“Oh Christmas Tree, Oh What’s That Tree?” A Winter Holiday Play

How do you celebrate multiple cultures simultaneously? Is it even appropriate to talk about religious holidays in a public-education classroom?

The Polite Pirates experienced a "cheese & meats from around the world" tasting, following our performance. --Many thanks to Dr. Deb Campbell for the amazing charcuterie.

One of the ways I taught my students (The Polite Pirates) about various Winter Holidays and customs from around the world was by having them read plays. I’d construct the plays from the text of picture books. I’d have the Polite Pirates practice and perform the plays for their parents right before winter break. One of the plays is about Old Befana. It introduces an Italian tradition of getting stocking stuffers on January 6th (Epiphany) from a “Christmas witch.” There’s one about a family making Latkes to celebrate Hanukkah. Parents loved listening to their children pronounce the fancy French words from Margie Palatini & Richard Egielski’s “Three French Hens” that I turned into a play.

Because plays were read, as opposed to memorized, we call them “reader’s theaters” (2015).

Many of the texts have wonderful themes. One of my all-time favorites is “The Christmas Piñata” by Jack Kent, a story about two pots who have very different uses. The “good pot” is made into a beautiful and useful watering can, while the other comes out of the kiln broken. This broken pot is sad that it can’t be as useful as the “good pot…” until one day it is made into the star of the Los Posadas parade in a Mexican village! This makes for a very powerful play whose theme, even the youngest children can interpret.

The Polite Pirates of 2015 perform “The Christmas Piñata” for parents and peers.

This year I decided to do something different, and it proved totally awesome! Rather than use an already existing book to make a play, I wrote my own. I wanted to have the Polite Pirates travel around the world to experience various cultures. Perhaps their pirate ship could magically become a flying vessel that skips from one continent to another. Then, the idea came to me… I would use my silly pirate captain to lead everyone all over time and space by appropriating the zany television legend, Doctor Who and his TARDIS. Instead of “Doctor Who,” however, it would be “Captain Who”.. and the idea for a time-jumping class of kids was born!

Of course Mr. Weimann has a smoke machine… And, of course we had to use it each time we jumped through time!

Instead of focusing on winter holidays, I decided to research the origins of the Christmas tree. I knew that the symbol of evergreen predated the dominant religion’s appropriation (Schroeder, 1992). I did not know that the use of branches, trees, wreathes, and plants to symbolize immortality stretched back to ancient Egypt and beyond (History.com Editors, 2021). The variety of places, cultures, and uses of evergreen over the face of the Earth and throughout time is staggering.

Open-ended questions helped us get more out of our reading.

Rather than deciding which of the many facts to include in our classroom play all by my lonesome, I decided to include the Polite Pirates in the project. We practiced research by writing down open-ended questions. I wetted their appetites by giving them teasers like, “Did you know that Christmas trees were illegal at one time?” and “Some cultures don’t call them Christmas trees.” Then I had my students read the History.com article (2021) that started me down this rabbit hole.

After learning many interesting facts, the Polite Pirates and I decided on our favorites to include in our play. Each story would be a separate scene for our TARDIS-traveling pirate players to visit. They would explore one of the oldest cultures to use greenery as a symbol of life; ancient Egypt; with its mythology of the sun god becoming ill, and therefore reducing its daily dose of light. The god gets increasingly sick, until the Winter Solstice finds him lying in bed the longest of any day of the year! Egyptians would decorate with palm fronds to encourage Ra to awaken and feel better.

I used the word “sacrilege” to play a round of **balderdash** with the Polite Pirates. That game will be the topic of an upcoming blog.

We also wanted to share the experience of getting in trouble for having Christmas trees. This happened during the puritan era of early Massachusetts. They believed it sacrilegious to make merriment on or near the day they celebrated Christ’s birth (December 25th).

How did Christmas trees come to be a favorite holiday decoration? It was a popular monarch who changed everything. And, it wasn’t a king. Queen Victoria was the evergreen tree trend-setter. She had married Prince Albert of Germany, and invited him to share some of his Christmas traditions with her. This little story was a nice way to show the Polite Pirates open-mindedness and acceptance, as well as cause and effect. It was a newspaper illustration that turned tree decorating into a national craze. A picture of the royals standing next to a 4 foot high tree decorated with glass ornaments from Germany and placed on top of a table was published in a local London newspaper in 1846. After that, Christmas trees were the rage in every English-influenced culture.

Finally, it’s always helpful to include something the students are extra fond of. Everyone wanted to know the story behind the German pickle that hides in the tree. Here was an opportunity to learn that research does not always yield neat answers. According to Alexandra Churchill (2021) of Martha Stewart.com, no one knows exactly where this tradition originated.

The Christmas Pickle

I made a scene at the end of our play that has a shop owner speaking with a pickle-eating worker, while a couple of patrons peruse the recently invented and imported German-made glass ornaments. This story encapsulates the way myths are born. In the play I even named the pickle-eater “LEGEND WRITER” to point out that this tradition stems from people simply making up the idea.

By connecting Christmas trees with research, I aim to make the roots of this lesson tap into this time of year. Anytime my Polite Pirates come across an evergreen, I hope they think about not only its symbolism, but the process of digging up the facts that added to their understanding.

In several ways the process of researching mirrors the Scientific Method. After coming up with a question, looking for answers, and carefully observing information, recording what you learned, one must do something with what is found; The crux of it all is to publish your findings. The Polite Pirates are well-versed in writing paragraphs. Why not use what we learned to produce performance art? Of course that was the point all along, but I pointed out that our classroom’s winter holiday celebration play is actually a way of publishing or “making public” the information that we researched.

And so, without further ado, here is our play; the readers’ theater that the Polite Pirates performed for parents visiting the Willow Lane cafeteria on December 21st, which actually is the Winter Solstice! Feel free to use, adapt, and enjoy this play with your class. Perhaps you want to use this process to have your class make its own. Let me know how it goes.

This was the first time I had ever made a “set” for a play. I had the students help decorate the ship and make a Jolly Roger for our ship. Polite Pirates accessed the play via iPads. Everyone followed along as actors read.

SETTING: Behind 2 foot high pirate ship

There are 21 parts for my 21 students.
I numbered the pirates, students, and Egyptians, so that I could assign those parts to corresponding classroom numbers.

PIRATE3: Land, Ho!

PIRATE4: More like “School, ho!”

PIRATE5: This DOES seem like a place of learning. But, what’s that tree, there?

PIRATE6: More like a place for eating to me. What are those called?

PIRATE3: cafe? Trattorie? (Italian for casual restaurant, pronounced “truh*tor*ee”)

PIRATE4: restaurant? Are we in Italy?

PIRATE5: eatery? I thought that this was Pennsylvania.

PIRATE6: No, no, no…

STUDENT11: (enters, wearing a Santa hat, and seeming to ecco PIRATE6) Ho, ho, ho…!

The day of our play just happened to coincide with “formal day” in our holiday themed week.

STUDENT12: (addressing the hat-wearer) If you want to play Santa in this performance, you’ll have to “Grow, grow, grow…”

STUDENT13: Not necessarily. That all depends on whether you want to portray the original “Saint Nicolas” or the modern, mythological…

PIRATE3: Students… HO! Never mind labeling the luncheonette! Here are patrons.

PIRATE4: (ignoring everything, and continuing with synonyms for cafeteria…) Not tratorrie. Osteria (Another Italian word, pronounced “oh*stir*eeee*ah”)

PIRATE5: These DO appear to be students. Let’s see if they can help us figure out where we are.

PIRATE6: (triumphant, and ignoring others) Cafeteria! That’s what it’s called.

(All of the students stumble to the ground in alarm.)

STUDENT11: (first to regain composure) Why hello there. Nice ship. Where do you sail?

PIRATE3: (In an overly loud, boisterous voice) Hello! We are the Polite Pirates, comrades of Captain…

PIRATE4: (Addressing PIRATE3, as much as the students) There is NO need to shout at them. (And then, polite speaking to the students…)

We, the (throwing the word “polite” over his shoulder, at PIRATE3) Polite Pirates are pleased to make your acquaintance.

STUDENT12: Yes, well, welcome to the cafeteria of Willow Lane.

STUDENT13: (over-emphasis the “who”) Who is your captain? From whom do you take orders?

PIRATE5: The captain comes and goes. He has invented… or found…

PIRATE6: Captain entered an old fashioned police box the other day, and we haven’t seen him since.

STUDENT11: (seemingly beginning to get frustrated…) Yes, but…

STUDENT12: Captain…

STUDENT13: WHO!

(smoke from smoke machine, and blue police box; Doctor Who-style TARDIS appears from behind ship)

CAPTAIN: Hello everyone! Are these new Polite Pirates?

ZEUS: (ignoring everyone, and pointing at the tree) Hey! Captain! There’s one here! We have our very own Polite Pirate Christmas tree.

MARY: But, it’s not decorated. How do you know it’s a Christmas tree? Perhaps, it’s only a…

CAPTAIN: I know you two are excited, but do you think that it is polite to ignore our audience?

ZEUS: Who? Them? (points to parents watching the play)

MARY: No, no, Zeus. Captain is simply calling our crew and these newcomers an audience because they witnessed our arrival in the TARDIS.

PIRATE3: Excuse me. The what?

CAPTAIN: (matter factly) TARDIS; Time And Relative Dimensions In Space… machine, portal, or whatever…

ZEUS: We aren’t completely sure how it works, but it’s loads of fun.

PIRATE4: What does it do?

MARY: I’d say loads of learning…

CAPTAIN: It enables us to travel through various… eras (say that last word with mystery)

STUDENT11: Why do you need a fancy box to travel through air?

ZEUS: “Air-uhs…” E, R, A, S. Eras are specific times and places in history.

MARY: An era will have unique elements that separate it from other times in history.

STUDENT12: That sounds wild! What sorts of places have you visited?

STUDENT13: Traveling through space and time sounds scary. Are there any slow moving, wanky robots to fear?

CAPTAIN: There are a few from the 60’s series, but mostly we have been exploring some winter holiday traditions.

PIRATE5: Winter holiday traditions? Like what?

PIRATE6: Yeah, tell us what you learned.

CAPTAIN: How about we show you? Come on.

EVERYONE: Yeah! (Everyone enters the TARDIS. More smoke.)

One of our kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Mauro, was sporting a Christmas tree head piece during the Winter concert that morning. It’s hard to imagine NOT being allowed to decorate.

SETTING: A Puritan village in 1649 New England

(Students and pirates observe the exchange between the police officer and puritan, without getting involved… Students speak amongst themselves over on the side.)

POLICE: (Hands a person a piece of paper) You must pay this fine to the local magistrate by the end of the week, or we will be forced to return and confiscate something of comparable value.

PURITAN: I don’t see what the problem is with hanging a little evergreen around my house. It is MY home.

POLICE: I don’t make the rules. I just enforce them. No decorating on or near December 25th. That’s the law.

STUDENT11: What? People are not allowed to decorate for Christmas?

PURITAN: I bet the baby would have liked the wonderful, lively smell of evergreen. It would have covered up the foul smell of all of those barn animals.

STUDENT12: It sounds like they mostly like the smell.

POLICE: While I agree that your evergreen clippings DO smell rather pleasant, you know the law: No hanging of decorations on or around December 25th. This is a sacred day.

How do you teach the *holiness* of the Puritans without getting *religious*? **Pagan** was a new vocabulary word used in the article we read. I defined it as anything outside of the dominant culture. The practices of the Puritans would have seemed **pagan** to the Native Americans!

PURITAN: Officer, I am NOT (said with attitude) “pagan-izing” my home just by making it smell nice!

POLICE: Are you being obstinate, my puritan friend?

MARY: This must be the puritan era.

ZEUS: Around the 1650s…

STUDENT13: What if the puritan really does just want the place to smell nice?

STUDENT11: I have a pine freshener that I took from my parents’ car this morning on the way to school. (Tosses the pine tree air freshener to the puritan.)

PURITAN: What’s this? (Holds pine tree to nose and sniffs.) Oooooh, this is wonderful.

POLICE: What do you have there? Where did that come from? What kind of witchcraft is this?

PURITAN: It’s just a thin wafer of wood, scented like an entire forest of evergreen.

POLICE: Hmmm (smelling pine tree), that does smell rather nice. I’ll have to check on this.

PURITAN: It’s so tiny (whining), can’t I keep it?

POLICE: (still smelling the tree… over and over, clearly enjoying the fragrance) I’m going to need to keep this… (to himself) I could hang it above my head in the paddy wagon. If only mirrors were invented, I could hang it from a rearview mirror… (wanders off)

PURITAN: Hey! (disappointed and whining) I found it!

(Captain pulls students back into TARDIS. Smoke. Police and puritan disappear.)

CAPTAIN: What are you doing?! You can’t share technology and ideas from the future with people from the past!

MARY: I totally forgot; We might mess up the space-time continuum.

ZEUS: The whosie-whatsit?

CAPTAIN: If you go back in time and alter something, it could completely change the future; our time! We could cease to exist.

STUDENT11: Oh no! What have I done? Am I fading? I think I can see through my fingers.

STUDENT12: That’s because you have them spread out.

STUDENT11: (closes fingers) Oh, you are right.

STUDENT13: Where are we now?

ZEUS: And, when are we now… I mean what is “now”? Or, when is “now”?

MARY: We get it, Zeus. Come on, let’s find out.

(Mary leads group away from TARDIS, toward pyramids.)

I used magnets to hold decorations and the TARDIS up.

SETTING: Yellow pyramids in background. People hold palm fronds and speak to each other. One has a cold and is sneezing.

EGYPTIAN14: (pointing) I think it looks better over there.

EGYPTIAN15: Yeah, but no one will smell it over there.

EGYPTIAN16: I don’t know how much smell palm fronds have, my Egyptian friend.

(Egyptian15 sneezes several times.)

EGYPTIAN14: We could put the fronds in water, if we arrange them in this vase. They might last longer.

(More sneezing by 15.)

EGYPTIAN16: Oh, for crying out loud! (Talking to 15) Can’t you take something for that?

EGYPTIAN15: I think I’m allergic to palm trees.

EGYPTIAN14: I don’t think that’s a thing. We live in Egypt. They are everywhere. You probably have a cold.

(Again, the students and pirates remain separate from the people from the past. Just observe the Egyptian conversation.)

PIRATE3: (speaking to the TARDIS travelers) So, we are in Egypt this time.

PIRATE4: Your powers of observation are impressive.

PIRATE5: That doesn’t sound very polite?

PIRATE4: You’re right. (turning apologetically to pirate3) And, you are right. I wonder what these Egyptians are doing with those palm fronds.

PIRATE6: It appears they are using them as decorations. I wonder if they are celebrating a holiday.

EGYPTIAN16: Why don’t we just get more fronds and put them on both sides of the house?

EGYPTIAN14: I like that. They can symbolize both, Ra rising and Ra setting.

EGYPTIAN15: (sneezes) Ra has forsaken me!

EGYPTIAN16: No, he has been experiencing the same thing you are.

EGYPTIAN14: Maybe he gave you his cold.

EGYPTIAN15: That would explain why it is so powerful (extra big sneeze)

EGYPTIAN16: But, now we turn the corner.

EGYPTIAN14: After today, Ra will return in strength.

EGYPTIAN15: I can’t wait for my strength to return.

EGYPTIAN16: This will be your darkest day.

CAPTAIN: I bet the Egyptians are celebrating the Winter Solstice.

MARY: The shortest day of the year.

ZEUS: Who is Ra? And, why is he sick.

CAPTAIN: Ra is the Egyptian sun god. They must be talking about his disappearance.

MARY: Because there is less and less daylight.

ZEUS: They think he got sick?

CAPTAIN: That would explain why he hasn’t been around as much.

MARY: And, after today, the daylight will begin to increase.

ZEUS: As in Ra is recovering…

These students begged me to use British accents way before the play had been completed. As it turned out, one of our scenes took place in England. Score! They were fabulous.

SETTING: Palace in England

QUEEN: This is such a magical time of year, my dearest husband.

PRINCE: So true my queen. Might we decorate the palace to celebrate the season?

QUEEN: Tell me, your majesty. What traditions did you practice in your homeland of Germany?

PRINCE: My people erect trees in their homes and decorate them with fruits and nuts.

REPORTER: “Queen Victoria Goes Nuts for Trees!” Get your paper. Hot news for sale.

STUDENT11: What? That doesn’t sound right. Would they be able to print that kind of salacious news?

MARY: I don’t think so.

ZEUS: I’m pretty sure they would lose their head.

CAPTAIN: This is 1846, not the dark ages.

STUDENT12: Yeah, he said Queen Victoria, not the Red Queen.

STUDENT13: Did you think we were in “Alice in Wonderland,” or something?

PEASANT: I’d like to purchase one of those newspapers, please.

REPORTER: Sure. That’ll be two pence.

PEASANT: Here you go.

REPORTER: Thanks. Everyone loves Queen Victoria.

PEASANT: I know. With this illustration of her and Prince Albert standing with their family next to a decorated evergreen tree up on a table, I wouldn’t be surprised to find one in every house tomorrow.

REPORTER: I already got one! Apparently, they are the rage in Germany. The Queen asked the prince about his childhood traditions.

PEASANT: She honored his traditions. How classy.

REPORTER: Right? The people will be happy to decorate. Somber occasions are no fun.

PEASANT: No fun at all. (Looking closely at newspaper) What do they have hanging on the tree?

PRINCE: My people used to place apples and other fruit and nuts upon the tree to symbolize the harvest. Then they began adding marzipan cookies and more.

QUEEN: That sounds joyous! I think it would look even better with color.

PRINCE: In the future people will make strings of popcorn.

QUEEN: They could dye the popcorn with various bright colors. Then they could mix berries in to vary the texture…

PRINCE: In 1847 people began making glass ornaments.

QUEEN: Like these?

PRINCE: Yes, like these.

REPORTER: (announcing to crowd) Queen’s tree full of glass!

PEASANT: Ornaments; glass ornaments.

REPORTER: Just a technicality.

PEASANT: No, truthfully…

REPORTER: Just trying to sell some papers, my man.

PEASANT: (reading newspaper) It says here that the tree is only 4 feet tall and sits upon a table. Is that true?

REPORTER: How do I know? I can’t read!

PEASANT: Oh, sorry. Well, according to this article, the dime-store magnate, F.W. Woolworth from Pennsylvania will visit Germany in the 1880s, bring some glass ornaments back to America and then make a fortune importing more. This will begin a trend in American Christmas tree decorating that will grow from there.

REPORTER: That article says all of that?

PEASANT: No, but that DOES happen…

STUDENT11: How do they know about Woolworth, when this is only 1847? That doesn’t happen until 1880.

MARY: I don’t know. Perhaps we are messing up the space-time continuum, doing all of this TARDIS traveling.

ZEUS: I don’t know, but I’m getting hungry. Do they have a Christmas pickle? That’s German, isn’t it?

CAPTAIN: I’ve heard the legend of the German Christmas pickle. I think it’s an ornament. Perhaps we could go to Germany next.

SETTING: Inside an old fashioned general store

STUDENT12: Are we in Germany?

PURITAN: There’s some lovely glass ornaments over here. (PURITAN & POLICE wander around the shop pretending to browse.)

SHOPOWNER: (in a “salesy” voice) Oh, yes! We just got those in from Germany last week. Hot off the furnace.

LEGENDWRITER: (eating a pickle, says to himself) Those were probably made months ago.

SHOPOWNER: (whispering to the LEGENDWRITER) Shhhh, we want them to think that our German glass ornaments are better than ever.

STUDENT13: These two seem a little shady.

LEGENDWRITER: Sure. Why don’t you just get ornaments that are unique and special? Something different. (Hold up a pine tree air freshener.) This one’s different…

SHOPOWNER: (scolding) Put that down! That is sacred. And what are you eating?

STUDENT11: Hey, that’s my air freshener!

STUDENT12: I don’t think we’re in Germany. They keep calling these glass ornaments “German.” If we were in Germany, they’d just be “ornaments.”

POLICE: (sort of complaining) We already have one of all of these.

SHOPOWNER: (complaining to the LEGENDWRITER) As if I have any say over what arrives from Germany. It’s the 1800s. It takes weeks to get a shipment of ornaments that have sailed across the Atlantic. It’s not like they can just fly them on over in the matter of hours. It’ll be another 200 years before Amazon takes every last bit of work out of shopping and shuts me down!

STUDENT11: That was a lot to unpack. Are we in the 1800s?

STUDENT12: I’m pretty sure we are.

(LEGENDWRITER is munching on a pickle louder and louder, drawing more and more attention to his actions.)

CAPTAIN: I wonder if the space-time continuum is fracturing.

STUDENT13: How would this shop owner know about Amazon?

ZEUS: Uh oh, we should probably head back to our time.

MARY: What did you say, Zeus? I can’t hear you over this guy munching on… What is that thing?

LEGENDWRITER: (answering everyone, but talking to the SHOPOWNER) This? Oh, it’s a pickle. I was hungry.

SHOPOWNER: Well, put it down! We have customers.

(LEGENDWRITER slyly sticks pickle on a shelf.)

PURITAN: (picking up the pickle) Hey, we don’t have one of these.

POLICE: That looks like a pickle.

SHOPOWNER: That’s not just any old pickle…

LEGENDWRITER: (mumbling to himself) Yeah, it’s my pickle. And, I’m still hungry.

SHOPOWNER: It’s a magical (draw the word out, making it sound mystical) pickle! (elbow the LEGENDWRITER)

LEGENDWRITER: Sure… It has magical powers (barely buying in to the silly sales pitch).

SHOPOWNER: With this pickle… Whoever finds this pickle (Look to the LEGENDWRITER for inspiration)

LEGENDWRITER: Okay, ok (sighing, and giving in). Look, (in a matter a fact voice; unimpressive) this pickle is to be hidden on the Christmas tree… Every Christmas tree… And, whoever finds it first… You know, when the tree is first revealed, or something, that person gets good luck for the year. Yeah, that’s it. (Clearly, this guy was making up this legend as he went.)

SHOPOWNER: (impressed with the story) Ooooh, that’s good.

PURITAN: What if it’s an adult who finds it every year. The kids would hate it. It’s just a pickle.

LEGENDWRITER: Right. Well, the adult who sees it should leave it where it lies. They’ll just know that they get good luck for the year… see? And, the first kid to find it gets to be the one to begin the gift opening.

POLICE: That will solve the problem of deciding which tyke begins the present mayhem.

STUDENT11: That’s what we do in my home.

STUDENT12: Is this really how the German Christmas pickle tradition began? I’ve heard that a Civil war hero was saved from starvation eating a pickle.

STUDENT13: I heard that Saint Nicholas saved two boys by sticking them in a pickle barrel.

SHOPOWNER: You should write down those rules. That was good.

LEGENDWRITER: Sure. Or, we could add to the rules, change them, make up new stories each year, building on the legend. Who knows? Perhaps it will become a tradition.

SHOPOWNER: It’ll help us sell more German glass ornaments, anyway.

CAPTAIN: Come on everyone, let’s return to the present.

ZEUS: Did someone say present.

MARY: Not the kind you open. It’s a homonym…

SETTING: Back on pirate ship, but the entire length of it has pine tree air fresheners all over it.

ZEUS: What is that funky smell?!!

STUDENT11: And, what is all over the pirate ship?

PIRATE: Are those pine trees?

MARY: It feels like my nose is being accosted by an entire evergreen forest!

EGYPTIAN14: What? We are just decorating for the annual pine tree air freshener party.

PEASANT: (slightly correcting the Egyptian) Polite Pirate Pine Tree Air Freshener Party.

REPORTER: When we celebrate the Winter Solstice with the smell of the everlasting…

QUEEN: Forever green…

PRINCE: Symbol of life…

PURITAN: Evergreen.

POLICE: For our hemisphere may be cold and dark, now…

EGYPTIAN15: (small sneeze) With Ra… (sniffle) I mean the sun… hiding himself a large portion of the day…

EGYPTIAN16: But, today we turn the tide… Our day begins to grow… With the smell of these magical trees…

(Everyone turn and gaze at air fresheners, pointing, and “aaaahh-ing”)

ZEUS: Wait a minute, remember, Lea threw the air freshener at the puritan back in the 17th century.

MARY: The police officer took it.

STUDENT12: He must have kept it. He had mentioned attaching it to a paddy wagon, whatever that is.

STUDENT13: I think it is the equivalent of a 17th century police car.

PIRATE3: Perhaps, this is where the tradition of hanging air fresheners on rear view mirrors comes from!

PIRATE4: I don’t think that is really a tradition. It happens all year long.

PIRATE6: Yeah, without one, you wouldn’t want to step foot in my family’s car!

PIRATE5: Could we have altered the past when we left that marvelous feat of modern technology behind?

STUDENT12: (incredulous) A pine tree air freshener?

STUDENT13: Feat of technology? Really?

STUDENT11: They are pretty marvelous… And, sorry;)

CAPTAIN: That must have fractured the…

EVERYONE: Space-time continuum!

The event ended with an “Around-the-World Cheese Tasting.”

Sources:

Churchill, A. (2021, November 3). The Untold Story of the Christmas Pickle Ornament. Martha Stewart. https://www.marthastewart.com/1097532/decorative-past-tradition-christmas-pickle-ornament

History.com Editors. (2021, December 8). History of Christmas Trees. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees

Schroeder, H.W. 1992. The tree of peace: Symbolic and spiritual values of the white pine. In proceedings of the White Pine Symposium (p. 73-83), Sept. 16-18, 1992, Duluth, MN. https://www.nrs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/jrnl/1992/nc_1992_Schroeder_002.pdf

Honesty is an Attitude

Is it always classy to tell the truth? Is keeping the truth from someone the same thing as lying? Can you honestly omit vital information? The word integrity comes to mind, but sometimes there is more to the story than the black- and white-ness of true versus false. There is nuance. To think that one must say the 100% truth at all times is simple-minded. Don’t think that I am advocating for deception; by no means. I’m suggesting that a classy person looks for the best possible outcome; What will help others the most?

We have all heard or read the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” A ruler is duped into parading around town with nothing on because he is too proud to admit that someone could possibly lie to him. The court cowards at the thought of telling him the ugly truth. Finally, an innocent child bursts the bubble, and the crowd spills the beans.

The May/June 2020 issue of Storyworks Junior presents this age old story by Hans Christian Anderson, retold by Spencer Kayden in the form of a play. I assigned this reading, along with the questions that Storyworks Junior provided, recently. As I was looking over my students fabulous answers and leaving comments, a revolution of thought hit me.

In this version there is a character named “Royal Aide” who, unlike the other members of court, wants the emperor to be successful. He fears the emperor’s exuberant love of looks, but he keeps this to himself… at least at first.

Through out the play this character shares the honest truth, but is rejected. In this super short, kid-friendly-version (the emperor still has his underwear on) of the age-old story the Emperor rewards the Royal Aide for having been the only person to tell him the truth.

One of the questions that Storyworks Junior posed for engaging students when reading this play was, “What message is the author trying to communicate?” Some students simply quoted the text, and told me “It is better to be hated and honest than loved through lies.”

More than being annoyed that my students would copy the text for their answers, it bothered me how simple this seemed. Is lying always wrong? As an educator I am constantly telling students that I am pleased with their “hard work,” even though I am certain that they didn’t work “all that hard” on an assignment. Am I telling a fib? I certainly am! I justify this by telling myself that I am projecting. I’m trying to get them to want to do “hard work.” Does that make my false praise okay?

There are many lessons to be learned from this story, though. Here is one that places honesty on its head: Do not believe everyone is completely honest with you. The Emperor was annoyed when the Royal Aide shared his distrust of the crafty tailors. The Aide was honest with himself before being truthful with the Emperor. He accurately assessed the trickery the tailors were up to.

Screen Shot 2020-05-19 at 7.03.57 AM — This is when I realized, “Wait, there are many lessons, here!”

There is a place early on in the play when the Royal Aide was honest with the emperor, but it didn’t pan out well. The palace guard told the aide that two tailors were here to show the emperor clothing that only intelligent people could see. What does the Royal Aide do with this nonsensical information? He shares it with his boss, who he knows to be weak in the area of resisting luxurious fashion!

It was his honesty that got his boss into all of the trouble in the first place. Your with someone who cannot resist candy. They know it isn’t good for them, but they have no self-control. It has gotten to the point where this person actually asked you to help him to avoid candy, so that he will not be tempted. A salesman knocks on the door, selling candy. Do you say, “Hold on,” while you go get your friend who cannot resist buying every item the candyman is selling? Do you send the salesperson away, but tell your friend about the incident? Or, do you keep the interaction to yourself; Perhaps you even lie to your friend, in order to shield him from the pain of his cravings?

In other words, honesty was a horrible choice for the Royal Aide to display in this drama! Even if he didn’t foresee the outcome of his actions, he ought to have protected the Emperor from himself.

Screen Shot 2020-05-19 at 5.58.33 AM — This is the crux of this blog: It’s all about ATTITUDE or motives.

In conclusion, the classiest action is hard to find. One must look deeply into a situation, explore all of the various potential outcomes, and choose what would be best. Also, one must decide “Best for whom?” Are you just looking out for Numero Uno;. yourself; or are you helping others first. On the flip side, will you hurt others in the long run if you are not available to help them due to allowing yourself to fall into disarray? Perhaps it is best to take care of yourself, then others. At what point do you flip the switch, though? It’s tricky.

The well of understanding is deep. Drink its classy waters. Honestly assess the best outcome for all involved. Good luck!

How do you decide when to switch over from taking care of yourself to helping others?

#Playification

My dad and sister visited over the July 4th weekend. When I was at the grocery store picking up supplies for grilling, I was meandering through the toy aisle searching out things to keep people occupied. We have a pool, and everyone will want to hangout by it, but as great as water is, it gets boring, eventually. My eye was caught by some outdoorsy games; GIANT dice, checkers, and… dominoes. I brought home one of the giant wooden domino sets. There was only 28 pieces in the set, but maybe we could figure out the game, together.

“Playing” with giant inflatable unicorn; Does it get better?

July 4th was a blast… literally, what with all of the fireworks and everything! But, the next day was much slower, and it slowed all the way down to “needing something to do”, so much so that I actually got out the giant domino game. There was the tiniest slip of paper under the huge wooden tiles that had the most basic instructions I have ever read. It was my dad, Scarlet, and I working on playing the game, and after giving it a go, we realized we needed more instruction. Other than setting the pieces up to tumble into one another, I don’t have any experience with dominoes.

We watched a Youtube video. It introduced some terms, like dominoes can be referred to as “Bones”, and the pile of extras would be the “Boneyard”. The instructions for play were either not elaborate enough or too complex. I thought this was supposed to be a pretty easy game! I had secretly hoped to bring the giant game pieces into my classroom to use instructionally.

Finally, we found a guy on Youtube who had been in the same boat we found ourselves. He had done some legwork in researching how to play dominoes and put together a very helpful video explaining it for dummies like us. The video is totally awesome, and I recommend you watch it, even if only to see the Weird Al Action Figure play against the videographer! Hilarious.

I’m not going to get into the game of dominoes here. I still need to do more learning and practice. Suffice to say, it seems to supercede all expectations of being able to use in the classroom. You can play with more than just two kids. It is simple enough, combining like numbers, but also strategic: It helps to plan which bones to use in what order. There is a lot of adding and even multiplication/division! But, believe it or not, you don’t actually multiply or divide, so it is perfect for planting the seeds for those future concepts: You have to identify “multiples of five”.

I leave you with this idea: I have been thinking about using Gamification in my classroom, because “everybody (seems to be) doing it”, and I like making school maximum fun! Through exploring articles and thinking about what I want to get out of the school year, however, it looks like “Playification” is more my speed. When I teach a lesson, I present a problem, and then students use what they know to figure out a solution. We then discuss additional possible solutions and ways to get to them. Finally, I let students “play around” with the ideas. “Try using it in a unique way,” you might hear me say, if you were walking by my classroom.

So, more than turning everything into a point system or changing pedagogy into games, I am leaning more toward using games to help my students “play more”. You can cheat a game. The only thing you cheat when “playing” is yourself.

Source:

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/growth/fast-lane-forget-gamification-it-s-all-about-playification/

It’s #Playtime!

For years I’ve let my students bring in a snack, but I usually have them eat it while working. I tried that this year, but quickly realized that this wasn’t going to work.

These kids missed the classroom #playtime, so they took a brain-break in the hall.

Because of an early lunch, my students and I have a very long afternoon. Our math time is from 11:30 to 12:30. Then I have Language Arts time until 2:25, when Special time begins. So, I have students for about three solid hours!

I never even considered playtime before. I figured, that’s what recess was for. But, a class I am taking from Kutztown U changed my mind. During snack time, I have introduced our classroom makerspace. I am calling it playtime, but the idea is that students will be involved in creative creating or building.

Mission Statement:

Students will take a break from formal learning every afternoon post Math time and prior to Language Arts learning (12:30-12:50, approximately), in order to creatively construct things with a variety of toys and tools, while snacking.

Philosophy: Hybrid of “Open Space” (self-driven) and “Workshops” (learning/practice time)

Merriam Webster defines playtime as “a time for play or diversion” (n.d.). The very first time I introduced this idea, I talked all about the concept and went over the parameters or policies prior to math time. Then during math we used connecting blocks to build arrays that were broken apart, displaying split multiplication problems. When math time was over, I told the students that they could keep using the blocks, but now, they could “Build whatever you want.” They were in heaven. It was like I had taught them the proper way to use the monkey bars, and then told them they could play all over the playground doing anything they wished. Stay within the fence, and follow the general rules, but have a blast and blow off steam. They sure did.

Playtime isn’t relegated to only grade-school pupils; parents and adults can benefit from merriment as well (Chatty Feet Team, 2016). It helps us relax and promotes problem-solving skills. Also, it will help us play with our kids better. Libraries are using playtime to help kids develop literary skills. Parents at a library in Texas get out toy cars, tape, race tracks, and bowls of tiny road signs (Celano, Knapczyk, & Neuman, 2018, p. 68). Playing and building with these road toys helped the kids learn some of the concepts necessary for understanding the read aloud they were about to experience.

Policies

This is NOT a “free-for-all”, nor is it even “free-time”. It is playtime, and it is governed by rules.

No fighting or arguing.
Don’t be too loud.
Share/Play nice
Keep clean; Wash hands first/keep snack away from toys.
Don’t be gross. No licking your fingers and then touching the toys. (I’m not even going to mention picking noses.)

Supplies

I limit the supplies that my students have access to during their playtime. I do this for a variety of reasons. One is that I want this time to be manageable. If there are ten different things out and spread around the room, it will take too long to clean up. Another reason that I limit the supplies is because I want the groups of students to interact. If one group is playing with Legos and another is building with Lincoln Logs, kids will not be as likely to share, collaborate, blend groups, etc. They have to stop playing with Legos in order to work with Lincoln Logs. Eventually, I want to see the class creatively incorporate a variety of building mediums into the same project, but all in good time. I want the kids to have some experience with each one, learning, exploring, and problem-solving with a single medium before branching out and combining.

Here is a list of the mediums that I have so far.

Abe Lincoln may have carved these, himself. They are from my childhood!

Connecting blocks
Legos
Lincoln Logs
Tinker Toys
Robotix
Thimios (robots)

Potential Future Play Mediums: Video and Music

A future direction of this playtime that I foresee is publishing videos. Students will use the things that they have built to produce films with plots and themes. I imagine these to be silly and fun; Remember this is playtime! I can picture students making Monty Python-esque cartoons, old school Gumby claymation-style movies, and motion-stop videos.

Publishing videos on Youtube is scarily public. Students and kids have no idea what that means. They are lured by the fame of notoriety and the glamour of numbers. The idea of something going “viral” is the new “anyone could be president”. Except that there are serious hurdles to achieving most powerful person in the world, while going viral needs nothing more than a video camera, creativity, and luck… mostly, luck. And, every kid in America is banking on luck, these days. What if one of our videos did go viral? It is important that our movies present an accurate picture of our playtime.

When kids publish to Youtube or another online video platform, they are taking their play on the road… or information highway. What kids want is for their numbers to rise: They want the number of views to go up. The way to do that is to promote the videos, but more importantly produce something that people want to watch. In the same way that playing the games that others enjoy playing will get more people to join your playtime activity, videos that are attractive will get the views. In the incredibly interesting and informative article on this subject, “Raised by Youtube” author Alexis Madrigal (n.d.) writes about a company that I hadn’t even heard of: Chuchu Tv. This company is dwarfing Disney, Sesame Street, and all the rest of American video producers on Youtube. Their BILLIONS of views make these other companies look like online ants. The Indian-based company uses seemingly lotech imagery–two-dimensional characters to tell traditional nursery rhymes. Madrigal (n.d.) went to the headquarters and interviewed its creators and CEOs. The concept began with an audience of one: The creator’s toddler. The entrepreneur with a background in media began making videos for his young son. They almost instantly took off and went viral. He now employs 200 artists. Compared to Disney’s thousands of employees, this number is infantesmal! The mission of Chuchu Tv is to provide wholesome videos for toddlers that share moral messages. Madrigal spoke with a child development expert who reviewed Chuchu’s videos, Colleen Russo Johnson from UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers. She told him that the videos were so overly-stimulating that the good message is lost on young kids. Chuchu was born on the concept of seeking the most views. Although its mission is admirable, Chuchu plays to what is going to be viewed the most. Johnson sees this as dangerous, because it will develop viewers who want (need, like an addict) more and more stimulation.

I’ll be blogging about this a lot in the near future, but suffice to say, the app Garageband is a virtual playground of music. We had one lesson with Dylan Peters, and I now have to pry the iPads out of student hands!

My students and I are super excited for this new #playtime initiative. I haven’t told them about making videos, yet. But, our creative building has completely revolutionized our Language Arts time. Kids are more attentive, well-behaved, and cooperative in centers, after having a brain break. I look forward to sharing more about this time, how it is working out, and what my students are producing throughout the year. Please share with me articles that you have read that either support this idea, add to this concept, or even contradict my thinking. Thank you.

Sources:

Celano, D. C., Knapczyk, J. J., & Neuman, S. B. (2018). Public Libraries Harness the Power of Play. YC: Young Children, 73(3), 68. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy-kutztown.klnpa.org/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edb&AN=130304856&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s3915793

Chatty Feet Team. (2016, June 14). Why It’s Important For Adults To Play Too. Retrieved October 7, 2018, from https://www.chattyfeet.com/blogs/chattyfeet-socks-blog/the-importance-of-play-for-adults

Madrigal, A. C. (n.d.). Raised by Youtube. Retrieved October 6, 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/raised-by-youtube/570838/?utm_source=twb [No publishing date, but available in the November 2018 print edition.]

Merriam Webster. (n.d.). Playtime. Retrieved October 7, 2018, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/playtime