Stone Soup Day

Stone Soup

What a fun day we had today! We were so busy doing fun activities that we did not even have any papers to send home. I promise we were learning, though :).

Fun thing #1: New toys! The kids were very excited to see that Miss Monique had switched the toys for Choice time out for the new month. I was very excited to see them all cooperating to build something together. It really is amazing the things kids can do when they put their minds to it.

Fun thing #2: Stone Soup! This was the highlight of the day. We read this wonderfully illustrated retelling of a Chinese folk tale. It teaches the importance of sharing and friendship as well as why we reach out to others. After we finished reading the book, we took all the ingredients the kids brought upstairs. We talked about the story as we made our very own stone soup. We stared with just water and stones (also learning about different words for rocks), and each child got a chance to add their own special addition. They had so much fun stirring the concoction. They were enthralled with the idea of how all the ingredients came together to make something that was starting to smell and look yummy. (I wish I had gotten some pictures of this, but I was too busy keeping the kids from sneezing in, or stirring the soup with their arms :)). As a special treat, we got some of Miss Monique's famous homemade french bread.

We made a VERY abbreviated version of this recipe:

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
3 stones, big enough that they won't get lost in the soup (quartz is a good choice because it won't break down in cooking)
1 TBSP butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped fine
1 large carrot, cut into coins
1 cup baby corn
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp. ginger
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 cup pea pods
6 cups chicken broth (or a combination of broth and water)
2 cups cooked tubettini or ditalini, or other soup pasta
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Scrub and wash the stone thoroughly. Then, for an extra cleaning, drop it in a pot of water to boil while you prepare the rest of the soup together.
2. In another large pot, melt the butter or heat the oil, then sauté the onion on medium-high for 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the celery, carrot and pea pods sautéeing for 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds, then add in the broth. Using a spoon, fish the stone out of the other pot, add it to the soup and bring to a boil. Add the pasta pasta, cooking another 8 minutes.

We just put all the ingredients in the pot at the same time, so the kids would not be around boiling water. The carrots and peas were a little crunchy and the pasta was a little overcooked by the time we were done, but the kids didn't mind :).

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING WILLING TO SEND IN THE INGREDIENTS! YOU ARE AMAZING PARENTS WITH GREAT KIDS! WE HAVE SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER :).




Fun thing #3: Manners Place mats! We talked about manners and learned how to set a table while the soup cooked. Each child got a chance to decorate their own "plates." This was a good opportunity to teach them to just decorate the edges of the plate. It was a good way to teach small motor control and limits. After they had decorated the plates, we glued silverware, napkins, and circles for where a cup should be placed. We will be laminating these to use for our Thanksgiving Feast, and then sending them home.