The Importance Of Making Educational Connections

By Susan Coney

When working with children to help them develop more in-depth comprehension skills, it sometimes requires a little creative thinking. That was the case this week when educational assistant Dianne Orlando went above and beyond to make reading come alive for the students at Reed Intermediate School.

Ms Orlando, who works in several classrooms at Reed School, has a passion for two things: reading and baking gingerbread houses. Traditionally, over Thanksgiving weekend for the past 14 years, Ms Orlando has been making holiday gingerbread houses. At school Ms Orlando is famous for bringing in her tempting creations at Christmastime to share as gifts.

This year, in addition to her usual batch of fresh, edible fairytale houses, Ms Orlando made a tiny replica of the log cabin from the book Sign of The Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare, which the fifth grade students in Carla Tischio and Peter Bernson classes have been reading. As part of the fifth grade curriculum the students study Native Americans and the book integrates social studies, language arts, and art.

In Sign of the Beaver, the main character, 12-year-old Matt Hallowell is left alone in the family cabin in the Maine wilderness during the summer of 1768 awaiting his father’s return. During that time Matt befriends a Penobscot Native American. Ms Orlando thought that if she could make a replica that tied in several context clues from the novel, it would encourage further discussion and understanding of the book.

In her cabin replica she incorporated more than 15 details from the story such as “the flat stone that served as a doorstep,” which is the opening sentence in the third chapter. Ms Orlando depicted the stone at the entrance of the cabin with a gray Necco candy wafer. Just a few of the other details were a birch bark canoe, notched sticks that the character in the book made to be used to keep track of time, and a tiny copy of the book Robinson Crusoe, all made of marzipan candy.

This is the second year that Ms Orlando has used her creative talents to help enhance learning. Last year when students read the book When Zachary Beaver Came To Town by Kimberly Willis Holt, she made a gingerbread model of a trailer, which was the main setting for that book and included several details from the book in her construction.

“It helps the children to gain a recognition of detail by viewing the model and tying it to the story. I bring the models in and it gets the children’s attention. Then we have a session where the children point out the various details on the model and describe where and when those details were present in the book.”

Fifth grade student Chris Liotta found almost every detail located on the cabin model and was able to relate all of the information from the book to Ms Orlando as he carefully fingered the gingerbread structure. Ms Orlando laughed saying that the children often touch the models, wanting to eat them. “More than one teacher has told me that I have too much free time and I need to get a life,” she joked. In reality Ms Orlando is very busy with family commitments but enjoys making the gingerbread structures and sees the added excitement the children gain from her efforts.

As part of the overall Native American study the students complete various projects. Currently on display in the school hallways are projects constructed by several other fifth grade classes showing details about Native American life in the past.

In addition, the school art teachers have the students make clay masks, adding paint, beading, and feathers to create beautiful traditional Native American-looking artwork. They also drew pictographs on animal like skins. The unit of study is a favorite among students and teachers.