Hot Pepper Jelly!

Today the 5th grade made Hot Pepper Jelly thanks to Jess Gaudette's recipe (see below) and Jaime Tibbitts!  We entered into this with low expectations, since it was the first time either of us had made this, and go into the future with very high expectations to continue next year!! Below are some videos, pictures, and the recipe.

Recipe

Prepping

Finished product!!

Preschool-Making Gingerbread Cookies

The Preschool students made gingerbread dough on Thursday and we rolled out, cut and baked the cookies on Friday. These are for both classes to decorate with their families this week.

There were many fun and and some festive shapes, cows, bats, hammers and moose, to name a few!

5th Grade Gleaning Day

The results are in! 5th grade gleaned vegetables this fall and harvested 959lbs!!! of fresh vegetables that were distributed throughout Franklin and Grand Isle counties.

Pumpkin Pies

6th grade and 2nd grade joined forces to make pumpkin pies.

Spreading some goodness!

This afternoon, the whole school met up at Grady's Garden to spread seeds that will grow into a beautiful pollinator garden.  Here are a few pictures.

Getting Ready!

Spreading the love!

5th Grade Public Service Announcements

Recycle PSA

The 5th grade created Public Service Announcements to teach Fairfield about composting and recycling.  Here are some projects.  I will post some more tomorrow.

Recycle

Recycling Poster

Place Based/Project Based Learning

The 5th grade is in the process of making public service announcements about school recycling and composting.  We have groups working on researching school on-site composting, planning a teaching assembly on recycling and composting, making posters about recycling for the classrooms, creating PSA videos on recycling and composting, and writing articles to local newspapers about our programs.  Here is a video of the kids conducting their research and writing emails.

In The Messenger....

Look who was in the Messenger today!!

Apple Cider versus Apple Juice Taste Test

Apple Cider Versus Apple Juice

By Mania

We had a blind taste test at school on October 13th 2017. We were taste testing apple juice and apple cider! They were labeled A and B. My favorite was A. I predict that A is apple cider and B is apple juice. We had made the apple cider before we tasted the apple juice or apple cider. Do you like apple juice or apple cider better? I think A tasted sweeter than B. I also think that B tasted duller than A. I can't wait to find out what the results were.

Thank you Mania for your concise and thoughtful description of the taste test. BTW, Your prediction about cider being A was correct. 😀 😀 Thanks also to: Brandon for helping create the bar graph; and Aidan, Patience, Kelsey, Leeza, Kaleb, Jude, Cole and Jacob for helping collect the data. Please see the frequency table and bar graph below for a visual description of the data.

Frequency Table of Smiley Face Ratings for Apple Cider and Apple Juice

Apple Cider					Apple Juice
1 Smiley	2 Smileys	3 Smileys	4 Smileys	5 Smileys	1 Smiley	2 Smileys	3 Smileys	4 Smileys	5 Smileys
1	0	2	7	26	0	4	9	8	15

Harvest Dinner 2017

This year's Harvest Dinner was quite a success!  Over 300 meals were served to the community by Fairfield's PTO.  Food was grown in our school gardens and donated by community members.  The 8th grade raised meat chickens to make Chicken n Biscuits.  The menu was Chicken n Biscuits, roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, cranberry sauce, and an assortment of homemade desserts (made by our parents).  Eighth-grade students, high school students, and students from various grades spent their Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons helping to set up and carry out the many jobs required to feed over 300 people.  The Harvest Dinner is the PTO's major fundraiser.  Money raised by the PTO helps support the many programs we offer students.

5th Grade visits NWSWD & Hudak's Farm

In 2020 this becomes
a household law.

5th grade is studying Natural Resources, Composting, and Recycling. Today they visited Northwest Solid Waste District to learn more about recycling.  They then went to Hudak's Farm to learn more about their composting program.  NWSWD picks up our school's food scraps and brings them to Hudak's where they make compost to sell and use in their gardens.  Here are some pictures and video from their trip.  The 5th grade hopes to start making our own compost at our school.

Dairy in the Classroom

This week, the 3rd grade, Team 3/4 Howrigan/Koldys, visited the Sweet Farm in Fletcher. Governor Scott was there help celebrate Farm to School Month.
Here is the TV segment from Channel 5.
Channel 5

Hay Day and Harvest Dinner

Our annual Hay Day will take place on Friday, October 27th.  Harvest Dinner is on Sunday, October 29th.  A notice was sent home with information to Youngest and Only students.

The 5th grade saw this hornets' nest when we went to Bergeron's Farm.

Close

Closer....

Closest...

Cider Press Friday!

Thank you, Jaime Tibbits for organizing this and Candy Branon, Desi Branon, and Mary Johnson for helping out.  If I missed any helpers, please let me know so I can give them their credit due. Here are some videos and pictures from this beautiful day!!
** October 27th is Hay Day and October 29th is Harvest Dinner!!**

Cider Press

The youngers!!

Helping to bring more apples!

Apple Cider Press

Tomorrow, 10/13 is Apple Cider Press day!  Look for a post with pictures on tomorrow's blog!
Thank you Jaime Tibbits for making this happen! 

Gleaning Vegetables

Butternut Squash

Today the 5th grade visited Terry Bergeron's farm to glean vegetables. These vegetables will go to local food shelves.  The 5th grade paired up with Healthy Roots to do this.  "Healthy Roots provides programs and services for both consumers and producers in the Northwest Corner of Vermont that focus on food education, access, and infrastructure."

More peppers!

Happy Kids and Mr. Bergeron! We will
visit again in the spring!

Peppers!

Working hard

Test again.

Gardening.

Test 2/24/17

This is a test to see if all is working.