Finning. Saturday, October, 21, -1995
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Potato Daze
LORETTA GOLDEN
Cambira Co. Correspondent
PORTAGE (Cambria Co.) —In
conjunction with farm-city week
in Cambria County, the kindergar
ten classes of Barbara Kent,
Martha Krisko, and Neva Shaw at
Portage Elementary School, cele
brated “Potato Daze.” For two
days, most of the activities in their
classrooms centered around Cam
bria County’s main agricultural
commodity—the potato.
The three teachers put forth
quite a bit of time and effort plan
ning age-appropriate activities for
their students. One purpose was to
familiarize the children with the
importance of potato farming in
this area. The project also gave the
students a little bit of the back
ground of this versatile vegetable.
The children learned that the
potato is one of the main food
crops of the world. The edible part
of the plant is called the “tuber,”
the swollen part of the under
ground stems. The potato plant is
grown from pieces of the tuber.
Each piece of the tuber must have
one or more little buds, or “eyes”
Michael Storey and Chris Krlnjeck Investigating their
potato skins with magnifying glasses.
Megan Plsarski and Brlana Schmidt are doing quite well
in this potato relay race.
ids
in order for the plant to sprout and
develop.
The kindergarten students were
able to have a real “hands-on”
experience with the potatoes.
Buckets of potatoes, still in the
ground, were brought in so that
the students-could see that they
actually do grow underground.
This came as a surprise to some of
the five-year-olds who thought
that the vegetable comes from the
store, factory, or even trees. The
children thoroughly enjoyed dig
ging in the dirt to find the potatoes
and didn’t seem to mind getting
their hands dirty.
The Rick Weakland Farm
located in Portage donated the
potatoes for the project. This pro
vided the teachers with enough
spuds to be able to set up a number
of “stations” in their rooms so that
the children could participate in a
variety of activities. The children
were able to count, weigh, esti
mate, and categorize the potatoes.
The skins were especially interest
ing to the students who investi
gated them with magnifying
glasses.
/ *
k>
The potatoes even provided for
some “artistic” endeavors. A num
ber of the tubers were cut in half
and the teachers carved simple
geometric shapes onto these
halves. These shapes wre then
dipped into paint and used to cre
ate shape patterns. Ethan Stoker
really enjoyed printing with his
potato. He said “it’s neat to do, but
a messy job.”
Pipe cleaners, construction pap
er, yam, eyes, and other craft
materials were glued to some of
the other spuds as the children had
a great time creating their potato
“.pets” and “people.” Krisko even
made a few miniature sofas for
those students who wished to turn
theirs into “couch potatoes.”
The nutritional value of the
vegetable was also stressed and
the children were given potato
recipes to take home to their fami
lies. The three teachers spent some
time preparing the potatoes in a
variety of ways: French fries,
baked potatoes, grating them for
potato pancakes, and even using
mashed potatoes for making pota
to candy.
The fun didn’t stop here...relay
teams were set up and the kinder
garteners ran' races. The
Mrs. Kent’s class in the process of categorizing their potatoes. Nick
Ing whether or not this spud is “big” or “little.”
Kindergarten “Picassos”—Shane Noel, Ethan v ioker, ai ys, mi ng
potato prints with a cut potato and tempera paints. Ethan remarks that “it’s neat to do
but a messy Job.”
ornetH
had to keep a wary eye on their
potatoes as they raced around the
“potato man” with their spuds on
spoons. One dais used the sacks
and ran a traditional “potato sack
race.”
Grade “K” (kindergarten) “Class”-lfleds, Morgan For
tash and Camette Hoberney, getting ready for the potato
sack race.
V
All in all. Portage Area’s “Pota
to Daze” proved to be fun as well
as educational.
turn