The East Wingers are revisiting work that was started last year. Following a budding interest in storytelling, we ended the year looking at mask making, face painting, and costume design for the theatre. With this interest continuing, we took a new look at some of our paper mache mask formations. In small groups, we met and I asked:
“How will the masks support our character roles in the theatre?” We listened to each other’s ideas and noticed five main categories:
- Queens, Princesses, Knights, Dragons, Crowns
- Fairies, Unicorns
- Monsters, Witches,
- Media characters- Superheroes, Star Wars, Ninja Turtles, Ninjago, etc.
- Animals
One idea was unanimous among the children.
We needed holes for eyes to see and after some discussion, Archer drew eyes so we could cut them out.
Palmer reached over and added lashes. She looked at Archer and said: How about we make a girl mask and a boy mask?
Archer: Yes.
Bowe and Everly agree.
Noticing the approach to categorizing the unknown within known boundaries, I reflected that this gender specification is age-appropriate and decided to investigate what mental categories the children had created.
Teacher Cindy: How would they look?
Palmer: The girl has longer lashes.
Archer: Well, I have longer lashes than Bowe.
Everly: Boys eyes are bigger. They would have a larger hole for eyes. Their nose and mouth are bigger, too.
To clarify their ideas, drawing tools were offered. They each drew a boy and a girl and shared their descriptions with the group.
After some reflection on the different ideas (such as lash length), we agreed to revisit this with more peers to gather ideas on a mask fit for a monster, a royal, an animal, or a fantasy character – all which are relegated to boy or girl identities. We’ll offer the children a chance to develop the characters while wearing the mask to learn more about categories and help them compare these to their real knowledge. -Cindy and Kristin