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. 

ALG Block Building Through the Years

As a play-based pre-school, ALG teachers are always positing, “how can this material be used to extend children’s play?”  Block building has become one of our favorite tools at ALG, because their use is literally endless and any age or skill level can engage in block play.  "Play may be seen as the child's substitute for adult musing, contemplation, hypothesizing, meandering among ideas and experiences.” (Cuffaro, Harriet. Dramaric Play: The Experience of Block Building) Play is more than what children do, it is how they are, how they think and how they make sense of the world and blocks can be a big part of that sense making.

Materials: When I first came to ALG in 2006, everywhere I looked children were busily playing. I once watched two four-year olds spin a play for themselves for almost two hours with a piece of string and some top knotch imagination and social skill.  But, what they weren’t doing is playing with blocks.  ALG only owned only one small set of unit blocks. With a graduate school course in early childhood block building (yes there is such a thing) freshly under my belt, I asked if we could buy some more blocks and by more I meant a ton. Several weeks, an enormous box and some repurposed old, red cubbies later, we set out on our new adventures in block building. We were ready! We had materials and knowledge--I knew demarcating an individual's block building space encourages focus and solves crowding problems, so I gave the children towels to build on which they used (of course) on top of the carpet. Clearly, our practice needed some fine-tuning....we needed to discover that towels on top of carpet isn’t exactly a stable building surface for block building!  But this is part of the beauty of ALG; we teachers try to reflect on our work and constantly look for ways to strengthen our practice. This is a nice way of saying we try and fail all the time and then try something different. (smile)

As we continued to settle in to that first year of more extended block building, I began yearning for another material I had learned about: hollow blocks. Hollow blocks are large wooden blocks, light enough for children to manage, large enough to be the setting for dramatic play. In my block book there were even plans for how to make them yourself. But, who could possibly have the set up, the materials, the time and the disposition to construct blocks? Enter Mark and Susie, an amazing pair of parents who are architects and builders and were more than happy to make the blocks for us.  Mark even brought the whole set up to school one day so that the children could learn how they were made and get to help make them themselves. Children got to cut, to sand, to shop vac! It was an incredible experience to help build those blocks

After a vision, a massive parent undertaking, and a ton of wood and sawdust, here we were with a set of awesome, custom made, hollow blocks. Let the play begin! Come on kids. Play!

Well, there was a lot of playing with blocks that year but it was exploratory; lots of carrying around, stacking and unstacking and the beginnings of dramatic play with kids making a bed, a house.  

Again it was thru slowing down, thru planning and reflection that teachers helped guide the children to a deeper, more sustained hollow block play. By the end of last year children and teachers were using the hollow blocks to create elaborate stages and sets for our dramatic play.

This year, the hollow blocks were introduced later, after children had played with the unit blocks and explored the many joys they bring.  By November, this year’s class was ready to scale up and play with the hollow blocks! There has been a lot of dramatic play (gardens, firehouses, etc)

COGNITIVE & SOCIAL BENEFITS: There are many cognitive and social benefits to block building.  Children have many opportunities to solve different types of problems. They encounter structural building problems, e.g. How can I balance this block here? Why does this bridge keep falling? Sovially, they have to figure out how to negotiate space and materials.

MATHEMATICS: Children grapple with mathematical problems, learning their shapes and their relationship to one another.  They explore what to do if there are no more long rectangles left and they need to complete a square. They learn balance and symmetry. Mathematical thinking is of course embedded in unit blocks. Two unit squares make a small rectangle, two small rectangles make a large rectangle, two triangles make a unit square, etc. So as children build they are experiencing these mathematical relationships. Unit blocks are designed in precise mathematical relationships to each other so that children engage in logic and mathematical thinking as they suss out part to whole relationships. They explore ideas of shape, size, weight, height and more abstract ideas like equivalencies and substitution all with their primary learning system—their physical bodies! As children gain experience they begin to work a lot with ideas of symmetry, pattern, repetition and variation. 

"It is easy for us teachers to point out how buildings can be made more stable, but learning thru problem solving will have more depth if children discover solutions for themselves. Wise questioning promotes better learning than showing how." Creative Curriculum.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Blocks have a rich potential in social studies as well. One year, during a study on workers in our neighborhood, children were guided through a social studies experience through songs, books and dramatic play with blocks, that explored child labor in the early 1900s. 

This year, children built homes during our early days of studying family. We built many fire stations that demonstrated the children's understanding of the life and responsibilities of firefighters and fires safety.

LITERACY: Melissa and Deborah have taken the lead on using blocks as literacy materials. Already rich in language opportunity through collaborative play, Melissa and Deborah took the language and literacy element much further with actually using blocks to recreate stories, songs and dramatic plays and build settings.

One year during a study on Nighttime, children read the story Where the Wild Things are about one million times and then played it out through a range of materials: hollow blocks, puppets, themselves as actors, unit blocks etc.

As children play with blocks they build those literacy skills of narration, of understanding plot, character and setting. Sometimes they even focus on the formation of letters and use the blocks the make the shapes of the letters themselves.

At other times they write signs and labels for their constructions. Here a carwash has the sign "NTR" which means "Enter". Again children have experiences, either going somewhere (a carwash) or reading a story or seeing their name written and then they get to process and assimilate that experience into themselves through play.

"Another question much pondered, is what supplementary materials best suit block play. Here Caroline Pratt [inventor of the modern unit block] was an absolute purist. No reason to provide a car, an animal, or a truck when the child could improvise or make a crude replica of a needed object, said she. In fact, one deep virtue for her in this material was the way it led children to creativity with other materials...Supplementary materials therefore should be adaptable to a variety of uses --cloth, bits of wire or hose, or oddly shaped pieces of wood, the springs of an old clock or whatever the ingenuity of the teacher brought to the class to stimulate the imagination toward an original solution of a problem in the children's construction." (Winsor, Charlotte. Blocks as a Material for Learning Through Play). Here children used old marker cap tops to decorate a castle. 

SOCIAL: The social piece of block play is complicated to master. While the youngest children tend to just carry one or two blocks around by themselves or even tussle over materials, as children gain maturity and experience, block building can be a deeply challenging and satisfying group experience. Children need a lot of social skills to initiate, enter and sustain a group block play.

Likewise, it can be very satisfying for children to work on their own. To have a vision and then execute it; to work at their own pace, in the manner of their own choosing. Building on your own is also nice to experience.

As our block building as individuals and as a school continues to grow and change, this year we feel we have reached a good structure that works for these groups of kids (subject to change of course!) Last year, Natasha cultivated focused block play by converting (or as Jose would say, hijacking) the lego table and demarcating it with colored masking tape. Natasha also began requiring the children to plan what they were going to plan through drawing and discussion; then build; and then, at least with the older children, reflect on their buildings and share them with each other. The buildings and thinking behind them were, and are, amazing. Children build with such sustained attention and energy.This summer, Natasha hand build the special low block building tables that are now the centerpiece of the block area.

We use a story related the theme, e.g. Fireman Small or Little Red Hen and after reading the story, we identify the important settings and characters. We use magnetic letters or pictures to record the spaces to be built, ie. h for house and then children get to choose who they want to be and the setting they want to build. They can choose to work together or apart and then they build and then they play. Not all groups move through this full process each time in the block area and this structure looks different with the different ages. When we were first learning about where food comes from, younger children sang old Macdonald and played with farm blocks. The yellow group read the Little Red Hen and used big blocks to construct a set and play out the story. And the blue and red group, read the story and then planned their building through discussion and drawing before building and playing.

BRINGING IT HOME: To encourage block building at home, you can buy a simple set of wooden table top blocks or make your own out of washed, cut and taped cardboard milk and juice boxes or sanded remnants from logs. Little plastic or wood people and animals and fabric scraps make great props. Play out a familiar story like The Three Little Pigs or try building a restaurant or firehouse. Have fun! You know renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright loved playing with wooden unit blocks when he was a child. Your children are in very good block playing company. Love, ALG

Hurry, Hurry!

What a great study of fire safety we have had this year at ALG. We have ridden in many fire trucks, both real and pretend; we have chopped the doors down and we have saved and tended to babies big and small.

As in all studies, we start with a little gentle information gathering to see what children already know about the topic. We sing songs, read books and ask children questions on the topic. Here, and throughout any study, there is great variety of quantity and depth of knowledge. The oldest children were able to draw upon past experiences and make clear connections to further their understanding; "Last year, I remember the firetruck left in the middle of our trip. That happens because you never know when there is an emergency for them to go and help." The red group was also able to generate more complex questions to ponder like, "Why does smoke always go up?" The oldest children wrote and illustrated a book about life in the firehouse and shared it with the whole school.  Some of the youngest children, on the other hand, simply said, "Firetruck." in response to any question. Each child is encouraged to make meaning and to explore the topic through the materials and experiences appropriate for them. All children can represent their experiences with fire safety. The oldest children are able to draw accurate pictures and write words to represent their experience and the youngest children talk, sing and engage in simple dramatic play. The middle children have a foot and both worlds and while many are not yet writing (nor should they be!) their dramatic play and block building represent their increasingly complex thoughts, language and motor skills. Each group has had an extended play experience with the book Fireman Small. The Blue group read the book and the reconstructed the various settings out of blocks and played the story. Here Andrea and Warona work on a scene with the rabbit falling down the well. As always the meta skills at play here are the real drivers of the work going on: children are learning to share space and materials, to exchange ideas, communicate clearly, take turns, execute a vision, and more! Those habits of mind are the meat of our work here at school. 

Soon we moved into the next phase of our study: investigation. Here we continued to read books, engage in dramatic play and sing songs to generate knowledge. We also engaged in two kinds of fieldwork. One was our trip to the firehouse. Here we got to meet real firefighters, see the beloved red fire engines and learn more about how to keep ourselves safe in a fire and what life in the firehouse is like. Our young purples had an extra special trip where the firefighters actually brought out the hose and squirted the street! It was pretty fabulous but not quite enough to appease the half that were crying. Next year those children will have another chance to encounter the same firehouse with their nearly four year old selves and they will forge a new experience. Also for fieldwork, we were able to interview our very own ALG FireFighter: Rachel Henighan! She regaled us with tales of firefighting and how she would have to spring into action every time the loud bell rung. We also got to investigate with genuine artifacts as we tried on her hemet and coat. Later the children also took a walk around our neighborhood searching for fire hydrants. We brought our own rope hose and fabric fire and children were able to play out again and again saving the day using tools like the real firefighters.

After all these experiences, it was then time to synthesize and represent our learnings in the final stage of the study: representation. Children were given many opportunities to talk about their experiences and to represent them through discussions, drawings, writing, block building and dramatic play.  All groups wrote thank-you cards to the firefighters we had visited and once again got to talk about their experience there. Blocks are an especially rich material and children got many opportunities to work in the block area representing their ideas and experiences.  Children drew upon their fieldwork and books and songs to build a firehouse of our own. Teachers facilitated the building by posing questions and problems for the children to tackle; "Where do the firefighters eat? How do they cook their food?" And yes, even firefighters need to use the bathroom! One child built a garage for a fire truck but left no opening. "How will the truck get out?" asked a teacher and the child spent the next chunk of time redesigning their garage with a door and a ramp. 

In block play children are learning how to tackle problems through planning, trial and error and constructing flexible solutions. 

At ALG we are developing a unique approach to representation through dramatic play. Children are able to demonstrate their knowledge and skills as the play out different scenarios: rescue, life in the firehouse, etc.  For our final formal play on fire safety, the three o'clockers again played out Fireman Small. Repetition is key to learning here, as any parent knows having read the same picture book one million times; each experience brings a new and different layer to the learning. After first using unit blocks to play out Fireman Small, we brought out our large hollow blocks from hiding and children designed the various settings in the story.  After reading the book again, children were guided to use letters and numbers to represent an outline of the story and to delineate the different settings we would need to build.  Then children split into smaller groups and each group built a different setting and got the props needed for their character. In every building there are so many opportunities for dissonance and then equilibrium; children try to build one way and it usually doesn't work at first and they have to adjust and recalibrate until they find a way that works. Then, settings built and actors assigned, we began to play out the story.  They must change their actions and body language to embody their pretend persona. Here, Poplar is a sad kitten stuck in a tree.    And Valerie, as Fireman Small, kicks the door down to a burning bakery.  Through this kind of dramatic play, children are literacy incarnate: they are narrative, plot and dialogue. They speak using an expanded vocabulary not available to them in regular day to day conversation and they curb their impulses and practice self-control as they follow a story line which is naturally embedded with constrictions.
     

All in all, we had a great time as we puzzled our way around issues both large and (Fireman) small. We learned lots about how to work on our own and in a group and how to persist through challenges. We might even remember what to do if our pants catch on fire! See you next time. Love, ALG