Quezada 1

Esther Quezada

Dr. Bob Wortman

TLS 309

27 February 2017

Cultural Story Box Invitation Plan

My mentor and I decided that it would be a good idea to set out the Mexico cultural story

box before we implemented our plan so that we could see what interested our students the most

and what caught their attention. Based on whatever interested the kids, we would change our

original plan to fit their interests. Our goal is to have them explore what they want to explore, we

thought that setting out the box would be one way to find out. By doing this, the activities and

ideas that come out of their initial exploration of the box, are student led.

Something that we noticed when we set out the story box was that they enjoyed the

books. They kept on asking us to read the books for them and they were intrigued by the

pictures. One of the books that they enjoyed the most was Just a Minute. I had one of my kids

ask me a lot of questions about the food that was being made in the book as well. Then I started

having a discussion with some of my kids about authentic Mexican food. Also, recently we set

up a drive through in the dramatic play area, and it was a hit. My mentor teacher would play

along with them, and her line for the drive through would be ridiculously long. Every day we had

kids ready to play at the dramatic play area. So, we decided to put these two interests together for

our invitation plan for this cultural story box. My mentor and I have decided that we will be

setting up a Mexican restaurant with authentic Mexican food in the dramatic play area.

Our original idea was to set up a panaderia, which was just an idea of mine, but our

students interests have led us to this idea of setting up a restaurant. They live in the United
 Quezada 2

States, so they are familiar with how restaurants here work; in addition to this, they just had a

McDonalds drive through in the dramatic play area for the past couple of weeks, which they

enjoyed. So, the idea of setting up a Mexican restaurant is for them to find similarities and

differences between their culture and the Mexican culture. This way foreign countries dont

sound so scary or exotic, but rather a part of their world. Some other goals that we have are

allowing them to work on their social skills and their language skills, by having our students

interact with their peers. It would also be great if they could recognize some Mexican dishes, by

looking at a picture of it. Finally, it is our goal for them to familiarize themselves with the

Mexican culture, and come to appreciate it as well.

Some resources/materials that we will be needing to implement this plan are:

Menus (with a variety of food options, both in English and Spanish). To make the

menus you will need to have knowledge of authentic Mexican food. The menus

can be made by making a document on a computer, printing it out, and laminating

it, so that it can last longer. Make sure to include pictures and the prices. There is

no one way that the menus should look like.

A stand or display where the children will be selling the food from. This can be

made from a science fair board. We already had a drive through display, so all we

did was cover it in paper so that we could make our new display.
Signs: This center will also need signs with the name of your restaurant or

taqueria. We also included a sign that says welcome in English and Spanish.

We decided to do these signs on the computer, print them out, and then laminate

them, but it can be done in different ways.

Plates of food to serve. In the menu, there will be pictures of food that the

children can choose from. For ours, we included pictures of tacos al pastor,

quesadillas, and burritos. We will also be printing out more copies of each of
 Quezada 3

these foods and laminating them. So, if several children order quesadillas, they

can all be served. In Sonyas class from last semester, I learned that its important

to have several duplicates of toys or materials because it reduces fighting in the

classroom.
Plates and utensils will also be needed. If children are to eat food, they must have

the necessary materials to do so. So, we should provide things such as plates,

forks, and spoons.

There should also be a table with chairs where children can take their food and

eat.
Lastly, there should be a cash register so that children can order, and so that

someone can take their order. The cash register should also have money so that

children can familiarize themselves with money and money handling skills.

The dramatic play area will be set out the whole week. The week that I implement this

plan I will be reading the books to them during circle time (or whenever they please). After circle

time, will be center time, and if they wish they may play in the dramatic play area, which they

most likely will want to. They are always so curious about anything thats new in the classroom

and I think that they will want to play in the dramatic play area because of their initial interest in

the Mexican cuisine. Children will be welcome to go and play in this area and although we have

an idea of how things should work and how it should be running, children will have the freedom

to explore and play as this center the way that they want to do it. I also think that it would be a

good idea to include the rebozo and traditional Mexican dresses into the dramatic area so that

they can dress up as well. I also have a mini molcajete and a mini wooden tortilladora, which I

plan on including in the dramatic play area to see if they are used, or how children react to

artifacts that they have never seen.

 Quezada 4

My role during this invitation is to be a guiding hand, an observer, and an active

participant. Children will have questions about some items that are placed in this center. Im sure

they will have questions about what the food is called and how to pronounce it. I will be there to

help them in whatever that they might need. I will also be acting as an observer. I will be

documenting how the children act, what they say, and what they do. Finally, I will also be an

active participant. I believe that participating along with the students motivates them and gets

them excited about playing.

Some obstacles that I anticipate are finding kinks in our plan as it starts to unfold. We

might find that there arent enough materials, or there isnt enough space, or that the kids dont

like it as much as we thought they would. However, we cannot figure these things out without

putting the plan into motion. I think its a bit hard to address obstacles when you dont know

what obstacles you will be encountering. However, I think that I could closely observe what is

going on in the center during the first few days to see if the children need anything, or if

something isnt working out. Finally, I think its important to be flexible, willing to change your

plan if things do not turn out well, and open-minded in general about what is going to happen at

your center because things dont always go as planned, especially when youre working with

children.

I plan to document this process by taking pictures. I want to have pictures of what my

center looked like before it was used, what it looks like while its being used, and how it looked

like at the very end. In addition to this, I will also want to document how the children interact

with this center; I want to know what they say and what they do. The information that I gather

will be important for me to see what went well and what didnt so that I can improve myself and

evaluate myself. In the end, I want my students to have had an educative and fun experience, and
 Quezada 5

I want the same for me. Like my students, I can always learn and grow from my experiences, and

I hope that both my students and I have an educative experience.