Four Tyrone Area High School senior varsity girls basketball players made a special appearance on Tuesday at Child’s Garden Pre-school at the Church of the Brethern in Tyrone. The girls answered questions about basketball and demonstrated their skills in passing, dribbling and shooting. In turn, the pre-schoolers had a fun and exciting day filled with basketball activities.
“We usually do a football day in the fall, and we usually get some of the football team, no more than three to four boys and some cheerleaders to come,” said pre-school teacher Elizabeth Deihl. “But we thought we never did a basketball day with the girls.”
Deihl contacted Jim Swaney, coach for the varsity girls basketball team. They both worked out a plan for some of the girls to visit the pre-school and share some time with the kids.
“This is something different for them instead of doing a semi-structured program,” said Deihl. “That’s why we like to do these special days.”
The basketball day started with the varsity seniors: Amanda Bryan, Amber Delbaggio, Marie Delbaggio and Lauren Haag answering questions that the children had about basketball. Then the fifteen pre-schoolers were split into three groups. Lauren Haag practiced shooting with a group of kids; Amber Delbaggio practiced dribbling with a group, and Marie Delbaggio and Amanda Bryan practiced passing. Then the groups switched until everyone got a turn at a different station.
“We had a talk afterwards of what they learned,” said Deihl. “The kids asked how the girls became good basketball players?”
Deihl said it seemed like the basketball players really enjoyed spending time with the pre-schoolers and that she appreciated that they came to visit. She also said that the pre-schoolers had an energetic and exciting day with the girls.
The preschool has numerous activities like basketball day scheduled throughout the year. The school is located at the Church of the Brethern on Adams Ave. and 500 W. 18th St. It is open everyday from 9-11:30 a.m., and children need to be three to five years old to be enrolled. Deihl teaches the three-year-old class, and she has been there for 10 years. Christine Kern teaches the four-year-olds, and Tracy Kobuck is the teacher’s aide.
“A typical day is the children come in and free play. That teaches them to play with others, cooperate, take turns and that kind of stuff,” said Deihl. “Then we pick up the toys and have circle time which is stories, games and songs. It relates to what we’re doing. Right now, we’re doing Valentine themes.”
The children learn skills in one to two week planned thematic units. Some fun themes and days include: spaghetti day, hot chocolate day, football day, basketball day, Watts Farm Day and Sinking Valley Farm Show Day. Also, the pre-schoolers collect pennies and socks for a fundraising drive for the Salvation Army at Christmas time.
“We really stress the importance of social etiquette, the please and the thank you’s and that kind of stuff,” said Deihl. “Then we get into pre-reading and pre-writing skills.”
Next up for the pre-schoolers is a day of railroad safety planned for the spring. Also, outside activities are planned when the weather starts to get warmer.
“We go around in our community to places like the police station, fire station, Sam’s Pet Shop and have a baseball day all in the same day,” said Diehl.
