At first, Ira Carol McGill decided to do an activity for children called “Who Am I?” when she was asked to participate in the Kohl Children’s Museum “Tribute to Teaching.” But then she came up with a better idea.
“The concept of `Who am I?’ isolates us,” she says, “and so many people get hung up about who they are that they forget about the next person.” So now McGill’s activity could better be called “Who Are We?”
“I want children to see the connections between us and realize that we are all the same inside no matter what the outside differences.”
McGill, a recipient of a Kohl International Teaching Award, will join other award-winning teachers from the Kohl Academy of Outstanding Educators, who will offer a variety of activities with multicultural themes from mask making to storytelling at the museum on Saturday and Sunday. McGill will use the song “Circle of Life” from the Disney movie “The Lion King” to lead children through movements that reveal the similarities among people. Then she will have them put together different colored paper shapes to create miniature people to hang from a mobile.
“The children may put together a brown face and a white arm and that’s okay,” says McGill, “because they will only see the shapes of the people and not the differences in color.”
If McGill is trying to create connections between people, award-winning teacher Delores Saulsberry is literally going to tie them together in an activity called “All Tied Up.” Children will work in pairs and each will have a piece of string looped around either wrist and crossed over the string of their partner. The object is then to uncross the strings without taking the loops off the wrists.
“I know that some children have a fear of solving word problems,” says Saulsberry, “but this activity is a fun way to solve a problem because they can see what they are doing and it promotes cooperation.
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“I like this activity because it spans the ages, and I hope to get some of the parents involved too.”
McGill has similiar expectations. “I wish that more parents understood the importance of playing with their children,” she says.
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“Tribute to Teaching,” 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sen. Paul Simon will visit with children at approximately 1 p.m. Saturday, Kohl Children’s Museum, 165 Green Bay Rd., Wilmette; $3. 708-256-6056.