GRANDPA DON: EAST PRAIRIE COUNSELOR HELPS KINDERGARTNERS GET OFF TO GOOD START WITH HIS `I-CARE' ATTITUDE

EAST PRAIRIE -- Five-year-old Elisha Huey has a little trouble pronouncing cooperation, but she knows what it means. Grandpa Don taught her.

Once a week Grandpa Don, also known as high school guidance counselor Don Shaner, meets with kindergarten students at East Prairie Elementary School.

Wearing a crumpled straw hat and an official grandpa T-shirt made by his own grandchildren, Grandpa Don hopes to get the kindergarten students off to a good start in school.

With the help of a rabbit puppet, Grandpa Don talks with the children and leads games and activities.

Elisha Huey and the other kindergarteners look forward to Grandpa Don's visits. "I like it when he talks with the bunny," Elisha said. "He's funny."

School Principal Linda Sherrill planned Grandpa Don's curriculum. The students are spending the year learning about respect, for themselves and each other. Each month they work on a word related to respect. This month it is cooperation.

Taylor White, also a kindergarten student, was at the center of a cooperation project last week. The students worked together to assemble a puzzle.

"That was easy," Taylor said, after the pieces of the school bus were fit together. "I think it was easier because we worked together."

And working together, the 5-year-old explained, is what cooperation is all about.

Shaner was a counselor at Meridian High School in Illinois for 24 years. He retired, but not for long.

At the beginning of the school year, Shaner took a counseling job at East Prairie. When he arrived, he was told the job included four sections of kindergarten counseling. The principal expected Shaner to balk. Kindergarten counseling is quite a switch for a high school guidance counselor used to dealing with college entrance exams, class credits and teen-agers.

But Shaner, who is father of six children and grandfather of seven, looks forward to the change of pace.

"I didn't want to be Mr. Shaner," he explained. "I thought the children would respond better to a character. It just seemed natural to be Grandpa Don."

During the rest of the week he works to improve attendance and prevent dropouts at East Prairie's high school. But every Monday morning he dons that crumpled hat and heads off to kindergarten.

Occasionally he makes a special trip to the elementary school to meet with a child who needs a little encouragement.

"The key to counseling is good humor and an I care attitude," Shaner said. "The I care is the big one."