Wonderland

Today I tiptoed into the very magical, very entrancing kingdom of early childhood when visiting Tracey Pugh's Primer Humanities class. When the digital clock strikes 10:00 AM, nine little kids fly from recess into the primer classroom and immediately circle Tracey, Mistress of Ceremonies, waiting for them to join her in the Center of the Blue Universe: a huge rug displaying a colorful map of the world that invites just such circling. Topic of the circle discussion involves the children's reactions to reading Dinorella, a very clever, humorous take on one of the many classic fairy tales the kids have explored. Tracey inspires engagement with her recurring chant "I have a question" that involves each child listening intently and then earnestly trying to help her find an answer to several more questions carefully designed to help students review and summarize important information they had already learned about fairy tales. "When were fairy tales written? How did people start telling them? Are they based on real stories? Do we have talking animals? Was the real Cinderella story....funny?" After this brief but effective review, Tracey reads another, even more hilarious version of Cinderella: Cinderella Big Foot. "Come a little closer," she invites the children and begins reading in her delightfully, charmingly - impersonating all the voices - way.

"I have a question," Tracey asks quizzically, "What do most fairy tales always start with? I forgot."
"Once upon a time!" a child offers.
"Yes, yes, that's right, hey, why were Cinderella's feet a problem?" Tracey wonders.
"She tripped over them in hopscotch and they also took up a lot of room (four car spaces!!!) at the mall," someone says.
"What about the ball? What happens when everyone leaves Cinderella?"
"The Dairy Godmother appears and when Cinderella complains that she has no shoes and no way to get there, she twirls her wand, and makes two really big glass sneakers appear and bus money too."
"How big are Cinderella's feet again? 87 AAA? Everyone check your shoe sizes." Up and down and all around goes Tracey's musical, highly expressive voice, eliciting excitement , reflection, and detailed recall of the fairy tale's universal elements. Now the kids are intently considering their feet, their shoes, and happily concluding Cinderella's feet must be pretty darn huge.

Tracey focuses them next on Prince Charming and his determination to search the kingdom with a tow truck in his desperate search 'to find that doll of a girl' who loses her extra mammoth glass sneaker rushing home from the ball before the clock strikes Midnight. Everyone wants so badly for the sneaker to fit Cinderella's huge foot!
"What does the prince say when he places the sneaker on Cinderella's foot?"
"The shoe must go on!" a little boy exclaims, giggling to himself about how that's a take off on 'the show must go on."

Tracey now brings her class full circle with bigger thinking questions about the differences between the classic Cinderella tale and the two they just heard. She leads her kids through a reflective review of the story's beginning, middle, and end, and what makes each Cinderella so special. Much laughter and lots of smiling balancing with quiet spaces for pausing, thinking, listening, and responding describe the rhythms, sounds, and sights of Tracey's lucky primer class.

As I walk back across campus from Lower to Middle kingdom, leaving the calming magic of Tracey's Blue Universe, I wonder to myself how can I continue inpiring and protecting such open and refreshing imaginings in the students I teach? I have a question....