ABSTRACT
Laman challenges us to consider children’s cultural realities as a potential for classroom activity. A food truck constructed in a kindergarten classroom is an example of this potential being realized. It was part of a long-term project focused on the role of food in creating a sense of community. The food truck was constructed in the Dragonfly Room, one of 18 classrooms in a small, public magnet school in a large urban district under a court order to desegregate since 1978. The magnet focus of the school is project-based learning and systems thinking, both unique pedagogies that provide integrated, holistic, constructivist ways of organizing curriculum that is child-centered, including languages, location, and cultures. Literacy, math, science, social studies, and the arts all provide perspectives from which to learn and avenues for presenting that learning to a larger audience that extends beyond the classroom and even the school. The school population represents the district as a whole-about 65% Hispanic,
22% White, 6% African American, and the rest comprised American Indian, Asian American, and students who identify as multiracial. Forty of 450 students are identified as English Language Learners, mostly Spanish speakers, and mostly kindergarteners and first graders. Prior to the arrival on campus of a real food truck, Jozarelli’s Italian, the children
shared their mental models of a food truck. “It’s one of those big trucks you see on the freeway that says ‘Fry’s,’” commented Damian. “And Walmart,” chimed in Sofia. “No, it’s a truck that looks like food, like the hotdog one my dad told me about,” insisted Miguel. The list grew longer, but only a few children had a reasonably accurate image of a food truck. The day of the food truck visit arrived and the children were beside themselves
with excitement, skipping to the parking lot as a compromise to not running through the hallways. They “oohed” and “aahed” as the food truck owner, Joe,
opened the large window on the side to reveal the counter. Climbing the rear steps to the inside, they wondered aloud, questioned Joe about all the equipment, and asked for help to read the print on the mixer and over the sink. “I think that says, ‘Be careful, it’s hot,’” read Laura, pointing to the sign above the pizza oven. Outside the truck, the children took note of logos for Facebook and Twitter, pictures of credit cards, website URLs, and even a QR code (i.e., quick response code). They wanted to know if the pictures on the outside were painted on and then contorted their faces as they pondered what Joe meant when he explained the decorations were part of a skin that had been applied to the metal. The next week, Michelle, their teacher, arranged for Joe to visit the classroom
for an interview. The students prepared questions about the operations of a food truck and the equipment, how the wheels move, what Joe does, if he needs a driver’s license, and how he decides where to park his truck. He patiently explained that there is a community of food truck owners and that they often gather in one spot as a way of drawing more people. “It’s a food truck rally,” Joe explained and the children nodded their heads in understanding. Michelle took notes for the class. Using the notes later, they would write a book about Joe and his food truck, with each child contributing one illustrated page with text. After Joe left, Michelle asked the children how they might share what they are
learning about food trucks. “Let’s build one,” called out Santiago, “and we can pretend it’s real and invite people to eat at our food truck.” There was no holding back the children now. Everyone was jumping off the floor shouting in agreement. When class began the next day, the children were puzzled that there was no
food truck in the room. “Where is it?” asked Hailey. “Well, you have to make it. It doesn’t just appear. It will be hard work and take time,” explained Michelle. A chorus of “Let’s get started!” followed. So Michelle passed out large sheets of paper and asked the children to sketch their plans, labeling as many things as they could with help from the chart created in their discussion with Joe. Figure 13Ext.1 shows some of the children’s plans. The following day, the children divided into small groups to take on the
various tasks of creating a food truck. There were committees for painting the cardboard, planning menus, constructing or finding pieces for the equipment, and making the signs for the outside of the food truck. A big debate about the kind of food to be sold consumed the students’ time during their morning planning meeting. Since almost three quarters of the class were Hispanic students, their voices weighed heavy in the decisions and Mexican food was the overwhelming choice. “But we can still have French fries and cupcakes,” announced Tim. When the class returned from a field trip to the zoo a few days later, they
discovered the food truck assembled in their classroom, the red cardboard sheets they painted screwed to a 1 inch x 2 inch wooden frame. It was much larger than the children anticipated, so everyone lent a hand to move furniture around. They moved the playhouse furniture inside the food truck to become part of the
desired equipment. The preschool teacher down the hall loaned a wooden structure with a steering wheel that everyone wanted to try out. Pouring over photos taken the day Jozarelli’s truck visited, the children adorned
the inside and outside of their food truck with print. The fire extinguisher that Luis made to look just like the one in Joe’s truck was hung, a license plate was added to the front, and menus were posted on the outside by the lift-up flap that became the service window. The children added logos for Visa, Mastercard, and Discover Card, a made-up website address, a phone number, and logos for Facebook and Twitter. “What shall we name our food truck?” asked Michelle. “Jozarelli’s,” shouted
Luis. “We can’t call it that,” responded Sofia. “That name is already taken.” The list was long and included The Nice Food Truck, The Kind Dragonfly Food Truck, and Community Food Truck. Michelle was not surprised when the children voted in a landslide for #Food Truck. Many of their parents tweeted, as Michelle did openly, and they’d been talking in hashtags for weeks. “#I need help,” “#he made a face at me,” “#I’m hungry. Is it lunchtime yet?” were commonly heard throughout the days. The food truck was ready for visitors (see Figure 13EXT.2). Finally, the celebration day arrived, when the children presented their learning
to their parents and other classes at the school. The children were all at their stations. Some were positioned outside the room, where the pages of their book
FIGURE 13EXT.1 Bilingual kindergarteners’ plans for creating a food truck
about Joe were stretched out in a single row on the wall. Others stood by their planning work, by their French fry machine, or in the food truck, driving or ready to take orders and cook. The parents filled the room, and listened carefully above the din to what each child explained. They beamed with pride as the children read the pages of their book about Joe. Some stepped up to the window of #Food Truck to place orders. Even the older students were impressed when they toured the room, perhaps wishing they were still five when it was okay to learn in such a way at school. When everyone had left, Miguel pleaded, “Now can we play in the food truck?” “Of course,” Michelle replied enthusiastically. “We’ll take turns during choice time starting tomorrow.” A week later, I visited the room again, just in time to see Santiago step up to
the food truck window and place an order. “I’d like two tacos and a cupcake with horchata [a drink made from rice] to go,” he requested. “That will be $6.00,” replied Analisa, and she held out one hand to take the money as she pushed the buttons on the iPad-like, cardboard calculator with the other hand. Behind her, Steven appeared at the window with the order. Santiago carried his food to a nearby table and pretended to dig in, exclaiming, “¡Delicioso!”
