Nature Center preschoolers visit Heritage Junction
By Patti Rasmussen Thursday, November 15, 2000
For more information about the program, contact Placerita Nature Center 259-7721.
Signal Staff Writer
Ramona Propst and her son Lucas, 10 months, tour the Saugus Train Station at Heritage Junction Wednesday. Photo by Dan Watson/The Signal
dozen preschoolers and their moms came to Heritage Junction to see how their great-grand parents might have lived. Heritage Junction, located inside William S. Hart Park in Newhall, is home to the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and houses eight historical buildings and a 100-year-old steam train.
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Hand in Hand, a preschool program that meets weekly at Placerita Nature Center, is discovering history this month.
Sue Leibsker and Tina Raleigh, designed a curriculum for the preschool level to help the children learn and discover the treasures of the Santa Clarita Valley.
"I want the parents and the children to understand that they are not here just filling time, they are learning something," Leibsker said. "The children are definitely sponges and they observe far beyond what the adults comprehend."
Leibsker and Raleigh spent November teaching the children where gold was discovered, describing the log cabin where the Walker pioneer family lived and how residents lived in those days without phones or any type of communication.
"I think the children are discovering the difference between modern day living and they way their grandparents lived," Leibsker said. "We will do a small review next week and will talk about what they saw at the train station."
Next week, each child will also be bringing fruit to class to make a "friendship" salad. Leibsker said the salad will teach the 3-year-olds what it was like to share food as they did at the first Thanksgiving.
In December, the teachers will be discussing hibernation. Leibsker and Raleigh will be talking about the different animals that hibernate during the winter.
Leibsker said the craft project for the month will be holiday traditions. The preschoolers will make snowman, graham cracker sleds, ornaments and decorate a tree that will be left at the nature center.
The Hand in Hand program begins at 9 a.m. Wednesdays at the nature center. The class cost $10 per week.
"When we were talking about spiders and a lot of the children knew the spider had eight legs, but no one knew they also had eight eyes," Leibsker said. "That question was on the 'Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire' show and my kids knew the answer."
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