Can't make heads or tails of this!

United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, London... Aren't they all the same???
Hmmmm... Actually not! Unfortunately enough, there are some small and bigger differences amongst all of them...!

The United Kingdom is a country called so for a reason! What reason? But, of course, the fact that it consists of 4 DIFFERENT kingdoms, "United" so as to form a bigger one! They are, that is, like a big country consisting of 4 smaller ones!  If you take a look at the following picture, you will see all four of them, painted in different colours each..
But let's take them one at a time:

• The "great island" that you can see, is called Great Britain. Great Island= Great Britain! The term "Great Britain", thus is simply geographical.
  On the island of Great Britain, now, there are three out of the four kingdoms we were talking about:
  1. Scotland), in blue colour,
  2. England, in white colour and
  3. Wales, in red colour. 
• The "small island" you can see is Ireland. The term "Ireland" is geographical too, because it refers to the small island we talked about.
  On the island of Ireland there is kingdom number 4, Northern Ireland,the one in yellow colour, as well as another, totally different country, The Rebublic of Ireland!

Well, wht's left? Oh, yes! London! London is a city- the capital city of England and of the whole of the United Kingdom! London is in England and it is marked with a black dot on the map! But we'll say more about it some other time!

The kids always express themselves more simply, of course...:

You heard (in order of appearance) the 6th Grade students: Anna, Angela, Popi, Vaggelio, Titsa, Kostas, Maria, Michelle and Katerina!!!

I'm not eating THAT...!

Speaking of fruit, we also talked about the avocado, a fruit a bit unknown to most people, which, however, is cultivated in Crete. We'll find it easily and at a very good price at our neighbourhood greengrocer's or at the street market.

The avocado, as we learnt, is a highly-beneficial food. But it is kind of a...weird fruit! It tastes more like butter, rather than like a fruit.
So, how do we eat it? But, of course, like the Mexicans do! By making "Guacamole"!

Indeed, as it always happens with new things, we were a bit hesitant at the beginning...Most of us stated in disgust: "I'm not eating this thing!!!" Luckily, though, there are always the bold ones who never say no to new tastes...

Half of the ingredients are at place and are waiting for...

...the avocado! It is ripe, as it should be!

Let's season it with a little salt and pepper!	Who is the brave one to have the first bite?
It's delicious, after all!	Hey...! Don't eat it up! I want some too!!

Don't forget! Organic waste go to compost!	Let's write the recipe down to try it at home...

Now the permanent line at the kids' lips is: "Miss, when will we make "guacamole" again?"
So, go ahead! Try it yourselves! You will only need 2 avocados, 2 tomatoes, 1 onion, a little lemon juice, salt and pepper!
You might say the same after you try it!

Some little secrets: 
When you prepare it, put one of the kernels in the bowl with the sauce. It will prevent the "guacamole" from turning black.
And, if you feel like a little gardening and are patient enough, try to put the kernels in water like in the following pictures until they grow roots. Then plant them in a pot!

Original post by Maria Priniotaki

From production to selling! (Part III-final!)

ΝΟ intermediaries...

Last time we talked we had remained with the unanswered question, "What can we do now with so many jars of marmalade?".
The kids gave the answer to that question themselves: "We are going to decorate them, sell them and earn money for the school!"
So, why not? The day the reports would be given was set as the official marketing day of our produce!

We decorated our jars...	...and made sure to promote our products the right way ("Come and get the best orange marmalade! It's good for the health!")!
...a convincing stall...  ("Pure-organic marmalade!", "We picked the oranges, added sugar, cinamon and love and packaged them!")	...proper marketing...  ("Our lovely school-made marmalade is loved by all the sweet-toothed no additives, no colourings, and all your craving is soothed"!)

...with humour...("GET SWEET  BEFORE YOU GET BITTER!")

...quite enough of it...  ("Makes you beautiful, not fat!")

...and, of course, the best traders  in the world to promote their  merchandise!

...we couldn't contain the crowds!

...and, indeed, issuing of receipts (so that we be typical...)!

The decision on the appropriation of the money collected will be made by the Product Management Agency United (consisting of 6th Grade Students and their teachers)...! In any case, the money will be utilized for the updating of the pedagogic material in our school!

From production to processing! (Part II)

Marmal-odes...!

So, yes! The (about 100) cups of juice we made after our outing on the 6th of March didn't consume even half of the oranges we had picked! Not even 1/4 of them, one would dare say... A little thought and a visit to the local Open Care Center for the Elderly gave us another, more creative idea for the processing of the rest of the production!!!

These few were left (after the second selection!)...

We washed our jars and let them sunbathe and dry...

...and we got STRAIGHT to work!	...orange peeling from kids, parents and teachers!
...and a little chat because there's lots of work!	Boiling of the oranges to get them to soften...

...straining and mashing...

...and boiling again together with the sugar (proportion 1 to 1-as much orange pulp, so much sugar!)

...emptying of the hot marmalade into the glass jars...

...and turning them over to close in a vacuum!

In the meanwhile, we are making our labels!...

...young...

...and VERY young!

How do they look?

Here they are! Well, whatever is left of them, because some "left" before even being ready! But the time has come to bring them up right!

True marmal-odes!!!!

Get your feet wet in... marmalade! 

So, tell us, Katerina, what exactly is going on here?

• We would like to thank the Open Care Centre for the Elderly of Tsesmes which welcomed us and...planted ideas for creation in our heads!
• We would also like to thank everybody who helped in the completion of our venture and devoted to us 4 of their invaluable Sunday morning hours!
• Special thanks to our last year's graduates who never miss out on any activities of their old school...

What can we do now with so many jars of marmalade?

From production to consumption! (Part I)

Yesterday, we became farmers, for a while! We wanted to come closer to nature and see how useful, tiring, but also pleasant the engagement with the primary sector (agriculture) can be!
 So, we went to an orange grove where we picked oranges, learnt a few things about citrus fruit from an organic products grower (for instance, how to differentiate between bitter and regular oranges-before getting bitter!) and, of course, we ate fresh fruit straight from the source!

• We would like to warmly thank mr Nikos Bekakos, an organic products grower, for the time he devoted to us, the invaluable information he gave the children and the questions he answered! Unfortunately, there is no photo documentation from his visit because the photographers were also having their questions answered at the time!!!

A stop for food and play before getting down to work...

And here we are in the garden!

We split in two teams and set the rules for our own safety...	...and began picking!
The fact that you can't see us...	...doesn't mean we didn't work hard!

We became climbers, too!

Boys...

...and girls!

In some cases "heavy artillery" was employed!

We picked bitter oranges, too...	...PLUS lemons!
A "small" token of our effort!!!	Can't we try an orange, now?

...or, maybe, two?

Fine, it was more than two...but we deserved it!

After eating and getting a short rest...

...we carried the production to the coach and returned to school!

...where we set our own small line of production...	...of freshly-wrung orange juice, what else?
Everyone at their post because we have over-production!	...first cups ready!

"Everybody will get one, kids!"	...the best reward for a tiring day!...

...And a video where Ms Maria with Casian suggest new ways of picking oranges, while mr Dimitris is taking a break entertaining those who are still working!

We'll meet at school on Sunday, at 10 o'clock in the morning to make orange marmelade!

(end of part A', TO BE CONTINUED...)