Upper Elementary Group Travels to Plimoth Plantation

The upper elementary group has been studying Native Peoples with a particular focus on the local Abenaki this year in social studies. They are beginning to explore the contact period and European settlement. We decided to take a trip to Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts where we could see living replicas of Plimoth Colony, a Wampanoag village, and the Mayflower. 

Lena and Schuyler watch a Wampanoag woman cook frog legs over a fire.

Checking out some dugout canoes. We got to see a tree being hollowed out with fire.

Charlie, Xzavia, Lena, Jez, Quinn and Schuyler in front of a wetu.

Quinn and Bo are descendants of John Alden, one of the original passengers aboard the Mayflower who settled Plimoth Colony. They are sitting in a replica of his house.

Walking down the main path of the village.

Nadine and Isaiah watch the village blacksmith at work.

Bill and Charlie look at a cannon.

Bo helps with the work.

At the end of the day we headed into Plymouth  - the bus spent its first night at a motel.

After checking in we walked along the harbor - past 'The Rock' - to dinner.

In the park

After dinner at the Lobster Hut something strange happened to Quinn and Nadine.

Breakfast at a diner - it doesn't get much better than this!

Talking with the captain's first mate on the Mayflower.

Charlie's grandfather, Jim Fox, is a boatbuilder and lives in the next town up the coast. He joined us at the Mayflower.

On the beach before we headed back north to Vermont

Middle School Backpacks in the Adirondacks

We set off early Wednesday morning for the Adirondacks with our packs and food for three days.

The bus takes its first ferry ride - crossing Lake Champlain at Ticonderoga.

Gathered up by Putnam Pond at the edge of the Pharoah Lake Wilderness, ready for our six mile hike to Pharoah Lake. Photo by Parker.

Harrison

C, Patrick and Eliot

Five miles in - Evan and Miranda take a break on the trail.

We arrive and set up camp. Margot, John and Kellen do some fishing.

Adrian, Patrick, C and Miranda - hanging out in the lean-to by the fire.

Bill and Eliot

Kellen and John - filtering water

The next morning we set out to hike the circumference of Pharoah Lake. Brendan uses audio playback to show students a pair of Blue-Headed Vireos.

Thursday night cooks, Miranda and Parker, sit by the fire waiting for the water to boil.

Split Rock in the early morning light

Rock 'n' Roll Ball a Great Success

Thank you to everyone who helped make our 20th Anniversary Celebration Rock 'n' Roll Ball such a huge success!

Our bus driver, Bernie Perron, brought folks from up north to the Ball in Red Cedar's stretch limo.
Parents Liz and John Levey of the Big Basin Band rocked the house.

Teacher Bill Heminway and his band, Savant Gourde, kept the energy high.

Checking out the silent auction items.

Auctioneer Louise Rosales leads live bidding on a hammered copper weathervane crafted by coppersmith Larry Stearns. 

During the auction

Fish Swim on the Red Cedar Campus

In celebration of our 20th anniversary we created an environmental art project that symbolizes both the strength of the community and the uniqueness and voice of each student at Red Cedar. Parent and sculptor Larry Stearns suggested the idea and provided the support to make it possible. He milled 200 fish and fitted them with glass eyes. The students and staff hand painted them. The fish project was installed on Friday, April 17, at the end of our annual Arts Immersion week. 

Fish once swam where Red Cedar now stands. 12,000 years ago Lake Vermont, formed by glacial melting, lapped at the foot of the Green Mountains. Fish are now swimming - in the wind - where the waters once flowed.

Larry and some of his crew pound in stakes for the fish. Evan starts to attach fish on dowels that stick above the stakes. The fish swing freely and move with the wind.

Gabe and Isaac working with Larry.

Sam helps to hammer in a stake.

Anoushka and Gabe push some of the boxes of painted fish over to the hillside.

Margot attaches a fish.

Swimming uphill into a northerly wind.

Red Cedar Bus Makes Inaugural Run

Our bus began its morning and afternoon commutes today for Red Cedar's Chittenden County students.

Miranda gets off the bus at school this morning.

Our bus driver, Bernie Perron!

Brendan and Jacquie are getting licensed now, too, and will soon be driving the bus for field trips. 

Roll on, Red Cedar!

Red Cedar Middle School Students Design Buildings and Bridges

Middle school students recently spent time designing buildings and bridges as part of a mathematics project aimed at exploring proportional reasoning and comparisons of scale and ratio. Students worked as architects do by calculating scale factors and matching the form of their design to its intended function. Creativity was encouraged as students learned and applied the mathematics of Pythagoras, the Golden Ratio, and Pi to their concept drawings and scale diagrams. These blue prints were then transformed into scale models which are on display at Red Cedar School.

Middle school students with completed designs and models.

Eliot's Sod/Eco House takes form.

Eliot focused on the details of his environmentally friendly, lean-to inspired home for four.

Margot's stone foot bridge under construction.

Margot's detailed drawing of the pylons and arches of her stone bridge.

John with his timber framed dairy barn.

View of the inside of John's barn. The cows must be out to pasture?

Parker's scale drawings.

Parker along with his fortified castle, Burg Dracheshlof.

Detail of Parker's Burg Dracheshlof.

Parker's concept drawing.

Miranda works on the details of her model hotel, the Selinger Inn. Clearly a five star!

Miranda's scale drawing along with calculations.

Adrian along with his model of El Hotel Magnifico.

Patrick's model. The A.I. Institute for Robotics whose mission is to make great advances in the field of Robotics and related technology.

Kellen with his model home. Tinderbox.

C takes a break from working on the his waterfront Lake House Restaurant complete with docks.

Red Cedar Gets a Bus!

Late this winter, a dream came true for the school with our purchase of a school bus. We will now be able to get out into 'the field' much more easily. Whole classes can readily use the bus to go on all kinds of field trips, and make local communities and the natural world even more a part of the hands-on learning that students experience at Red Cedar.

We are also going to begin providing transportation for Chittenden County students at the beginning and end of the school day. We have a growing number of students coming from the north. Red Cedar's location on the northern end of Addison County makes it accessible to students who live in Chittenden County. The bus will soon begin daily runs to Williston with stops along the way in Monkton and Hinesburg. Families who live further north or east in Essex, Jericho, or Underhill will meet at the stop in Williston Center. Next year we plan to add a stop near the interstate by Tafts Corners for families in Burlington, Colchester and Essex.

Surely the most adorable bus in the world.

The bus arrives late on a snowy afternoon.

Winter Fun at the Red Cedar School

Bo takes a test run.

Xzavia

Quinn

Charlie

Isaiah

Nadine and Jezriel

Quinn.....Look out!

Isaac

Bo

Red Cedar Students Learn to Ski and Snowboard

Red Cedar School students took to the slopes and wooded trails of Bolton Valley this past January and February during our Wednesday afternoon ski and snowboarding workshops.

Schuyler takes a breather at the summit!

Louis demonstrating the free heel technique.

Nimaya, Amanda, and Ark pose for a family shot.

Isaac takes in the scenic beauty of the Bolton Valley forest .

Isaac and Sam race down the hill.

Bill takes to the air!

John prepares himself to shred some powder!

Brendan in a winter wonderland!

Adrian, Ryan, and Kellen getting psyched for the terrain park!

Red Cedar Rings Bell to Commemorate Lincoln's Birthday

Red Cedar joined with bells across Vermont at 2:12 p.m. today as they rang for ten minutes to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Abraham Lincoln's birth.

Students listen for other bells. Some of us are pretty sure we heard ringing from Bristol and from New Haven.
Sam takes a turn ringing our bell.

Middle School Group Takes to the Snowy Woods

Our middle school group spent last Thursday and Friday at Sleepy Hollow in Huntington. We snowshoed and skied up to Butternut Cabin where we kept a hot fire going, ventured out for moonlight exploring, told stories and had a good time. We don't know exactly how cold it got that night, but in the valley it was below zero. The loft was warm, the bottom bunks were just right, and our water bottles froze on the floor. In the morning we had a long morning meeting, then spent the day on skis. 

Our intrepid group - about to set off for the cabin

Trekking in

Our view of the Crouching Lion from the porch of the cabin

Bill

the loft

Late afternoon sunlight in the cabin

A Margot shot

cabin window

Coming back from a moonlight ski

Card games in the loft

Tending the fire

Visitor Shares Story of Leaving Sudan

Alex Pial, one of the 'Lost Boys of Sudan' who has settled in Vermont, visited the school on Thursday. He told his story to the upper elementary and middle school groups. 

When Alex was seven, he had to flee his home to save his life. Sudan was involved in a civil war and militia-men stormed and destroyed his village. He became separated from his parents, and with other orphaned boys, traveled hundreds of miles on foot to safety in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Over the next dozen years, he and the other refugees were relocated time and again.

In 2001, he came to the United States and settled in Vermont. Alex now lives in Colchester and works as a caregiver for The Visiting Nurses Association. He volunteers his time sharing his story with schools and community organizations across the country.

Alex speaks to the group.

Showing where he lived in Sudan.

Charlie with Alex. Charlie and his family are friends of Alex and his wife, Victoria, and are involved with the Sudanese community in Vermont.

Open Book: For President Obama

Lincoln freed the slaves
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke for his people
And showed us his dream
J. F. Kennedy brought our schools together
And respected the rights of all people
Each of these have a chapter they wrote with their actions
Now the book of time is open to your chapter
In its pages, what words and sentences will you carve
What history will you write for yourself
What history will you write for our children

- Margot
Age 12

Students Write Letters to President Obama

During the week leading up to President Obama's inauguration, students thought about what they most hope he will address as president and each composed a letter to him. These were shared at an all-school gathering on the morning of the inauguration. The school then watched the inauguration at the home of one of the teachers.

These are a few of the letters that students wrote.

Dear President Obama,

My name is Margot ______. I live in Vermont. I am 12 years old and I go to the Red Cedar School.

I am interested in hearing what you plan to do about global warming.

I think America should not drill for oil off our great shores, or in Alaska. We should reduce our dependence on oil and electricity. But we as a country do need some energy. I propose that it comes from solar and wind technology. I do not like reservoirs as they are bad for the trout population, I don’t think “clean coal” is really as clean as it sounds, and I don’t like nuclear power. I think it’s too dangerous.

Wind and solar may not support our energy needs at the present, but we use too much energy in my opinion, so we should cut down on our energy use, whether or not we only use wind and solar. I think our country should reduce our dependence on consumption. We use more than our fair share of energy and resources. You may already know, but America has 5% of the world’s population and we use 20% of the world’s resources.

I think we should use the economic crisis to our advantage, as a chance to rebuild our economy into something new, an economy not based on consumption, an environmentally friendly economy, an efficient and sustainable economy, and an economy that respects the needs and dream of the American people, especially those who can’t even pay to be checked by a dentist or afford an apartment.

I know it would not be fair to think that you can fix all the problems America and the world face; but you won’t be alone. Perhaps together we can save ourselves.

Thanks.
From, Margot

Dear President Obama,

My name is Charlie ______. I am ten years old. I live in Jericho, Vermont, and I go to Red Cedar School.

I hope you help to get China out of Darfur. My family helps the Sudanese refugees here in Vermont. I hope you will help the Sudanese people now in the camps in Kenya get things like homes and food and give hope to them.

Keep rockin!
Charlie ______


Dear President Obama,

My name is Samuel _______ _______. Please send food to poor people and good luck with the responsibilities. I am 6 years old.

Sincerely,
Samuel

To President Barack H. Obama

My name is Parker ______ _______. I am a middle school student from Jericho, Vermont. Having watched, supported and contributed to your campaign, I leaped at the opportunity when my social studies teacher instructed that we (my classmates and I) write a letter to you.

I was wondering what your stance is on animal rights. The despicable, inhumane conditions in slaughter houses, many homes, some farms, test laboratories and other venues of cruelty are not improving noticeably. Is not animal cruelty, in essence, just another form of racism? And, if humans are, as some argue, superior beings, do not we then have a responsibility to protect the other creatures of this planet? Has not our society/civilization advanced to a point that this oppression of our equals, our fellow citizens, is no longer necessary? And while some will complain about “needing meat” -between synthetics and tofu, a similar taste can, no doubt, be achieved (I am guilty as charged, a lifelong vegetarian).

Also, I hope you intend to create a more environmentally sustainable energy policy including, but not limited to; creating solar power plants in sunny areas, restricting oil drilling, crafting a mutual US/Canadian tide energy plant in the Bay of Fundy, and supporting wind farming across the country. Also I hope you will ensure that places like the Wildlife Preservation in Alaska are protected from drilling.

I would also like to applaud you for your diplomatic, no pre-conditions agenda. It has been proven throughout the eons that respectful conversation and negotiation are the only way to resolve conflicts with mutually beneficial, peaceful results.

Congratulations on your recent election. This election means so much to the people of the United States, the people of Vermont, and the people of the world, as well as to myself. Good luck in your upcoming term of office.

Sincerely,

Parker _______ _________
Red Cedar School, Bristol, VT.

Red Cedar Celebrates Martin Luther King Day

Students and staff spent the afternoon of Martin Luther King Day focusing on the major developments in the history of freedom and equality in the United States. Middle school students helped to create a timeline noting significant dates and events, and read excerpts from historic speeches. The afternoon culminated with our annual tradition of watching Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech.

The group sings We Shall Overcome.

Harrison and Adrian lead on trumpet and guitar.

Happiness

Happiness

Is a virtue

The essence of a hippy

The happy in birthday

The guitar to a guitarist

A masterpiece to an artist

The good music in an iPod

The suspense before Christmas

The protective peel of a banana

Happiness is the glint in our eyes

The stuff that makes us who we are

The rarity that makes something special

The words that put themselves in your mouth

To make someone’s day

– Kellen

Age 13

Evening

Pooling the late light reflections of the sky god’s eye
The moon rises
Weighted with entanglements
She offers mother words of containment and comfort
She lets me lie my head upon her
Knowing I would rather this dispossessed light
Than the warm pebble yearning for the had to be
And yet to come

– Nimaya
Age 10

Red Cedar Students Share Learning with School Community

Students from all of the classes shared their learning from the late fall with each other and parents on Friday, December 19th.

The primary group does a puppet show/reader's theater performance of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Upper elementary students perform two stories from the northeast Native American oral tradition: The Chenoo and Keewahkwee. Charlie performs the role of Chenoo.

Upper elementary students share drawings and writing they have done in their study of pre-contact local Native Americans.

Middle school students make recommendations to the school community about how Red Cedar can become more energy efficient. They give oral and power-point presentations they have prepared.

This group talks about vermiculture and describes how a compost system could be set up in the school's basement.

Amanda works on the puppet theater set.

Upper elementary students each recently wrote 'how-to' pieces carefully describing how to do something they knew. These were collected into a book which they gave to the primary students. Xavia is reading one of her pieces to the group.

Gabe listens and reads along as an older student reads a 'how-to' piece aloud.

Red Cedar Students Take on Role of Citizen Scientists

The upper elementary group took on the role of citizen scientists this fall in a study of local butterflies. The third, fourth and fifth grade students captured and tagged butterflies, recorded their observations, and shared their findings with Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas as well as Journeys North. Through participation in this project students learned about the importance of conserving habitats critical to the survival of the monarch butterfly and its magnificent migrations.

The students looked for butterflies in the alfalfa hay field behind the school and a small pasture of grass and milkweed nearby along Hardscrabble Road. After finding and catching a butterfly using a butterfly net, the students would carefully hold the butterfly with insect forceps, and, with a partner, take a photo with a digital camera and record information such as the species, gender and habitat preference of the butterfly. The students would then tag the butterfly in order to assist in the tracking of the insect.

Isaiah with a butterfly in the net.

Quinn with Schuyler who holds a Clouded Sulphur butterfly with insect forceps.

Lena records observations.

A Monarch is tagged.

Lena, Nadine and Xzavia watch a monarch butterfly emerge from its chrysalis in the classroom.

A butterfly emerges.

The class contacted students in the central mountainous region of Mexico, the area to which Monarch butterflies migrate for the winter. The Red Cedar students sent symbolic Monarchs and letters of appreciation to students in the Michoacan region, thanking them for protecting the remaining twelve Monarch sanctuaries. The symbolic Monarchs represent a tremendous international effort to support Monarch butterfly conservation.

At the end of the project, the students shared their learning with the rest of the school and their parents, presenting their findings through tables with recorded data, writing, photographs and oral presentation

Jez and Lena share their learning with other students.

Charlie answers questions.

Bo shares his display on the life cycle of a butterfly.

Isaiah presents his information.

An Orange Sulphur

A female Sulphur

Mourning Cloak butterfly

Data collected by students

The class with teacher Brendan Collins

Red Cedar Middle School Spends 3 Days in Pharoah Lake Wilderness in the Adirondacks

The middle school group and the core staff set out on the morning of September 24 for three days of backpacking in the Adirondacks.

We hiked into Pharoah Lake on the first day.

C and Evan

Margot and Nimaya set up camp

Fishing in the evening

Kellen cutting firewood

Making s'mores by the campfire

Patrick

We rose at dawn

Loon in the Mist

I sit on some rocks at the lake's edge.

It is early morning and the cool water mixes with the warm air.

A layer of mist blankets the lake and I can't see the other side.

The sun barely peeks above the nearby mountains.

All is calm.

A solemn and solitary loon drifts across the lake.

Its head is black and its body white.

It skims the silver water in search of food.

The low mist looks like grey fire. It is beautiful.

The water is pure and calm.

The loon dives underwater.

When it comes up it has a brown speckled fish in its beak.

He swallows it and continues foraging.

After a while, it swims off and dives under again.

It has disappeared into the mist.

—Eliot

Dawn fishing

We had a morning meeting after breakfast

Then spent much of the day hiking Pharoah Mountain

On the summit 

We saw a lot of large white pines

Fresh fish for dinner!

On Friday morning, we broke camp and packed out

Back to the cars, just as it started to rain

UE Performs Reader's Theater

The upper elementary group did their first Reader's Theater performance on Friday. They voice -acted a script, and performed for the primary group.

Jez, Xzavia and Nadine

Charlie and Schuyler

Bo, Lena and Isaiah

Older Younger Partners Begins

On Friday, older-younger partners were announced. Every older student in the school is paired with a younger student. The partners meet weekly to read, work on projects, and play games together. 'Mentors' is a long-standing tradition in the school, and the announcement of partners for the year is a big moment.

Brendan introduces the first session. The partners will interview each other about their interests. Next week, each pair will create a frame–for a photo of the two of them–that will show their interests in a border of drawings.

Gabe and Nimaya

Amanda and Jezriel

Quinn and Eliot

John and Bo

Louis and Margot

Lena and Miranda

Red Cedar School Hikes Mt. Abe

We declared this Wednesday Hike Mt. Abe Day. The whole school went up and everyone made it to the top, including the five and six year olds. A brilliantly clear, fall day.

Ezekiel and Gabe.

Sage and Isaac

Another Red Sox fan for Mt. Abe

Sam

Who me?

View from the summit

School Starts with Hike Up Mt. Philo

We began the year on September 3rd. Parents joined us for muffins, then students and staff headed to Mt. Philo in Charlotte for our traditional first day hike.

Evan, Kellen and C on the way up.

Charlie, Bo and Isaiah at the top.

After lunch we played group games to help new and old students get to know each other.

Gathering up.

Gabe and Ryan.

Sage, Gabe, Nadine, Louis and Kellen

Evan, Miranda, Lena and Xzavia's scavenger hunt sculpture.

Class Continues Farm-School Relationship with Ripton Farmer

In the fall of 2006 our upper elementary group joined the Farm to School Program organized by NOFA - the Northeast Organic Farms Association. We began a relationship with Nola Kendra, who owns Nola's Secret Garden and produces greens for area markets. Two years later the relationship is going strong. The class has been out to Nola's twice and Nola has come to the school to see our garden. In between visits, Nola and the students write letters back and forth. Here are photos from a recent visit.

We arrive at Nola's.

Nola brings us into her greenhouse.


C, Evan and Kellen help with the watering.


Nola talks about the different greens and herbs she is growing.






Nola takes us on a walk into the National Forest that borders her property.


A trout lilly in the path


We come to a beaver pond. There are jellied blobs of frog eggs all along the shore - from which tadpoles are hatching as we watch.


The beaver dam area is extensive.


Back at Nola's before we leave, she serves up a chocolate cake she made for us.

Red Cedar High School Class Trip to Boston and Acadia 2008

High school class at the hostel in Boston, MA.

Kelsey and Chelsea in the city.

Chelsea at the arthropod exhibit, Museum of Natural History Harvard U.

Kelsey and Matt rocking in the free world.

Pizzeria Regina, Thatcher St, North End Boston...

MIT Science Museum, Cambridge, MA...Is that Kelsey's eye ball?

Traveling on the MBTA trains. Is this Kendall station?

Aerial view of the greater Boston watershed, Museum of Science Boston.

Chelsea and Kelsey at Fenway Park.

Boston skyline from Fenway Park.

Brendan at Fenway Park. Home of the Boston Red Sox!

Kelsey and Chelsea at Fenway Park.

Boston defeats Toronto in the bottom of the ninth, 1-0.

Vasily at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA.

Archaeopteryx fossil at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Vasily watching Eartha at the Delorme map headquarters, Yarmouth, ME.

Vasily, Eric, and Matt at the Blackwoods Campground, Acadia National Park, ME.

Matt scoping the sea ducks in the Gulf of Maine.

Eric and his product endorsement of goldfish, popcorn, and slimjim.

Kelsey at Ship Harbor, Maine. What is she doing?

Vasily discovers the wonder of tide pooling!

Marita birding on the ferry to Swan's Island, Maine.

Matt enjoying the sunset from the slopes of Cadillac Mountain, Mount Desert Island, ME.

What happened to their teeth?!

Vasily and Eric skiing across the tidal mudflats.

Vasily recovering from his romp across the tidal mudflat.

High school class enjoying some ice-cream in front of Ben and Bills Ice-cream Emporium, Bar Harbor, ME.

Eric at the Swan's Island Lighthouse after a day of biking in Acadia National Park.

Wow! That is some big seaweed!

Kelsey with her friend kelpy!

That quite a hairstyle!

Wow..there goes a Blue-headed Vireo and Pine Warbler! Studying urban landscapes and neotropical migrants at the Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Kelsey and Chelsea at the Boston Museum of Science.

Spring Variety Show

We held our Variety Show on the evening of April 16. Students performed one-act plays, skits, music, poetry, magic, gymnastics and more. Here are a few snapshots from the show.

Sean, Jezriel and Gracie in a scene from Goldifox and the Three Chickens


Jezriel, Gracie and Margot in a scene from Goldifox


Eric performs Mardy Bum by the Artic Monkeys


Toby, Nadine, Xzavia and Isaiah perform a jumprope routine


Adrian and Kellen perform The Pet Shop – a Monty Python Skit


Kelsey sings Stay by Sugarland


Amelia, Sam and Xzavia in a gymnastics performance


Leyla sings Yo Me Llamo Cumbia, a traditional Colombian song


Evan and C perform The Cheese Shoppe – a Monty Python Skit

High School History Podcast

The Civil Rights and Vietnam Era 1960-1975: A Historical Emergency Kit put together by the High School Social Studies Class

Arts Immersion Week 2008

Arts week is our antidote to mud season. During the last week of March, each room of the school and some outside spaces were turned into art studios, and arts workshops were offered through the week. Students helped with the planning. Highlights of the week included metal working, screen printing, kite making, felting, painting, a one act play, an improvisation band, small house making, batik, video making, block printing, tin foil printing, paper mache, beading, mechanics and wood carving. Each morning a cooking workshop was also offered and a meal was prepared for the school. We
had cob oven pizza, Stone Soup with homemade bread, and meals from India, Colombia and Japan. Workshops were led by teachers, parents, students and community members. Recipes for some meals are below the photos!

Molly - acrylic painting


Evy painting


Jude and Isaiah work on pinatas


Leyla - video filming


Matt at the screen printing table


Eric and Nathan work on screens for printing t-shirts


Nadine - felting


Zoe and Margot - metal working


Kellen and Lonny - metal working


Amanda at work


Ainaka and Evan prepare a Colombian salsa


Kite making


Sam - working on his kite


Toby - working on his kite


Nadine gets her kite up


Reading script for one act play


Vasily - woodcarving


Working on the set for the upcoming Variety Show


Louis works on his small house


Amelia with Manju in the Indian cooking workshop


Xzavia - painting


Gabe at work


Block printing workshop


Comida Colombiana

From Ainaka
Please note, I do not have exacts amounts of each ingredient, so trust in your senses and test, and play with the ingredients.

Arepas

Masa harina (sort of corn flour, you can get it at the Middlebury Co-op)
Water
Milk
Schreded Cheese (mozarella or cheddar, the best is queso blanco, but difficult to find)
Salt (quarter teaspoon per cup)

We can prepare the vegan option with tofu and soy milk

For each cup of masa harina may be 1/2 a cup of warm liquid (But this is not accurate!). You can use only water, or milk or both. It depends on your availability, in Colombia sometimes you just have water and salt and this is enough! Add the cheese or tofu finely scrambled. Add the salt

Kneed with you hands till the mixture is soft but firm. Make a 1/2 inch round tortilla, the size or your hand (2 inches width)
Put them in a flat pan that has been previously greased with oil or butter. Once it has been toasted on one side and is crunchy and hard, brown but not burned, flip it over and toast the other side. Add butter on the top, sprinkle a bit of salt, pepper, spices and yum...!


Salsa

2 Tomatoes
1 Onion
A handful of fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 lime or lemon
1 spoon of olive oil ( I used a bit of apple cider vinegar because did not have oil)
Salt
Paprika or red hot chilly (optional)

Finely chop all the ingredients, combine them and enjoy. There is not right amount here, just your senses.



Chicken

1 onion (red or white)
2 or 3 tomatos
3 or 4 or more garlic cloves
Red capsicum
As much as you want of salt, pepper, cumin, (ginger, thyme, or other spices if desired)
Usually for a meal for 4 people we use about a half tablespoon of salt
1 pound of chicken or beef or tofu or mixed veggies cut in big chunks; or nothing and just add this salsa to potatoes or rice and it's delicious.

Cut the onion, tomatoes, and capsicum in half inch squares, mince the garlic. Saute the onion and the garlic till they are transparent, add tomatoes and capsicum and add spices. When veggies are soft and juicy (the salsa is ready) put the meat in and saute, add 1/2 cup of water. You can add veggies if you want. Cover and leave in medium heat till meat is ready, about 10-15 minutes. Serve with rice if you want.

Through the Lens of a Microscope

Miranda and Nimaya look at various substances and materials under a microscope in science class, and draw what they see.