Hardtack

Today was a day of food. This morning at snack time, we did a mini-quiz on the phases of the moon. I gave each kid three oreos which they had to 'shave' off the frosting to make it look like one of the moon phases. To pick the moon phases, I paused a NASA video of the moon changing phases at random intervals. They had to label and make the phase on their oreo. It was fun! They did pretty well overall!

Then, in the afternoon for American history, I fed them hardtack since we were learning about life as an American soldier during the Revolutionary War. I made it fresh this morning, so it was still pretty chewable. There were a few pieces left over from two years ago when I taught this lesson; I kept it in a cupboard at school. That got offered up too, and a few kids took it. Once it's dried out it will keep basically forever.

There are a bunch of recipes out there, but the one I like to use is 3c flour, 2tsp salt, 1c water. Roll out 1/2 inch thick, cut into 3x3 squares. Poke holes in it 4x4. Bake at 375F for 30 minutes on one side, then flip and bake 30min on the other side. Since I baked it this morning before school, I cut down the bake time a bit to maybe 40min or so. They still turned out just fine. A bunch of them asked for the recipe even! No leftovers to save for two years from now.