Party Planners: It's almost party time

The Unicorn Game and Letters Home

The excitement for the party is growing as the Party Planners finalize the details for the party. On Monday, April 9, the group glued their unicorn picture onto cardboard and found shapes they wanted to cut out of the cardboard.

The cut-out shapes will be the holes for the balls to go through for their game. As the Party Planners searched the classroom for different-shaped materials, they needed to keep in mind the size of the ball. When they found their materials, they placed them on the unicorn picture, making sure not to touch the unicorn itself. They then traced their shapes so that Ms. Leigh could cut them out with a sharp blade.

As Ms. Leigh cut the shapes out, the girls took it upon themselves to document this process by taking pictures.

Once the shapes were cut out, the girls used the leftover cardboard to create a stand. They took turns ripping and cutting masking tape to connect their stand.

As a couple of the girls struggled with the scissors and tape, the other girls jumped in to help their friends. Over the past few months, the girls have established a relationship built on mutual respect and trust. They consider themselves part of a group of individuals who work together for a common goal. By watching the Party Planners continuously help their friends in need by sharing their expertise and knowledge, the teachers have been able to document their high level of independence as individuals and as a group.

After the game was completed, the group headed to the computer with Ms. Leigh. Ms. Leigh typed as the girls told her what they wanted to say in a letter to their parents. In this letter, the girls informed their parents of their upcoming field trip to Safeway to buy groceries and other materials for the party.

The Trip to Safeway

On Monday, April 16, the Party Planners left on the city bus for Manoa Safeway. After looking at a map, the group found the specific bus stop and knew which bus to catch. The Party Planners, including Ms. Leigh and Ms. Laura, arrived at the bus stop on time, but missed the bus because it was a few minutes early. As the group waited for the next bus, EC taught the other girls and the teachers how to do a simple dance move. BW also shared her interest in dancing by talking about the dance classes she had just begun taking. Though they were all having fun dancing and chatting at the bus stop, they were also very anxious to get to Safeway. The group began to talk about how long it would take to get there.
KO: "Is it going to be long to go there?"
BW: "It’s going to be fast."
RB: "Unless there’s traffic."
BW: "I hope there’s not traffic."
Soon after that, the city bus arrived. The girls and the teachers boarded the bus for the short three-minute ride to Safeway.

Once the group arrived at Safeway, they headed straight to the cookie aisle, where they ran into Ms. Leigh’s mom. After a short introduction, Ms. Leigh’s mom left, leaving the group to their tasks. In the cookie aisle, the girls marveled at the different types of cookies. After a short discussion, they decided that the small prepackaged bags would be perfect for our pinata. RB knew that we needed 33 bags, but couldn’t figure out how many boxes of 12 cookies we would need. With Ms. Leigh’s help, the group figured out that they would need three boxes and that there would be a few extra. The girls quickly grabbed three boxes and put them into the basket that BW was carrying. Though it looked a little heavy, BW insisted on carrying it by herself. A few aisles over, the girls found the candles and brown paper bags. Knowing that there was no room in the basket, the other girls decided to carry them in their hands. The Party Planners then made their way to the check-out stand and paid for their groceries.

The actual shopping experience was very short, but filled with much perseverance and cooperation. BW's insistence in carrying the basket led to the other children’s eagerness to carry all their groceries without the teacher’s help. They also showed much maturity as they offered help to each other and thanked each other when the help was offered. The teachers heard: "I can carry the basket if you want," "I’ll hold one side so it’s not too heavy," and "Thank you for showing me where the bags were." The internally motivating respect for each other and the task at hand has given this group of children an opportunity to work cooperatively with pride, confidence, and determination.

Stuffing our Pinata

On Wednesday, April 18, the Party Planners met to stuff their pinata. As each member of the group took a turn shoving the package of cookies into the pinata, KO decided that because Ms. Leigh needed to hold the unicorn pinata during the stuffing, she would document this part of the process. She picked up Ms. Leigh’s camera and began taking pictures of Ms. Leigh and the girls as they filled the pinata with cookies.

Though documenting with pictures and words is not part of the actual party planning, each child in the class knows the importance of the teacher’s job of documenting. Every day the children observe teachers writing children’s words, taking pictures, and observing the children at work. By imitating a teacher, KO is expressing her understanding of a teacher’s role and making sense of her world at school. In many cases, when you see older children playing school, you see them up at the chalkboard talking to the children. In our preschool, the children are observed playing school by writing on clipboards or taking pictures. By allowing the children to dramatize familiar roles such as mom, dogs, and teachers, we are encouraging them to develop their creativity and imagination, express feelings, emotions, and ideas, understand and experience the adult world through imitation, and experience a sense of power through different roles.

The Goodie Bag Count

On Wednesday, April 25, BW requested that the group meet so that they could finish up the last few details for their party. At this meeting, the group glued their black and white unicorn pictures onto their brown paper goodie bags. EC and RB began by counting out 33 bags, while KO and BW dotted the unicorn pictures with glue. At first, EC and RB struggled with their count as they counted separately but into the same pile. After a little discussion and negotiation, the girls came up with their own plan to count the packages. EC passed the bags to RB as she counted each and placed them into a pile. Once the bags were counted, the cooperation continued. BW and KO passed their glued unicorn pictures to EC and RB so that they could place it onto the bags. The girls continued this until all 33 bags were done. Ms. Leigh then asked the girls to make piles of ten. Before counting the piles, Ms. Leigh had the girls practice counting by tens to one hundred. Once comfortable with their counting, the Party Planners counted their piles. They reached 30, then added three more to make 33.

As in their other meetings, the teachers observed the group’s high level of respect for each other. As KO struggled with her glue, she grabbed another bottle. As she was testing her second bottle, BW asked "Is that one much easier? Cause you could borrow mine." On the other side of the table, EC noticed that RB could not reach the bags and decided to pass some bags to her. RB responded, "Thanks for passing it to me; I couldn’t reach it." The consideration towards each other shown through intentional actions or polite words continues to surprise and amaze the teachers. They have become great role models for their peers and their teachers.

Posted on May 1, 2007 2:23 PM | Permalink