The journey of bread
“Why does bread rise?”
Autumn term 2025–2026Year 310 weeks
For ten weeks Year 3 looked at a single question: they sowed wheat, visited a mill, watched yeast under a magnifier, baked their own bread and opened an exhibition for their families at the end of term.
The project started at breakfast: a pupil asked where the holes inside bread come from. The class wrote the question on the board and followed it for ten weeks.
In the first weeks we separated what we knew from what we wondered. Then we sowed wheat in the garden, visited a stone mill near Bursa and measured the bubbles in yeasted water with a ruler. In Turkish lessons we wrote up our interview with the miller; in maths we doubled and halved recipes.
At the end of term every child baked their own loaf and explained it to their family at the exhibition. In spring we harvested the wheat we had sown and tried making flour in the kitchen.
Week by week
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Question Week 1
Why does bread rise?
At breakfast Arda looked at the holes inside the bread and asked. We wrote the question on the board; by the afternoon everyone had a guess: "There is air inside", "The oven puffs it up", "The flour foams".
— Gülşen Oral -
Question Week 2
What we know, what we wonder
We split the board in two. On the left we pinned what we knew, on the right our questions. The right side filled up in two days; the question repeated most: "Where does bread come from?"
— Kaan Tekin -
Research Week 3
Seeds in the soil
We sowed wheat in the garden bed. Everyone measured the depth of their row with a finger: two knuckles deep. They are betting who will see a shoot first next week.
— Kaan Tekin -
Research Week 4
Trip to the mill
We went to the stone mill near Bursa. The miller Hasan showed us flour in his palm; what surprised the children most was how slowly the stone turned. On the bus back we listened to the interview again.
— Gülşen Oral -
Research Week 5
The bubbles of yeast
We put warm water, sugar and yeast into four jars; one got no sugar. We measured the foam height every ten minutes with a ruler and plotted it. The jar without sugar hardly rose at all.
— Kaan Tekin -
Research Week 6
Where does flour come from?
On a map of Türkiye we marked the provinces where most wheat is grown. We asked why Konya was so red; the children researched the answer at home before the next lesson.
— Gülşen Oral -
Making Week 7
Kneading dough
The first dough in the kitchen workshop. The recipe had to be doubled; we checked the amounts we had calculated in maths on the scales. The dough stuck, nobody gave up.
— Aynur Bal -
Making Week 8
Our own bread
Everyone scored a pattern on top of their loaf; when they came out of the oven the patterns were still there. We cut them open, looked at the holes and re-read the guesses from week one.
— Aynur Bal -
Making Week 9
Getting the exhibition ready
For the exhibition we made bread baskets and bowls from clay and shared out the boards. Each group tried to fit what they would explain into a two-minute talk.
— Gülşen Oral -
Exhibition Week 10
Families in class
Forty-two families came to the exhibition. Children stood in front of their own boards and explained yeast, the mill and the dough. This time it was the children who answered the most asked question.
— Gülşen Oral
Other projects
Come and sit in one of our classes one morning.
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