Grade 4 Harvest Dinner

By: Suzanne Hill

Grade 4 Teacher

Last Spring in grade three, the current grade four class, along with their teacher Ms. Kaur, cultivated, planted, and tended the vegetable garden. Throughout the summer, parents, alongside their children, continued to take care of the garden and harvested many vegetables, which they froze in anticipation of future use. 

This year, the grade four class had a Harvest Dinner to celebrate the fruits of their labour and the garden. Tomatoes, potatoes, squashes, peppers, beans, and Jerusalem artichokes were harvested to create a delicious dinner to be enjoyed by all. “But,” said some students,” what about dessert? We cannot have a dinner without dessert.” And so, a field trip to the apple orchard was arranged so that each student could prepare a delicious apple crisp. Under the guidance of Madame Philippe and many parents, the children chopped apples and measured dry ingredients to create a dish their families would enjoy

Last Tuesday, as the rain subsided and the sun came out of the clouds, everybody gasped at the bright autumnal colours of the forest which created a beautiful backdrop to the stark white tablecloths and vases of lovely flowers from Qian Guo’s garden which covered each table. All the families of the grade four class (ninety guests) enjoyed the food featuring all the gifts from the garden, including the delicious apple crisps made by the children. Moreover, everybody enjoyed being together and creating beautiful memories.

Now, the garden is empty and ready for new planting in the Spring by Mr. Makin’s grade three class. We bless the garden and wish the grade three class a good harvest and a delicious communal meal just as we have had.

Thank you to all the grade four parents for responding to the clarion call of help when needed, to Madame Philippe and her band of volunteer parents for organizing, guiding, and helping out with the apple crisps, to the intrepid parent reps of grade four, Andria Caister and Jenna Puletto, for all their hard work in organizing and arranging the Harvest Dinner, and to the grade four students for being so awesome.