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Partners in learning
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE
© St. Petersburg Times, HERNANDO -- She was barely as tall as the table, but Samantha McQueen, 5, was able to take the spoon and stir the stiff mixture that was on its way to becoming pumpkin cookies. At a nearby table, Tanisha Wellman, 5, poured soupy batter into a shell that would bake into a pumpkin pie. Across the room Gage Cyrus stuck his hand right into the pumpkins that needed their innards cleaned out for proper carving. All around the Hernando Elementary School multipurpose room, children, teachers, teacher's assistants and parents were celebrating fall with students from Cheryl King's fourth grade and Evelyn Richardson's kindergarten classes. King and Richardson have a partnership between their classes. The older students have kindergarten buddies. "They enjoy being with the young ones when we do things," King said. "They feel that leadership role." The two classes have a garden together. "Then we eat what we produce," said King. "Whether it's good or bad, we're going to eat it." King said what she does in the classroom and garden goes along with celebrating the fall season. She says she "tries to tie studies of plants and animals with the holidays." Richardson said she has been working the fall theme into her regular lessons for the past four weeks. Even the festival they were enjoying was full of lessons, mostly cooking, measuring and counting. Her children added one activity to the fall festivities to remember the Sept. 11 event. Before the children were turned loose to make caramel apples and carve pumpkins, they sang Heal the World with the help of teacher's assistant Kathy Peters. The objective of the song, Richardson said, was to teach the children love and sharing.
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