Encerramento do ano lectivo

Faz hoje um ano que José Saramago morreu. Foi escritor, jornalista, argumentista, romancista, poeta...

Apesar da sua literatura não estar direccionada às crianças, aqui fica um pequeno filme de animação em que José Saramago é narrador e personagem. " A Maior Flor do Mundo"

MOVIMENTO NO AGRUPAMENTO III

"Flores do Nosso Jardim" - Projecto de integração das crianças que vão frequentar o 1º ano no 1º ciclo.

Hoje foi o dia reservado à visita dos futuros alunos do 1º ano à EB1 de Macinhata. Visita pelas instalações escolares, jogos, histórias, lanche e muitas joaninhas animaram o dia.

Five o'clock tea

Não foi às cinco, foi um pouco antes que as duas turmas  (Os Palmo e Meio do 2º ano e os Saltitões do 1º) estiveram em animada confraternização, durante a aula de Inglês, a tomar um bom chá acompanhado de biscoitos. Esta actividade foi promovida pela Profª Isabel Brandão das AEC.

History of 5 o’clock Tea

1662 - King Charles II (1630-1685) while in exile, married the Portuguese Infanta Catherine de Braganza (1638–1705). Catherine's dowry was the largest ever registered in world history. Portugal gave to England two million golden crusados, Tangier and Morocco in North Africa, Bombay in India, and also permission for the British to use all the ports in the Portuguese colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas, thus giving England their first direct trading rights to tea. 

1663 - The poet and politician Edmund Waller (1606-1687) wrote a poem in honor of Queen Catherine for her birthday crediting her with making tea a fashionable drink amongst courtiers.

       

Afternoon tea (because it was usually taken in the late afternoon) is also called "low tea" because it was usually taken in a sitting room or withdrawing room where low tables (like a coffee table) were placed near sofas or chairs generally in a large withdrawing room. There are three basic types of Afternoon, or Low Tea:

Cream Tea - Tea, scones, jam and cream

Light Tea - Tea, scones and sweets

Full Tea - Tea, savories, scones, sweets and dessert

In England, the traditional time for tea was four or five o'clock and no one stayed after seven o'clock. Most tea rooms today serve tea from three to five o'clock. The menu has also changed from tea, bread, butter and cakes, to include three particular courses served specifically in this order:

Savories - Tiny sandwiches or appetizers

Scones - Served with jam and Devonshire or clotted cream

Pastries - Cakes, cookies, shortbread and sweets

History

While tea dates back almost 5000 years to ancient China, Great Britain was one of the last of the sea-faring nations to be introduced to it. By 1650, Americans were already drinking tea, yet because of the Cromwellian Civil Wars, the first tea sample did not reach England until approximately 1652-1654.

Tea quickly replaced ale as the national drink of England. In 1699, Englishmen were drinking only 40,000 pounds of tea a year. By 1708, the annual average was 240,000 pounds!

Although tea is always associated with the English, and vice versa, the beverage has only been an afternoon habit since about 1840.

By the 1860s, five o'clock became the social ritual for tea, and by 1877, there was even a special costume for it—the tea gown.

It is also necessary to distinguish between 'afternoon' tea and 'high' tea. The difference is bound up by times and forms of meals. Afternoon tea was eaten before an evening dinner--about four o'clock--and was a polite little snack. Afternoon tea usually consisted of cakes, biscuits, bread and butter and tea. The custom began in the 18th century as a way of satisfying people's appetites between meals.

Cake, bread and butter and jam was the usual nursery tea. An iced sponge cake might be served if it was one of the children's birthdays. The parents would join them on this occasion also. Tea in the nursery would be the children's evening meal. Considering tea is such an important part of the British tradition, it requires very little effort to make. Tea leaves, boiling water and five to ten minutes of steeping time is all a good cup of tea requires.

“chá das cinco”

Originário da China, o chá foi introduzido na Europa pelos portugueses no século XVI. Um dos hábitos mais tipicamente britânicos, o "chá das cinco", foi introduzido na corte inglesa por Catarina de Bragança, princesa portuguesa, filha de D. João IV, quando esta casou com Carlos III de Inglaterra. O dote de Catarina deve ter sido um dos mais exóticos e sumptuosos da História: 500 mil libras de ouro, o livre comércio de Inglaterra com as possessões portuguesas na Ásia, em África e nas Américas, a cidade de Bombaim e uma caixa de chá... O dote de Catarina foi determinante para o futuro imperial da Inglaterra e o chá iria mudar para sempre a vida dos seus súbditos, tornando-se um elemento indissociável da sua personalidade e da sua maneira de ser. Ao ritual do "chá das cinco" estão associados os tradicionais scones e a marmalade, esta última também introduzida por Catarina de Bragança.

Texto cedido pela profª Isabel Brandão

Para quem quiser saber muito mais sobre o chá...

DIA MUNDIAL DA CRIANÇA

Muita cor, muita alegria e animação e lá deixámos fugir o balão. Levou as nossas mensagens para onde o vento quis e que forte que ele estava hoje.

Não é preciso muito para vermos uma criança feliz.