Rosemary Focaccia

Focaccia is a wonderful first introduction to bread making!

Ingredients:

• 1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 tsp coconut sugar
• 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Step 1
Stir together 1 2/3 cups lukewarm water, 1 tsp coconut sugar and yeast and let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes.
The kids loved watching the yeast activate!


Step 2
Measure out the flour with nice and smooth level cups.






Step 3
Add oil, salt, and yeast water.  Mix until well blended.
 
Knead dough 1 minute, then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and turn dough to coat with oil. Let rise, covered with a kitchen towel for 1 hour.


Step 4
Separate dough into 4 equal clumps and knead for 5 minutes.  Add a bit more flour if dough is too sticky.  Cover again and allow to rise for 30 more minutes.




Step 5
While dough is rising, pick fresh rosemary from the garden.






Step 6
Roll out dough with rolling pins.








Step 7
Make indentations in the dough.  I had instructed them to use their fingertips but they discovered that they could use their rolling pins to create a similar effect all on their own!






Step 8
Mix olive oil, slat and rosemary and brush onto the tops of the loaves.

The kids called this 'painting the bread' and got really into it!

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.




Delicious served with Fussilli Marinara - we secretly blend a little spinach and sweet potatoes in the sauce:)









Step 9
Enjoy with your friends!

We loved exploring surrealist art inspired by Joan Miro!  The kids created sculptures with these blocks made by Master Sculpz, then we used our sculptures to inspire us in working with other artistic media.  It was amazing to see how much our original artwork was influenced by our exposure in the sculpture exercise as we created vibrant images full of wonder and color!

One of the kids favorite activities is creating collages.  One of the benefits of collage is that the kids get to choose for themselves what to use. This is very important as it teaches them to make choices. When they are involved in a copycat arts project there is no choice and they have to follow whatever the teacher tells them to do.  Another benefit is that the kids are using their thinking skills. If they are not being told exactly what to do then they have to think for themselves.  A third benefit is that they are gaining self esteem. When kids see that they are trusted to create on their own this creates a great feeling about themselves as they see that others trust them.  Also, all that gluing and using scissors is excellent for fine motor skills!
  

We enjoyed learning about color as we glued these strips in order of dark to light.  It was also an excellent opportunity to increase our vocabulary as we came up with descriptive terms for the colors : golden, sun-drenched, mellow, happy...

One of our favorite books at story time is 'Thunder Bunny' by Barbara Helen Berger.  These girls know it so well that they put on a puppet show version for us!

Amanda Panda came by for a music class!

In Yoga class we have been growing from a tiny seed into a beautiful flower!  The kids take turns leading the class and creating their own versions of the pose.  Here they created a 'jumping flower', a 'sun flower', and a 'one foot flower'.

We explored our senses and enhanced our brain development as we matched these scents from essential oils and then matched colors from paint swatches.  We also practiced our pre-reading skills as we went through the letters with the scents.

Digging for gold!  We buried quarters in the cornmeal and then the kids would dig to find them with the blindfold on.  As they were digging they also described what they were feeling: soft, smooth, silky, dusty , round...

In the garden, we put mulch on the pathways (great team effort!) and planted edible flowers, onions, and strawberries.

Birthday cupcakes!

We made alphabet pretzels!  What a great way to learn how to spell your name!!

Happy free play!