Our Field to Table learning...shared at our family feast!

Last week we celebrated the end of two terms of learning by having a 'family feast' where we invited parents along to a meal that we had made as a class.  The meal was the end product of our learning around the concept of "From Field to Table".  Here is the slideshow that we shared on the night.

Ice cream in a bag!!

 As part of our 'From Field to Table' learning we decided to make some ice cream!  We had to wear gloves because we were making in with ice in plastic bags and it was FREEZING cold!  We put milk, sugar and vanilla essence in a small bag and then put that inside a bigger bag that was filled with rock salt and ice.  Then we took turns with a buddy to SHAKE it!!!  It took a while so we had to be patient...but eventually we all had ice cream to eat.  It was DELICIOUS!!!

Tip Top Trip!

We went to the Tip Top Ice Cream Factory on Thursday to learn all about the process of making ice cream.  What a great day we had there with LZ12!  We went on a tour of the factory and watched all the machines and people at work before heading into a special room to watch a DVD explaining some more of the processes.  We even got to eat any ice block or ice cream we wanted!! While we waited for LZ12 we played on the special Tip Top playground which was lots of fun.  Next week we will try making our own ice cream - we hope it is as tasty as Tip Top's!!!

Making butter!

As part of our learning 'From Field to Table' we made our very own butter!  It is really easy but you have to be patient because it takes a long time.  We put cream and a pinch of salt in a container and then shook it and shook it and shook it!  Slowly it changed colour and shape and state.  We poured off the buttermilk and spread our butter onto biscuits to try it.  Delicious!!!

Look at our gardens!

Look at our vegetable gardens!! They are growing every day and we are looking after them carefully!  We can't wait to show you some of the yummy vegetables that they will produce...and the delicious meal we will make with them!  Keep watching this space!

The story of milk!

We are learning all about milk this term as part of our Integrated Studies 'From Field to Table'.  This week we are looking at the process of what happens to the milk once it leaves the farm and heads to the factory.  Fonterra's website has some great information about this so we thought we would share it here.  Just click on the picture above to visit the website and learn more!

Our milking adventure!

We are learning about milk and the process of how it is made.  Just for fun today, we decided to try and see what it was like to milk a cow...using a glove as the udder!  We filled our gloves with water and tied a knot in the top before poking a small hole in the fingers/teats.  We took turns to milk our 'cows' out on the balcony outside our room.  What a crazy time, but oh so much fun!!

LZ7 and the beanstalks!

Look at our amazing bean plants!! They have become too big for the peat pots they were planted in so we had to transplant them into a bigger garden tub. Everyone took turns to dig a small hole and plant their bean plant...and now we will watch them grow bigger...and bigger...and bigger!!! We must not forget to water them every day and Mr Revel, our caretaker has said he will help in the holidays. We can't wait to see how big they are after the break!

Grow beans, grow!!

Look at how fast our beans are growing!! Pretty soon they will be too big for their peat pots and need to go into a bigger garden...watch this space!

Seeds growing time lapse video!

We watched this video today in class as part of our learning about how plants grow. We think it is pretty cool...and some of us thought "wow those plants are growing so fast!" Miss Baker explained that it was shot with lots of photos over lots of time all joined together to make it look really fast.

Seeds, seeds, seeds!

We have been planting lots of seeds over the past week for our integrated studies learning 'From Field to Table'. We have all planted individual bean seeds in peat pots and then in groups we have planted carrot, parsnip and broccoli seeds. They will take quite a long time to grow so we will need to look after them well!

Farm day!

On Sunday afternoon it was the Federated Farmers open day and six farms across New Zealand were open to the public to visit and see what happens there. LZ7 was invited to join in and several families went along to look and learn a bit about dairy farming in Karaka. We had a great time visiting different animals, watching a sheep shearing demonstration and learning about the process of milking cows in the rotary cow shed. This gave us a taster of some of what we might be learning about in term 2 and we loved it!

Baked Beans song

Baked Beanz (tweet @totallyeustus) from Si Bennett on Vimeo.

Another great and funny video from the same creator of the vegetable song! Just for fun!

The vegetable song!

The Vegetable Song (tweet @totallyeustus) from Si Bennett on Vimeo.

I found this funny video yesterday and thought LZ7 would like it! Especially because we are busy learning about food - including vegetables!!

Orange and banana taste testing stories!

As part of our learning context "From Field to Table" we are looking at and tasting different types of food. Today we cut up oranges and bananas to look at closely with the magnifying glass and then eat. We brainstormed lots of words to describe them and tried to use some in our stories! The pictures we drew and painted with water colour pencils which we liked.