The Great American High Tea
Kindergartners share lunch, tea and knowledge with city council members
Pictures of U.S. presidents decorate the walls inside and outside of Marian Carol’s kindergarten classroom at Desert View Acad- emy. Starting with George Washington, they help students remember the name of each president, and the list ends at 47, proclaiming “Who’ll be next? Maybe me someday.”
Indeed, the students entering the classroom looked the part as they showed up to class dressed as important figures from American history. These students were predominantly presidents. The likes of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Ulysses S. Grant, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama were in attendance. And so were figures such as Amelia Earhart, the first woman aviator; Betsy Ross, who sewed the first American flag; and Antonia Novello, the first woman and first Hispanic person to become the U.S. surgeon general.
But why such fancy attire? These students gathered to share their knowledge with Yuma City Council members in a special tradition known as the Great American High Tea. On April 11, Yuma City Council members Gary Knight, Chris Morris and Karen Watts came to share tea and a meal with the children, an opportunity that allowed them to practice the table manners they’ve been learning and to share the facts they’ve learned on their respective historical figures.
“It’s been an honor to come and eat lunch with all you important people,” said Knight as he addressed the children. “It’s not often that any of us get to see all of you important people in one spot so I look forward to it every year and now that we’re past COVID, I hope we can do this every year.”
Although there hadn’t been one in the previous year, Carol explained that the high tea has been a 15year tradition in her classroom. Dignitaries like the council members are invited to the event, creating a connection between important local authorities and the students. Carol expressed that while there isn’t much personal benefit to the dignitaries, they come “out of the goodness of their hearts.”
The event also serves to inspire children. Learning about well-known and lesser-known figures helps the students see that there’s so much that they can aspire to be, from serving in battle like Mary Ludwig Hayes, fighting for civil rights like Rosa Parks or conserving nature like Theodore Roosevelt. And one major benefit: while they may not retain every single detail learned this year, they’ll be familiar with a great deal of history when they can encounter it in later years.
“They were a little nervous, but they understand the big concepts,” Carol said.
“The Presidents Song” helps students learn names and mnemonic devices like remembering that Woodrow Wilson was president during World War I because his name has two Ws go a long way.
“Simple things like that in kindergarten stays with them,” she said. “At one of the other schools, I had a parent come in and say that they were amazed at how much their fifth grade students remembered.”
And the learning coaches can also attest to Carol’s impact. “She’s very knowledgeable about history and wants to teach her students the history of the world,” said learning coach Christie Locklear. “It’s a big deal to parents and a big deal to kids.”
One special ingredient to Carol’s success is the amount of time and creativity she dedicates to the learning before the high tea. She shared that students began studying the topic in mid-January, and the topic is expansive, including history on inventors–like George Washington Carver, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison–and indigenous peoples. At 5 years old, her students can recognize who the Iroquois people are. And they get to reenact history and make it come alive. When they learned about Neil Armstrong, they, too, got to take a big leap.
Nearing the end of the “party of presidents” as one student put it, Morris emphasized one of the day’s biggest takeaways: “One thing that was said earlier that’s very true, that I want you guys to remember, is any of you can become the president or anything that you want to be one day as long as you decide and you work hard to get there.”