In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

FALL THE BUMBLEBEE ROOM September On a warm morning in early fall, the Bumblebees are sitting on the golden line, the metal strip where the sturdy brown carpeting meets the linoleum. Well, a few of them are sitting on the line; the rest are bouncing, rolling, pouncing, andjumping on the line. Most ofthese Bees are pretty new to the room, either because they've recently moved up from the two-year-old room or because they're newly enrolled at Red Caboose. While there is no official school year here, the center's rhythms tend to follow those ofthe public schools. Each year in late August a big group of five-year-olds goes off to kindergarten, making room for a group offour-year-olds to move up, and so on down the line. So these three-year-olds are still learning the ropes in the Bumblebee Room. It shows in their restlessness and unwillingness to listen to teachers' directions . None of this is a surprise to the teachers, ofcourse; they go through it every year, a kind of reverse honeymoon period, and they have ways ofdealing with it-especially Clark Anderson, the lead teacher. A tall, lean man with shoulder-length hair and a drooping mustache, he works the room like the pro he is, using his voice and his physical presence to quench dissent in several different places at once. Now, for instance, he squats on the linoleum and begins his version of "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," a favorite preschool song. In Clark's rendition, most of the words are replaced by a variety of grunts, hums, and sounds, and the kids are entranced. Shaunte, one ofthe most rambunctious of this year's Bees, stops wiggling and grins at the funny sounds. Another reason why these Bees are a little harder to control is that they're at the younger end ofthe age range for the room, most ofthem closer to three than to four. A year makes an enormous difference in a child's ability to control herselfand her behavior . This morning the kids are even antsier than usual because there's a treat 8 Copyrighted Material FALL 9 in store: a trip to the public library-on a real live city bus!-for its weekly preschool video hour. While Clark entertains everyone, Carolyn Shields, the other Bumblebee morning teacher, finishes the breakfast cleanup. She carries the last of the spoons and plastic cups to a wheeled cart, stacks the used silverware in a dirty cup, and rolls the cart down the hall to the kitchen. She reappears a moment later to spray disinfectant on the two low tables, wipe them down with damp paper towels, push the red child-size chairs underneath . Then she checks the Bumblebees' traveling bag: a couple spare diapers, extra clothes, bandages, a list ofemergency contacts for everyone. Finally she's ready to go. The Bumblebees are more than ready. Coats on- it is fall in Wisconsin, after all-they're lined up at the door that leads to the hallway, chattering excitedly. Skye, an impish three-year-old with brown pigtails, lifts her voice to be heard. "Our sheep are getting winter coats," she announces to no one in particular. Her parents own a farm in Stoughton, on the outskirts oftown. "Coats?" asks Clark, lifting one eyebrow, not catching it at first. "Like these," says Skye, fingering the vividly colored jacket on the girl in front of her. Carolyn smiles, imagining a herd of woolly pink and purple ovmes. Just as a case ofterminal restlessness threatens to overtake the line, Carolyn, who's been keeping watch through a window, calls, "The bus is coming!" The Bees pour out of the building two by two and clamber onto a white and blue city bus. There are 12 kids and 4 adults this morning, counting the 2 teenagers who are here as part of an alternative high school program. Every adult has three kids to keep track of-not a bad ratio at all. The bus lumbers down Williamson Street, known as Willy Street, and climbs the short hill leading to the capitol, rounding the square, passing a row of shuttered stores. Like many small cities Madison struggles to keep its downtown alive, and mostly it's succeeding. State Street, which runs from the capitol to the University of Wisconsin campus, is alive with upscale coffeehouses and head shops, with stores selling everything from used books to Lands' End irregulars to incense and...

Share