I had noticed that the children were building with pillows and the mattress in the classroom. I had wondered what they were building. I also noticed that they were pulling chairs up to the puppet house and creating plays together so I wanted to know if they would like to create a play for their parents.
One afternoon I asked them what they were building and the class was split equally on building a book house and a castle. I asked them if they would like to build something. They all exclaimed enthusiastically that they would love to build with real materials.
I posed another question to them, would they like to make a play for their parents and if so, what would it be about. They unanimously decided to make a play for their parents. So the task was to create a story. Many children have varying ideas, a puppet show, a farm story, ghosts and cowboys, etc. We voted on 6 different ideas and came up with our story.
One day the princesses (Mary Sue, Karina, Alex, Fernanda, Arantxa, Nora, and Pamela) were playing with the lions (Andres and Mario),the dog (German),and the donkey (Patrick) outside the castle. Along came the bad cowboy (Diego) who took the Princesses with a rope and locked them in the castle because he doesn't like animals. The animals ran away.
The Princesses were stuck and yelling "Help, Help."
Along came the Prince (Ricardo) and the Kings (Juan Pablo, Alan, David, and Misael). The lions (Andres and Mario) came out of the forest because they heard the Princesses yelling. What could they do to save the Princesses?
The Prince, the King, and the lions build a bridge to the door, make a hole in the door, open it, and save the princesses.
Everyone is happy together (minus the cowboy?) and then
the cooks (Miss Rocio and Miss Stefanie) serve lunch
for everyone.
There was one missing element, though. How do the lions
and the Kings/Prince save the Princesses from the castle?
Another day I explained the problem we had and watched as the children discussed how to solve this problem. Some children would explain after listening to one child's idea that it wouldn't work because and he/she would list the reason. It was an excellent way for me to get a window into the child's problem solving abilities and group cooperation skills. I just sat back and listened and at times interjected if I saw a problem and if the conversation lulled. The children heard many different ideas and asked if there could be a vote so that we could come up with one solution. We voted and the story was complete.
The following week I pulled some books from our library on castles and on making plays. We used the books to design our castle. I told the children that once the castle was designed individually we would either vote on one we all liked or design one together using all the elements we found important.
Meanwhile, I needed to write to the fathers asking for their help and also to search out material. I will ask the children what material they want to use before I hunt it down. I also need to create lines for the children to say that is not too difficult to remember and is true to the story. I will sit down with the kids and brainstorm some more soon.
Wednesday morning, after Music class, we sat in a circle and discussed how we are going to build the castle. We decided to use wood, nails, and hammers after much discussion and compromising.
I posed the problem of deciding which castle picture to use. We talked about feelings being hurt and Nora came up with the idea of putting numbers on the paper instead of using names and Juan Pablo said we should make a vote. The picture was decided upon in a democratic manner so we moved on to creating a menu we wanted for after our show.
Since the children were so excited to get the play under way I decided to approach the Head Mother of the classroom about our issue of money for pizzas, sodas, and cake.
After much dismay I had to make the party a donation from the parents. I wanted the children to learn the value of a dollar but it didn't seem possible for many reasons.
The note went home for parents to help build the castle and the children decided that they wanted to bring in their costumes as well. So, we worked on learning our lines.
Mary Sue- Good Morning, Princesses.
All Princesses- Good Morning.
Karina- Look at the nice lions.
Andres- Good Morning Princesses.
Patrick and German enter
Patrick and German- Good Morning friends.
Fernanda- Uh, oh, here comes the bad cowboy.
Enter Diego
Alex- What are you doing with the rope, cowboy?
Diego- I want to tie you up and put you in the castle.
Arantxa- Why, cowboy? We are all friends.
Diego- No, I don't like animals and you are friends with
animals.
Diego ties up Princesses and walks them to the castle.
Andres and Mario together- Let's run and hide!
Lions, dog and donkey run into the forest to hide.
Mary Sue and Alex- Oh no. We are stuck.
Pamela- What are we going to do?
Princesses together- Help, Help, Help!
Kings and Prince enter
Misael- I wonder who is screaming?
David- It sounds like the Princesses.
Juan Pablo and Alan- Hurray, let's go get them.
Prince and King arrive at castle
Pamela, Lisette, Fernanda, and Arantxa- Help us Kings,
we are stuck.
Ricardo- What can we do to get the Princesses out?
Lions enter
Juan Pablo and Mario- We have an idea.
Lions and Kings/Prince get together in a huddle and whisper
Juan Pablo- One, two, three.
Princesses together- Hurry, help!
Lions and Kings/Prince enter the castle and in pairs
rescue the Princesses.
Mary Sue and Ricardo
Alex and Juan Pablo
Fernanda and Mario
Arantxa and Alan
Karina and David
Pamela and Misael
Andres and Lisette
Lisette and Alex- Thank you for saving us!
Everyone together- Horray!
Enter German and Patrick and Diego
Diego- I am sorry! We are all friends.
Miss Rocio and Miss Stefanie enter
Miss Rocio- Hello everyone.
Miss Stefanie- Lunch is served!
Everyone with partners sits in a circle on the floor and we pass out cookies.
Curtsy when finished!
After the castle was built the children asked if they could create more castles but using the computer. I decided the KidsPix program was the most appropriate and they proceeded to create their individual castles on the computer. After seeing their beautiful work I wanted to share this with the parents so I created a Slide Show in KidsPix for the parents to view after the play.
We made invitations for the parents to come and see our play. It was such a success that the children continue to create plays for each other in the class, selling tickets, lining up chairs, calling out how much time is left before the play begins, and making and selling food for the audience. I believe this project will continue, but who knows where?