The last week in October heralded New International School’s annual Autumn Festival Week. Students were involved in a variety of activities both in and out of the classroom, such as field trips to parks and nature areas, printing T-shirts with original designs, buddy reading in the local park, collecting natural materials to incorporate into arts and crafts, and exploring Japanese architecture throughout history at Ikuta Park, to name but a few of the projects.
The Early Learning Centre (3–6 year-olds) booted-up and took to the fields where they picked apples, dug up daikon, pulled carrots, and harvested leeks. At the end of the day they carted the fruit of their labours to the classroom. The following day saw them washing, peeling, chopping, and cooking as they used their produce to make vegetable soup and apple pie for a lunch to which they had invited special guests, elderly neighbours in the community, to join the feast.
The children’s take on the whole experience: “The daikon was so HUGE!” “The lady, who used to be a teacher, read to us.” “I measured around the turnip — the circumference.” “We rolled pastry for apple pie.” “I tried red and green piedmont for the first time — delicious!” “I ate four bowls of the vegetable soup.” In the end, there was a general consensus that fruits and vegetables taste better when you pick them yourself! — TIM STEARNS
