At York Steiner School we celebrate Harvest in a big way! Every phase of our education observes with gratitude the abundance gifted upon us by the natural world, whilst at the same time, taking time to be in service to others, by gathering food and supplies for those who are in need.
We enjoy a whole school festival to celebrate Saint Michael, a symbol of service and courage. In Kindergarten, the children observe the gifts from the fruit trees and bushes, and make jam, soup and bread to share with family and friends. Read on for a few more snippets from our Kindergarten’s harvest celebrations.
Wow, what a beautiful festival day we had in Kindergarten and at the end the children received a jam pot to take home to try with family! It’s lovely to think of each slow stage of the jam, from collecting together, boiling, and then putting it into jars ready for winter. We have a cohort of great ‘choppers’ this year, these new found skills are great foundations for fine motor skills and determination used later on in school at age 6.
We all make our own fresh food with the children each day in kindergarten. For this festival each room chose a different menu, some soup and some a ploughman’s platter. At York Steiner school we have four different Kindergartens — small family groups: Silver Birch, Apple Tree, Maple Tree and Willow. There are many benefits to our small family groups, one being we get to know the child very well and we can support them through challenges with warmth and connection.
Here is a little verse we are all thinking about and saying in our Early Years and Parent & Child groups. Try it at home, light a candle before you eat and have a moment for your meal:
The silver rain, the shining sun
The fields where scarlet poppies run
And all the ripples of the wheat
Are in the bread that we do eat.
So when we sit for every meal
And say a grace: We always feel
That we are eating rain and sun
And fields where scarlet poppies run.’
(Alice Corbin Henderson)
In kindergarten we use makaton signs for this verse to help support language and literacy skills for all our children.
Recipe for the Jam making
Empty your diary for the day… add all the chopped fruit to a pan and bubble it up for hours and hours – (away from the children) pot it up and enjoy!
500g local apples – peeled, cored, quartered and cut into chunks
1 lemon – juiced
500g blackberries – fresh or frozen
1kg granulated sugar
