Growing Mushrooms
By Stephanie Andena, Grade 5

Pink Oyster Mushrooms

Green Initiative Advisor, Maddie Guerlain, helped Pierre Elliott Trudeau Daycare students grow mushrooms. First, Maddie came in with a bag filled with sawdust and mycelium, which is like a mushroom starter or mushroom root. We had to spray it with water every day until we saw the mushrooms pop out.

The mushrooms are called pink oyster mushrooms. It took about a week and a half for the mushrooms to grow completely. When the mushrooms were done growing they were all pink. Some of them were big and some of them were small. We had a lot of fun!

Making Pizza
By Eden Foley, Grade 5, and Benjamin Foley, Grade 6  

Maddie shows students how to cut the mushrooms.

Ingredients:
Tomato sauce
Cheese
Mushrooms
Olives
Green peppers
Pita bread

Maddie brought in enough ingredients to make mini pizzas for 14 people. We all got to make our own small individual pizza.

We first set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, we were divided into four different groups. One group made the tomato sauce by adding salt and other spices to crushed tomatoes from a can. This made it more flavourful.

Students chop the mushrooms into small pieces.

The second group had to grind the hard mozzarella cheese against a metal cheese grater. The third group had to cut the pink mushrooms, which was difficult. Next we cut up a bunch of juicy olives from a can. Instead of making regular pizza dough, we used pita bread.

We put all of the ingredients on the pizza, put it on a tray and into the oven. Now it was a matter of patience. It took about 15 minutes for the pizza to cook. When it came out it was steaming hot! It was time for chow time!

It was the best pizza we have ever made. The best part was when we took a bite out of the delicious and flavourful pizza. It was a fun experience.