Fit for Life
“I wonder who came up with flour to make bread. I can’t believe bread has been around since the Bible.” ~Riley
Riley followed my lead and pushed her palm into the tacky dough. A puff of flour jetted up through her fingers, making her laugh. We worked out her wonderings about flour and bread making as we were working the dough. She questioned the role of the yeast. She observed that everything comes together just right to make something so tasty.
We set the dough to rise and Riley ambled off to play. I mulled over a few of my own thoughts about why I wanted to try bread making with my tiny students. I remembered a few summers ago I was driving through Spokane. I had to take a detour down a side street due to road construction. The sound of women laughing drew my attention to a small, inconspicuous building on the right. The sign behind the women said Farm Girl Fit. It was a gym for women. And even though there was really no connection to farm work, the marketing for a workout establishment for women made sense to me. I certainly would want to be as fit as my favorite farm girl…Kelli Foreman. She is strong physically, mentally, and spiritually. Working the only certified goat dairy in
Alaska, a fulltime job of assistant executive director of KBM, boy mom and loving wife…. she works circles around everyone. Kelli shares her passion for Jesus in every aspect of her life. She shares her heart, her struggles, and her triumphs, all the while giving glory to God. One of the cardinal points of The Compass Classroom is an holistic environment. We aim to meet the needs of the mind, body, and spirit. A holistic approach, by definition, integrates the parts of something as intimately interconnected and referenced to the whole. Baking bread with Riley got me thinking about what it means to be fit, to be holistic in my approach to education and for life. For me, it means getting back to the basics…eating healthier, praying, exercising, reading, rest and relaxation. For my classroom it means play, exploration, and praising God in nature. Kaizen is an approach to creating continuous improvement by making small, positive changes. Making bread with my preschoolers is a small change to becoming fit….in mind, body, and spirit. I am hopeful many more changes towards being fit will come from our baking and eating bread together!
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