Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
JANET HELLMAN, Washington Elementary physical education teacher, instructs children how to play kickball Tuesday afternoon on the recently painted baseball diamond.
By TOM STANKARD
Bessemer - Washington Elementary's outdoor recreation area received a facelift during the summer.
Before Labor Day, physical education teacher Janet Hellman, Lee Schiller and his third-grade daughter, Janet, cleared the pavement of debris, then painted fresh lines.
Armed with yellow paint, Hellman said they painted two baseball diamonds, a "very large" rectangle that can be used for touch football, two basketball keys and hopscotch lines.
In the front of the school, Hellman said they painted a circle and hopscotch for the children to play on.
Before the lines were painted, Hellman said she struggled to set up games for students.
"I had to take bases from inside," she said. "Now, I don't have to tend with that. It saves time with game set-up and tear-down."
With painted lines, Hellman said the benefit is the bases will "always be there. I don't have to be linked to it anymore," she said.
On a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, Hellman taught her third-grade students how to play kickball on one of the new baseball diamonds.
"You have to take advantage of these kind of days," she said as children screamed because one team scored. "This will be covered with snow in the winter."
In the future, Hellman said she thinks the lines will make life easier for everyone.
"It helps classes or during free time, because it establishes more order to the day," she said. "People can come here after school hours, play basketball and become a Speed Boy."
