TEENS AND TOTS: JACKSON STUDENTS LEARN LESSONS AT DAY CARE

Jason Stanley, a senior, plays with 2-year-old Trey Reisenbichler to learn more about children's behavior.

Zach Taylor, 2, makes a project with glitter, glue and plenty of supervision.

JACKSON -- A visit to the day care at New McKendree Methodist Church can be slightly overwhelming.

The little ones are everywhere, working on projects, eating snacks, pushing toy cars and making noise. Running in between them are teen-agers -- child development students there to learn more about the children's behavior.

And presiding over it all is the calm, organized Cathy Boyd, whose job is to mix the children and teens successfully.

She teaches child development at Jackson High School and started the day-care project about five years ago. Prior to that, some of her students served as aides in elementary classes, but then the nearby elementary school changed locations.

A state education supervisor came up with the idea of a voluntary day-care center where parents take their children for two hours on two days each week.

There are now 60 students and 39 children involved.

"It's very beneficial for the students, the children and the parents," Boyd said. "It's a partnership idea."

The students get to learn more about children, which is why they selected the class. Parents get four hours a week to run errands alone, and children get to interact with each other, something they normally wouldn't do if they weren't in day care.

The church benefits because the school district rents the Sunday school classrooms, which are in walking distance from campus.

Students spend three days a week doing book work and planning activities for day-care days. They must schedule four activities per hour, each about 15 minutes long so children won't get bored. On Wednesday, for example, older children made carousels out of apples, straws, peanut butter and animal crackers while younger ones made snowmen out of cotton balls.

Dee Sanford, a senior in the class, said she took it to learn more about children for when she had her own.

"It's fun to play with them," she said. "They are wild sometimes, but it teaches you what they like to do and what they don't like to do."

Her classmate, junior Dawn Abney, has a more personal reason for taking child development.

"My sister is pregnant, so I need to get used to this," she said. "It's not like this at home."

Boyd said other students take the class because they want to become elementary school teachers or operate day-care centers.

Parents who bring their children seemed thrilled with the arrangement. This is the second year Dana Seabaugh has brought her daughter, Rebekah. The 4-year-old's brother went to school this year, so the day-care makes her feel special, too.

"On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she turns to her brother and says, `I go to school!'" Seabaugh said. "They make crafts here, so she has something to show him."