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Dunkirk, NY - Preschool students received a lesson in diversity from local artist and educator Valerie Walawender. Children who attend Head Start, a program of Chautauqua Opportunities Inc, took part in a multicultural and creativity drama program Wednesday at the former school 6. The Chautauqua County Council on the Arts Projects Pool has provided funding to Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. for the presentation of the Faces For Tots Project.
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This program is a preschool adaptation of Faces In The Crowd, a diversity and violence prevention program.
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Participants in Faces In The Crowd workshops encounter themselves in the context of gentle yet introspective role-playing exercises. The exercises are
designed to help participants increase their sensitivity and tolerance toward others. Workshops explore areas such as communication skills, power dynamics, the relevance of visual and other cues, and human
interaction.
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Students who participated in Faces For Tots listened to an original, multicultural story, titled "The First Butterfly.” This is a fantasy story about how
the first butterflies came to be when the caterpillars learned to love all the flowers of all the different colors. Tammy Racino, education adviser at Head Start; said, "This story is great because it teaches
children diversity and to be accepting of different cultures."
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During the story, students were able to role-play. They pretended they were caterpillars and flowers by using masks. Each child received a mask depicting a
caterpillar and flower, but the face was another child from a different race, or gender. After the children put on !their masks, Walawender told them, "Look in the mirror and pay attention to the little child
who looks different than you."
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Walawender said, "The purpose of this activity is to let the children see people through others' eyes. By doing this they realize they are the same
person even though the face looking back looks different from them.”
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Racino said, "Using props really gets the children’s attention. They are definitely learning from this program.” “You can see they love lt,” said
Walawender. “Real young children do not always have a chance to meet people from different cultures, so they might have fears or inhibitions,” she said. “This activity teaches them to not be afraid of different
people."
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Each story Walawender tells places emphasis on creative expression, experiencing feelings and learning to appreciate and celebrate the different peoples of
the world. Other stories told by Walawender are: "Baby Snowflakes," "The Legend of the Isle of Light," and "The Creation of the Horse." All these stories are age appropriate and
specially designed by Walawender for creative play and drama for preschoolers.
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Walawender said she wanted to create this program because, "We live in a very diverse community. People don't realize how many different cultures
exist here." Walawender wall be taking the Faces For Tots to most, if not all the Head Starts in Chautauqua County. She hopes to expand the program to agencies, schools, organizations and clubs.
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For more information about Faces For Tots, or Faces In The Crowd, contact Valerie Walawender at 679-3359.
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