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Mixing Alphabet, Soup

CANDACE C. MUNDY/TAMPA TRIBUNE

Faith Marie McHenry, 4, a student at the Community Montessori School, washes carrots in preparation for making homemade vegtable soup for the school's annual Feast Day

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 24, 2007

Additional Photos

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - The beginnings of vegetable soup simmered in a crockpot as Matheus Stimac added fat ridges of potato.

Dressed in a red apron and white chef's hat, Matheus had chopped the potato, guided by teacher Anna Wright. As a 4-year-old chef who barely cleared the counter, Matheus also needed a little assistance seeing the soup he helped to create. Wright lifted him up so he could peer into the pot and then slipped an oven mitt over his hand.

She handed him a spoon.

"Very carefully; it's hot," Wright said. "Give it a good stir."

Students ages 3 through 15 spent Monday peeling, dicing, chopping, slicing, stirring and kneading at Community Montessori School to prepare for the school's annual Feast Day.

The Thanksgiving event would host about 300 family members on Tuesday. Families donate ingredients, students cook and serve the meals, and all classes perform songs, dances or skits. The 9- through 12-year-olds made and sold pumpkin pies to raise money for a field trip to Space Camp.

"The best part is going to be the cooking," said 4-year-old Dalton Streitmatter.

Head of School Nancy Bowman said Feast Day has been a tradition for about 15 of the 18 years Community Montessori School has existed. In that time, the private school has grown from one toddler and one primary classroom into two campuses in Town 'N Country that serve 130 students ages 2 through 15.

Feast Day activities involve the children in everything, which fits the Montessori teaching method that emphasizes hands-on learning and independence, Bowman said.

"The students really need to be creating," she said.

Preparations filled almost every classroom the day before the event. Former teacher Sharlene Deklerk helped 5-year-old Justin Seo shave corn off the cob for the vegetable soup. Others chopped and scrubbed carrots.

"We have to cut carrots, and we have to prepare the soup," said 6-year-old Tatum Sholly. "It's a new kind of soup. We're doing a new recipe. It's not hard, but we tried it before, but we forgot something so we had to make the other one."

The younger classes would pitch in seven pots of soup.

Older students were responsible for the remaining 23, and they tackled the bulk in one room. A table overflowed with cartons of vegetable broth and canned tomatoes.

Nearby, eight students sat in front of cutting boards, peeling potatoes and mincing garlic. Red potato skins piled up beside Colson Streitmatter, which the school would compost later.

"Miss Diane, should I keep peeling?" the 9-year-old asked.

Teacher Diane Didier stood in front of the group in an apron: "Keep peeling; keep peeling."

Smells of pumpkin pie and baking bread filled other classrooms. Pots of potatoes gurgled on stoves. The menu would offer soup, cornbread muffins with homemade honey butter, Italian bread and apple crisp. Bowman said she had tried to incorporate different items some years, but the students liked to stick to the traditional dishes they have always had.

Students also strung beads on American Indian-inspired necklaces, which contained pouches filled with corn. Each kernel represented something for which the children were thankful

The significance of the event was starting to dawn on three ninth-graders as they worked on beaded necklaces.

"This is our last Feast Day," said 15-year-old Deidra Meysembourg.

The oldest students at Community Montessori School, they would find themselves next year as sophomores at area public or private schools. This was the first of several lasts for the year, culminating in graduation in the spring. But, Deidra said, it would not end their connection with the school.

"We'll be back to help them," she said.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor@tampatrib.com.

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