Preschoolers learn despite Spartan surroundings

Budget cuts have closed classrooms but these kids are learning their colors and shapes with the help of dedicated teachers. - - Donna Poisl

Education » About 10 students who don't qualify for Head Start get a chance to learn.

By Jennifer W. Sanchez, The Salt Lake Tribune

Midvale » Using a room with the bare essentials, Carolina Carasa manages to teach young students the basics.

There are a couple of educational posters, no desks and only a few tiny plastic chairs. Students take turns sitting at two donated living-room end tables and Carasa teaches them how to spell their names. The other kids play with plastic food and blocks or flip through tattered books while they wait for their turn.

Once a week for two hours, Carasa changes a multipurpose room with two sofas -- in the basement of the Midvale Performing Arts Center -- into a classroom for La Escuelita (the Little School), an early-education program for native Spanish speakers.

Carasa, the program's teacher for six years, said it would be easier to teach the students in a nice classroom with supplies -- but there's no money.
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