Students learn about friendships in Summer Enrichment class

The rising first and second graders in Renee Palmer’s Summer Enrichment class spent a morning making friendship pies after watching a video of Derek Munsen’s book, “Enemy Pie.” There were strawberry, cherry and rainbow pies.

Aubree Saintifort made a strawberry pie with an aluminum foil pie pan, construction paper for pie filling and friendship characteristics. She chose a strawberry pie because “my mom and I make strawberry pie for dessert all the time.”

Saintifort added she had fun making the pie, and shared “I learned how to be nice” by watching “Enemy Pie” and by making the friendship pie.

“Enemy Pie” is about a young boy/narrator who starts an enemy list with Jeremy Ross, the new boy in the neighborhood. The young boy’s father asks his son to invite Jeremy to their home for dinner and enemy pie on the condition that his son spend the day with Jeremy.

The young boy did just that and learned he and Jeremy had many things in common. When the young boy and Jeremy ate dinner, they learned they each enjoyed macaroni and cheese.

When the father served the pie and ice cream for dessert, the young boy was concerned when his father and

new friend began eating the pie. The young boy started eating and enjoying the pie, learning the pie did not have any ingredients that would hurt anyone.

After watching the video, the students wrote the characteristics of a good friend as the ingredients of their pie. Saintifort’s pie included a cup of honesty, two cups of adventure and two squeezes of respect.

“We’re working on what makes good friends, telling stories, and working on language skills,” said Palmer. “This is a good story because sometimes they think people are not their friends and they really are their friends. They can relate the book to their own life.”

Each student was given an aluminum foil pie pan to make their own pie filled with crumbled construction paper and characteristics of a good friend such as kindness, honesty, fun, respect, loyalty, trust and patience.

The pies were covered with aluminum foil, baked in a desk serving as the oven, and taken home.

Killian Plaza chose to make a rainbow pie and said it’s important to have these qualities of a friendship such as sharing, respect and loyalty “because it makes me friends.”