{"id":1156,"date":"2022-04-09T02:56:03","date_gmt":"2022-04-09T02:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/livingwithplastics.climateactionchildhood.net\/?page_id=1156"},"modified":"2022-06-28T17:16:36","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T17:16:36","slug":"onions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/livingwithplastics.climateactionchildhood.net\/index.php\/documentation\/onions\/","title":{"rendered":"Onion Remnants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Thinking with Layers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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The large amount of food waste
that has lived in the classroom
for weeks contains remnants
of many fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onion endings and outer
layers provoke the
children to question.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Their colour and their
carefully encased peels
become protagonists in a
year long inquiry.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Claire and Leo put the red onion endings on their fingertips, and these quickly become hats, mountains, and flowers that the children exchange with each other as gifts.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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“Small, medium and medium and biggest,” Laura stated as she slowly brushed her fingers on the different sections of the onions. Layers started to pop out as she gently pushed her fingers through the centre of the onion. She lined them up on the table side by side and named each piece. She then tried to piece them back together again on her finger, one on top of the other like a stackable ring. <\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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For days, the onion skins are offered as gifts back and forth to one another with surprises inside. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Onion skins wrapped inside onion skins.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have an onion gift for you!<\/em>\u201d, says Jacob.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Giving and opening the gifts are equally exciting.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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To complexify children\u2019s experimentations, we bring a whole onion to peel and chop. Before we return the chopped onion to Chef Kyle, we think together about the onion layers.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer notices that a whole onion still has layers inside even if we cannot see them: \u201cYou can see that there\u2019s skin and then there\u2019s another colour for the other layer<\/em>.\u201d The children insist that all the layers are the same but also different. \u201cThe whole onion also has layers because they look like they have different colours<\/em>,\u201d John points out.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

“Onion layers are layers that then become onions. The layers are all different: big, small and with shapes<\/em>.\u201d – Maria
\u201cCarrots have layers too! It is just harder to see them. You have to be strong to get the layers.<\/em>\u201d – John.
\u201cYeah, the layers of the carrots you cannot peel, but the onions you can peel first<\/em>.\u201d – Jennifer<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Children experiment with fabrics\u2019 textures, colours and transparencies to transform themselves into onions. They become the centre of an onion.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Wrapping
with
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\u201cI want to be an onion\u201d<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Big Onion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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As we continue to carefully wrap and exchange gifts with the onion’s remnants from the pile, a problem emerges. The onion layers keep unravelling.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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“I’m making an onion!<\/em>“, Leo announces. <\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We invite children to pay attention to the concept of layering by offering fabrics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cIt feels tight to be an onion\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like eating onions, but I like being an onion\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI need another layer\u201d
“I need a purple layer”<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Children roll one at a time, two at a time, and as a whole group. They transform themselves into an onion using different fabric textures and colours: \u201cJust like an onion would be.\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Layers are mindfully selected one by one. A child wrapped in yellow fabric becomes the heart of the onion.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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We experiment with children\u2019s ideas and questions as we try to embody an onion with multiple layers.<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am going to see how big we can make it.\u201d -John
\u201cWhat do you think the onion feels like being
wrapped?\u201d – Jennifer.
\u201cI have the yellow part.\u201d – Maria
\u201dThe way to do it is to wrap onions inside each other and roll and roll another layer on top.”- John.<\/mark><\/h5>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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John suggests that they can put the onion back together: \u201cI can match the parts and I am making an onion. This is the purple one and this is the red one<\/em>.\u201d <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We offer John\u2019s suggestion to make an onion to the entire group. \u201cCan I make the biggest onion?<\/em>\u201d Sarah asks. \u201cWe can make the biggest onion, like this big!<\/em>“, John replies while his hands are stretched out. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The children carefully and slowly wrap the onion layers trying to make a big onion. Day after day, they experiment with the texture, size and thickness of each layer. A layer choreography emerges as layers are put into conversation with each other.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The children collectively decide to follow a pattern to create the big onion: start with the yellow centre piece, add in layers of crunchy pieces, and finish with sticky layers in between.<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe sticky layers holds <\/mark>
the layers together.\u201d<\/mark><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Children pass the onion around. Each person adds a new layer on top of the previous layer. The onion grows in size From the size of a golf ball, it becomes the size of a baseball.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

“We want to make
the biggest onion, let’s
put it back together.”
– Anna<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In putting the onion back together, the children encounter yet another problem. They quickly run out of sticky layers. We discuss how we might hold the onion together. We collectively decide to sew the biggest onion using thread and a needle. Children split the thread so that it is thin enough to fit through the eye of the needle, put the needle through the onion flesh, and sew layer on top of layer. Slowly each onion piece stay together, creating layers of crunchy onion skin and soft flesh in between. “It is working, it is sticking together!”, Myles announces. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Stitch by stich, the thread intertwines with their stories
about the big onion.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Through the process of making the big onion, Maria notices that mould is growing inside the sewn layers of the big onion.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s green and slimy stuff.<\/em>\u201d – Maria
\u201cNo. They are white<\/em>,\u201d – Vivaan
\u201cThere\u2019s more white stuff and brown stuff. It\u2019s
moulded<\/em>” – John
\u201cThere\u2019s sticky tacky stuff.<\/em>\u201d – Tommy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes it feel the same?\u201d, John asks. \u201cNo\u201d, reply other children. \u201cDoes it smell the same?\u201d, John asked again. \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cIt looks different”, John observes. \u201cIt also smells different,\u201d Jennifer echoes, trying to sniff the onion, \u201cIt smells like chemical candy”. She continues, \u201cIt did change. It smells differently.\u201d “The onion also changes colour , just like me,” Maria adds. “The brown stuff has a smell. I think it will also attract skunks and raccoons,” John announces, then asks, “What are your thoughts, Tommy?\u201d \u201cMaybe the bugs are eating it”, Tommy replies. <\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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As children story how the bugs have been eating the onion, they make chewing and chomping sounds. To encourage children to further story the decaying onion layers, we seal the layers in a jar.<\/mark><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cI noticed something, more brown , it attracted something. This time there were different animal bites. Raccoons took a bite and the skunks noticed. But this time bears took a bite! It\u2019s attracting bears<\/em>!\u201d – John<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe onion is breaking.\u201d – John
\u201dBreaking?\u201d – Tomm
\u201cMore mould.\u201d – John<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mould will turn into a monster mould<\/em>.\u201d – Tommy
\u201cIt will not turn into a monster mould . It will get mouldier but not into a monster mould.<\/em>\u201d – John
“The onion is not just an onion anymore, it is attracting other living things. It attracts skunks, raccoons, bugs, and now mould. The mould means it is starting to fall apart and die<\/em>.\u201d – John
\u201cLet\u2019s make a small onion. The onion moulds because it has many layers.<\/em>\u201d – Tommy<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We offer pencil and paper to the children to document the changes through a collective drawing. The mould on the onion becomes part of the drawing.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n