CHICAGO — From passionate stories of imaginary friends to bed-jumping and play dates gone awry, preschool teachers are often amused by the tales their students tell in school.
But in Marisol Sierra's classes at McKinley Park Elementary School, the stories told by 4- and 5-year-olds often have startling twists. They talk about riding their bicycles and playing house. But they also bring up "los gang bangers" and how to avoid getting shot.
"Bad boys" come out at night in their neighborhoods, her students say, and when they hear gunfire at night they know they may awaken the next morning with another example, often firsthand, of the damage that guns do.
"They whack people," said Joshua Zepeda, 5. "Guns kill people and you can die."
With several Chicago Public Schools students killed by gunfire this year, Sierra has had to update her curriculum to include lessons that could mean life or death to her pupils.
"Every day the children were talking, saying, 'Teacher, there was a gang fight by my house.' 'Teacher, on the news a boy got shot,' " Sierra said. "So we started talking about some ways to be safe."
Her work earned her a 2008 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Award.
Lou Bank, vice president of the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation, said early childhood education experts visited Sierra's class three times and interviewed her and others about her work. The group praised her skill at teaching the academics needed to ready students for kindergarten, and was impressed with her decision to discuss topics other teachers wouldn't dare to bring up with such young students.
"You don't want children scared for their lives -- they need to feel safe," Bank said. "She makes them feel safe and still lets them know there are concerns."
Before students in each of Sierra's two preschool classes begin reciting nursery rhymes and learning reading skills, they gather on a colorful rug around Sierra, who points to a large sheet of paper bearing the signatures of the 20 students in each class.
The paper is a contract. A red line runs through a student's drawing of a gun above a promise that he or she won't "touch real guns or talk to gangs."
The promise helps Sierra get her students to talk about how to cope with the violence. The children gather around and immediately start talking about the latest run-ins they and their families have had with gang members.
