Warm white winter

Molly Shore

A small patch of land on the Horace Mann Child Care Center

playground was, for a short while Tuesday morning, a snowy winter

wonderland, although the city basked in temperatures near 70

degrees.

The powdery white stuff, trucked in by a nearby ice company,

provided morning fun for the 2- to 5-year-old preschool children, as

they threw snowballs at each other and raced down the small hill on

colorful plastic sleds and snow discs. The icy fun was part of Winter

Week at the center.

“I want to make Frosty the Snowman,” Isabel Breuer, 3, said.

Catalina Baener, 3, was anxious to throw snowballs as she played

in snow for the first time.

“OK, I’m going to get you,” pre-kindergarten teacher Rosie Rivera

shouted at one of the children as she formed a snowball.

Just as she threw the snowball, Rivera ducked as one came at her.

“Oh, Brandon, don’t get me,” she said, as she held up her hands to

fend off the attack.

Carol Mazo’s daughter Samantha, 5, looked forward to the morning’s

fun.

“She was so excited, she got up real early and asked if it was

time to go to school yet,” Mazo said.

Arriving in two groups, about 230 children played in the snow,

center supervisor Pat Kozma said.

The school’s Parent Assn. paid $704 for the snow and its delivery.

The group hosted several fund-raisers, including spaghetti dinners

and pancake breakfasts, to pay for the event.

Previous programs have included the Bob Baker Marionettes at

Christmas, science workshops and panning for gold during the center’s

Pioneer Days event.

Although the preschool center is part of the Burbank Unified

School District, Kozma said it receives no money from the district.