Incredible Work!

The pupils in the Junior Room did amazing work on their Incredible Edibles project.

Task 1:

Food Origin

We began our journey by investigating the foods that we eat every day. We asked:
• Where did this come from?
• How was it made/ grown?

Lots of us had bread in our lunches so we studied the story of wheat- from seed to flour.

We “milled” our own flour in the classroom.

We followed the story of milk- from the cow to our fridge. Then we looked at other dairy products and how they are made. We used cream to make our own butter!

We followed the journey of some of our favourite fruits from near and far.

We also followed the journey of an apple, from a bud to a ripened fruit.

We created our own Incredible Edible Superheroes!

2nd class worked hard learning about seasonal food.

We also looked more closely at fruit and veg in Ireland and when they are in season.

Task 2:

We went shopping and identified foods with the Bord Bia quality mark.

We discovered many types of shop and types of food.

Our wheat has come a long way when it arrives on the bread stand.

Our Junior Room focused on the theme of the farm during Aistear time.

We set up a farm shop selling items that came from our farm.

Task 3:

Next we set to work on planting and growing.
We loved this part of the project and put a lot of effort into making sure our vegetables were well cared for.

We watched instructional videos to ensure we were planting correctly.

We took turns in adding compost, water and of course seeds to each pot and carefully labelled the containers.

After a few weeks of care inside, our veggies were thriving and ready to move out to the garden.

We moved our veg to raised beds and window baskets to continue their growth journey.

While growth continued, we looked at our local area and the natural resources we are blessed with.

Our nature walks took us to the beautiful Lough Corrib and we learned about all the ways our lake provides us with food and of course we learned about the importance of water.

We are so lucky to live in this beautiful area!

Thankfully, our vegetables continued to grow when moved to the outdoors.

Our spinach was a tricky one to keep on track but the lettuce was very happy in the raised bed! Our turnips settled in nicely too, as did the potatoes.

We were delighted to harvest our first potato, and we found a snail hanging out in the soil too. Everyone was eager to taste the lettuce.

It wasn’t long until our lettuce was ready to be picked and our first strawberries were harvested.

Task 4:

We decided to make a healthy recipe packed with seasonal veg like broccoli and carrot: vegetable nuggets.

Everyone got a turn at helping to wash, measure, chop, blend and cook these delicious savoury bites!

It took a lot of effort but was well worth it!

Follow the link below to find the recipe we used for our healthy and delicious veggie nuggets.

https://tasty.co/recipe/veggie-nuggets

Students also sent in pictures of the great work they have been doing when cooking at home.

Task 5:

Healthy Eating Week 2023.

We put in a special effort this week to eat up to seven portions of fruit and vegetables every day.

We tried out vegetables and fruit from our own school garden.

We also investigated the healthy foods we keep in our fridges at home.

We made a recipe wall in the school corridor and filled it with lots of healthy recipes that our students use at home.

We performed blind tastings with potatoes, pears and apple.

Pupils had to cover their eyes and hold their noses when tasting and then guess what the food was.

We made an enormous food pyramid by cutting pictures from magazines.

Here’s the finished product.

We had a lovely week and learned lots about the importance of healthy eating.