Like a magician, Newton quickly returns the book to her trunk and produces instruments for the class to play. The preschoolers march to the music playing from Newton's boombox, banging drums, tambourines and symbols to the beat. Newton adopts the story to the age level as she moves up in grades, incorporating folk and fairy tales, poetry and urban legends for the older grades. When you get to be my age, there is a tendency to sit around all day in your nightgown and when you get dressed, you go to the casino. I can't live that way.
Newton never has.
A native of Maryland, Newton taught kindergarten and first grades before moving to Arizona in 1960. She soon learned that her credentials did not meet local requirements. Newton graduated from Arizona State University with a master's degree in curriculum and became a librarian in the Mesa School District. When she heard about the Storytelling Institute at South Mountain Community College, which opened in 1995, she enrolled. After one year, she was the program's third graduate.