El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 27

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 'Wait Disnev's Tv.e' thimic IT tep II -amr UH.OH, thcse paws aCe IVfc '1 AASTEC I GeotVL-L-L I APIAIP HE'S I TOO BIG AN CLUMSY Mcr tTcACv i can't 5aa asolt to lose I 'n mir9ti rO OO ANYTHING HIS TEMPEC jJf JS JT1I "1 Homemade cook book Write down your family's favorite recipes and make copies for each cook or chef in the family. You can bind the recipes together or you can put them on index cards. Just once, wouldn't you like to give and receive nothing but practical gifts for Christmas? The El Paso Times will run one practical or money-saving gift idea each day in the Living Section. If you have any suggestions for inexpensive or home-made gifts, please tell us. You can call 546-5134, or write to El Paso Times, co Gift Ideas, P.O.

Box 20, El Paso, 79999. This special Christmas edition of "Beauty and the Beast" runs through Dec. .25. El Paso TimesQ Tuesday Dec. 8, 1992 Assistant Living Editor Susan Patten, 546-6100 Section 2D Television 3D Columns 6D Money Chrysalis Developmental Center takes great pride in making that extra effort to educate students many would consider unteachable.

jSg Ramon Renteria Learning Krk Teach kids importance of sharing Teaching kuls to In1 charitable could Ik' I he most valuable gift you giw a child this luVlidav season. "As prospect ivc leaders, it's critical that children have a sense of sharing with others," said Sister Helen rrn bantamana. president ol 1(3E) jjijjij 'JJjpS CbbbI" a ifrmi fci 1 Jeff Bowen El Paso Times Small classes give Mary Frances Cullen, a teacher at Chrysalis Developmental Preschool, a chance to give students an intimate reading activity. Classmates get to know each other in a small class, such as those at Chrysalis. Below, Sara Gregory, left, had classmate Paige Moore sign a birthday card for her mother.

Chrysalis Center helps kids out of their shells I 1 Paso's Loretto Academy. Santamana says students can learn important lessons in responsibility and citizenship it' they use the community as a classroom. can help children understand that chanty is not jut a seasonal lad. "We all receive these gifts, whether talents or material wealth, not. just, to keep for ourselves but to make the world a better place," Santamana said.

Once kids learn to value people, it's easier to embrace a lifelong pattern of helping others. "The most important thing that parents can do is help children recognize that they do have blessings and talents," Santamaria said. Ways of motivating children to help others: 6 Try to instil! values about caring and sharing all year long, not just during seasonal holidays. Teach children to celebrate with people who are special. Encourage children to care about community problems and issues.

Plan activities you can do together to help someone else during weekends or school breaks. Encourage children to volunteer: read to the blind, help nursing home residents. Teach children to think how others can use material things that you plan to throw away. Include kids in planning or preparing holiday meals or activities. Discuss with children what it is like to be homeless or poor.

Encourage schools that promote community service as part of the curriculum. Include children in conversations, emphasize the importance of sharing. Encourage your school or PTA to sponsor charity drives for the needy. Take advantage of the holiday season to build memories and traditions. 1 1 1 By Ramon Renteria El Paso Times Erin O'Rourke feels quite comfortable learning in a school that doesn't isolate kids in classrooms.

"I've got a learning disability," the sixth-grader said. "But here, I can learn about a lot of things." Welcome to Chrysalis Developmental Center, a private school that caters to kids of all abilities. The West Side school plans a move in 1993 to larger, more permanent quarters from a basement at Pepper Tree Square. "Kids shouldn't be labeled or set aside," director Pat Williams said. "We try to individualize so that each child can learn the way that they learn best." Williams founded the school four years ago with seven children partially in response to parents frustrated with how public schools handle children with disabilities.

Today, the school serves 90 children in two sites. You're likely to find a mixed bag of children in the same open classroom: gifted kids, children with mental retardation or students with specific learning disabilities. "School should be a place where children enjoy growing, a place where children feel comfortable learning," Williams said. Melissa O'Rourke and other parents give the school high marks for recognizing that children learn differently. "They've found a way to teach to my daughter," O'Rourke said.

O'Rourke pulled Erin out of public school and then a school for learning disabled children after detecting little change in her daughter's academic progress. Chrysalis runs a program at another site for pre-school children only. At the Pepper Tree site, children from kindergarten through grade six learn together. There are no physical walls. The school identifies individual learning styles and gives children freedom to do what they're Please see Chrysalis 2D It The Empire Brass returns for much-anticipated concert.

I iteJt I ifiiiii 1-s Popular quintet set attendance records last time in El Paso By Rosanna Salgado El Paso Times mmrnm f'f. I Who: The Empire Brass with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. What Holiday concert. When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Where: Abraham Chavez Theatre. How much: $6, $9, $12, $15 and $18. Information: 532-EPSO. their last performance here. Wt are happy to have them back.

We are also delighted to have our concertmaster and assistant conductor Laurence Gibson for this special holiday performance," Brown said. The quintet also will present a free master class at UTEP for striving musicians from 10 a.rtj, to 11:30 a.m. Saturday. This experience will give music students an opportunity to speak with the musicians and learn about them. a The quintet has performed in the Far East, England, Europe and the Soviet Union as well as with major orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and St.

Louis Symphony. The group also has produced 10 best-selling recordings of its broad repertoire including such diverse styles as music from thg Baroque period to jazz and Broadway tunes. Involve your family in a worthy cause. Sign up your kids as volunteers at a church or community service center. Remind children that they have talents or skills that can benefit others.

Set an example. Talk often about what you can do for others as a family. In a return visit to El Paso, The Empire Brass will perform a festive holiday program with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra this weekend. The concert will be conducted by EPSO Concertmaster and Assistant Conductor Laurence Gibson, who has conducted the orchestra on numerous occasions during his 20-year association with EPSO. Gibson most recently appeared as guest conductor in June 1992 in the Music Under the Stars program at the Chamizal Theatre.

Gibson is also the conductor for the UTEP orchestra and has just completed the University's holiday program, "Christmas in Grand Canyon." The Empire Brass performed in El Paso two years ago and was the best-attended concert to date, said Gay Brown, executive director of the symphony. "It is an attraction for the young and old. They are star performers who are well known and widely acclaimed. We anticipate a sell-out," she said. This popular quintet has been booked to appear in El Paso for the last two years.

They have a very heavy tour schedule and EPSO has been eager to bring them back. Brown said. "They were so successful in Ramon Renteria is the El Paso Times's education reporter. His column tips on helping your children learn appears each Tuesday. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered in this column, call Renteria at (915) 546-6124.

The Empire Brass returns to El Paso this weekend..