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Dobbins kindergartners learn life lessons
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When the kindergartners were invited to make play-doh, George Marantis (left), Evan Hegarty, Logan Boano, Gia Len, and Kristina Tufaro (right) were excited to get started.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Agricultural facilities manager Brenda Markley visited the kindergartners of Dobbins Elementary on Jan. 21 and read the book "The Little Red Hen." After reading the story about the hen who grew and tended wheat, Markely showed the students what full grown wheat looks like.
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Each student was given an ingredient to add to the play-doh mixture. Kristina Tufaro (right) was in charge of the flour. Gia Len (left) looked on, excited to get to her ingredient.
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Andrew Slaven was responsible for adding the oil to the play-doh mixture, a task that he completed with great seriousness.
By SARAH FOOR
Dobbins kindergartners learned the importance of helping and teamwork on Jan. 21, with an interactive and informative presentation by Brenda Markley, the agricultural facilities manager of the MetroParks Farm.
The presentation focused on the lessons of the book “The Little Red Hen,” which follows the hen who finds a grain of wheat and asks her acquaintances to help as she plants and tends the wheat, and makes flour. It is only when the bread is cooked that the hen’s friends want to help by eating the warm bread.
“I picked this story because it’s familiar, but it has really wonderful lessons about helping and recognizing steps — you have to grow the wheat, then harvest it, then grind it to flour, before bread can be made,” Markley explained. “It doesn’t hurt that the story has to do with farms, which is important to me, as an ambassador for MetroParks Farm.”
Markley entertained Elaine Fabrizi’s kindergarten class by keeping them moving during the story. The kids mimed the movements of the unhelpful friends in the story — a dog, duck, and cat. Markely then expanded on the story by showing the children wheat seeds, grown stalks of wheat, and displaying a grinder that made flour.
The children then learned about teamwork by making Play-doh. In four groups, each kindergartner was responsible for an ingredient of the mixture.
“If you don’t help, then you don’t get to play — just like in the story of the little red hen,” Markley explained.
Once all of the ingredients were properly mixed, the kindergartners were free to smash and stretch their Play-doh. “That was fun, helping each other,” said student Gia Len as she played.