I’m not sure about compulsory education for children as young as four. I’m not sure what this would do for the family. Interesting idea, however. It’s also interesting to hear from the other side of the world.

Reaction To School Plan Is Positive
By LUCIE VAN DEN BERG
Saturday, 25 March 2006

A Federal Government proposal to force all four-year-olds to attend school has been greeted with optimism and caution in Tasmania.

An early childhood education expert from the University of Tasmania said the proposal may not make waves in the State as most parents already choose to send their four-year-old children to kindergarten. In Tasmania kindergarten is open to four-year-olds and school is only compulsory for children in the year they turn five.

University of Tasmania Early Childhood senior lecturer Margot Boardman said it was a positive step towards ensuring quality education for children.

Dr Boardman said studies had clearly shown that sending children to school from a young age impacted positively on their long- term education. “We rarely get a child who hasn’t been exposed to kindergarten,” Dr Boardman said. “The earlier you can get them into education the more chance they will have a good education and social outcome.” Getting along with others, learning to communicate and the blueprint for literacy skills could be gained through early childhood education, Dr Boardman said.

She said preschool education could go some way to remedy learning problems that spring from low socio-economic backgrounds and social isolation. However she said it was not clear whether full-time education for children at this age would be appropriate.

Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has said the uniform compulsory education programme would make sure childcare is taught by a qualified early childhood teacher. Dr Boardman said there was a significant difference between caring for a child and educating one. She also said pay and organisational arrangements would have to be examined carefully.

State Education Minister Paula Wriedt said high quality childcare and early schooling laid a strong foundation for a student’s education. She said the Essential Learning curriculum supported a child’s learning from birth and helped children make a smooth transition from early childhood into full-time education.

The question asked was: Do we not like what the parents have said about field trips?

There hasn’t been enough of a response to really say whether it’s been valuable or not. I think we have six responses. The responses have more or less canceled themselves.

In the past ten years, our faculty has been happy do provide this very active part of our school curriculum, but it’s good to review what you are doing, and our parents are caring and interested enough to be the best guide. We want to know what you really think, and if it means a change in curriculum, that’s not a bad thing. If it means compromise, that’s even better. If it means nixing all travel and staying home; I think I’d balk a lot. But there are things I think parents don’t know, so I’m posting this for parents to understand what we are doing and why.

Let’s get serious: because of the price of gas and the fact that we live in Southwestern Indiana and one has to really drive to get to most things out side EVV, there is an immediate cost factor. So we thought we’d ask our parents if they still think the extensive “on the go” field trips should continue to be part of our summer. It’s a fair question and really worth being considered every year.

In the past, this has been our thinking:

Summer is a block of time to either be filled or wasted. We have so often heard, the response, “Nothing,” to a question about a child’s summer as he enrolled in the Garden School in August. It broke our hearts because although a school might be absolutely grand, summer is a special time in America, and traditionally, it’s a time when children have gotten that extra “get away” lesson that reminds them that home and hearth are not the only places in the world. Even in the Middle Ages, 50% of the people went on pilgrimage. When we noticed that a percentage of our kids never got a vacation, never got to travel, or to see more than the four walls of day care and the inside of mom’s car, we decided a long time ago to do something about that.

We have thought from the beginning that we could offer a summer program that either added or was that old traditional American plan – have a ball during the summer and remember it for a lifetime. It started with some hour trips to places like St. Meinrad, Lincoln, Audubon, etc. These trips were fun, but what if we went just a little farther, so we went 1.5 hours. How about 2 hours? What about 3? Could we make the caves in Kentucky? Would the kids still enjoy the trip?

The Garden School is not a big school. We fit onto one school bus. And we have had the same school bus driver for ten years. Miss Sandy is a part of our school family, so we have NO fears about safety or surprises.

In the past two years, we’ve traipsed all over the place. Sometimes it’s been great, and other times – it’s just OK. That’s why we put out the questionnaire. We can stay in town and make shorter field trips. We could take the 3.5 mile hike through Audubon Park. We could ride the trolley in EVV and go for ice cream and walk by the river to Kids Kingdom. But KK is miserable in the heat because there’s no shade and the kids always ask to go home. We want to stay outside rather than inside at least most of the time.

This summer, I wanted to buy some kind of zoo pass because taking the kids to the zoo is probably the most expensive thing we do. I know that a zoo pass is reciprocal which means a family can use the pass nearly anywhere in the country for free. I thought it would be a little extra for the money and encourage families to take the zoo outing on weekends and vacations during the year. It was to be included in the field trip fee. A pass would also mean that we could take the kids to the zoo more than once a year. Experiencing the seasons at the zoo would be such fun, but without some kind of pass, that’s impossible.

At the same time, I wanted to go to at least two other zoos and call it Safari Summer. Louisville is a marvelous zoo but the cost for admission two years ago was $6.00 each. St. Louis is free, but not the events inside the zoo. The pass would make the events a nominal cost.

I’ve learned since I’ve been digging, that we can get a preschool pass to accommodate our needs, but it won’t include families. The EVV zoo is looking into whether this preschool pass might be reciprocal.

The Pool:

We take the kids to the Newburgh Pool during the summer because it’s not crowded, they accept our patronage and it’s close to the school. I’ve been taking children to that pool for over thirty years. It’s a safe pool to swim in, it’s got boards, slides, and best, it’s got the best playground in the tri-state area. We can make a real swim day as often as we can get the bus. Sometimes the icy trolley comes by and we get the kids those ice treats.

What parents don’t know is that the kids get bored with swimming by the middle of July. That’s why the field trips are so important. When 75% of the kids are not in the pool, are milling around looking for things to do out of the pool, you hesitate to include more swim days. Except with Pounds Hollow.

Pounds Hollow is a natural lake in Illinois. But the kids have to have some kind of water knowledge before they go near a natural lake. They need to be able to go under and come up. The lake is safe and roped off, but still; it’s a lake. So with a month of swimming, we venture out to the lake and the kids see what real swimming is like and they love it and they learn and can practice what they’ve learned.

We’d love to take a trip to a dairy farm, and we have twice in the past. Two years ago, a law went into effect that mandated milk cows in the State of Indiana be kept under roof? That means that cows are chained under a canopy. It’s just not fun anymore. Generally, there is no playground and there’s a one seater.

Here are the criteria for field trips: The place has to be within range; it has to be interesting to a child age 3-7 for more than ten minutes; it has to have a public facility (bathroom for more than one person at a time); it has to have a playground; it has to have a place to eat.

We took the kids all the way to New Albany to the dinosaur dig at the museum there and it was a bust. The water was too high to go down on the rocks, and the museum people were nasty and asked us to leave. The playground was small and the eating facility was small as well.

We took the kids on the train ride at French Lick. It was the worst trip we ever took. It took 2.5 hours to get there, the train was as dull as it comes, and then there were no bathrooms and no place to play or eat. It rained and we ended up eating on the bus and cutting the trip short.

One thing I’d really like to do is get some kind of school punch pass to the local theatres to see some new release movies. To be able to take the kids once a quarter to the theatre to see something brand new would be a neat adventure, but it’s prohibitive. Does anyone know anyone who could talk to someone about this? Edith and I saw Eight Below, and we whispered all during the movie about which kids would like which scenes, but the whole thing would cost as much as going to Pounds Hollow.

We’ve tried factories, plants and other local possibles, but for the most part, they don’t want three year olds on their properties. Anyone up for a trip to the sewage plant?

We spent a day at Vincennes and it was about like doing penance. The kids just don’t get rotundas.

We also went up to to the Spring Mill Park near Jasper. It’s a LONG drive and there is a restored village there that’s fun for some of the kids. There is just not enough there for young children.

We thought about horseback riding, canoeing, other caves, but for the most part, these dangerous activities are for “parents and me.”

Favorite trip? Mine is Lincoln because the children can run, play, they can see the farm, touch the animals, smell the smells of cooking, they can see at a close glance the difference between the different farm animals. There’s a woods, so it’s not as hot as an open field. There are park rangers who we see every year who play with the kids. There are on going projects and there is a nice little place to eat. Sometimes the train comes through and it’s right up close. And it’s an hour away. Full cost? $150.00.

We hope this added information helps parents give us some more good ideas and some rebuttal. What have we missed, what don’t we see, what could we do that we have not done before?

For the past week I’ve been working on some private thoughts about the senses. I had to do a talk for MOPs and enjoyed it very much. It was on child development. I thought a lot about how children develop, and I mixed the natural world and the spiritual world to come up with a talk that was nicely received. (I later expanded the talk into the first of a series of columns for WFIE that readers can find by zapping the link WFIE.)

But the senses are far too interesting to let lie undisturbed, and as I was constantly fishing around for connections, probably boring everyone to tears, I got a nice email from one of the moms who was concerned that her child didn’t like spelling. “It’s a matter of how you approach it,” I round about said. “She’s an auditory learner, so she needs to come at it from hearing rather than a visual media.” When I actually had time to think about what I had said, I realized that most of us come to a learning formula from one or more of our senses. In other words, there is a lead sense, and the others follow along. I’m an auditory learner with a tactile sense.

I immediately made Edith the guinea pig, which she is very tolerant of doing, and then I was reminded of my husbands habits, and then when the water stayed clean, I jumped on the kids.

Yesterday, we made sight boxes, touch boxes, taste tests, and a short what do you remember about hearing. We did the smell thing, but it’s unrefined and the kids backed off.

I was sure my grandson Jack who considers food an alien necessity, an evil forced upon him by unloving hands, would balk at the taste test. Right along beside him would come Madison, Miss Kelly’s daughter who regards food in the same manner. On the other hand, I thought Damon who would eat anything, everything on and off the plate would sail through the taste test without a mummer. I thought this because Jack and Madison are picky and Damon is not.

In the final analysis, Jack and Madison sat down and primly tried every taste, sour (lemon), salty (salt), sweet (sugar), bitter (cocoa) and nothing (flour) for a contrast, and mastered both the directions and the tastes with nary a pause. They were able to identify the taste with the food without hesitation. Their tests were over in 45 seconds.

Damon, on the other hand, couldn’t identify two. He would have eaten the test, but he couldn’t tell me what the tastes were. It was remarkably interesting. I supposed they all tasted the same. Would it be true that eaters don’t care what food tastes like, and non eaters are keenly aware of tastes? It’s an interesting idea and changes what a lot of us think about non eaters.

The sight winner was Yuta. He identified three more objects by sight than any other child. Most of the children identified six objects out of twelve.

The touch test was interesting in that some of the children just couldn’t put their hands into the box at all. There was nothing icky in the box, but they wouldn’t touch what they couldn’t see.

The children who rarely play with a toy, rarely pick up a crayon, a block, or find a puzzle interesting were the children who had most difficulties with the test.

So the question remains: how do you approach the world and why do you use those senses? Is it a matter of circumstance or preference that has formed you? I’m slightly hard of hearing and have a minor uncorrectable vision problem, does that influence me or is preference more influential? Edith is a natural artist, does that influence her?

Then of course there is the more sophisticated question, “How do you use the sense to approach the world?” Are you passive or aggressive, etc. etc.

We’ve saved the information if parents are interested in what their children did on the tests.

So many questions, so many drums, so many monkeys drumming on drums, dum-diddy-dum-diddy-dum-dum-dum.

Anyway, that was yesterday’s activity.

Today it’s Medieval dress up, pancake breakfast, and a special fine arts project.

We’ve gotten some interesting responses from the field trip questionnaire, but we need more.

If you have any comments about field trips, please let us know. You can even comment on this blog. We are open to suggestions. Two key things to remember: Summer is important to children and because the bus is costly no matter what you do, and we only have it on Mondays and Fridays and share it on Wednesdays, we need to carefully consider where we go and why.

jl

Charles came to school nearly naked today. That’s OK; we’re learning what time schedules are, and Charles, by way of bad habits, missed his “window of dressing” and was removed from the house with one sock dangling from his left foot. It was the most he could (would) accomplish in an hour.

He’s hungry too; too bad. Mom will have to pay extra for his breakfast at school this morning which she will take out of his allowance next week. He left his picture on the table unfinished — well he wasn’t wearing any pockets, so what’s the point?

The point is, Chucky won’t do that again. He’ll be dressed and ready for school with few complaints for a long time — maybe forever. Too harsh? Too severe? Well that depends on whether you think a routine morning battle is good for everyone in the family.

Morning has always been the make or break of the day. Parents who care will tell you that. In past times I barely remember, it was light when we got up. Breakfast was a cooked meal. People spoke in the morning, and could walk, in a reasonable time, to nearly anywhere they had to go.

Times have changed, we all know that, and not for the better, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up all the amenities and all the benefit of a good morning routine. Anyone can create a good morning; it takes a little engineering.

The first rule of a good morning is a good night’s rest. Go to bed. Establish a good sleep routine. Then, rise at least an hour before your child. It makes all the difference in the world. That morning hour will provide a kind of emotional balance to any adult’s life.

Imagine being able to wake your beloved child with a kiss and a gentle stroking and even a prayer — a little morning offering — together that will give reason for the day. Compare that to harshly turning on a light in what must seem to a child as the middle of the night and yelling, “Michael, get up quick, we only have five minutes till we have to leave.”

In the hour before your child is up, gathering your thoughts, planing for the day, making any last minute family adjustments, writing any notes, packing lunches, and ironing the edging on your child’s little blouse collar makes the details of motherhood a memorable experience for the rest of the day.

Breakfast doesn’t have to be Eggs Benedict; but it shouldn’t be cold pot roast and potatoes, yesterday’s pizza or last week’s chocolate cake simply because a child’s stomach is not a trash can. When children vomit coke, mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake at 7:45, we really need to evaluate our living habits. And breakfast doesn’t have to be eaten on the fly.

Nor does dressing have to be a battle. Think about how many outfits a child can really wear in a two week stretch. Should there be summer and winter clothes in one closet? Should Benji’s baby socks still be in his drawer when he’s four? Should that hideous black leather spider outfit your cousin sent really be an option? Clean out everything your child can’t, won’t, shouldn’t and wouldn’t wear. Fewer choices mean fewer arguments.
Start at night for the next day: straighten rooms, take baths, choose clothes, set up tomorrow’s homework or show and tell. Make these after dinner things to do right before family hour.

And just like mom or dad, a child needs a good night sleep. It’s a good thing to put children to bed early. The children who are day care age who go to bed before eight o’clock have many fewer physical, emotional, behavioral and intellectual problems.

ContraCostaTimes.com

TOM MCMAHON: KID TIPS

Before Picking Day Care, Co Your Homework

EXHAUSTIVE STUDIES are shedding some light on the great debate about child day care. The findings not only suggest that day care is unlikely to harm a child’s development, but that it can actually increase a young child’s cognitive and social skills. That’s good news, but there is a catch: These positive outcomes pertain only to “high quality” programs, which are extremely hard to find and often expensive.

So, what’s a parent to do? First, give this issue your utmost attention, recognizing that the choice of day care facility can have potential long-term consequences for your child, either positive or negative. Shop around for a high-quality program, then get on its waiting list. Look for: a low ratio of children to caregivers, no greater than 3-to-1 for infants and 5-to-1 for toddlers; a clean and safe facility; a stimulating social and educational environment; and staff who are licensed or certified, as well as loving and nurturing.

After finding a child care provider, take the advice of the parent below who offers our first kid tip.

Preparing for day care: To eliminate, or at least reduce, fear for my 3-year-old son and heighten anticipation of his first experience at day care (I had gotten a job and had to work full time), I took him on a short visit to the center on a Friday, before he was to attend the following Monday. Very briefly, I showed him all the neat stuff he could do and all the wonderful things he could play with there. Just as he would get into one new adventure, I’d drag him on to the next.
Then I said we had to go. He almost cried. But I assured him that he could come back on Monday and spend the whole day playing with everything. When I dropped him off Monday, he almost jumped from the car, and the only person left crying because of the separation was me. — L.H., Phoenix

Keeping mud out of cars: When picking up muddy children from their various sporting events, turn the car floor mats over so the rubber side is up. This makes cleanup much easier. Also, keep some large garbage bags in your car or van for when your children and their friends are muddy from head to toe. Either slip the bags over your car seats — one over the top and one around or on each seat cushion (be sure not to block the seat belts) — or ask the kids to step into the bags so their muddy bottoms and shoes are covered. — L.C., Orinda

Adjusting to a new rule: Whenever we make a significant change in our household rules, my husband and I give our children plenty of time to adjust to the idea before implementing it. After deciding there would be no TV watching on school nights, we mentioned it several times during the summer months to get them used to the idea. When the time arrived, the transition went smoothly. — M.A.L., Springfield, Mass.

Use your child’s name: To encourage your child to listen while you read a storybook, substitute your own child’s name for the character’s name written in the book. — Diane W., Alameda
‘Do as I say, not as I do’: Don’t expect standards of behavior from your teens that you don’t practice yourself: obeying the speed limit; giving priority to family time; using drugs, tobacco or alcohol; cheating or lying. For example, if you cheat on expense reports, your teens might think that it’s no problem to cheat on tests. And your attitude about alcohol will probably decide theirs. — L.S., Garland, Texas

Every parent has a favorite parenting tip. Tom. Tom McMahon is a syndicated columnist, college professor and author of the books “Kid Tips” and “Teen Tips.” Visit his Web.

Picture the day: ten little boys have thirty bean bags and three empty planters and are taking aim at what seems a real target. They line up taking a shot. The hilarity raises the mood of the room. Five other boys take 100 box blocks and build a round tower. The girls dress up in long skirts, high heels, crowns and totter around the building making girl comments about the boys’ aim, their round towers, and the general mess. The bell rings. The children clean up the playroom and go to circle time when one child asks about the guillotine. With truthful answers that cause wide eyes, the children eagerly listen to all the neat stuff about “what they used to do.” It’s all very impressive.

After a grand pull bread, apples and milk breakfast, we all gather for another meeting of the minds. “Embroidery or shields,” I say, “Your choice.” As I predicted all the girls eagerly approached the art table and eight girls begin a morning of embroidery. It’s very successful. It’s so successful, and they like it so much, I show them how to do french knots. Hadley understands and actually makes one. They also learn how to bead a garment. “Would you like an embroidery corner so that you can make stuff all the time?” They squeal with delight. When they have learned not to round the hoop, I show them some famous embroideries. Out comes the Bayeux Tapestry and the Unicorn Tapestry in pictures. “I can see the stitches,” says Faith.

Meanwhile out in boy land, the boys have colored some nasty looking dragons and the teachers have carefully cut them out. The boys have gone through some wonderful donations of damask and silk swatches, and have chosen one that amuses them. We mount the dragons on the silk, and the silk on cardboard and cover the whole thing with contact paper and we have a reasonable shield.

It’s close to lunch. For lunch we had the spirited piggie pie, noodles, apples and grapes, oranges, turnips, carrots, radishes, celery and dip, begets and butter. Then it’s outside to fight a dragon. Now picture the children excited about the impending piggie pie. “Get your embroidery off my raw meat,” I said out loud. “Only at the Garden School,” commented one of the teachers.

After lunch we celebrated Aidan’s fifth birthday. He’s a marvelous child. He brought the most wonderful gummy worm chocolate cupcakes – the mixing of worm and chocolate was endearing. The children just loved the party.

It was a very creative day. It was a block day. That means we have discovered yet another thing children like to do – embroider.

Teaching children about real stuff like tapestries, food, guillotines and dragons is important.

PS – We have a bad case of pink eye. According to one doctor’s office, there have been 65 cases of pink eye in his office today. Please be aware for some children it is extremely contageous and it can cause blindness. Please treat a child right away and don’t bring him to school until after he has been treated. If your child wakes up with crusted eye – he’s contageous and needs drops. It’s not hard to do, but he or she should not be around other children.

For adults who get pink eye, you need to discard your present contact lenses and treat the infection without contacts or it will continue to infect your eyes. It’s not only unpleasant, it could be dangerous. Please see that your infected child is treated until the redness is gone and the eye is normal. Remember to wash your hands after treating your child.

I think what Mr. Sullivan misses about the preschool years is the kind of learning involved. Preschool children don’t learn like other children. The preschool years are auditory not visual, and therefore the amount taken in is three times what third to twelfth graders are capable of taking in. The preschool child is emotionally freer to absorb.

The mistake most people make about preschool involves curriculum. When the day is spent with two color sheets, three two year old songs, fifteen minutes with a plastic kitchen, a puzzle made for a two year old, then it’s a waste of time altogether.

Preschool should involve a presentation of the world in all its disciplines. It’s a time for pre-reading, pre writing, and early arithmetic, art, art appreciation, earth science, story history, Bible stories, music and intro to foreign language, it’s not preschool; it’s babysitting.

Washington Post

Preschool Isn’t The Only Answer

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

According to E.J. Dionne Jr., the proposal to guarantee preschool for every 4-year-old in California would be a cost-effective investment [op-ed, March 3]. He cited economist James J. Heckman’s argument that remediation for missed early childhood investments is costly.

However, extensive empirical evidence summarized by Darcy Olsen in the article “Early Childhood Education: A Caveat” shows that preschoolers’ edge in achievement over that of children who did not attend preschool disappears by the third or fourth grade. The same held true when using national data to compare full-time and part-time kindergartens.

Mr. Heckman’s work also omitted discussion of the Tennessee teacher-student database. Analysis of its 6 million records shows that a good teacher (measured by improvements in student achievement) is the most effective resource, regardless of student background or socioeconomic characteristics. Nor did Mr. Heckman acknowledge the many schools that have significantly improved the achievements of at-risk students without major increases in funding.

Mr. Heckman stressed the importance of noncognitive skills that can be taught to young children, including patience, discipline and motivation, and that these skills pay off in the long term by leading to reduced dropout rates. However, these skills can be taught in kindergarten.

Further, American fourth-graders test higher in math and reading than fourth-graders in many developed countries. By eighth grade, scores fall to average. By 12th grade, they are near the bottom. This strongly suggests that educators should focus on third- to 12th-grade students rather than diverting scarce resources to preschool.

JOHN A. SULLIVAN
Arlington

It’s been a peaceful week. We’ve been talking about the Middle Ages. The boys love the life of a knight. They all want to be squires but none want to start out as pages. The pages did all the work, and the squires learned how to fight and ride and got great clothes like swords and shields. We’re going to make shields today for the boys and the girls are going to learn some embroidery. Will we let the girls make shields and the boys do embroidery? Sure, but I would bet not a single boy wants to pick up a needle in favor of a shield, and not a single girl thinks a shield is more fun than what she could do with a needle and thread. We will see however. It’s always their choice.

We’ve been eating our rendition of Medieval food – yesterday it was bean soup, eggs, cheese chunks, bread, apples, and grapes. They ate every single thing. Monday we had roasted chicken, noodles a la Marco Polo and today it’s piggie pie. When you make it fun, their interest fires up.

Yesterday we read a story about St. George and the dragon. The kids loved it. The description of the dragon was really elegant and the kids all listened.

Today in class the kindergarten will attempt to read the “little books.” I’m very excited. Yesterday we played some new games and a lot of kids took prizes away with them. They like the number game – identifying a number like 43 and telling everyone what the next number is. They also like the letter game – identifying an air sound from a mouth sound. Aidan and Faith and Abby won those prizes.

Justin and Taylor won the math prize and Justin won two bingos.

Games in class really help to encourage participation and interest.

One of our very first students at the Garden School was a boy named Anad who was the son of a Bangladesh couple who came to the US to train as medical techs. They returned to a remote part of Bangladesh to work in field hospitals as the only medical personnel for hundreds of miles. They were the nicest people. We enjoyed their son very much. I often wonder what happened to them.

Japanese Assistance for Mother, Childcare Training Institute
3/21/2006

Japan will provide a grant of Tk 6.35 million to a local NGO, Eskander Welfare Foundation, for construction of the Mother and Child Care Training Institute in Pirojpur district, reports UNB.

Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Matsushiro Horiguchi and foundation chairman MA Salam Talukder signed a grant contract to this effect in the city Monday.The objectives of the project are to provide improved training facilities including well-equipped classrooms and quality health and family planning services especially mother and child health.

About 50 doctors, 500 paramedics, nurses, health visitors and beneficiaries will be trained for safe motherhood and child survival under the programme.In Bangladesh, a total of 119 projects covering 99 NGOs have already received the grant amounting US dollar 7.8 million (about Tk 550 million) under Japan’s scheme, which have been significantly contributing to the efforts of the NGOs to promote social development at the grassroots level in Bangladesh.

Early Childhood teachers are rarely celebrated simply because it’s a job that means a lot to a child and to families who need us, but because we don’t bring in the big bucks, nor do we make big bank deals, sell a lot of cars, houses or material goods, there is no place to put us on the roster for “important.” I like this story because these women gave their lives to children, and to me that’s the most important thing you can do. A child is God’s blessing on the world and that’s more important than anything I can think of. We make a lot of things in this world, but God made the child. Working with children is a privilege.

Sun Weekend
Antiqua
Celebrating Two Outstanding Teachers
Saturday March 18 2006

The staff at the Early Childhood Educational Training Centre would be celebrating its 10th anniversary of the training programme during the month of March. We would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank all those people who have contributed to the success of the programme over the years.

Individuals who have made an impact on the programme would include former supervisors of the Early Childhood Educational Training Centre, field officers, lectures and the students themselves who have sacrificed their time during the last ten years. At this time, we will also recognise two black women who have made significant contribution to early childhood education in Antigua and Barbuda throughout the years.

These women are Ethlyn V. Williams, retired proprietor of the Ethlyn V. Williams Child Development Centre located in Gambles, and Pearle Gordon, supervisor, Pilgrim Holiness Preschool located in Gray’s Farm.

Ethlyn V. Williams
Ethlyn V. Williams was born in Liberta Village, Antigua, to Mr. and Mrs. Novelle Athill. Her formative education took place at the Grace Hill Moravian School, and after leaving school, she worked at Millers’ Insurance Company at High Street, St. John’s, for approximately 20 years. She subsequently migrated to the United States of America where she was employed at a nursery school and a preschool for approximately five years at Beverly Heights, New Jersey.

After returning home, she made the decision to become self-employed. That decision came about because of her love for, and contact with, the young ones she cared for while in the United States. Parents in Williams’ immediate community, who were going back to work after the birth of their babies, approached her about taking care of their babies and toddlers while they returned to work. She graciously consented, and in 1979, she extended her services to include a pre-school for children two plus to four plus years of age. Thus was born the Gambles Community Preschool.

In order to effectively perform her role as preschool teacher, as well as head of her business, Williams enrolled and became certified in the practices of early childhood education. She attended classes and workshops held by the University Centre School of Continuing Studies, and the Early Childhood Education Training Centre at Gunthorpes.

As a believer in her creator, she echoes these words – “In everything you do, put God first and pray continuously, and He will see you through.” The calibre of citizens whom Williams has produced throughout the years is testimony to her attributes of loving, caring, reliability, commitment, and dedication.

Williams gives credit for her achievements to Dr. Edris Bird and Winnifred Peter-Roberts, who were very instrumental in assisting her with the overall management of the services which she offered.

Her students often consist of third and fourth generation of families whom she taught previously, and she is convinced that her steady flow of students is due to the impact she made on her former students.

In conclusion, Williams would like to quote from R.C. Savage – “Most people are willing to pay more to be amused than to be educated.”

Pearle Gordon
Pearl Gordon received her formal schooling at the All Saints Government School. She was placed in charge of the former Pilgrim Primary School on 10 March 1973 and has been running the school ever since.

In the early years of the establishment, the children who attended the school ranged between ages three years and 12 years, and at one time, there were more than 150 students enrolled at the school. She later dropped the age of the older children attending the school to age eight years. Currently, Gordon caters to children between two and a half and five years of age. Her present enrollment at the now Pilgrim Preschool is 30 students. She prides herself in the fact that many of her past students are holding prominent positions in Antigua & Barbuda.

Her advice to those who are interested in early childhood education is to “love and understand children, and learn to cope with them.”

The staff at the Early Childhood Educational Training Centre salutes these two women for the sterling contribution they made to the nation of Antigua and Barbuda throughout the years. We wish them God’s continued blessings as they journey on in life.