and flour. I liked making the bread because it was so so fun. (Elli R)

Baking. Eating. Yum yum. (Cora)

I liked making the bread. (Gray)

I liked baking bread because it was fun. (Smith)

I learned about the bread that was for hamburgers. It was good. It was sweet. I liked making bread. (Carly)

They made flour there with a big grinder. They make a lot of bread. They have a special oven that is really heavy with a button that makes heat that you can see. (Bennett)

The bread cutter was my favorite because it makes really small pieces of bread. I learned about the oven. The bread goes in deep. (Lily)

The bread was really yummy. We saw the bread and it went into the oven when it was really squishy, and it turned into triangles. (Connor)

I think it is funny that they had the pant leg for the flour. The oven sounds like a cat on Halloween that blows up but I’m not sure why. It did that when he pushed the steam button. They use a loader to put the bread in. I liked the big fridge too. They put bread in there. I didn’t know the bread could rise slow and in coldness, like they do there. (Owen)

I like the taste of the bread, it is a little sugary. I liked to see all the buttons. I liked making the shapes of the bread. (Henry)

They put salt crystals in the bread. I think the bread has organisms because it grows big and fluffy in the bread. It really likes the sugar, the yeast, it is alive. It still doesn’t make sense, but it does. (Sawyer)

The bakery smelled like bread. I saw a cutting board and the big oven. My favorite part was tasting the bread. (Abigail)

I tasted bread. The sourdough tasted like an orange.  I liked the big oven because it made a cool noise when he pushed the blue button. It sounded like meow. I made my bread into a fat long shape. I think it will taste good. (Leo)

After our trip to 460 bread last week and all the samples of different kinds of bread we were able to enjoy, we are wondering more about how things taste. We wondered, Why does sourdough taste sour? What makes something taste sour or sweet? This week we did an experiment with our tongues!  We investigated the five tastes our mouth can detect: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami.  We sampled a small taste of sugar (sweet), salt (salty), lemon (sour), unsweetened cocoa powder (bitter), and parmesan cheese (umami).  We discussed how these different flavors made our mouth feel, and how our faces changed and appeared to others when we tried the different tastes. 

Sweet was a favorite taste for sure, with many “we want more!” pleas. It “makes a mouth smile” (Abigail), makes “mmmmmm to my mouth, and makes it a little excited” (Murphy), “makes my tummy rumble” (Kate), “tastes like a grape” (Carly), and “like candy” (Woods).

Salty “makes my tongue go out, and makes Henry’s smile go in” (Leo), “it tastes a little yucky” (Ellie S.), “a little yummy” (Ava), “it makes me feel a little burpy” (Bennett), and it “makes my eyes squish up” (Brooks L). 

Sour “tickles your mouth” (Rowan), “makes my eyes squint” (Ellie S.), “makes other peoples’ eyes close” (Brooks L) “it’s a funny good feeling” (Leo), “makes me laugh” (Murphy) and makes “my face muscles feel funny” (Henry).

Bitter “upsets my mouth” (Carly), “tickles the mouth” (Laila), “makes me squiggle up” (Brooks L), and “makes my mouth feel really tight” (Murphy).

Umami makes “my mouth say yummy, and more please!” (Laila). Other friends could feel new sensations on parts of the tongue and mouth: “I can feel the bumps on my tongue when I taste it” (Owen), and “I feel it in the sides and the top of my mouth” (Murphy).   

To extend our knowledge even more, we combined tastes together to figure out which went well together. We tried sweet and bitter together by mixing unsweetened cocoa powder and sugar. “Sweet and bitter are good partners” (Murphy) and “it makes my mouth feel like a mountain!” (Owen).  We combined sweet and sour by dipping a lemon slice in sugar, and “together it makes it taste like an orange” (Laila), “sour is good with sweet on it” (Ava), and “it tastes good, like a ‘thumbs up!’” (Owen).  “Sweet and sour make me smile” (Dylan) and “make me happy” (Murphy).  We do not like salty and bitter together; “they are not good partners, it is bad, like eating bees” (Murphy).  We also do not like sour and salty together; “it is just NOT good” (Leo and Henry).  Feel free to experiment with these tastes at home too!  You may be surprised to learn what tastes your child can already pick out from every day foods.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we applied our new knowledge of tastes by making our own pizza!  Our pizza consisted of sourdough crust (sour), basil (bitter), mozzarella cheese (umami), pepperoni (salty), and sweet onions (sweet). We used a rolling pin to roll out the dough. We didn’t try to toss it into the air like we saw the guys at 460 Bread do for fear it would just land on our heads. After the dough was rolled out, we pressed it into the pizza pan with our fingers.  Then topped it with tomato sauce and the rest of our toppings, including plenty of cheese!  After the pizza baked in the oven for twenty minutes, we all tried a piece, and talked about the different flavors we could taste and how it made our mouths feel.  We were surprised at how sweet the onions were after baking in the oven.  Delicious!

This week, we talked about the experience of baking and eating with friends and family.  Caitie and Erin shared photos of their own Thanksgiving holidays including traditional meals with family, and non-traditional events such as driving to hot springs with friends.  Our own stories of Thanksgiving fueled conversations with students and teachers about family traditions, favorite dishes, cooking and baking together, and the emotions we feel when we get together with people we love.  We played “Thanksgiving” in the kitchen area at school and set the table to make it “really fancy,” made yummy food for each other, and gave various “toasts” and “cheers” to celebrate. 

We asked students to tell us more about Thanksgiving, celebrating, and someone or something they would like to say thank you to:    

I’ve never had Thanksgiving, before, but I think it is when our whole family gets together. I’m thankful for Christmas (Murphy).

I’m thankful for my family. Some people come to our house, grandma and grandpa. We will eat something special, I think turkey (Elli).

I had Thanksgiving before. Someone was visiting. It was the Gramps. I had dinner. There were apples (Brooks L.).

We took pictures of each other with grandma and grandpa, and ate fancy dinner. We had apple pie with ice cream. Thanksgiving is like you are celebrating a birthday but you are celebrating Thanksgiving. It is when you are thanking someone (Dylan).

My grandma and grandpa and my family celebrate. We eat a cherry cake and that makes it special (Laila).

Celebrate means you have friends over.  If we have pizza on Thanksgiving, I could cook that (Owen).

On Thanksgiving, I say thank you to Mommy for bringing me to school (Brooks H.).

I haven’t had it yet, and Thanksgiving happens next week, and some people that I don’t know are going to come over. Aunty might come over. There are not kid friends. I’m going to say thank you to people who come over. There will be cookies (Willa).

We are going on three planes to South Carolina. We will see Grammy and Gramps (Woods).

I hug my mom at Thanksgiving (Kate).

Grandma gave me presents for Thanksgiving, a necklace. I give mom a Thanksgiving hug. It’s a different hug (Ellie S.).

Thanksgiving is about when Grandma and Grandpa come. I play with them. I think we will eat ice cream because it is special (Ava).

You give things away on Thanksgiving, like toys you don’t like. You give them to babies and two year olds. I put them in a basket and send it in the mail to the baby cousins. You go on field trips on Thanksgiving to see your cousins. You celebrate Christmas on Thanksgiving. You make projects and cards when you celebrate (Leo).

I like Thanksgiving because I’m excited about the pie, strawberry pie. Mom and Dad are going to make it. I’m going to put in the ingredients, and mom and dad will put it in the oven because the oven is hot (Rowan).

I like pie, chocolate kind. Thanksgiving is a time to be with family and friends. I’m going to say thank you for school, then I’m going to San Diego (Sawyer).

Thanksgiving is about mom and dad. On Thanksgiving, I’m going to say thank you for mom and dad (Connor).

You can play on Thanksgiving and eat. You can eat cookies on Thanksgiving, chocolate chip (Bennett).

On Thursday and Friday we celebrated the holiday with a Pre-K tradition: pjs and pancakes!  At morning meeting, we read Thanks For Thanksgiving by Julie Markes, and then we each took a turn with the talking piece to say something that we are thankful for.  We are thankful for many things including our families, friends, hugs, and pets. We used Eric Carle’s book, Pancakes, Pancakes, to inform our recipe and made our pancakes from scratch.  Parents cooked up the pancakes on the griddle and served us warm apple cider, applesauce, and fruit.  Delicious!  On Friday, we celebrated with the Pre-K Grey Wolves and our book buddies, the Toros! Thank you so much to all the parents who helped us by supplying ingredients or staying to snuggle and cook.  We are thankful for you!  Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving break.  We love you all!

This is what we are thankful for:

Kate: “My mom, dad, & Ellie”

Willa: “For Laila, Kate, Ellie, Mom, Dad, Sister, my dog and my cat. For Leo, Bennett, Abigail, Maggie, Marleigh”

Laila: “My mom, dad, and sister”

Marleigh: “For Mom, for giving me hugs. All my friends””

Murphy: “For presents and Halloween. For my birthday””

Elli R.: “My family”

Ellie S.: “Dylan”

Brooks H.: “Ava”

Ava: “Brooks”

Dylan: “Owen, dad, mom, and bro”

Brooks L.: “For Owen and Murphy”

Owen: “For Skidoos…snowmobiles because they are my favorite. For my birthday”

Leo: “My pretend doggies”

Cora M: “Hello kitty”

Rowan: “For the pie”

Connor: “For playing with my friends”

Sawyer: “For my dog”

Abigail: “Willa!”

Cash: “Cupcakes!”

Henry: “Baby Bee”

Bennett: “New black lab puppy”

Erin: “The baby!”

Caitie: “Fun friends and huge hugs”