When a garden gives you tomatoes and peppers...Part 1

In early September, our Kindergarten Salsa Garden beckoned us to explore. The lush green leaves hid ripening tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. A tower of beautiful "sunrise" honeysuckle bloomed fragrantly nearby. A stepping stone path that began at the gate ended on the far side of the garden where the fragrance of chive, basil, oregano, cilantro, parsley, and mint filled the air. What we found in the Kindergarten Salsa Garden inspired our first Kinder Cooks project. We found a recipe for salsa in our Mexican cook book and got to work!

Kindergartners picked the vegetables...


...washed the vegetables...

...became curious about the seeds found the tomatoes and the peppers...

...practiced safe knife handling techniques with plastic table knives and cutting boards using the "one finger pointing" over the top of the table knife and the "helping hand" with a firm tripod grip....

...encountered challenges and problem-solved with peers...

...experienced how it feels to take turns and be included...

...and how delicious snack can be when you make it with friends!

One scoop at a time!

Two kindergartners are playing on the stage in our classroom. "I am the Monarch!" says one. "But I am, too!" says the other. Indeed, I noted, both are wearing Monarch wings. "Let's go to the Ice Cream Cone and solve our problem!" suggests the first. "Ok, yeah, let's go talk about the problem," agrees the second.

With wings folded behind their shoulders, the kindergartners sit face to face on the red-cushioned benches in our peacemaking place. A friend nearby goes to find the Peacemaker and calls her over (the Peacemaker role is one of our "Helping Hands" classroom jobs). The kindergartners starts talking about the problem. Turns out, both children who are dressed up in butterfly wings were invested in playing the part of the same monarch butterfly in the story Gotta Go! Gotta Go! (Though the story features two Monarchs in speaking roles, I realize as I listen to their conversation that the children forgot about about the other Monarch role!)

In kindergarten, the Ice Cream Cone Peacemaking Place is the place in our classroom that we go to solve problems. In the peacemaking area there are two benches for kindergartners to sit face to face and a laminated ice cream cone hanging between the cushioned seats. The visual image of the ice cream cone provides support like a scaffold for children engaged in the process of solving a problem. They begin with the cone, work through four layers of ice cream, and finish with the cherry on top. The cone and each additional layer are individual pieces of paper that can be taken apart and assembled one scoop at a time as the children work through the problem. From the cone to the cherry on top the children: Talk about the problem. Agree to listen. Share your feelings. Dream of solutions. Agree on a strategy. Try it!

Children who use the Ice Cream Cone Peacemaking place often have the help of the Peacemaker who is on call to help in whatever way he/she is able to do so. Children who use the ice cream cone demonstrate a readiness for the cognitive work of problem-solving. A kindergartner may need to use the reserved space of two Comfort Zone areas prior to coming to the Ice Cream Cone. In the Comfort Zone areas, a kindergarten will find support for managing strong emotions with the help of a teacher.

At the ice cream cone today, each kindergartner takes a turn to talk about the problem from his/her own perspective and hears how the problem is experienced by the other. They acknowledge that they are listening to one another and that they are willing to continue doing so. They take turns describing how they are feeling about being a Monarch in the play. They find out they share a common interest and similar feelings! They move forward and begin thinking about ways of solving the problem. They remember that all kinds of ideas are welcome at this step and that peers and teachers can help if they get stuck.

“Let’s use the book Gotta Go! Gotta Go! to help us, " one kindergartner suggests. The children flip through the book and discover an illustration of the “Monarch in Mexico.” The butterfly was on a tree with "millions of other monarchs." Aha! Now the children remember that there was indeed other Monarchs in the story.

The kindergartners refer to the ice cream cone poster again. "We're here," says one kindergartner pointing. "Agree on a strategy and then...try it!" says the Peacemaker. "If you are the Monarch in Meadow, I’ll be one of the Monarchs in Mexico,” one kindergartner says. “Okay!” says the other smiling. The three children head back to the stage together, the Peacemaker declaring her interest in joining in and being the Stage Manager.

In kindergarten, we learn about the ice cream cone in meaningful ways as we become friends. Sometimes we have problems that need to be resolved. Learning to figure things out together is a hallmark of the kindergarten experience. It is very helpful to have a picture of the ice cream cone nearby to refer to if we forget what to do when we have a problem to solve. A peaceful problem-solving place helps with all kinds of situations that arise in kindergarten. If you ever wonder how we do it, just remember, we take it one scoop at a time and then we give it a try again!

The Play

She glided down toward a Monarch who was awake. "Hola!" he said, "Welcome to Mexico! Are you tired?" "Yes, I am tired. Mexico was thousands of miles away!" she replied.

The two butterflies nestled together on the branches of the oyamel fir tree. They slept all winter long.

After falling in love with a "teeny tiny, creepy crawly bug" from Gotta Go! Gotta Go! (an endearing, uplifting children's book about the journey of a Monarch caterpillar to Mexico by Sam Swope and Sue Riddle) kindergartners began talking about making it into a play. After listening to the story several times, one kindergartner began interviewing classmates and making a list of who wanted to be in the play and what part each friend wanted to be. By the end of cooperative play time that morning, several children were working with him, each making a list of potential actors and actresses for "the egg," "the chrysalis," and "the butterfly."

Over the next few weeks, children took the lead and worked on "The Play" during their free time. The cooperative project took root and blossomed. The character lists for The Play grew as other children joined in and more roles were realized; the book became a useful research tool as children figured out what additional characters they needed to act out the story. They quickly noticed they had forgotten about the role of "the caterpillar" and that there were really two Monarchs in the story, one in the meadow, one in Mexico. One kindergartner went through the book page by page checking to be sure no character had been missed. Aha! Sure enough! The grasshopper, ant, and blue bird had been forgotten. The oversight was quickly adjusted.

The children found they were having a difficult time figuring out what to do about the egg in the story. Would someone actually be the egg? No, that wouldn't work. Caterpillar eggs are very tiny. Would the caterpillar crawl out of a box decorated like an egg? Hmmm...maybe. After much brainstorming, it was decided that the caterpillar egg would be represented by a pretend egg we have in the housekeeping corner. After an agreement had been reached about the egg, thoughts turned to the other characters: what costumes would characters need in their roles as caterpillar, ant, grasshopper, bird, chrysalis, and butterfly?

A prop and costume box was added to the new theater corner (previously the block area) and based on the children's ideas, I added things to it over the next few weeks. One day we designed a wooden stage by piecing together the large wooden blocks; the idea stuck and weeks later grew to incorporate additional blocks that made the stage wider and deeper. We painted colorful murals for the walls in the theater corner and threaded and "crushed" petals for a bouquet of flowers to decorate the stage. Kindergartners invented an area behind the block shelf for actors and actresses to wait for their turns on stage. "Back stage" actors and actresses soon realized they needed help knowing when to take their places on stage; the idea of "stage manager" came naturally into being.

While some kindergartners invented their words based on the story as they remembered it, others requested the help of a "story reader" so "we can know what to do and what to say." I was invited to take the role as The Play's first Narrator/Director and with members of the "audience" that gathered that day, used the text as a guide for stage direction, spoken words, and narration.

Once we had to stop the play and consult the problem-solving directions at the Ice Cream Cone to figure out how our two monarchs would share the part of Monarchs in the play. Using the text, we found out that while one Monarch flies to Mexico in the story, he/she joins millions of other Monarchs in the mountains of Mexico where the second Monarch is featured in the story with a speaking part. Happily, our two monarchs returned to the stage and brought their individual roles to life beautifully! (See blog entry called "One scoop at a time")

On December 6, after several conversations with another kindergartner about how to further develop the theater corner so it would feel like a real stage, two lime-green curtains were installed on a hollow bamboo pole and two rows of chairs for audience members were set up opposite the stage. Every day during Cooperative Play, kindergartners clip their names to the choice area called "The Play."

They role-play. They dream. They become what they dream. They search for language that expresses their dreams. They negotiate and compromise with other dreamers. They take turns. They laugh. They try things one way and re-invent them another way a minute later. They keep trying, even when it's difficult (all dreamers are motivated by their dreams, you see.) They get frustrated by the clash of ideas. They are empowered in capes, goggles, and spray-painted wings. One beloved story, five fabric covered wire flowers, two huge plastic leaves, and one wooden egg you see, is really all it takes to "set the stage" for building community when you're 5 and 6 years old.

A few months ago an adult who heard about this project asked me "So, when's the play?" I smiled and felt my heart flutter with excitement, "I suppose it's today and every day," I replied, "Only the children know for sure."