Thankful for the littlest things
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 23, 2017 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Second-graders dressed as Indians and pilgrims at Brogden Primary School perform the Turkey Pokey on Tuesday for a group of parents attending a workshop.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Fifth-graders Unique Wells and Daguer Gonzales search a Carlie C's flier for beverages for their Thanksgiving menu in the Stephanie Lane's fourth-grade math class at Brogden Primary School on Tuesday.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Sherly Hernandez, Michelle Velasquez and Alexis Stevens decide on a turkey to add to their Thanksgiving menu as they work on multiple-number multiplication at Brogden Primary School on Tuesday.
The hallways at Brogden Primary School were a study in contrasts as Thanksgiving approached this year.
Wayne County Public Schools dismissed Tuesday afternoon, giving travelers an extra day to make it to their destinations for the Thursday holiday.
That also meant that feasts and theme parties were held a little earlier in classrooms around the county.
At Brogden Primary on Tuesday morning, the nine classes of second-graders -- donning a mix of Pilgrim and Indian hats created from construction paper -- lined up for a musical program for parents in the cafetorium. The brief assembly provided an opportunity to share some of the fun Thanksgiving-themed songs they had learned for the occasion.
Meanwhile, Stephanie Lane incorporated a teachable moment into the mix with her fourth-graders.
To set the stage they talked turkey, she said, and then were instructed to do the math -- figure out how much it costs for the holiday dinner.
"Your job today is you're going to make a Thanksgiving meal," she told the class, holding up sales papers from Carlie C's grocery store. "Look for items that you'd want for your Thanksgiving menu."
Their worksheet contained space for several entries under the categories of meat, vegetables, side dishes, desserts, beverages and "other."
"You do not have to go in order because you may get excited and see dessert and fill that in," she said.
They had a budget, not to exceed $100 for the meal, she explained.
She suggested they might want to start with the most expensive category, meat. The front of the sale flyer contained several choices.
To kick off the exercise, she pointed to one option, priced at 98 cents.
"But it doesn't cost 98 cents," she told the class. "What do you notice about that price? What does 'lbs.' mean?"
"Pounds," replied student Daguer Gonzales-Coronel.
"How am I going to get the price on my turkey?" Lane asked.
"Multiply," said Dream Battle.
Students were assigned partners, to work in "math duos" on the lesson and come up with their own menu.
Unique Wells and Dauguer opted for the whole oven roasted chicken, sale priced at $5.99. They rounded up and wrote down $6.
Angel Mouzone and Rio Roblero Garcia set their sights on a homemade pecan pie, which was $7.99.
Daniel Carter listed three sweet potato pies on his sheet. With each on sale for $2.99, multiplied by three, that came to $8.97.
"Daniel, I'm assuming you like sweet potato pie," Lane said.
"I like banana pudding," Daniel replied.
His teacher said he could vary the dessert option if he wanted.
Hassani Coleson and Alejandro Luna scanned the sale paper to make up their list.
"I like cranberry sauce and macaroni and cheese," Hassani said, before suggesting yams might be a good option for a vegetable. "I don't like stuffing but we can put it."
Leah Overton and A Rionna Kornegay skipped down to the beverages, opting for the 2-liter Pepsi that was on sale.
"We'll take nine, times 88 cents each," Leah said.
Thinking about it a moment, they reconsidered.
"That'd be weird if we were getting nine," A Rionna said.
"My mom needs eight or nine because she loves Pepsi," Leah said.
A Rionna hesitated, then said they probably did need more than one because other guests would be at the dinner.
"Nine times 88," she began to do the math. "It's $7.97. Make sure to put the dollar sign in front."
Malik Sellars stuck with the traditional -- a 15-pound turkey, at 98 cents a pound, for $14.90, and two packs of corn as a vegetable option.
"Coconut!" exclaimed his partner, Elson Figueroa Diaz, pointing to a good sale on shredded coconut.
"How many packs do you want?" Malik asked.
"Two," Elson said.
Juan Sanchez and Jarvis Williams' list included beans, sweet ham, Cool Whip -- for strawberries, they said -- and shredded cheese for the potatoes.
A Rionna and Leah decided on 10 packs of cinnamon rolls, which totaled $8.80.
"I just put $80 and 80 cents," laughed Leah, before turning her pencil over to erase the error and move the decimal point.
The girls then had a realization.
"We've gotta add this up so it doesn't exceed $100," Leah said.
Both agreed the exercise provided an insight -- they had no idea going in just how much it costs to purchase items for the holiday meal.
"I would think it would cost like $80," A Rionna said.
The classmates, preparing to attend celebrations with their respective families, said they planned to share their findings with those at their gatherings.
"I think they'll say 'wow' and they'll go to Carlie C's and buy some of these things," A Rionna said.