What's News at the Garden School?

Well... Mrs. St. Louis and Miss Judy celebrated 40 and 35 years of marriage last Sunday and Monday. Miss Molly and her sister Katy threw a wonderful party for everyone at Franco's in Newburgh. We had a marvelous time.

We have several new students who we are very proud of. They have come from a variety of places in Evansville, mostly awful, and the children all need to learn how to come to school, and they are making wonderful progress.

It's always remarkable to note that most places don't teach children how to wash, sit at a lunch table or play responsibly with a toy. It takes about ten days to re-teach those things, but once they are in the notebook, that's where they stay.

Washing is an easy process: Because we are so very dirty from the pea gravel playground, we apply liquid soap to dry hands and arms - right to the elbows - like hand cream. Then we stand at the sink with gushing water and remove the soap-dirt combination. When the soap is gone, so's the dirt. Then we wash the face, dry with a paper towel and THEN we get a drink. If your child suddenly washes to the elbow and has a wet face, you know where he learned it. We instruct children that if you come in from outside -WASH.

Lunch is a hoot. We have one child who has probably never experienced a fork. He holds the fork in his arm joint by the elbow while he pushes food into his mouth with his hands while he tries to wear his cup. Don't worry, most of his milk is in his lap.

And these kids are eaters - they eat anything. Today they devoured grilled cheese sandwiches, left over ham and hot dogs, pineapple, salad, watermelon, applesauce, cottage cheese, and celery and cucumbers with sour cream dip. Tomorrow we will be having homemade chicken pot pie.

We are also always shocked by how children don't know how to play outdoors. The initial whine about "I don't know how to play outside," really is quite a local disgrace.

In the pet room, we have nine brand new baby guinea pigs born in the last week. They are quite adorable and viewable in the southwest pen.

We have a nest of rabbits in Mrs. St. Louis's room, and something special in there. There is a runt who is two inches long. His siblings are five inches long. If he makes it, we will probably keep him now that Carl has gone to the vet. He's a natural which is my favorite rabbit.

We are studying Maps and where I am on the map in Geography, Creation in Religion, and Miss Rachel is doing random science. Miss Stacey is working on lessons on manners which we desperately need.

Speaking of Miss Stacey, we are going to make some changes at the Garden School. We will be building her a little classroom where dress up is. It's a new idea and needs a lot of work.

One of the things that is beginning to really bother us is the noise. That building is wonderful to teach in when it's quiet, but the outside noise, the inside noise, the extra noise is sometimes so distracting, it's hard for teachers to concentrate, so we are going to begin to enclose some of the space. I think everyone will just love it.

Mr. Robbie will be doing the work for us. He's a marvel - can do anything. First we're going to do the floors, and add Miss Stacey's classroom. Then it's onward and upward. The ceiling's the limit.

JL