Some moments from The Open Class Room / I love the OC

The oc has been more then we could ask for, our schedule was full to the brim and yet we missed more events then I could count. I'm so humbled by the parents and the teachers who constantly strive to make the oc what it is and have learned so much simply by example. Fall at the open class room was a treat filled with field trips, party, and art projects galore. Here are just a sample. Not pictured here was our stone soup party in which i made a batch of that lovely Waldorf kinder bread dough for the kids to shape, there was also a field trip to Red Butte Gardens and a trip to see a play about dinosaurs. I was also given the privilege to help at the art bazaar were the whole school is invited to come and make homemade holiday gifts for their friends and family. There was the parent mini corses where each parent was in charge of teaching a once a week 45min lesson of a subject of their chose for two weeks. I taught the kids how to make scarves with 5 finger knitting. Then the student were allowed to chose one per every two weeks until the end. Then there are the family fairs still on going. we shared our tradition of going to the Holi festival and had the kids throw colors at the snow.

Here were painting the paper mache pumpkin the kids have been working on.............

             
                      Our field trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins to paint in class.

http://ocslc.org/                           And finally our halloween party with our finished pumpkin as the star.

Happy Birthday Ellijah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a simple birthday at home with a special birthday dinner withall of Eli's favorits steam buns with a yummy mushroom ginger veggie filling , homemade Ramon, sparkly apple cider and agave coconut ice cream. we ended the day with the Waldorf honey birthday cake ( an other recipe from the Shepherd Valley Waldorf School pdf ) a lovely honey apple sauce spice cake, we used pear butter instead. it came out beautifully ( recipe at the bottom). Incredible moist and delicately sweet and spiced. She received some very special art supplies. The fan paint brushes, one for acrylic and a faux squirrel hair brush for water colors ( these are the best water color brushes especially if your vegan or care about animal well fair, I love these brushes!). A big girls set of oil pastels from Faber and Castel ( love these pastels, they also have a chubby kids line. The giant skin tone pencils from lyra she had been begging for ( great for little hands, we also have the waldorf giant colored pencils , these are so great, brilliant color and smooth application as well as durable and long lasting) and of corse a new special book Iron John. Just such a beautifully retold and illustrated book.

Here is her Birthday Table.

                                       
                                     and Birthday ring

                               

                                         Candy poster with vegan delights galore
                               
                                 

                                         yummy homemade veggie Ramon!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     steam buns galore :)
                             

Waldorf  Honey Birthday Cake

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour                     1 teaspoon cardamom
   (or spelt pastry flour)                                   1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 cup whole wheat flour                                 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
   (or spelt flour)                                              1 jar applesauce (23 ounce jar) we used pear sauce
1 tablespoon baking soda                                3/4 cup oil
1 tablespoon cinnamon                                   3/4 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons salt                                          2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together.  Mix wet ingredients in a
separate bowl.  Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring until fully incorporated. Pour into a
greased bundt pan.
Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes (check the cake after 40 minutes).
When finished baking, let cake cool for 10
minutes before removing from pan.
The cake can be decorated with real flowers. (or fruit)


we make a Earth balance honey frosting by simple wipping the two together :) then sprinkling the top with powdered sugar

Bread Baking Party

we had a bread baking day with our friends WildViolet and Magnolia and their parents and Yvie and Lisel and their parents. unfortunately I didn't take any pictures but I thought I'd share the recipe we used which was a Waldorf kinder bread recipe I found from the Shepherd Valley school  "A Collection of Recipes" pdf. I also used this recipe for our class stone soup party and had the kids shape their individual loaves. It worked fantastically, a single rise easy to work with and 15 mins to bake. And most importantly very yummy!


Enough for 20 children and 2 adults                                            Makes one loaf
3/4 cups honey or maple syrup                                                       3 tablespoons honey
5 cups warm water                                                                       1and1/4 cups warm water
2 packets (1/4 oz.) yeast (4 teaspoons)                                         1/2 packet yeast (1 teaspoon)
10-12 cups flour*                                                                         3-4 cups flour*    
2 teaspoons salt                                                                            1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil                                                                           2 tablespoons olive oil

*flour may be 50% whole wheat flour and 50% whole wheat pastry flour or 50% spelt flour
  and 50% spelt pastry flour

Combine honey, yeast and water in a large mixing bowl.  Water should be warmto-hot (if you cannot leave your finger in the water for five seconds, the water is
too hot).  Cover the bowl with a towel and leave for five minutes, until the yeast is
dissolved and foamy.
Large batch: Add 2 cups of the flour to the bowl, whisking until well mixed.  Add 2 more
cups and stir well with a wooden spoon.  Add just enough more flour so that the dough
is the consistency of muffin batter, up to 2 more cups.
   
Small batch: Add 1/2 cup of the flour to the bowl, whisking until well mixed.  Add 1/2
cup more and stir well with a wooden spoon.  Add just enough more flour so that
the dough is the consistency of muffin batter, up to 1/2 cup more.Cover the bowl
with a towel and let rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
Stir in salt and olive oil. Incorporate enough more flour, a half cup to a cup at a
time, so that the dough is moist, but not sticky (4-6 cups for the large batch, 1 1/2
cups for the small batch).  Flour a surface for kneading, using more flour as
necessary.  Knead dough until it’s smooth, about 5 minutes.
Shape into loaves or little balls for rolls (three to a muffin cup) and put into
greased pans or muffin tins.  Cover with a towel and let rise again in a warm spot,
about 45 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Bake loaves for 40 minutes, smaller muffins for 15-20, or until golden brown.


We ended are evening with a bread and soup dinner, a little wine and a lot of fun. we'll definately be doing this again.  Happy Baking :)

Home Made Water Colors

These are the hard disk type water colors and they were just as much fun to make as to use. The girls and I made these one saturday afternoon. The colors could be a little brighter and have the ability to be depending on how much food coloring you use. here a great tutorial on how to make them we quadrupled the recipes to fill this muffin tin.