Party Planners: In Search of an Oven

Checking-up on our New Lead

On Monday, September 11, the group met again to check out their new oven lead. This time TR joined the group in their search. In a letter from Ms. Brooks, the children were advised to check the C.E. house for an oven. As the children entered the C.E. house, they walked right past the kitchen area that is directly in front of the door and straight into our C.E. classroom. They carefully scanned the classroom and even entered the bathroom for a thorough look. After realizing that there was no oven in that room, they walked out, spotting the kitchen. In the kitchen, the group carefully opened each cupboard in search of the mystery oven. After a few minutes of checking and rechecking, the group determined that there was no oven in this house, so they decided to write back to Ms. Brooks. In their letter they wrote:

"Dear Ms. Brooks,
We can’t see the oven. Can you help us find it?"

The group then walked the letter up to the office and dropped it off in Ms. Brooks’ mailbox.

Another Disappointment

On Friday, September 15, the group met again to read another note from Ms. Brooks. She wrote:

"Dear Party Group,
Miss Rivera told me the oven used to be there, but they took it out for safety.
Good Luck,
Ms. Brooks"

The children discussed the meaning of safety, which Ms. Brooks had mentioned in her letter, and reassured Ms. Leigh that they would be safe with the oven. Ms. Leigh explained to the children that she understood that they would be safe, but the school had decided to move it for other safety reasons. This still did not satisfy the children’s expectation about the oven being in the C.E. house. The children insisted that they check the house again. They searched the CE classroom and the kitchen with no luck one more time.

BW: “We need to find Ms. Brooks.”
TR: “We’ll write her a note.”
Ms. Leigh: “What should our note say?”

"Dear Ms. Brooks,
Can you please put the oven back?"

That day, RB decided to join the group to write a letter back to Ms. Brooks. After all the notes were written, the group made their way up to the office. After reading all the names on the mailboxes, BW spotted the one that says “Ms. Brooks.” Each member of the group placed their letter into her box, and we walked back to the classroom.

More than cake-making

As teachers, we follow the lead of the children with careful observation, but sometimes don’t realize the hidden messages the children are trying to share with us. It is through respectful and thoughtful reflection with other teachers that we are able to see things we may have missed earlier. As a group, the teachers and Mrs. Hussey discussed the adventures the Party Planners were experiencing and conversed about the use of letter-writing and future possibilities. We understand that the children are very interested in finding an oven and baking a cake for Ms. Leigh’s fifth birthday, but we can now clearly see that this experience is so much more than cake-making. The children have been meeting in their small group twice a week since the beginning of September. During these meetings, the children have already written three letters to other teachers as they figure out ways to solve their problems. These letter-writings are a great way to promote literacy and language, but they have also become a huge part of this small group’s project. The group has now accepted the idea of letter-writing as a way to communicate with others outside our classroom. In our latest letter from Ms. Brooks(not yet shared with the children), she suggests the use of President Joe Rice’s house and oven. The teachers and Mrs. Hussey all agree that a possible next plan would be to write to the President and his wife about using their oven.

Posted on September 23, 2006 6:47 PM | Permalink