Ebbie Hatton . . . Learning & Leading
This article is about the ECU preschool program. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.Citation for this article is: "Ebbie Hatton, learning and leading . . . " Pieces of Eight, February 15, 1982.
The students Ebbie Hatton comes into daily contact with are among ECU's most eager learners. They're the three and four-year-olds in the Home Economics Preschool Program, and seeing how they "love to learn" is one of the chief rewards of her work as Preschool coordinator."Since my babysitting days I have enjoyed interacting with children," she says. "No two days in a row are ever the same. They're learning so much at this age, and I like to make learning fun."
Hatton works with child development students who teach and assist the three Preschool classes. A good part of her day is spent behind the one-way observation windows in the Preschool facilities or in the classrooms sharing activities with the children.
The Preschool is operated as a research for various disciplines as well as a training ground for child development majors. The children represent a balance of age and sex and diversity of racial, ethnic and family structure backgrounds.
Ebbie Hatton's career has included preschool teaching and training of Head Start and day care personnel. "I have always liked to learn more in a new phase of the early childhood curriculum," she says. "As I discover new finger plays, science projects and children's cooking experiences, I include them in our program here."
She has some sound advice for parents seeking preschool or day care for their youngsters. "After locating all the centers avaiable, visit each one and carefully notice its health and safety conditions. Is there a balance of noisy, strenuous activities with some quiet times? Are the displays and equipment kept low enough for the child to see and reach them? Is there a variety of things to do, and can the children, as well as the teacher, choose them? Above all, does the teacher show an attitude of caring about each child?"
The ECU Preschool has helped train numerous child development specialists and has been used for researhc programs ranging from studies of children's art to the normal speech patterns of four-year-olds.
