The Bakery

The OLES bakery has officially opened for business.  Luckily, we have some very busy preschoolers who are working hard to bring you some excellent baked goods each day.   Our bakery features a brick oven and lots of countertops for rolling out dough of all kinds.  The preschoolers have really enjoyed playing in the bakery and seem to have had excellent role models at home who have shown them how to work in the kitchen.  

Each day, the preschoolers have the chance to make delicious baked goods for their friends.  First, they pick a recipe to make.  Then, they carry out the necessary steps to make their specific baked good.  Even though their measuring is not always accurate (and their ingredients are an interesting mix of food items), they are always proud of their final product.  Some of the preschoolers even love boxing up their goodies into packages or cookie jars.

Next week, we will be adding a post office next to the bakery so that the preschoolers can send their fresh baked goodies to their friends or loved ones.  They might even begin to deliver the goodies to the OLES Cafe where some hungry patrons are waiting to eat.

At school, we are encouraging the preschoolers to interact with each other as they bake.  In fact, we are encouraging them to ask their friends what they would like to eat and this has helped them to learn how to share the ingredients & utensils.  Additionally, the bakery center is particularly good at encouraging the preschoolers to act out different steps in the baking process.  Remembering these steps and talking to their friends about them the next day is one of our goals.  Lastly, we are encouraging the healthy food handling habits of washing our hands before we work with food items, wearing hats to keep our hair away from the food & the wearing of aprons to protect our clothes. Don't they look extremely professional?