Eli was not pleased.
His mom had signed him up for what she called "remedial kindergarten" at Hobby House Preschool. I'm not sure what he was expecting, but we were not it!
I'm not sure what I was expecting, either, but Eli and his two younger brothers were not it! They all came tumbling through the door on a fresh June morning while the other neighborhood kids were probably thinking about summer camp.
Between Matthew, Jerry, Tammy, Trish, Greg, Brandon, Kim, and the others, the rambunctious newcomers were soon pointed in the right direction and going through the right motions at the right times. I suspected Eli was a victim of the non-academic kindergarten experience that was popular in Maryland at the time (1981). But no matter—here he was in all his glory.
It soon became apparent that, although he was as smart as a whip, Eli apparently did not know his colors. His two younger brothers did know theirs, and they lorded that fact over him at every opportunity—with the expected results.
Then the matchup pages came out.
It turned out that Eli could match colors, numbers, letters, and lots of other things with no trouble at all. He just couldn't name them.
And when Matthew wondered aloud what might rhyme with hippopotamus, Eli cheerfully piped up, "School bus!" Close enough for me.
He could rhyme the heck out of cats and rats and bats, and frogs and logs and dogs. He just couldn't remember the names of the colors.
Soon a solution began to form in my mind—as it probably has in yours. We needed rhymes. We started with one color at a time. First red, which everyone found easy. Then blue. We posted each rhyme on our bulletin board and cut out matching-colored pictures from magazines.
One day Matthew announced that "nothing rhymes with orange," which immediately started a heated debate. After all, what were we having for snack that very day if not oranges?
To some of the children, the difference between orange the fruit and orange the color was obvious. To others, they were the same word, making it a perfectly good rhyme. I found it fascinating that a room full of preschoolers was passionately debating rhyming words—and, without realizing it, parts of speech.
Even more fascinating was the fact that Eli jumped right into the discussion.
I wish I could tell you the book sprang into my head fully formed. It didn't. It grew little by little—in worksheets, coloring pages, and sketches. By the end of the summer, one of the moms had typed everything up, I had finalized the artwork, and best of all, Eli was naming colors like he'd known them forever.
I also wish I could tell you the book was immediately published. Instead, I became busy with the children and their learning. Later, I went to work for a wonderful program called Specific Language Reading Development in the Prince George's County Schools. The little color book became a favorite during story time.
Then life took another turn. My box of handmade books—more like carefully assembled folders than real books—traveled with me from place to place for years before finally meeting its demise in a mold-filled garage in Connecticut sometime in the late 1990s.
Many years later, my daughter, now running her own publishing business, asked if I had a book I had always wanted to publish.
Of course I did.
And that's how The Pick & Stick Kids Go to School eventually found its way into the world.
But back to Eli.
He could never remember my name and always called me "Teacher." I never minded. After all, there was a rather famous teacher in history whose followers simply called Him "Teacher," too.
Eli, if you're out there somewhere, I hope your grandchildren are enjoying the Fun2Read books. Maybe you'll even tell them about your adventures at Hobby House Preschool.
And best of all, I hope you'll amaze them by reciting every one of your colors by name.
With love,
Teacher
Tipsy Tip
When you're working with young children, watch carefully—and listen even more carefully.
A child who seems to be struggling may simply be learning in a different way.
Sometimes the clue that unlocks learning is already there. You just have to notice it.
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