Kindergartners at the Pendleton Early Learning Center (PELC) recently flexed their artistic skills and had a great time working with staff from the Pendleton Center for the Arts to make their own small books.

The project happened through Roberta Lavadour, Executive Director at Pendleton Center for the Arts. She works with a group called Arts Learning Northwest that supports teaching artists; the organization had some funding available for an in-classroom art activity. Lavadour said that because the arts center loves working with the staff at PELC, it seemed like a perfect partnership.

Lavadour and Kate Brizendine, Coordinator of Education and Outreach at the arts center, spent two days teaching all PELC students how to make their own little book. Lavadour said the simple structures are perfect for highlighting the amazing growth the kids have had this one school year. Once they put together the book structure, students drew pictures and wrote words to make little how-to books. “They were absolutely adorable, and I had one parent tell me a week later that her son was still carrying it with him everywhere,” Lavadour said.

She added that there’s a particular pride in making your own book, and in addition to teaching them the skill, they wanted to provide materials so students could continue to explore handmade books and other art-making activities with their teachers. “Having nice materials to work with really helps engage people of any age in creative expression,” Lavadour said.

Pendleton Center for the Arts donated paint, sticks, liquid watercolors, crayons, cardstock, and a few other items to the school.

PELC Principal Angela Lattin said they appreciate the donation of the art supplies and the ongoing collaboration with the Pendleton Center for the Arts.

College basketball teams and their fans across America were consumed by the March Madness basketball tournaments last month. But the Pendleton Early Learning Center was busy with its own March Madness!

For the fourth year in a row, the school staged its March Madness Book Battle, a competition to promote the love of books, reading and fun. The program is organized in much the same way as the big basketball competitions. First, the kindergarten teachers choose the Sweet Sixteen – 16 books they want to compete. Each classroom reads the books, then votes on which ones they like best, whittling down the 16 books to the Elite Eight.

Students in classrooms read the books again until they are down to the Final Four. Eventually, the competition comes down to two contenders. This year, they were Mortimer by Robert Munsch, about a boy who won’t be quiet and go to sleep, and Frankie by Mary Sullivan, about a new puppy who has to share with the dog already living in a house.

On the morning of Monday, April 7^th, all classes read the two books for a final time and chose their champion. Then they waited for all the votes from all the classrooms to come in.

Teacher Rachele Johnson said the kids love getting to read two stories every single day, and reading the books repeatedly helps the students learn about intonation and punctuation. In the case of the Mortimer book, students were able to sing the song and thump their feet like the characters in the book.

“As teachers, we love to see their excitement about reading, and we get to read picture books that might not normally fit the themes we are doing,” Johnson said. Plus, teachers mix in math related to counting the votes and concepts like having your own opinion no matter what the group thinks, and having your favorite book.

So, who was the school’s March Madness Champion? It was Frankie by quite a lot of votes. It’s hard to compete with a story about a cute puppy.