Focus on TUSD - April/May 2008

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Packing It In
Personalized artwork help preschoolers find their backpacks
For some of the youngest children at Wheeler Elementary School, their backpacks tell the story of who they are.

Most of the 3- and 4-year-olds who walked in the doors for their first ABLE preschool class had no backpacks. The expense was too great, so they brought their supplies in plastic bags and took their papers home in the bags.

When identical backpacks were donated, some children mistakenly grabbed a classmate's pack at the end of the day, leading to confusion at home and at school. Even when the students' names were printed on the bag, the packs ended up in the wrong homes because the children were still learning to identify the letters that spelled their names.

So Elizabeth Day, the TUSD social worker who coordinated the donations, had an idea: Why not decorate the orange, blue and green bags with pictures that told everyone who the child was? That became the project of Christela Tovar, the paraprofessional and teacher's aide in the classroom, who is studying to be a speech pathologist. She knew these children, knew what they liked, and what made each of them unique.

She drew dancing butterflies and blooming flowers on Gabby Ledet's backpack. That's because 4-year-old Gabby loves visiting the class's outdoor garden just outside the door, where she waters and sniffs the growing plants, gently tugging weeds from around the roots.

Baseballs adorn Nikolas Kaminski's backpack, reminding him of the afternoons spent under the sun, catching and throwing with his friends.

Andrew Spawn grins when he shows off the trains chugging across his backpack. Tovar had no problem finding a theme for his backpack as she pictured him running to play at the special train table every morning in the classroom.

James Simmons was specific about the design on his backpack. He delights in the Disney movie, "Cars."  So the movie's character, Lightning McQueen, whose name he recognizes, is on his backpack, right next to his own name.

Sometimes it's not so easy to find the right pictures. Erikka Reynoza's backpack has cheerful hearts, colorful flowers and a bright sun on her bag. "She's a lovely child," Tovar explained. "We love her so much. Her pictures are more random. We put whatever she threw out for ideas on her bag."

Some of the children helped her draw the designs with permanent markers, using the "hand over hand" method.

"The pictures help children coordinate their names with the pictures on the backpacks," class teacher Rosemarie Schreiber pointed out. "They just love the designs. They show each other and they remember which one is theirs."

Some children, such as Gabby, are using the backpacks for a second year. "The backpacks get dragged around and kicked around, and they're all still in good shape," Schreiber said. "The children take such pride in them."     

Of the dozen 3- and 4-year-ods Schreiber and Tovar teach in the morning, nine use donated backpacks. Of the 13 4- and 5-year-olds in the afternoon class, nine use donated backpacks. The decorating goes on all year, because whenever a new student enters the program who needs a backpack, Tovar gets out her markers to decorate again.

She also designs signs for the room. "I just say what I want and she makes it 10 times better," Schreiber said.

Tanque Verde Lutheran Helps Children in Need

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations

Photos in the April issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations, unless otherwise noted.

The deadline to submit material for the May Focus is Friday, May 16. The Focus will be published Tuesday, May 27. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the online Tip Sheet.