Potluck fiesta at Kings Elementary:‘fun, filling, fabulous food'

Warwick - The fifth grade in Kings Elementary studied Mexico and Hispanic history this past semester. So, for fun we had a Mexican potluck “Fiesta” on Thursday, June 8, 2006. A week or so before, a packet of recipes went out among the students. I asked my teacher, Ms. Melissa Jones, about this “Fiesta.” “Part of the fifth grade curriculum is to study the geography, culture and the history of Mexico and Central and South America,” she said. “So the fiesta is a good activity for our unit. “The fiesta will be teaching us the culture of Mexicans,” she added, “We will be sampling all of the foods that originated in Mexico.” On the day of the fiesta, the cafeteria was elaborately decorated with Mexican flags, designs and streamers. Many of the parent volunteers were there to help. Hispanic music played on the stereo. After helping myself to a little bit of everything, I went around to ask people what they thought. I noticed that many of them were too busy wolfing down their food to answer. A good sign; it meant they like it. I found somebody trying the rice that looked like there were peas and pepper mixed in. All I got was an “It’s good.” I saw another person eating the Mexican Wedding Cake, which happened to be made with pineapple. They called it a “fun, filling, fattening, fabulous food!” Not all of the food was totally Mexican, though. I found a very, very rich chocolate mousse at the end of the table. After 15 minutes of eating, everyone piled onto the open cafeteria floor, chatted, danced and did the Conga line. After a while, we turned off the Hispanic music, and replaced it with the Chicken Dance, YMCA and other contemporary music. Farrell Brenner has been a cub reporter for The Warwick Advertiser, and wrote about events and students at Kings Elementary during the past school year.