Memories of a kindergarten maple syrup inquiry: “How do you make maple syrup?”

Spring was on its way, and when students expressed interest in learning about maple syrup, part of our classroom became a maple forest and sugar shack while another area was a pancake restaurant! Cross-curricular connections to math (money, data management, mass/capacity), language, science, drama.

Read the full story of this mini-inquiry below.

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Memories of a maple syrup (mini) inquiry: “How do you make maple syrup?”

One day during our library time, the librarian read us a story about maple syrup, and then talked to the students about the fact that at that time of year, many people tapped trees and collected sap to make maple syrup. The students were full of questions and connections, so we decided to begin a maple syrup inquiry.

We brought spiles, buckets, and pans to school. We looked at them closely to learn about the materials we’d need to make maple syrup. We watched videos online to learn more about the production process, and then the kids began undertaking the whole process themselves, indoors and outdoors. Day after day, they ‘tapped’ the trees in our yard, ran around collecting ‘sap’ (snow) in buckets, and brought it to ‘the big black pan’ to boil. Some students pretended to be horses pulling wagons that would carry the sap to the ‘sugar shacks’, where other students were building pretend fires, because they’d seen images like these in books we read. We also learned how to identify maple trees, and even though the trees outside did not have leaves on them yet, we were excited to identify maple trees in our yard and the forest. As always, we wrote every day in our outdoor learning journals about our experiences and our memories. 

Indoors, we made plans and then set up a forest of maple trees. Using a system of funnels, tubes, and straws, we made trees that actually dripped ‘sap’ (water). We made a sugar shack in our classroom, with a fire and stove top for boiling the sap. The kids spent many hours making maple syrup in our dramatic play area. 

The students made lots of pancakes at the playdough area, which they imagined was a pancake restaurant - “The Pancake Sprinkle Shop”. Chefs cooked the pancakes and customers ordered them, using school money to pay for their food. When students asked if we could make real pancakes and taste real maple syrup, we made plans and created a real Pancake Sprinkle Shop restaurant in our class. We voted to decide on toppings and drinks that should be available, discussed how much each item would cost, and made menus and signs for the restaurant. We followed a recipe to make real pancakes and then lined up to buy them! We continued to practise identifying Canadian coins and their values by paying for everything with school money. The pancakes, the toppings, and the real maple syrup were DELICIOUS!

Reflection: 

This was big-time experiential learning and was SO MUCH FUN!