The Comfort of Bread
By Jocelyn Waite, Head of School
Madrona School, Bainbridge Island, Washington
Here at Madrona School, our halls are often filled with the aroma of baking bread.
We make bread weekly in our Parent/Child class, in our Huckleberry Preschool class, in our Salmonberry Kindergarten class and sometimes in our grade school. We often serve it with honey butter.
Tactile
Kneading bread is a tactile activity that ignites the brain and is good for brain development. You can read more about this in our blog Developing the Sense of Tactility: Preparing Children for Lifelong Learning, written by our Salmonberry Kindergarten teacher, Isaac Kemsley. Kneading dough of any kind occupies the child’s hands and they gets immersed in the feel of it or in the creativity of their design.
Practical
We teach Practical Arts at Madrona School, preparing our students to be self-sufficient adults with lots of life skills, or at least with the imagination and curiosity to figure out how to do the things they need to do. We teach woodworking, gardening, knitting, sewing, baking, cooking and building. Bread baking is also an integral part of this curriculum.
Comfortable
Bread is a symbol for our Waldorf Early Childhood Program. The smell of the bread baking, the warmth of the freshly baked bun, the taste and the texture all give the children and teachers alike a sense of comfort and wellbeing. When my children were young, I would often bake bread when we were having an off day. They would be reminded of school, where their behavior was always better than it was at home. They would fill their bellies, which was a certain road to behavior improvement. And the bread’s comforting properties would change their mood and often the trajectory of our day would improve.
Several years ago, my son’s 8th grade class graduated from Madrona School. As they prepared for their graduation ceremony, they were asked what kinds of food they would like to serve at their reception. Most of them had attended Madrona School since pre-K and they asked for a huge basket of bread rolls with honey butter. What better way to pay homage to their education, bringing back one of their favorite aspects of their early years.
I encourage you to include your children in all your household activities. The benefit of real work shows up for them personally and for the whole family. You can read more about this in our blog post Modeling Real Work for Our Children. What fun to pull out the yeast and flour and bake bread together. I have included links to both our Madrona School Standard Bread Recipe and our Madrona School Gluten Free Recipe. Happy Baking!
