Si se puede! Yes we can!

Well we have had a lovely time learning about the workers in our neighborhood: the firefighters, the musicians, the bakers, the restaurant workers, the letter carriers and more. We closed our study with a little exploration on worker's rights and, for the oldest children, a play dealing with Mother Jones and a brief history of child labor in the United States. Heavy stuff made appropiate and accesible by our gifted Melissa through books, songs, puppetry, blocks and dramatic play.

We opened the worker's rights study with some readings of the picture books Si Se Puede and Side by Side. Si se puede is a stoty told from a young boy's point of view of his mother's life as an office janitor and her decision to be part of the big Janitor Strike; Side by Side chronicles Cesar Chavez's work organizing farm workers. Then Melissa did a puppet show for the three o'clockers dramatizing the union song "The Banks are Made of Marble" using materials from our very own block area.     

"I've traveled 'round this country

from shore to shining shore

It really made me wonder

the things I heard and saw

I saw the weary farmer

plowing sod and loam

l heard the auction hammer

just a-knocking down his home

But the banks are made of marble

with a guard at every door

and the vaults are stuffed with silver

that the farmer sweated for

I've seen the weary miner

scrubbing coal dust from his back

I heard his children cryin'

"Got no coal to heat the shack"

But the banks are made of marble

with a guard at every door

and the vaults are stuffed with silver

that the miner sweated for

I've seen my brothers working

throughout this mighty land

l prayed we'd get together

and together make a stand

Then we might own those banks of marble

with a guard at every door

and we might share those vaults of silver

that we have sweated for

 A few days later, we took aside the oldest group, Red,  to further explore some of these ideas of labor and equity. We talked about how many years ago when parents were unable to earn enough to take care of their families, children had to work. We looked at some stark and stunning images of children working and talked about the back breaking and dangerous conditions. We focused on farm work  reaping cotton and beets; "breaker boys" who sorted coal in the mines and children working in sewing mills.

Teachers set up a series of simple tableaux using blocks and fabric which depicted different work scenes.

Here is cotton growing in the fields.

As children played out these scenes not only did they gain access to complex ideas about economy, society and family but through these rich dramatic plays they strengthened their social skills by working together, communicating ideas and listening. In taking on pretend roles and using imaginary objects they engaged in deep self regulation as they restricted thier impulses to be part of this imaginary world and they engaged in creative and symbolic thought.   

For each work scene, Melissa wrote a chant for the children, e.g. "Lifting this cotton in a heavy sack, we're too small, they hurt our backs! These simple rhymes gave children a sense of the difficulties children underwent as well as gave them a rich language experience with poetic expression, rhymes and new vocabulary. Here they are lopping off the tops of beets with 'sharp tools.' And then they were "breaker boys" having to bend over and sort coal from a moving belt.

Those work conditions were dangerous! The children would pretend to get hurt lopping the tops off of beets with a sharp knife or sticking thier hands in a sewing machine to change a needle and the heartless bosses (played by the teachers with relish!) would tell the children to keep working. Then we did some reading and talking about Mother Jones and her march for children's rights.

Earlier a co-oper helped the children write signs based on the signs held by mill-working children on thier march with Mother Jones. Children practiced thier letters and sounds as they worked to craft these signs.

We ended the play with children marching and taking turns carrying signs. We chanted, "We want to play!" and "We want to go to school!" Our protest was successful! Afterwards the children were able to return to play in our lovely, little school!

As we say goodbye to a spirited study which took us to workers in our neighborhood both present and past, we look forward to returning to school in January. It will be lights out as we commence a study on Nighttime. From the stars in the sky to nocturnal friends likes owls and racoons to much anticipated pajama days, good and cozy times are ahead. Thank you to everyone who helped out with our Neighborhood study and we will see you soon for some star gazing. Love, ALG