Fair, Brown & Trembling

Only one story this week. This gave us more time to actually discuss it and ask questions. Questions are my favorite!

What is a henwife? If the henwife cut a piece from Trembling's dress, wouldn't her sisters notice? Why could she not go in the church? Is a mare a horse? Where is Zulu?

Fair, Brown & Trembling's graph:

Characters: Fair, Brown, Trembling, father, henwife, many princes

Trouble Makers: two sisters

Helpers: henwife

Magical Events: changes dress and provides horse

Ending: married after fighting, 14 children, sisters out to sea

Special Item: blue slipper

Food: ham, potatoes and peas

Dress: elegant, colorful, with head coverings

Architecture: castle, church

Value: beauty, kindness, children, horses

This is a traditional Cinderella tale from Ireland, with a twist or two. There are no step-sisters or a step-mother. Her own two sisters are the mean ones. The henwife provides an exquisite dress and mare for Trembling to go to church on three different Sundays. There is no party or ball. After they find and identify her with a shoe that is "neither too large nor too small", multiple princes from all over the world (hence Zulu) fight for Trembling's hand in marriage. The winner marries her, they have 14 children and the sisters are "put out to sea in a barrel with provisions for seven years - and were never seen again!"

Everyone did so well filling in their graph! Even the little ones were writing their great big letters and adding values to our list. This is something I did not expect to see. What great thinkers!

Culture Food: ham and potatoes.
While Trembling is at church, the henwife prepares the family meal for her. This is what she serves. (Note: Tasting is always optional.)

Culture Music: Dancing Willow's demo CD.
Children were dancing to this one!

Culture Craft: What kind of horse would you like the henwife to bring you? Milky white? Glossy black? White with blue and gold diamonds? Everyone got a horse to decorate, and decorate they did! I saw unicorns and wings, saddles and bridles, stirrups and sparkles. The creative juices were flowing!

Here is a sampling:

organic gold potatoes and nitrate, hormone, chemical, everything but delicious flavor free ham

Cinderella and Cendrillon

I teach on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday from now 'til May. All day Tuesday I'm running and teaching and guiding and playing and doing what I love best. Anyhow, I plan to blog about my older classes here. Follow the link if you want to see what we've done in Play and Learn, my younger class.

This semester I'm venturing into the world of 6-8 year olds. Well, I live with children who are 6 and 9, (and 5 and almost 1) but I had not yet taught this age range at our co-op. I love it! The ideas and thoughts and speculations that are shared in my class are amazing.

I teach Cinderkids. The goal is to read Cinderella stories from around the world, (I've found more than 20!) analyze and compare the stories, determine what the elements of the story tell us about the culture in which it was told, experience bits of that culture and have fun! We may even write our own stories at the end, using our favorite parts from the tales we hear.

In our first class I read two stories: Cinderella by Barbara McCintock and Cendrillon by Robert D. San Souci. I wanted to start with a "traditional" Cinderella tale. McCintock's did not disappoint. I chose this one for its illustrations, 17th century France, and its story line - Cinderella goes to the ball twice and forgives her sisters in the end.

The children have a graph to fill out for each story. We will use the graphs to help us compare the stories and for when we write our own. The class is evenly split. I have four older students who should fill out the graphs completely. There are four younger ones for whom the graph is not as important. They can write what they want, where they want or draw pictures. They are still using their critical thinking and reading skills. (For parents: I will keep the graphs with me so you do not need to worry about finding them each week.)

Here is the graph information for Cinderella:
Characters: Cinderella, mother, father, step-mother, two step-sisters, fairy godmother, prince Trouble Makers: step mother, two step sisters
Helpers: fairy godmother
Magical Events: changes pumpkin, four mice, rat, four lizards and clothes
Ending: married, finds husband for each sister
Special Item: glass slipper
Food: oranges
Dress: gowns, hair up and fancy
Architecture: grand palace, large homes
Value: beauty, silent suffering, small feet, kindness, forgiveness

As I said, traditional. We only discuss the characters and values. The children can record them if they wish.

Next we traveled to the Caribbean for Cendrillon. There are many similarities. The author even refers to France and uses some French in the text.
Characters: Cendrillon, mother, father, step-mother, step-sister, godmother, Paul
Trouble Makers: step-mother,
Helpers: godmother with a magic stick
Magical Events: changes breadfruit, six agoutis, (guinea pigs), opossum, five lizards and clothes
Ending: three day long wedding
Special Item: pink slipper
Food: punch, chocolate sherbet
Dress: satin, velvet, colorful, shift for servants
Architecture: large homes/manors
Value: silent suffering, true love

This is the only Cinderella tale I've found so far that is told from a different view point. The godmother tells the story, and she is not a fairy. She is given a magic stick from her mother, to use only for someone she truly loves. Everyone in class noticed the different narration right away. They also quickly found the similarities and differences between the two stories.

Culture Food: In Cinderella, she shares her plate of oranges with her sisters. The godmother raves about the chocolate sherbet served in Cendrillon. So we ate oranges and enjoyed chocolate, soy ice cream, (vanilla mango for those with allergies.)

Culture Music: Oboe Concerto - Adante by Marcello and Parfum Des Iles by Kali. The children picked out the different instruments they heard in each. (Note: I was beyond thrilled when I found Parfum Des Iles. It is from the exact same island that the story Cendrillon is told from, Martinique.)

Culture Craft: none this week. We ran over an hour as it was. Too busy with multiple servings of oranges and ice cream. =)

Wednesdays

We're tired.

Teaching on Tuesday is going well, very well. Anna hangs out in the Hotsling. Everyone enjoys their engaging classes and the enriching company. But come Wednesday, we're just tired. We don't go anywhere. We don't get dressed. If I'm lucky, we get half our school lessons complete, and I end the day with a hot shower.

Jesse took the picture this morning. Although I'd just gotten out of bed, I almost fell back to sleep. I love how our arms are in almost the same position.

Apples and Oranges

Today we have a president elect. Not my candidate of choice, but I'm still curious/excited to see what the future holds.

Yesterday I held my own little election in class. I brought a treat, orange juice and apple cider. We held a vote on index cards. Not many of my students are reading, so I wrote orange juice with an orange marker and apple cider with a red marker. Crayons were passed out. I asked them to put a mark under the one they wanted to have. These kids were great! They didn't quite grasp the concept of keeping their choice a secret, but when you're 3, 4 and 5, it may not matter. Two girls volunteered to tally the votes on their fingers. Everyone counted. Apple cider won, 5 to 3. Two votes came back undecided. Working with young children, I try to be as flexible as I am comfortable. So when we sat down, I served whatever they wanted, however much they wanted. When I got home, there was noticeably less orange juice than apple cider. Interesting...

I know at least one child cast his vote because apple cider was written in red. He loves the color red. He'd never had apple cider. He did try a bit, but was soon drinking orange juice. Some may have thought apple cider would taste more like apple juice? I'm not sure. For whatever reason, one was chosen, but when it came time to consume, they found a preference for the other.

I wonder if our nation will feel the same way in a few years.