The Tortilla Factory

Today we had a special visitor . Rosanna's mother came to school to talk to us about Honduras, her home country. She read us a book called " The Tortilla Factory" that explained how tortillas are made . The book talked about the " brown hands " that turned the black earth and made yellow corn into corn flour. As she read the book RosaMaria let the children feel corn flour in a bag and then they really made tortillas. All she did was take corn flour and knead it into a dough , much like playdoh and then flattened it out with a wooden tortilla maker. This was a perfect activity for our 5 senses unit. They got to see the process, touch the corn meal, smell the tortilla and hear Rosanna's mom talk. On Wednesday when we have our tasting party, they will get to taste the tortillas she will make for them.

RosaMaria also brought in traditional dresses from Honduras. They were bright and had beautiful stitching on them. She is leaving the dresses her for a while for us to play with. The girls are so excited. She even showed them a little dance they could do with the dress on.

Our original plan was to do this the week we had an ice storm and were out of school. I am so thankful that RosaMaria was able to come today and share some of her culture with us.

( As you can see from the pictures Rosanna "helped " her mom quite a bit. I didn't filter any of the pictures. I think that is part of the fun and the process. I am sure RosaMaria was exhausted by the time she was through. )