Bake-a-Boo Bakery

Where does our food come from and who works with our food? Who works in restaurants and what tools and skills do they need? How can cooking and eating bring us more together? How can children use their burgeoning sense of numbers, letters and inquiry to make better sense of  their community-- through learning about food and restaurants? With these questions in mind, we started this study by going into our own extended ALG community for initial field work.  With a baker, a waiter and a candlestick maker (not really) in our crew we dove headlong into bowls of dough and cups of banana strawberry smoothies as we explored what goes on behind the counter of these local businesses. 

The Red and Blue group went to bake bread at Potter's House, a restaurant and book store that opened its doors in 1960 as the first of several outreach ministries of a local church committed to social justice and service in Washington DC. Baker, Manager, Social Worker and Mom of 3 ALG alums, Meade, guided the children as  they made fresh wheat rolls from scratch. They were eager scientists in the bakery lab adding yeast, honey and warm water and observing with their sight, smell and touch as the yeast became foam.  They toured the restaurant and took note of the setting, the layout and what a good restaurant might need. This trip also dropped a mental anchor for students as we later talked about hunger, sharing and gratitude and how we can act on that gratitude when we feed others.    

The Yellow group went on what some (me) have called the best field trip ever. On a bright sunny day we took a long walk from 16th Street to where Zayan's dad, Aya, works. Tryst Coffee shop welcomed us with a a lovely reserved couch where we cozied up on pillows and surveyed the scene, read books, gave and took food orders and watched and helped prepare some of the food. Did I mention the grown ups got big cups of fresh, hot coffee? The kids then got to go two by two and tour the back with the giant freezers and the mountains of stacked plates and cups. We learned waiters should be polite and have good balance! We also noted how warm and inviting everything looked with its colors, hanging art and flowers on the table. 

We talked about how we could add these elements to our bakery and Rachel, Lucy's mom, helped us make the beautiful flowers and vases you have seen decorating the bakery and school since. Our hands grew stronger as we folded paper into flowers and ripped colorful tissue paper into small pieces and worked with a partner to glue them onto glass mason jars. 

The youngest bunch took a trip to Cake Love owned and operated by Poplar's dad, Warren. Led by Deborah and Warren, they walked about three blocks to the bakery which in two and a half year old terms is like a mile. Children got to go into the kitchen and make apple sauce muffins. Everyone developed their coordination and hand strength as they helped stir the batter and spoon it into cupcake tins. There are often tears for these youngest friends on any given field trip and this time there was tearful clamoring for cupcakes, which of course we can all relate to. In the kitchen, children saw some really big pans and mixing bowls they might have been able to bathe in given the chance. Then a nourishing snack of fresh, hot muffins and a walk and bus back to school. 

With all this field work under our belt, our play began to really take shape. 

Children in both spontaneous free play and in guided play began to create settings and scenarios that reflected and expanded upon their knowledge and experiences. 

We even had the power go out one day at the restaurant because of a Hurricane! There was the Bake-a-Boo Bakery on stage and a restaurant in the back with Pickett and Oran too. At first the food and drink was all pretend as children focused on the skills, tasks and behaviors of customers and workers.  Children practiced working together with patience and flexibility as they brought these restaurants to life. 

From the beginning, older children wanted to write in these plays. Their bodies and brains are ready to write, they have a store of words they know and letters and sounds they can use and so they reached for pencils and paper to use in their play. They were able to immediately draw from their own experiences in restaurants and use writing as an important part of their play.  

    About midway-in to this study, we took a trip back to Potter's house. Thanks to your generosity we collected lots of food for Potter's house's big Thanksgiving meal and we talked with children about folks without family or food and how we could play a small part in helping. Children used math and logical reasoning as they sorted the food into groups and used their writing skills to label the groups. Children then carried the food in bags and we had a nice winter's walk and bus ride back with the 3oclockers.  Of course, we bought some fresh Potter's House rolls and brought them back to share with the other teachers and nappers. 

At the same time, Natasha led the children in reading a simple, sweet picture book about a boy who goes with his Uncle as he volunteers in a soup kitchen and so again we explored the ideas of food and sharing. As we built and played out the story in the block area and also read many versions of the classic Stone Soup and discussed how sometimes through sharing we can all fill our bellies. As our song went, "Stone Soup is what you need, when you have some friends to feed!"     We also had many friends to feed at our Thanksgiving Feast. Children again touched the connection between food and gratitude as they shared their thanks to Melissa who compiled them in a poem and read it at the feast.             

 After playing the stories out with pretend soup, after reading the books many times and having a stone soup puppet show, it was time to cook some up for real. Everyone brought in a vegetable from home and chopped them up and threw 'em in the big soup pot. Soon a delicious veggie soup was simmering nicely. The Red group came in early from the side yard one day and set up the kitchen. They used flowers and table cloths to create an environment that felt special and inviting. They served the soup hot, with bread and butter and everyone got a chance to come and eat together.  We also read, puppeted and played another lovely soup story, Pumpkin Soup. While the soup itself wasn't as tasty, children had the rich experience of reading a story, seeing it in a puppet show, dramatizing it themselves and then the deeply sensory, goopy experience of scooping out a pumpkin and chopping it up. 

                                      

 

After Stone Soup we immersed ourselves, really, into gingerbread.  We took this small, traditional tale and applied it in every area of the class, across many mediums and materials. Of course we read and read the story then we read many versions of the story. We saw puppet a show and then we played it out using puppets and using our bodies to dramatize. With each retelling of the story, with each dramatization, children went deeper into the narration. They were learning how to sequence the events and what characters were and how they moved through that plot sequence. They played with language, singing the refrain and learning about rhyme. 

We of course baked gingerbread and we of course ate it.  Children were in the gingerbread lab, smelling the rich spices and learning about different physical properties as we touched the dry powdery ingredients and the viscous honey and molasses. 

Cooking with all its measuring, scooping, pouring, mixing and stirring are all ways to learn science through our hands, eyes, noses (and eventually mouths!) as we transform disparate powders and goo into a delicious gingerbread kid. 

 

We also made spicy smelling play dough and children again read the tale and then processed that reading by working with their hands. 

Each child was also given the opportunity to work with the story through blocks. Children were guided through a structured building process. First they were invited to observe their own and their friends bodies. We discussed the idea of symmetry--that each side of ourselves is the same: a leg here, a leg there; an eye here, an eye there. We then looked at our bodies in the context of the blocks available. What shapes would make a good head? How might we make a circle out of blocks? (There are half and quarter circles but no whole circles) What shapes might make legs and arms? 

 As our play evolved and became more elaborate, so did our physical play space. All children were given an opportunity to draw goods for our Bake-a-Boo Bakery located on the stage. Older children drew freehanded cakes and pies and even some fresh fruit. Younger children who do not yet create representational art on their own were given blocks and other odds and ends (poker chips!) to assemble and trace into cupcake shakes. When the shelves were filled we began generating a "price list." 

All children were invited to collaborate on the backdrop in a group painting session. Then the blue group laid the groundwork by counting seven categories of food and then deciding based on various attributes (size, yumminess, difficulty to make) which would be the least and the most expensive items and everything in between. Then the blues used simple circle stickers to designate each price, counting in 1 to 1 correspondence from one to seven. The red group finished the job, counting the stickers and writing the corresponding number and word and affixing it to a list.   

Throughout this study, students in aftercare (3 to 6pm) were given opportunities to go deeper into the study through additional cooking and play experiences. 

Honey apple turnovers, fresh cheese pizza and graham cracker houses with fresh berries were just a few of the delicious, healthful snacks children cooked. Small muscles and coordination in hands grew stronger with all the rolling and pinching and pressing and friendships were deepened as children shared a home cooked snack together.  

Even our doll friends came in on the action with an original counting story. These special dolls, called persona dolls, are a safe and gentle way for children to explore difficult issues, both those familiar and unfamiliar. Melissa has imbued each doll with its on unique identity and family history. As the dolls go through their own challenges, like when Freddie has a new baby sister at home, the children are invited to collaborate on solutions and to explore how the stories resonate with them. In this study, we used the dolls and some fabric baked goods that the children had cut and glued to do some serious counting. We remembered how many members each doll had in their family and offered them each a sweet, counting in one to one correspondence.   

At the science table, children spent weeks with Tiffany mastering the art and science and muscle puzzle of dropping vinegar into baking soda. Each child was allowed to work at their own pace and some were frenetic and stayed only a moment or two while others stayed for nearly an hour. As with our cooking projects our scientists in training, carefully mixed and observed the reaction between materials. Hands grew stronger and observations grew keener.  

As our study began to wind down, we began to prepare more explicitly for our culminating experience together--opening the Bake-a-Boo bakery.  To give students, and teachers, some practice we first opened the bakery serving fresh tortillas--much easier to make than gingerbread--and with only the oldest groups acting as waiters--much easier than the youngest (smile).   The waiters were given a lesson in tally marks and made sheets with two columns. They used their beginning letter and sound correspondence to write a "P" for "plain" and a "B" for beans. Listening and math skills abounded as they asked customers their preference and noted the order in the appropriate column with a tally mark.  They delivered the tortillas and thanks were given and smiles were shared. 

Now it was time to close our study with a full bakery play that wove together the many strands we had been exploring and practicing. The week before, red group made menus for the cafe. Using stamps and their own handwriting they crafted menus that were informative and pleasing to they eye! Brightly colored pictures of the different tea options and paper collage adorned the menus and in the communal spirit they were to be used by all in the cafe.  The day before, we made a made a fresh batch of gingerbread and the day of, we gathered all of our tools: aprons, notepads, tea cups, saucers and of course, the tea and gingerbread. Children set the tables with tablecloths and the tissue paper vases and flowers and our first costumers were invited to come to Bake-a-Boo. 

   Older children first served the younger children and then we switched.  Younger children were very inspired by all the writing and were eager to get their hands on the little pads and pencils. They dutifully wrote their pre-letter loops and curls as they confirmed that writing is purposeful and that marks on paper can contain units of speech and thought.  And both readers and pre-readers alike were able to use the menus to make meaning from the words and pictures.   There were lessons in coordination and patience (and in adults trying to let go) as children poured and served the tea.   We discussed the importance of courtesy and empathy as we asked for, gave and received food. And we used our math skills as we gave the orders in one to one correspondence--for each one child, one cup of tea and one piece of gingerbread.

It wouldn't be ALG (or life) without a challenge to surmount and ours came in the form of rats. Welcome to the city folks. With only two days left before vacation, a rat, previously mentioned as an elf,  stole and ate all of our last homemade gingerbread--nearly forty pieces! We regrouped and rebounded the last day before vacation with some Molasses gingerbread from the store and Bake-a-Boo lived to play out its last day. 

 When the last crumb was eaten (by children), the last drop of tea poured and sipped,  the tables scoured clean, it was time to close Bake-a-Boo. Children who had worked so hard in building the bakery, now helped to unbuild it. They carefully took down the paper and distributed the drawings to their original artist. We took down the props and returned them to the office and the stage was a blank slate. Ready for our next study when we returned from vacation. 

A good time was had by all and we hope after this study we may all have a little more consideration for the people and places that bring us food and a deeper understanding of all the skills needed to both serve and even eat food.  Along the way there were problems to solve, sharing to happen, gratitude to foster and reading, writing, math and science. And of course, being ALG, playfulness, silliness and old fashioned JOY! And that my friends is the real secret ingredient.