Water and bread

Last Thursday the 4th Grade went on a school trip to Akovos, a small village near Kalamata. We were very lucky because the day was sunny and warm.

Akovos is built on a mountain, in an area with a lot of springs and fresh water.
There is a small elementary school in the village but there are no schoolchildren any more. Just a few old people live there now. The school opened again last summer, this time as a folk museum.

Two young people, Theodora and Alexandros, work in the museum and were our guides. They talked to us about the history of the village. It took its name from the fresh water which is in abundance in this area (aqua= latin word for “water”). They asked us to close our eyes and listen to the water for a moment.

Theodora showed us the museum exhibits, explaining what they were. Alexandros took us to the nearby spring and all the students filled their buckets, clay pitchers and bottle gourds with cold, fresh water, and then carried them back to the museum “the old way” (watch our video to get an idea!).

After that, in the old school’ s yard, a lot took place: ploughing with a wooden plough, sowing, a “carnival” for good harvest, reaping with scythes, threshing with animals, winnowing, grinding with a hand mill, kneading in a wooden tub, and finally taking the bread home to bake. Every student got a role and all the roles were significant.

There was so much to see and do that we all came back to school excited and a little tired!

Thank you Theodora and Alexandros for the great experience! Keep up the good work!

The white horse

Did you know that white horses are born black and turn white as they mature? I didn't, until today, when the 6th Grade came back from their school trip to the Riding Club in Kalamata and my daughter (one of the lucky students) told me all about it.

Here are some more interesting facts about horses taken from ScienceKids:

Horses have evolved over the past 50 million years from much smaller creatures. Horses can sleep both lying down and standing up. Horses can run shortly after birth. Domestic horses have a lifespan of around 25 years. A 19th century horse named ‘Old Billy’ is said to have lived 62 years. Horses have around 205 bones in their skeleton. Horses have been domesticated for over 5000 years. Horses are herbivores (plant eaters). Horses have bigger eyes than any other mammal that lives on land. Because horse’s eyes are on the side of their head they are capable of seeing nearly 360 degrees at one time. Horses gallop at around 44 kph (27 mph). The fastest recorded sprinting speed of a horse was 88 kph (55 mph). There are around 60 million horses in the world. A male horse is called a stallion. A female horse is called a mare. A young male horse is called a colt. A young female horse is called a filly. And now that you know all that about horses, what do you say, shall we watch an old, but beautiful, film? Although it' s in French, you' ll understand most of it.  Crin blanc: Le cheval sauvage (The White Mane) A boy comes across a white-haired wild horse in the Camargue, a marsh area in the south of France. Ranchers seek to capture the horse, but it escapes. What will happen as the boy sets out to find the horse again?  A film about the continual fight for freedom and peace.