Fiji Day

October 10^th marks Fiji Day in the Fiji Islands. This is the anniversary of two events. The first was October 10, 1874 when Fiji became a colony of England. Within a few years, the English sent indentured laborers from India to plant sugarcane in the islands. The second is October 10, 1970 when Fiji became politically independent of England.

That was the first day that Fiji’s flag as we know it today flew. The flag is blue, in reference to it’s location in the ocean with a Union flag in the top left corner, referencing the colonial history. The flag also features the coat of arms with two Fijian warriors on either side of the shield. Within the shield there is a lion holding a cocoa pod, sugarcane, a coconut palm, bananas, and a dove. Below the shield are the words, “Rerevaka na Kalou ka Doka na Tul" which means "Fear God and honor the Queen.”

Wouldn’t it be great to have a flag that portrayed Fiji’s diverse history and landscape beyond the relatively short history of British colonialism? We could say the same of most countries I’m sure. For Fiji day, my students designed new Fiji flags including their own symbols for love, respect, natural beauty, Fijian music, and community.

Coco-nutty Date Treats

Today in school, we tried this recipe for healthy date balls. In the classroom, I explained the meanings of the words “zest,” “fine,” and “ground,” and we reviewed the abbreviations for grams, teaspoon and tablespoon.The recipe is straightforward and the kids did everything on their own except operate the blender!

Art Class Selfies

Several days ago, I took photos of my students and told them to do a silly face and include both of their hands in the frame. We did this in between classes and I did not tell them what this was for. I was aiming for images to use for this week’s Gustave Courbet inspired self-portrait. This week in school, we looked at the history of self-portraiture, and explored visual and narrative techniques employed by old masters and contemporary artists.   I gave the kids the printouts of their black and white photographs and they created a 1” grid. They then worked to recreate their images grid by grid. We had previously done a lesson on gray-scale and they used their gray-scale cutouts to help find the lightest and darkest parts of their photographs, and illustrate highlights and shadows.

The final results were great- really cool compositions that they were proud of!

***I may have helped on one of these.

Vegan + Paleo Coconut Cookies

Jack and I are in our third week of living and working in Fiji, and we’re getting into the swing of things. Teaching only two students presents so many opportunities and I love coming up with creative activities for them. This week, we made cookies as an end of the week treat. It’s a nice way to get the kids to voluntarily read, write, and measure while working as a team.

We managed to successfully make three types of cookies without using any eggs, butter, flour, processed sugar, or grains.  We have access to fresh coconut and coconut oil so this inspired our ingredient lists.

I didn’t make cookies often in the States, because I usually found eggless recipes failed to stick together, but all three of the recipes we made today stuck together nicely! And the steps were easy. Enjoy!

Vegan/Paleo Coco-nutty Cookies (10-12 cookies)

2 cups Almond Flour 1 cup Desiccated Coconut ¼ Cup Almonds ¼ Cup Macadamia Nuts ¼ Cup Coconut oil ¼ Cup Agave (or Maple Syrup) 1 Tbs water 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (optional) ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon sea salt (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and preparing our baking sheet with coconut oil.

2. In a food processor or blender, process the almonds and macadamia nuts into small, coarse pieces.

3. Combine the processed nuts, Almond flour, desiccated coconut, baking soda and sea salt into a large bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil, agave and vanilla extract.

5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing well.

6. Roll the mixture into golf-sized balls and space them evenly on a baking sheet.

7. Bake for 15 minutes.

Vegan/Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup Almond Flour 1 Cup Coconut Flour ¼ Cup Coconut oil ¼ Cup dark chocolate chips 3 Tbs Agave (or Maple Syrup) 2 Tbs Cocoa Powder (or Cacao Powder) 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon sea salt (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and preparing our baking sheet with coconut oil.

2. Combine the Almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and sea salt into a large bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil, agave and vanilla extract.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing well.

5. Mix in the chocolate chips.

6. Roll the mixture into golf-sized balls and space them evenly on a baking sheet.

7. Bake for 15 minutes.

Vegan Paleo Cocoa Cookies

1 Cup Almond Flour 1 Cup Coconut Flour ¼ Cup Coconut oil 3 Tbs Agave (or Maple Syrup) 2 Tbs Cocoa Powder (or Cacao Powder) 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon sea salt (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and preparing our baking sheet with coconut oil.

2. Combine the Almond flour, coconut flour, cacao powder, baking soda and sea salt into a large bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil, agave and vanilla extract.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing well.

5. Roll the mixture into golf-sized balls and space them evenly on a baking sheet.

6. Bake for 15 minutes.