2013 promises to be another year of exciting learning and playing for the children of Hazel Drive! 
January and February brought us a snow-covered winter wonderland in which to play!  It got dark early, but inside it was cozy and bright, just right for having fun with friends and toys!  We learned many new things, celebrated special days and grew in our friendships.

There's nothing like the magic of falling and newly fallen snow to bring a smile to a child's face!  We've enjoyed this wild winter with sledding, snowmen, sliding down our little slides and lots of fun games that we made up.  The children loved their own "Frosty" that was built in our play yard, and everyone wanted to pose with him!  The children dug cool holes to climb into.  They had fun making discoveries under the piled-up snow: one day a thick layer of ice was found; another day the colorful playground balls emerged. 

Inside, the children learned how snow is made.  Did you know that each beautiful snowflake starts out as a tiny, tiny speck of dust? The speck has a magical journey through the sky, picking up moisture and freezing.  She stays up in the clouds until she is just too heavy...and then down she comes with all her friends!  Miss Gloria tells the story of Suzy Snowflake with the help of her beautiful flannel board art. Through the use of storybooks like Bob the Snowman, we learn scientific principles in a whimsical way.  We can also pretend a completely fanciful explanation of snow with a song:

Oh, it snowed last night,

Oh, it snowed last night,

The sky bears had a pillow fight,

They tore up every cloud in sight,

And sent them down all fluffy white,

Oh, it snowed last night,

Oh, it snowed last night,

Oh, it snowed...  last...  night!

Many of our art projects reflected the beauty of the season. The Big Hoppers made big snow people out of coffee filters, cutting scraps of paper to make hats, scarves and faces. The Little Bunnies and Cottontails made snow-covered pine trees, snowmen and snow globes.  They used several media, all in white, to make abstract snow pictures: paint, tissue balls and snips of paper for a beautiful effect. These delightfully adorned our walls all winter long.

As well, we used beautiful colors to create original paintings in tempera and water color.  The Big Hoppers used mixed media (cutting and gluing paper strips, then painting) to do compositions in the style of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian.  They are bold and quite striking!

The children of Hazel Drive enjoyed a season of fun with our friend Mr. Ground Hog.  It seems that once again he chose Miss Laura's apron pocket as his burrow for the winter.  It's not quite as peaceful as an outdoor burrow, and he's frequently awakened by the happy sounds of childhood!  He's a good sport, though, and doesn't complain about the noise - he especially likes the singing!  He helped the boys and girls learn about Ground Hog Day, showing them pictures that he printed from his computer of his cousins Punxatawney Phil and Malverne Mel!  (He's got quite a set-up this year in Miss Laura's Pocket!)  We could often see his shadow because of the sunlight streaming in our big back window.  The children took turns sitting in the Shadow Spot so we could see their shadows, too! 

We played a hibernation game. The tables were covered with blankets to make caves.  After having a good feed, all the bears crawled into their caves for the long winter's nap.  They snoozed the winter away, and started to stretch and yawn at the sound of (Miss Gloria's) birdsong!  By this time, they were very hungry and went to look for some food!  The children really loved this enactment, and learned about nature in the process. The Kindergartners painted boxes of various sizes with nature colors of black, brown and white to make cozy dens for a variety of animals.  Entryways were carved out, and a coating of fluffy snow appeared with our first snowfall of the season.  The animals have been sleeping peacefully there all winter!

Valentine's Day was celebrated with many projects in pink and red, songs, fingerplays and a much-anticipated Big Valentine Exchange!  The Little Bunnies painted a mailbox to collect the valentines, and we all enjoyed sitting in a big circle as each child had a chance to distribute and receive valentines.  It was a heartwarming time as everyone was so excited to "give" as well as "get!"  We felt like one big family of friends, because there is affection among all the kids of all ages! 

Did you notice the display of imaginary money near the front door? We learned and sang about our great presidents, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Washington, and then we found their faces on money!  "Who do you think should be on money?" we asked the Little Bunnies and Cottontails.  Thomas the Tank Engine, moms and dads, baby sisters, classmates and even a couple of teachers made the cut!  The little ones were treated to a fine parade of "Mr. Lincolns" marching through their midst!  Hooray for Mr. Lincoln!  Hail to the chief!

Dinosaurs chose the cold month of February to visit Hazel Drive.  Miss Gloria told a fascinating story of the dinosaurs to all the children.  Beautiful props kept the children mesmerized as they watched a baby dinosaur hatch from a big egg.  Big Hoppers had fun being young paleontologists, gently unearthing "bones" with a stick and a brush.  They created an amazing Dinosaur City with playdough and toy dinosaurs.

All the groups continue to learn many things as they motor through the day! Many activities promote the learning of numerals and counting, shapes, colors, patterns, rhymes, early reading and writing and mathematic concepts. Play time promotes so many skills as the children build, pretend, put puzzles together, share and cooperate - and clean up, too!  This winter, the Big Hoppers have begun to learn sign language - American Sign Language, to be be specific.  They've learned the signs for numbers through ten, and are starting to learn the alphabet.  They are practicing phrases like "What is your name?", "Please" and "Thank you," and signs for various objects.  Kindergartners play many group games that are fun, educational and promote skills such as taking turns, following directions and generating ideas, as well as motor skills. 

And, of course, music continues to be an ever-present component of every day!  Each month we add another song to the patriotic recital which follows the Pledge of Allegiance.  It's quite a thrill to hear all those young voices singing "God Bless America" and "This Land Is Your Land!"  Music is the thread that ties together all of our routines and transitions, and is an important teacher, too. We do lots of singing with piano and guitar, sometimes adding bells, xylophones or wooden spoons to keep the beat.  We play Freeze Dance with lively music on the CD player like "Magic Hula Hoop."  We love to do the Chicken Dance!  We also made up a dance to the "Cotton-Eyed Joe" that we call the "Hazel Drive Stomp." These dances teach important concepts such as rhythm, tempo and dynamics, require good listening skills and a lot of cooperation to keep a circle going around!  It's good exercise, and just plain FUN!

We're having a happy winter, and watching for signs of spring, too.  They're out there under the snow! Keep warm, and enjoy the lengthening days!

Love,

Miss Laura, Miss Gloria, Mrs. Shirley, Miss Elisabeth, Mrs. B., Mrs. Stacy

My Dear Friends,

December is a season of rejoicing, a poignant season of memories, a magical season of love, a time for counting one’s blessings.  I want to share with you one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, a life that has been richly blessed throughout.

One chilly December morning we were reading The Night Before Christmas from a picture book that is over fifty years old!  Miss Laura received the book when she was a little child, and it has had many, many readings over the years.  Suddenly, the children heard the sound of sleigh bells and soon a jolly familiar face appeared at the window.  It was Santa Claus!  He was resplendent in his red and white suit, big boots and flowing white beard and hair!  Immediately the children were on their feet, squealing with excitement and delight!  We let him in the back door, and he was greeted warmly with hugs and hellos from teachers and children alike!  He was, indeed, the “jolly old elf” that we’d just been reading about.  We invited Santa to sit down in our big rocking chair.  He got out his book of names and started checking it.  He asked the children many questions: 

Have you all been good boys and girls this year?

Do you do what your Mommy and Daddy ask you to do?  Do you say nice words and give them lots of hugs?

What about your teachers?  Do you listen to your teachers and have good manners?

Are you kind to your friends?

Do you share your toys?

Do you say nice words to others?

Do you say “Please” and “Thank you?”

Do you listen when others are speaking? 

The children assured Santa that Yes; indeed, they have done all of those things!  How proud we were of all of them at that moment!  How wonderful to be able to remind them later of all the wonderful things that Santa had talked about! 

Santa produced his sack, and said that he would be coming to each of their houses on Christmas Eve, but in the meanwhile he had a gift for each child.  The Cottontails received their gifts first.  Each of the two-year-olds received a little vehicle with a driver, just right for a little guy!  They started driving, and had a lot of fun with those!  Then the packages were given to the older children. Mrs. Shirley suggested that we open them all at the same time, so when everyone had a package, we counted to three, and the paper was ripped off revealing big new flashlights for everyone!  How exciting that was!! The children just loved them!  Everyone thanked Santa.  He said he had to be going back to the North Pole; there was still a lot of work to be done before Christmas Eve!  There were hugs and high fives, and off he went!  Then Miss Gloria turned off the lights and the flashlight fun began! 

The children flashed their lights all around the ceiling and walls and it looked like dozens of fireflies dancing about!  We played “Flash your light on  - - - -,“ choosing objects (or people!) around the room to illuminate!  We lay on the floor pretending the lights were rocket ships, planets and stars zooming around!  We sang “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” with delicate accompaniment from the Rainbow Piano.  Then I was inspired to play a piece called the “Spinning Song.”  It’s a piece that every young piano student learns.  It’s a rhythmic, kind of rollicking piece that is packed with just the kind of energy that little people enjoy.  At one point the music slows down, and in my playing of it, I really slow it down……then……wait for it……wait for it……the rollicking starts all over again!  Sometimes we use it for playing rhythm instruments, sometimes dancing, but this day everyone was lying on the floor and those flashlight fireflies were dancing on that ceiling!  When the music slowed to a stop, the lights stopped moving……. And then….. ! ! ! The laughter was just as rollicking as the music!  What pleasure they all found in this simple toy and silly game! 

I looked around and saw Mrs. Shirley, Miss Gloria and Miss Donna smiling at the scene before them.  Suddenly I was filled with an inexplicable feeling of contentment.  I paused the music long enough to say to the other teachers, “As of this moment, my life is complete.”  They all nodded in agreement, knowing what I meant.  The innocence, the happiness, the laughter, the happy faces and shining eyes that had looked up at Santa with wonderment; these are gifts that have been given to us by God in the packaging of these precious children.  

My mother always advised us “Don’t wish your life away,” in other words, not to miss precious moments in the present by wishing that school vacation would start or the braces would come off.  It’s the same with our children.  She’d say “They’re only two (or three, or six or twelve) once – don’t wish for any stage to be over.”  I’ve found that my own fifteen-year-old seems to have been around forever – The time really hasn’t flown by, I think because we treasured every moment, even the ones that weren’t “golden.” I thank my mother, long gone but always present, for that. 

My wish for you this Christmas is fulfillment in the happy faces and shining eyes full of wonderment.  May they fill your thoughts and nourish your souls. 

Hug your children tight, and count your blessings! 

Love,

Laura

Where is gray squirrel, where is gray squirrel,

Here I am!  Here I am!

How are you today, Squirrel?  How are you today, Squirrel?

Busy, busy, busy!  Busy, busy, busy!

And those words aptly describe our Hazel Drive environment this fall:  Busy, busy, busy!!!

Our first bit of great news is the addition of many new friends in October!  Our ranks grew in number, and the fun and joyfulness at school multiplied exponentially! We make a long line as we play the "Hoo Hoo Game" walking along the crosswalk from the playground to the school!  "Follow me, everybody, follow me, HOO HOO!!"  What an echo!

The children have thoroughly enjoyed observing the changes to the landscape as the season of autumn progressed.  They learned a lot about nature in the process, through stories, songs and finger plays, games, creative art projects and just being in the great outdoors.

In October we had the honor of a visit from the Hampstead Fire Department!  The children were excited to meet the firemen, and watched as Fire Fighter John got dressed in his turnout gear piece by piece.  We could see that he was still the same friendly fireman under his big coat, helmet and mask!  Fire Fighter Chris and Fire Fighter Jimmy brought us outside where the big fire truck was waiting.  The children were all allowed to climb aboard.  Later they were all given red fire hats by the firemen!  We know that the fireman is our friend!

Big Hoppers

The Big Hoppers continue to grow with many enriching activities in all learning realms.  Their romp through the alphabet moves forward as they learn the letter sounds of "B" and "C." October's Shape of the Month was the triangle, and the children used bingo markers to colorfully decorate spotty triangles.  November's shape was the square, and the walls were once again adorned with original art: a "quilt" of white handprints on colored squares of paper!  The color themes of orange/black and yellow/brown enhanced the beauty of the season and it's special holidays. 

The voyage of Christopher Columbus came to life as his three boats were crafted out of newspapers!  The children enjoyed books, songs and crafts which also added to their excitement about Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Each child created a beautiful turkey from carefully cut and crayoned circles, with gorgeous tail feathers made from autumn leaves.

The Big Hoppers expand their social skills with lessons on good manners and accepting others. They are learning to listen when others are speaking and to take turns speaking because everyone has something valuable to say. 

The children do a lot of work with numerals and counting in both Spanish and English!  They play games with a stack of printed numerals.  One is the bean-counting game.  Choose a numeral, and then count out the correct number of beans.  In another game they used popsicle sticks to fashion the correct number of squares. 

Many props are used in the teaching of concepts.  Rhyming words are taught with pairs of objects.  A large tray containing many objects is placed in front of the teacher. We take turns naming the objects and finding the rhyming pairs: "Rock...duck?"  No.... "Rock...house?" No... "Rock...sock?"  YES!  You should have seen the "fire" Miss Gloria made from twigs and play dough!  Rhymes with...."tire" of course!

Little Bunnies

As the Little Bunnies grow, so do their abilities.  They are given many opportunities to develop their fine motor skills with toys and art materials.  Pinching little bits of tissue paper, tearing strips of paper and carefully placing them on dabs of glue all help to strengthen those little muscles in the fingers and hands.  A bonus is the lovely art that is created.  The children made fall trees that kept company with our big, friendly tree on the wall and made our room beautiful. They illustrated the "Five Little Pumpkins" who sat on the gate under a night sky filled with glitter. 

The Shape-osaurus visited and was very pleased by the shapes coming out of Miss Laura's apron pocket!  In October there were many triangle-shaped objects.  Even the eyes of the jack-o'lantern are triangles! An instrument was in the apron.  It is a triangle shape and is called - a triangle!  When it is tapped, it sounds just like a bell.  The children played a game with the triangle as it was pased around the circle:

Who's that tapping at my window?

Who's that knocking on my door?

Then we fill in the name!

We used out little pinchy fingers to make orange and black triangle collages.  Orange and black are the Halloween colors, as you know, and we know a song about them:

Orange and black are the Halloween colors,

Orange and black are the Halloween colors,

Orange and black are the Halloween colors,

Except for the white ghost - BOO!!!

In November, we showed a lot of squares to the Shape-osaurus.  We could tell he liked them because he was smiling!  Come to think of it, he's always smiling!  Little Bunnies practiced cutting by snipping strips of paper into small squares and gluing them onto a big square.  Not all of the snips turned into squares, but they were colorful and bright, and we all liked the pictures, including Shape-osaurus! And isn't it fun to make those scissors work?

Songs and stories about Thanksgiving prepared children for the experience of this uniquely American holiday.  Miss Elisabeth traced the hand of each child, and they had fun turning the hand into a turkey bird!  We saw pictures of Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians and learned how they helped each other, became friends and shared what turned out to be the first Thanksgiving.  We sang about the traditional foods served at Thanksgiving dinner in "Ready for Thanksgiving," a Miss Laura adaptation of the song "Going on a Picnic," and this simple song to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin:"

It's November, It's November,

Leaves fall down, Leaves fall down,

Let's eat lots of turkey, Let's eat lots of turkey,

Yum, yum, yum!  Yum, yum, yum!                                             

The Little Bunnies know when they see the big box with the leopard spots, it's time to sing our ABCs.  We are learning letter sounds by looking at a collection of objects beginning with that letter.  Miss Laura shakes the box - What is inside?  Even the Cottontails are curious, and come to join the fun!  We sing about each object:  "P is for pumpkin, That's good enough for me..."  We don't follow the alphabet in order, but start with the simplest sounds first, like "p" and "t."

The Number Box helps us with our counting.  We counted red circles to match the numeral that came out of the box.  What comes next?  We count to find out, then out comes the numeral.  While learning about the letter "T," we used the Number Box to help us count wooden train cars - and Thomas himself pulled the long train that was created!

Cottontails

Our little Cottontails are busy, busy, busy playing with toys, playing games, enjoying the water table and exploring art materials. They love the addition of some new "friends" to their play area:  two rocking horses and a rocking - caterpillar!  There are a lot of motor sounds as trucks and airplanes are moving around the room!  They are very creative in ther building and pretending with Duplo and other building blocks. The water table provides a setting for experimenting, pretending, learning and just having fun!  Boats, baths and bubbles, washing dishes, cooking and the occasional rain shower are all part of the fun.

Cottontails' art projects include lots of glue or paint and lots of messy fingers.  They use textured materials to make interesting and colorful collages, and practice using those little fingers to pick things up. They enjoy painting with paintbrushes of varying thicknesses or printing with shaped objects, developing motor skills and learning cause and effect - very satisfying to the little guys!

They are invited to join the Little Bunnies for some activities and often participate when the Shape-osaurus visits or the ABC box appears.  They have some games of their own like "One, Two Three - JUMP!" and "Roll the Ball" for which others are invited as well!  Because of the proximity of Circle Time, the Cottontails can even be found during Circle Time singing the Colors Song or the Days of the Week song, or marching with their American flags! 

As autumn comes to a close, we wish you the joys of the season to come.  Thank you for the gift of caring for your children!

Miss Laura, Miss Gloria, Mrs. Shirley, Mrs. Stacy, Mrs. B., Miss Elisabeth

Autumn was in the air as we completed the first full month of school at Hazel Drive Early Childhood Center.  During the early days of the school year, children become familiar with schedules and routines, while meeting new friends, making new discoveries and having fun.  

Our two-year-old children are called the “Cottontails,” the three-year-olds are our “Little Bunnies” and Almost-Four and Up are the “Big Hoppers!”  After our morning arrivals, happy greetings and a little play time in the front room, the children pick up the toys to our clean up song, and then it’s “All Aboard the Line-Up Train” as we proceed to our morning activities. 

“ALL ABOARD THE LINE-UP TRAIN” (by Miss Laura)

(Shout) ALL ABOARD! ALL ABOARD! ALL ABOARD THE LINE-UP TRAIN!

Chorus (Sing) Boom boom boom boom

 All aboard the line-up train (boom boom boom boom)

All aboard the line-up train (boom boom boom boom)

All aboard the line-up train

We are on the move! 

Everybody shout “All aboard!” (3x)

We are on the move!

Chorus

Everybody blow your whistle (3x)

We are on the move!

Chorus

(Make up additional verses to announce the stops at the train stations!)

After a quick stop at the Little Bunny bathroom to drop off or pick up passengers, a chugga-chug around the foyer and the cubby room and a few laps through the hall, the train makes a stop at the red tables where the Big Hoppers disembark. The Cottontails and Little Bunnies then wave goodbye and chug along to the yellow room. 

Big Hoppers

The Big Hoppers hit the ground running in September, doing many enriching learning and play activities provided by Miss Gloria’s creativity and engaging manner of teaching!  Using paints, circle stampers and their own little fingers, the Big Hoppers have been counting and learning to recognize and write numerals.  In the process, beautiful art is created as well!   

The Shape of the Month is the Circle, and they used that shape to create beautiful fall trees and big, red apples which adorned our walls this month. They’re reinforcing their knowledge of shapes as they participate in Miss Gloria’s Drawing Lessons.  Pictures are built step by step as the children look from the chalkboard to their papers, a very important skill, and recreate what they see. The results are wonderful and unique, and the artists are very proud of their accomplishments!  One day small dolls from our doll house visited the red tables.  The children were introduced to the members of the family and learned how to say them in Spanish.  Then they used small pencils, just the right size for little hands, to draw their own families!  There has been cutting practice, too, not only in creating projects, but following dotted lines on straight or curved paths to a little reward – a sticker at the end of the line! 

With the creative use of digital photography, the Big Hoppers named and “practiced” common emotions.  Hand held masks express “happy,” “sad,” “angry” and “surprised.”  Photographs were taken of their faces expressing the various emotions, and of course the prevailing one was merriment accompanied by lots of laughter!  Later at Music Time we sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It” substituting all the emotions.  We also played a game where Miss Gloria tried on a mask, without looking, and then she had to guess what she was wearing by looking at the faces of the boys and girls which reflected the emotion on the mask. Lots of fun!

Little Bunnies and Cottontails 

When the Line-Up Train brings the Little Bunnies and the Cottontails to their destination, they are greeted by happy toys ready for playing, the round table ready for art and the water table ready for creative fun.  The children get very excited as the big bucket fills with warm water for the water table and the fragrant bubbles start foaming up way over the top of the bucket!  It is lively at the water table with many happy sounds, as the little ones pour, mix, wash, and pretend!  Santa takes a shower, the alligator drinks some soup, the dishes are washed with small sponges, the tea is poured for a tea party, Big Bird pilots a submarine! Even Miss Laura has been known to roll up her sleeves and join in the fun!

            In September, Mrs. Shirley, Mrs. Stacy and Miss Laura provided many activities for learning about colors, shapes and the big world around us. The Shape-osaurus visited, and we showed him a bag full of familiar objects in the shape of a Circle. He really likes circles, and we could tell he liked what we showed him because he was smiling!  The boys and girls made circle pictures for the Shape-osaurus.  One day they glued small circles on a big circle.  Another time they used small containers to print circles with paint. These colorful pictures now surround the Shape-osaurus on the wall, and he is very pleased with the display!

We continued learning about circles, using two books as springboards. We read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and the children made their own big cookies, with a light brown circle for the cookie and small dark brown chocolate chips!  They did their best counting and the chips were labeled with numerals as they went!  If You Give a Pig a Pancake was fun, too, and led us to a lively and fun pretend cooking session, complete with homemade play dough and piles of real flour, mixing bowls and spoons, measuring spoons and cups, spatulas, a whisk, and enough plates to serve everyone!  Of course, the best tools of all were our little hands which could pinch, roll and flatten the play dough into a “yummy” pancake! 

Autumn provides the inspiration for the Color of the Month, red.  After hearing the story about a little house with no windows or door and a surprise inside, an apple was cut open to reveal the star shape made by the seeds in the core.  The children used not only red, but yellow and green paint as well to do apple printing, and the star could be seen on the paper!  And their little fingers made little red apples on a tree, just in time for apple picking season! 

Following a snack time filled with nourishing treats, conversation and camaraderie, we meet in the big back room for Circle Time.  At Circle Time, the children sit in the shape of (… you guessed it, a circle!) on small carpet mats.  We use music to say “Hello” in many different ways from day to day, and in both English and Spanish. We update the calendar (adding a number, counting in both languages, singing the days of the week and checking the weather).  In September, all the numerals for the calendar were on an apple shape, complete with a green leaf and stem. They could be found on the Big Tree on the classroom wall. After figuring out what comes next, the helper went apple picking to find the right apple and place it on the calendar!  We sing the Colors Song (Cancion de los Colores).  The helper then holds up the big American flag and we recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Did you know that the colors of the flag are red, white and blue?  How many stars are on the flag? Yes, fifty!  One of them represents our state, New Hampshire, but we don’t know which one! Everyone holds and waves a small flag and we sing “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”  Circle Time is optional for the Cottontails, but they are nearby playing, hearing the proceedings (and learning!) on the other side of the half wall, and are allowed to join us if they wish, which they usually do! 

Music with the Rainbow Piano and Miss Laura’s guitar is a special time at Hazel Drive.  We have music every day!  We sing familiar songs, learn new songs, and sing songs in Spanish, do active songs and quiet finger plays.  Often the instruments come out to add to the joyful noise!  Sometimes a little friend comes to sing with us. This month it was a furry gray squirrel!  He taught us three new songs, even though he’s very busy right now, getting ready for winter.   

Kindergarten Enrichment 

The Kindergarten children have had many educational and enriching activities this September, under the guidance of Mrs. B., Miss Gloria and Miss Laura.  They collected small branches and used colored yarn to make colorful spider webs.  They experimented with designing paper airplanes which could be seen sailing across the front room and gliding down from the top of the playground playhouse! Another experiment, this one initiated by the children, was the creation of a roller-coaster-like ramp for Tinkertoy wheels which taught them lessons about the physical world of science. 

Literature has played a role in our September enrichment activities.  The classic Ten Apples Up On Top was the starting point for a gluing and counting activity, and also taught us the lesson that “anything can happen in a storybook!”  It Looked Like Spilt Milk inspired the creation of our own book What Was It?  Using the “ink blot” method of painting with white paint on blue paper, the boys and girls saw very interesting pictures in the clouds they created!  It was compiled into a wonderful book to share with the younger children. 

Art and music are included in the curriculum as beautiful autumn trees were made with lunch bags trunks and tissue paper leaves and we sang the gentle “There Are Many Pretty Trees All Around the World” and saw pictures of many pretty trees! 

Wishing you contentment and serenity in the brilliance and beauty of autumn,

Miss Laura, Miss Gloria, Mrs. B., Mrs. Stacy and Mrs. Shirley