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Grow, Cook, Market, Write: Sustainable Education at Sherwood Montessori
 Michelle Yezbick, the Director of Sherwood Montessori School in Chico, believes in a hands-on curriculum, using the environmental focus typical of Montessori schools to help the students learn reading, writing and arithmetic, plus the value of eating healthy food. Under the guidance of Chef Richie Hi rshen (with Michelle Yezbick at right), students grow plants from seeds in the mini-garden plots surrounding the school on Moss Street, near Bidwell Park, then turn the harvested plants into delicious food, and sell left-over produce at their weekly "Farmers' Market" to raise cash to support charitable ventures.
On my visit just before Halloween, I was treated to an amazing butternut squash crepe, a banana muffin cooked by kindergarten students, and mixed grilled vegetables (the grilled broccoli was mmmmmh delicious!).
 To build students' arithmetic skills, Chef Richie challenges the them to convert recipe measures into the amounts needed to yield specific quantities of prepared food. They also write a weekly S.N.A.C.K. Chronicle-Coloring/Cook Book (S.N.A.C.K. = Super Nutritious Activities Collaborations for Kids). Not only is Jackson Dalrymple (with Chef Richie at left) the Chief Publishing Officer (CPO), he is also Chef Richie's Sous-Chef.
Learn more about Sherwood Montessori at http://sherwoodmontessori.org/
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