Garden Tenders: Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

I had at first just told Bear the first verse and she looked at me and said, "What happened to him?" So we found out....

(second lesser known part)
Up got Jack, and home did trot
As fast as he could caper
He went to bed and bound his head
With vinegar and brown paper.

We created a cute little craft for this rhyme. We made a cone out of card stock and a well out of paper and yarn as well..... I will make a greater detail tutorial later.

Jack and Jill Craft

Our weather reporting continues and this week we discussed how the water cycle works. We drew clouds on paper and cut them out and underneath drew rain drops. We made them into mobiles and hung them in the living room. For science we also observed what happened to items when mixed with other items. One was very interesting indeed. While making our science project which was also our laundry soap, I decided that we would try adding Oxy-Clean to our liquid mixture of soap and water...... I did not expect the result and someone was very excited with the resulting FOAM EXPLOSION! Well it didn't explode but it did bubble up over the stove ... This resulted in a discussion on why it might have done that!

By the way, I notice now that Bear's "painting clothes" look pretty unkempt! Sorry about that!

Weather Studies

We worked on reading lessons. We enjoyed these books this week:
Bob Pre-Reading Books
Bible Stories
Minnie Mouse Books
Children's Book of Virtues
Big Book of Bugs
Big Book of Oceans
and various other books

We drew in our nature journal, recalling the fun we had at Pack Forest one Friday, as well as fun in our back yard.

Education at the counter included: Making Kimchee, orange chicken, sugar cookies with Grammie.

My recipe for Orange Chicken is as follows:

Orange Chicken (adapted from thenoshery.com) serves 6

Chicken

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-1/2” cubes
1 ½ cups corn starch
1 cup cornflakes
2 eggs, beaten
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Oil (for frying)

Orange Sauce

1 ½ cups water
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 ½ tablespoons Braggs Liquid Amino
2 tablespoon orange zest, grated
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon ginger root, minced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 tablespoons green onion, chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

I didn't follow the recipe stirctly. Also, we can't find the carger for the camera so my picture taking ability has been kind of limited lately. :-) Bare with me a bit.

Combine corn starch, salt, and pepper into one bowl. In a seperate shallow bowl prepare the eggs, beaten and a ziplock baggie prepare the cornflakes. I put in the cornfloakes and used a rolling pin to crumb them. Dip chicken in egg mixture, dredge in cornstarch, then again in the eggs and finally in the cornflake bag, and shake, be surre all chicken pieces are covered. Set aside. Heat pan with vegetable oil to 375 degrees, then fry chicken in batches until completely cooked.

Meantime, in a large saucepan combine 1 ½ cups water, orange juice, rice vinegar, and liquid aminos. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Next, combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken, and if desired garnish with green onions. Serve with steamed rice and black tea in your tea pot. Enjoy!

Linking up this week with: the Hearts For Home Blog Hop!