The same week as a 5.1 earthquake hit the Bay Area, the third graders learned about the Great Earthquake and subsequent fires of 1906 that destroyed more than 80% of the city of San Francisco. In the classroom, we watched a clip called Up from Ashes from the PBS special The Italian Americans that tells the story of the earthquake from the perspective of the Italian American fishermen and their families living and working in North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf. We learned that Bay Area-born Amadeo Giannini founded the Bank of Italy and helped his community recover from the catastrophe, that the Bank of Italy eventually became the Bank of America (a branch of which is just two blocks from our school), and that there is now a SFUSD middle school named after Giannini.
In the kitchen, students prepared minestrone, an Italian soup with ancient origins. Minestrone is a wonderful recipe we hope the third graders will keep with them into adulthood as it can accommodate whatever vegetables you have on hand. Our version featured zucchini, fingerling potatoes, Christmas lima beans, and lumache (meaning “snails” for the curved shape of the pasta). Everyone had a chance to grate authentic Parmiggiano-Reggiano over their soup before digging in.
For our closing circle, students shared what they could do to help their community in a time of great need. In our community, we have people who could feed neighbors, build and rebuild structures, help take babies to the hospital, and care for pets.
