There has been a big push all season for preschool for all four year olds in California. I’ve been watching the debates. Here’s a voice from Heather Moore about the program.

Anyway, here’s the article:

Universal Preschool Requires Increased College Funding
By HEATHER MOORE By HEATHER MOORE

December 29, 2005

The Preschool For All Act, sponsored by Rob Reiner and the Preschool California group, is intended to provide access to high-quality preschool for every 4-year-old in California whose parents decide to enroll their child. The main provisions of the act are increased training for preschool teachers, increased pay for preschool teachers and the requirement that, by 2016, all preschool teachers have bachelor’s degrees.

I am a proponent of preschool. My parents were blessed to find nursery schools that combined a preschool program with day care. I credit those programs with helping me and my younger sister make the transition to kindergarten. I have often envisioned an era in which programs like this are the rule rather than the exception. Perhaps universal preschool is the first step toward this.

But the Preschool For All Act shouldn’t pass simply due to intent. Like all items on the ballot, it should be evaluated for its practical application. Now is the time to begin thinking about what should be considered when making our decision.

California’s much-needed preschool teachers won’t be coming from Stanford or any of the top-tier universities. They will be — and have been for years — coming from community colleges and four-year state institutions. These same institutions have been dealing with funding cuts by the state, resulting in the colleges raising tuition, and decreased enrollment resulting from students being unable to afford to continue their college education due to the higher fees.

Like many of our residents earning college credits, be it for certification or a degree, these students are juggling school, employment and family commitments. Some are barely making ends meet and, as tuition costs rise along with the cost of living, their struggle to fund their education increases.

Many government aid programs require the students to carry a full load and barely cover education expenses, forcing the students to work full time as well. But they persevere. They choose to be child development workers not because of the money they will earn, but due to a genuine commitment to making a difference in the education of a child.

I believe our preschool teachers are underpaid and I applaud the effort to get them more money, but we must understand that the promise of a larger paycheck once they finish their education doesn’t supplant the need for funding for that education.

Many programs focus on helping potential child development workers gain the funding assistance and necessary training to be good educators. In putting Preschool For All in place, we must see that its new efforts complement existing programs. There should not be a duplication.

The Preschool For All Act is a good idea, worthy of consideration. But it must be understood that in voting to fund high-quality preschool programs, we must also vote to fund the college education for the teachers who will work in the high-quality preschool programs.

Huh? Do I like the girls better than the boys? For a grandmother of five boys and a girl – I don’t think that’s possible. A compliment is a compliment. I realize that a body part reference can be congratulatory or insulting, but considering saying the girls are the heart of the school is simply true. They are the little engines that make the day sweet.

That doesn’t mean the boys are rags bones and hunks of hair. Let’s say the boys are the spirit of the school. Does that mean I don’t like the girls?

The truth is – like every person, there are those who make you laugh and those who make you cry. There are those who learn and those who refuse. There are those who love to love you and those who love to set you on fire. There are children who smile openly, and those who keep it all inside.

Each one is a precious and wonderful and exciting gift from a God who is pure love. That means the response a child offers is his first and initial years as he eeks out of his little shell is the light that will follow him all his life. How can you discriminate by any narrow means?

Is one nationality or religion preferable to another – especially in a child? Is one skin or eye or hair color preferable? One day while I was trying to explain discrimination – because a child asked – I separated all the blue eyed children from the rest of the children. I told all the children that I liked the blue eyed kids the best and that we were going to play all day and have treats and the other kids would spend the day scrubbing the floor and eating gruel.

Poor Hadley cried. She wept great crocodile tears until we reversed the play, and I told the other kids I really didn’t like blue eyed children best at all, and they could do the scrubbing and we’d all eat bon bons and… By that time the kids were all cheering their own group and having a merry moment.

“Suppose,” I continued to press, “We decided that no one could have blond hair?” The kids looked at each other and laughed.

“What would they do, Miss Judy?”

“They would have to cut it off, dye it black or red or brown or wear hats. Maybe they would shave their heads!” That made the children laugh.

“Suppose we decided that everyone had to wear dresses?” As I eyed the boys, the girls howled with laughter. “Suppose we said all haircuts had to be this,” and I held up my fingers to show less than half an inch, “short.” The boys all laughed as the girls grabbed their heads.

“Does anyone really care that some people wear dresses and some people don’t? Do we care if someone’s curls are brown or black or yellow? Does it matter that some children have a year round tan and some children don’t? Aren’t differences neat? Look at Alexa’s beautiful blond hair. And look at Adyson’s beautiful dark curls. Can you really choose which one you like better?”

I chose a child who had lost a tooth. “He doesn’t have any front teeth. Should we make him the enemy?”

“No,” agreed the children.

“That’s right because he will shortly, and then you might lose yours and… well, it’s never a good idea to discriminate,” I repeated. “Discrimination means you can’t see that God loves him. Don’t do it. It’s a dangerous business and not fair at all.”

“OK,” the kids agreed. It’s about that easy.

Loving means just that. Love does not have conditions – at least to a mother. Sometimes the children will say, “I’ll let you be my best friend if…” I always coach the kids to respond, “The price is too high. When your friendship goes on sale, give me a call.”

***

The furnace is fixed and all is temporarily right with the world.

Maestro misses all of you. As he finished his fourth can of food, he sighed heavily, turned to look at the lonely building this morning, and crept over to his box by the copier. I think he’s bored. “Boredom comes from inside your head, not your environment,” I touted. He gave me one of those ignore you looks and the furnace guy thought I was talking about him. Oh well, another day another 35 cents.

It’s been an amazing few days, and I’m finally surfacing at about 2:50 am, Tuesday Morning.

The party at school was fun – Santa was a bit “backward” as they say here in Southwestern Indiana. He should have played a retiring angel or perhaps a statue in a garden someplace. But I think the kids had a really nice time and the gifts were perfect.

A great thanks to all the families for all the help. Thanks especially to Katio’s mom for sweeping all the floors and reminding me how the Japanese clean at the end of the year! I don’t know if that was informational or suggestive.

Thanks to Tami who sent this picture. The ladies are the heart of the school.

We closed school for the year about 4:30. It has been a very interesting Christmas season and continued after the party.

On Friday, we gave Edith a going away party – just to take her mind off traveling. We served shrimp curry with fourteen eleven sideboys and baked salmon, exchanged a few gifts and had a nice evening at my house.

Amid making every kind of Christmas cookie I could think of for eight hours on Saturday, I took Edith to the airport. I worried all day about Edith traveling across the pacific and Anne flying in from Sharjah. In fact, I worried myself into a sick tizzy. Then, after the tizzy I heard that Anne had missed her flight, but was scheduled to come in on Christmas Day. That was about as nervously upsetting as anything I can think of.

We got up early Christmas day, fed the animals at school, Edith’s cats, and headed out to the Louisville airport. Her flight from New York was canceled because of weather as we walked into the airport, and we waited on Christmas Day for eight hours at the airport for something to come in from JFK. She finally arrived at 9:00 pm. I was so glad to see her safe sound beautiful and elegant as she made her way from the terminal.

We actually had a magnificent Christmas on Monday. It was warm and wonderful except the furnace went out at school, and I had to turn off the power. Glad I was there. It set off the smoke alarms.

I heard from Edith that the trip was wonderful, that she loves Australian and that she is having the time of her life. That’s so neat. Regis and Cassandra will be married on New Years Eve.

It’s always a comedy of errors. Life is always a battleground of emotions. The buffer? The little guys. Jackie and Wilbur saved my emotional life yesterday. Their enjoyment of Christmas, their joy at the robots, the drum set, the cars that shoot, the mega max, the art sets, the dinosaurs that bite, and the Christmas train set of mine Wilbur is determined to dismantle made me relax and made us all laugh. When Will ate all the chocolate kisses off the turban cookies silently, secretly pulling them quietly from the tray and putting the cookie back, it was hilarious. Rob counted twelve toppled turbans. He’s so two.

Their little faces were wonderful. It’s a big Christmas because the belief system is still intact. Santa is a marvelous fellow and Jack made sure he left a key under the mat because his family doesn’t have a fire place. It was his idea.

Willie was truly surprised by his gifts. He seemed to like the remote praying mantis best.

Miss Molly gave me a delightful book on puppets. I’m already looking forward to beginning. It should be fun. Did you know you can make the most wonderful puppets out of dish soap containers?

Hoping everyone reading had a marvelous Christmas.

It’s been a marvelous year considering the fallen soldiers. If you look at what we have all accomplished, the things we have discovered, the people met, the jobs executed, the things learned, it’s really been a marvelous year.

I am very grateful, of course, for my friendship with Edith. She is a wonderful friend and a great companion. She has always been loving towards my family, and she’s been a brick through many difficulties.

My family is bursting at the seams, and for that I’m grateful.

At school, the families have been outstanding, caring, supportive, interested, and generous. You can’t ask for a better group of parents. It is for this reason that we do as much as we can. In years passed, we tried and no matter what, most of what we did was received with little enthusiasm. In the last year or two, that’s changed significantly, and we couldn’t ask for more.

This coming year should be a lot of fun. I plan to bring my sewing machine to school. I will be on the lookout for books on puppets, puppet lore, and a puppet house.

For summer, we are considering a Safari theme. I found out that a family pass at the zoo is reciprocal, and that nearly any zoo in the nation is free to those who buy a family pass. The pass is $45.00. This would allow us to take the children to different city zoos in about 3 different states. This year, we have a young group, and a zoo is a really neat place for young children. We’ve been to the Louisville zoo, but it cost $600. 00 to do it in gate charges. With the price of gas, I think we could manage perhaps three places, but only with those family passes which would allow parents a place to take children on special occasions and all during the year.

We are also thinking about school uniform swim suits. Something plain. It’s so much easier to identify children who are wearing the same suit.

We could also do the last summer hurrah at Pound’s Hollow Lake. With enough warning, parents could take off one day and come with us, and take their own children to the cliffs for rock climbing. We could spend the day and do a cook out and beach party.

We still plan on going to the pool two days a week. Maybe we will do punch passes this year instead of family passes.

Lots of things to consider, but this is the time of the year when all that stuff is put together.

This year, Spring Sing will include a puppet show.

And the St. Patrick’s Day play will include some new costumes.

I wish all of you a splendid Christmas, a safe vacation, a beautiful new year. God’s light be upon you all.

He’s a boy! Miss Molly is having another son. He’s just darling, and she is delighted. “My three sons,” she said. He was tumbling with joy at 15 weeks, a stunning three ounces, and definitely all boy. He has everything in all the right places, and he’s healthy as a horse. I’ve included his picture. We are all blessed. That’s five grandsons for Miss Judy, and one granddaughter.

We had a splendid day. Two days before Christmas break, and the kids were really good. Tomorrow is cookie baking day. It should be a remarkable day! Justin’s mom brought two containers of cookie dough. We will make some more tomorrow. We thank her very much.

The Santa prize has been awarded and will be announced on Thursday. Two children achieved seventeen angels. We are so proud of them.

Ty’s mom brought a freezer full of bread, so tomorrow for breakfast we will be having French toast. We thank her for her kindness.

Parent’s support has been outstanding. We are very excited about finishing the season, and we have been talking about doing something different in January.

As most of you know, we teach geography, history, literature and Bible stories in the afternoon after French and music. It is sometimes connected, but generally, the teachers pick their own topics, and do a class or a series on a particular idea or theme. Starting in January, we will be doing a month on puppets and connecting the afternoon classes to that theme. We will do the history, geography and literature of puppets and use puppets to teach religion class and use puppets to discuss certain properties of science like shadows and perspective. All the teachers are very excited to do this. We will need a puppet show stage, and we will do a lot of back drop art, and some paper mache puppet work along with hand puppets, string puppets and stick puppets.

We are hoping to teach the children how to make, and then invent for a puppet. Please let us know if your child develops an interest in puppets.

On to baking!

Four thousand dollars worth of cookie dough arrived at 1:30 yesterday afternoon, and they wanted to put it in my kitchen. The kitchen is about as big as a large closet. Thank God the dishes were done!

We had an outrageously fun day. Too cold to go out, Miss Kelly invited a lot of kids to play in her classroom. It was Christmas card day, and my little guys wrote Merry Christmas on their own cards! I was absolutely delighted. “I can’t.” “No can’ts here, please!” And every child’s Merry Christmas was readable and dear.

We looked at the color words today. It’s the first step in reading. Color words are sight words. When a child knows enough sight words, and can begin to sound out other words, he just figures it out. You can’t “teach” a child to read, you can only “show him.” Reading is one of those things you just have to say, “Oh, I get it. Boy that’s easier than I thought.” If you catch a child early enough, reading becomes second nature quickly. When you wait too long, it seems that each word is a hurdle. You can always tell when the child waited too long – in high school, he or she has no vocabulary.

In my class of 4-5s I want to introduce reading as a game. Here it is – do what you can with it and have some fun. Make and say words. Here are some at home things to play with:

Scrabble letters, blocks with letters, newspaper ads with several of the same words to circle.

Give a child a chocolate chip or an M&M for ever word they make and READ. Guessing doesn’t count. “What do you think it is – sound it out. What sound does that letter say? Start with at and build.

When we come back in January, I want my kids to start reading the little ten word books we have.

By the end of the year, I’m hoping to have some readers.

In arithmetic class, we did ABABAB patterns and then turned to ABCABC patterns. They didn’t get the ABC pattern at all. Huh? When you add that third component, they just stop. They may not have the cognitive skills. We’ll try again soon.

Today we will string popcorn and cranberries in an ABABAB pattern. Let’s see who gets it.

Kids love to string. I remember at that age, I preferred knitting. I remember finding a long string and two sticks under the school house steps and sitting on the playground quickly knitting the string into some imagined garment – probably for the sticks that I probably made into some creature. The other kids thought I was nuts. Hyperactives are mostly thought to be nuts. Most of us always have to be doing something with our hands.

Tip on getting a hyper kid through a church service: Stroke an arm. Gently let your fingers stroke the back of the forearm during long sit times. Any repetitive motion on a squirrely child helps keep him calm.

I’m really delighted with the singing this year. We’ve managed to get through about 15 songs. We will start singing at about 2:45 on Thursday.

Tomorrow is the dreaded cookie day.

As we put the last receipt away, make that next batch of cookies, steady the star on the top of the tree for the umpteenth time, Christmas begins to really take shape. It’s a warm fuzzy.

I’m not an occasion person. I’m an ordinary time person. But this year my youngest is arriving home from the Middle East on Christmas Eve at the Louisville airport near midnight, and I’m so excited, it’s made me decorate like I used to years ago. “I want your fried chicken, chicken pot pie, mashed potatoes, and chocolate chip cookies and lots of decorations.”

I’m not a traditional decorator like I’m not a traditional cook. I’ve got the Christmas bow hanging off the dangling toe of a Thanksgiving turkey who lives on my front door. I’ve got my kids old stockings hung by the chimney in my office among some greenery and bows someone did one year that I yanked out of the box and said, MMMM.

The creche is in the fireplace amid rocks. If Christ was born in a cave, it’s a splendid rendition.

There is a whole seven feet of Santas and elvises on the dining room table gracing some Frosty lights, and a Christmas village set on the floor of the transition room complete with train set, skaters, turning snowmen and dozens of figures.

Then we get a little strange around here. About a year ago, I decided that with too many two year olds lurking with intent, the best place to put decorations was on the ceiling. Between the big room and the transition room, right above the village, is a battalion of angels made from tissue paper – the wrapping kind – gathered about center page and hanging from thread. Gold balls represent stars and gold streamers, light. It’s pretty and it’s off the floor!

I’m only writing about this because decorating at Christmas has to be fun. I tired of the tree deal years ago. Here’s a mother’s scenario: Your husband buys an outrageously priced tree which you know won’t hold a single ornament for more than five minutes because your husband thinks the long needle trees are nicer than the short needled trees. It must be about the tree and not the ornaments. So you bring Godzilla home and saw off half of it trying to make it stand straight. Once that’s done, everyone is too tired to put the lights on, and definitely too tired to hang an ornament. Once the tree is decorated, you get the reviews –

“Hmmm. Liked last year’s better.
“I think it’s dead already.”
“It’s too small.”
“It’s been painted.”
“I can’t relate to something dead.”
“Why did you hang that ornament there?”
And my all time favorite: “Why do you save this junk?”

Last year I got one of those sixteen pot holding wrought iron trees that sixteen poinsettias are supposed to grace making a giant red tree. It took me three weeks to fill it because of the cost, and it took so much water, it was a real mess that shed all over the place. I’m still finding leaves.

My favorite decorations are the ones given to me by small children – especially those that are hand made. I recently got an absolutely darling tree pin made by one of my favorite children. I will treasure it always. I have a ridiculous ornament made by my anti arts and crafts son who stuck a red glass ball into a Styrofoam ball, added two black beads, put a striped hat and coat over a clothespin and called it done. I have had this ornament for 25 years.

These are the things that make memories. I try to save a little something from every Christmas to remind me of the last one. I save cards, ornaments, trinkets and home made fun and have now collected about 15 crates of stuff, and I’m not a Christmas person.

Here is Anne’s beloved recipe for fried chicken:

Cut nearly thawed chicken breasts ( 1 per person) into half dollar sized pieces. Shake them in flour in a zip lock bag. In egg and milk, roll the floured chicken pieces. Then in an equal mix of ground croutons, walnuts and parmesan cheese, coat the floured and egged chicken. Either deep fry in oil, or pan fry in margarine. You can also use the batter mix for vegetables like broccoli and mushrooms and onion rings.

Sauce: Apricot jam or ranch dressing made with either sour cream or mayo.

Here is a really good recipe for chicken pot pie that kids just love:

Cut half thawed chicken breasts into quarter sized pieces. Cut potatoes into small pieces. Use ready to eat carrots. Saute chicken, potatoes and carrots in butter.

Sauce: In a sauce pan melt equal amounts of margarine and flour for a family about 1/4 cup each. Add two cups of milk or more and bring nearly to a boil – it will thicken. Add two cups of cheddar cheese and a tablespoon of chicken bouillon and a cup of sour cream. Set aside. Mix sauteed chicken and vegetables with with sauce and put into a reasonably sized pan and top with pie dough.

Pie dough is made from two cups of flour, 1/2 cup of Crisco and 1/4 cup of boiling water. Roll out and place on pie. Bake at 350 degrees until it bubbles. Make a face so there’s no boil over.

This week at school it’s make and do – cards, popcorn strings, and cookies. Thursday is the party.

Then we have a surprise for January we think is neat.

When I was a child the only thing that you could count on being the same all over the world was Mass. My daughter Anne says that Kentucky Fried Chicken is all over Sharjah in the United Arab Emerits. My son Brendan said they would journey to Walmart in China a few towns away. Now when Edith goes to Australia, she will discover America on TV.

Disney Launches Preschool Channel in the Philippines

Indiantelevision.com Team
(12 December 2005 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Walt Disney Television International has expanded its pay-TV presence in the Philippines with the launch of its second 24-hour channel and the only dedicated preschool offering in the Asian region – Playhouse Disney.

The Philippines’ new Playhouse Disney Channel targets the previously under-served preschool category. The learning-focused channel invites children aged 2-5, their parents and caregivers into a world of discovery, imagination and creative play through learning-based programming.
The channel is distributed by Asian Cable Communications Inc. (ACCION), which is also the distributor of Disney Channel in the Philippines.

Walt Disney Television International Southeast Asia – Korea managing director Raymund Miranda said, “We are thrilled to extend our Playhouse Disney Channel Asia feed into the Philippines. There is an estimated 7.9 million children five years old and younger in the Philippines. This is a huge audience who can benefit from the fun learning provided by Playhouse Disney Channel. We’re excited to deliver to Filipino preschoolers a channel which inspires imagination and develops crucial life skills within a safe, entertaining TV environment.”

Walt Disney Television International Asia Pacific senior vice president and managing director Nicky Parkinson said, “This launch marks the expansion of our pay-TV presence in the Philippines and completes the evolution of the brand from a block on Disney Channel to a stand alone channel today.”

Playhouse Disney Channel is a commercial-free service that features award-winning preschool shows and customised short-form activity segments and programming to engage and stimulate preschoolers’ imagination and learning in a seamlessly fun and creative environment.

Programming and content is based on the “Whole Child Curriculum,” a philosophy of education developed by early childhood specialist Dr. Renee Cherow O’Leary. The curriculum is based on the theory of Multiple Intelligences and aspires to stimulate thinking skills, develop motor skills, impart early academic learning, instill moral and social lessons and encourage creativity and artistic expression.

The channel offers a line-up of award-winning, preschool programs that reflect Disney-quality storytelling, and features favourites such as The Book of Pooh, Bear in the Big Blue House, JoJo’s Circus, and Higglytown Heroes.

The Philippines is the 11th market in the Asia Pacific to launch Playhouse Disney Channel and follows in the heels of the recent launch of the channel in Australia. Playhouse Disney Channel will also launch in New Zealand on 24 December.

I was fascinated when I read this simply because it’s happening half way around the world and they have some of the same problems we have. We have laundered our problems, and for the most part, it’s rare for our families to know who lives in wealth and who lives in poverty. That’s one of the reasons we don’t allow toys to be brought to school.

A child in Botswana is just as likely to be the next great world leader as someone from New York City. And is there really a difference between a child who grows up shaking off poverty in an African nation from a child who grows up shaking off poverty in an American city?

Dailynewsonline
MPs Call for Education on Schools Fees 12 December, 2005

PARLIAMENT – Parliamentarians have called for a rigorous campaign to educate stakeholders on the re-introduction of school fees next year.

Legislators expressed their concerns before adopting the education chapter of the draft mid-term review National Development Plan (NDP) 9.

Molepolole North MP Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri complained that despite a few days before January, the means assessment tests have not been done.

He said some parents were confused, as they did not know whether or not they would be required to pay.

There are so many conflicting signals given to the parents because some school heads have already formally informed all parents to be ready to pay when schools re-open, he said.
Matlhabaphiri added that even the logistics of paying were unclear, thus exacerbating the situation.

This undesirable scenario must be taken care of before it worsens, he said. Isaac Mabiletsa of Kgatleng East argued that school fees would only stigmatise those who can not afford to pay because they would be classified as paupers who depend on government bursaries.

However, Pelonomi Venson of Serowe South contended that stigma would not be an issue because all of us here have experienced poverty at childhood but we were never stigmatised.

Venson, who is the minister of communications, science and te chnology, advised that at least the threshold of P500 could be the issue for consideration rather than dismissing the measure.
By asking citizens pay part of school fees, government wanted to discourage the dependency syndrome, Venson said.

Venson called on the Botswana Training Authority to monitor business entities that masquerade as tertiary institutions to rid the country of fly-by-night schools.

We do not know the motive behind owners of these schools which label themselves as colleges, institutions, academies and so on, she said.

Probably that is one reason why some of our children do not get employed because employers doubt certificates from these schools.

Akanyang Magama of Gaborone South said the guiding principle to proper learning should be education intertwined with production since that would enhance self-employment and relevance to the job market demands.

He lambasted government for lack of commitment to pre-school education.

Pre-school education should be integrated into the schools curriculum because, among others, it reduces the deep rooted differences in class backgrounds of children at early education, he said.
Magama also pleaded that management of primary schools should be moved from the Ministry of Local Government to that of education.

He said due to the current situation, a huge disparity existed between primary and secondary schools in terms of both human and material resources.

He called for adoption of a unique salary structure for specialised cadres such as teaching as a way to boost morale and enhance effectiveness.

He urged Nkate to issue a statement on rumours that the University of Botswanas Faculty of Engineering and Technology would be transferred to the proposed university of science and technology.

Ponatshego Kedikilwe of Mmadinare said teacher transfers should be done more often because failure to do that led to redundancy, monotony and, consequently, ineffectiveness.

He echoed Magamas sentiments that early childhood education should be given the attention it deserved.

Kedikilwe suggested that the public-private-partnership mechanism could be invoked to kick-start the programme, giving priority to rural areas.

On cost recovery, Kedikilwe advised that the prescribed threshold of P500 should be raised to at least P1 000 so people earning around P500 do not get overburdened.

Tonota South MP Pono Moatlhodi was concerned that the double shift programme would encourage loitering and lawlessness among students attending afternoon classes.

I do not subscribe to that move at all, he said. If it means going outside the country to source funds to construct more schools please do so, because after all we have a good record as borrowers. BOPA

It’s raining again. I love rain. I love those dark dreary mornings that make you shiver a little. My friends would call it a red sweater day. People are always talking about seasonal depression. That’s me mid July. I’m not a sun person, and heat is not my thing. I’m a fog and rain person. I’m not sold on snow, but it is pretty. When my husband and I went to Ireland we were both horribly disappointed that they were having a heat week. The rain is so invigorating and so rejuvenating. Anyway…

Every morning, rain and shine, we start the day with Mr. Line. Mr. Line is a handwriting paper I designed to help children understand that we use the whole space and that making all letters begins at the top. It really does help. Some letters start at Mr. Line’s belt and go to his toes. But all letters have a place to be decorating and clothing Mr. Line.

Yesterday, after the children worked on printing their names, they drew a picture on the back of their work. Art work is important. It shows where a child is emotionally – today. Soft colors, harsh colors, strong lines, thoughtful lines, pictures with smiles, arms, legs, big characters, little characters. It all makes a difference.

Then they started the art project. We used Popsicle sticks to build stars, crosses, or what have you as a frame for an ornament. Then we took 1000 buttons and picked out the ones we wanted and glued them to the frame. It took an hour, but it was an hour each child enjoyed. Every child stayed at the table first building and then decorating. It was a “taste” discovering experience. A lot of the children chose black buttons and big buttons. At first I wondered, but then it dawned on me that they got ambitious and then wondered if they would be able to finish it, and at the last minute chose a huge button to cover an unwieldy space. It made me laugh.

I always try to get the kids to participate in tree decorating by making ornaments. I think this comes from a year my own family spent in the mountains at Christmas time. I was about ten and I made all the ornaments for a tree my dad cut down. I took every bit of foil my mother had brought with her and all her match boxes and doo dads I could find. Pine cones with bows stripped from rags, etc, and it turned out to be original if not funny. Of course at the time I thought it was splendid.

So ever year, I give the kids some things to make original works of art. Today it’s the invincible pine cone bird or bell.

Making and doing is a real part of imagination use and discovery. I try to teach the children to see shapes and to see likenesses. “Look at the pine cone’s parts and see if you don’t see feathers.” Or, “Look at the pine cone and see if you can’t imagine a hedge hog or a little tree or a very ornate bell. “

The world is full of repetitions and being aware of these repetitions helps us to make use of things that otherwise just become neglected.

Tomorrow is Santa Clause day in Fine Arts.