News Article


Teacher, students share love for 'I Love Lucy'

By Kelly Agee

Eva Roberts has been teaching kindergarten at N Elementary School for three years, a job she said she adores and has a great passion for. However, she also shares another of her passions with her students - her love for "I Love Lucy."

Roberts has incorporated an occasional clip from an episode of the famous red-head's show into the classroom as an educational tool. For instance, when the children were learning a lesson on transportation, Roberts showed them clips from episodes depicting Lucy on a ferryboat and on a subway.

"I want them to see things they're not exposed to around here," Roberts said. "They had never even heard of a subway, and I tied into that lesson how the big cities have subways and why they have them.

"I guess you could say watching Lucy is an enrichment program for the children," she said. "It's just something extra if we have time. We show little clips, not the entire episode, every once in a while."

Roberts said Lucy's show is a good way to demonstrate things to her students without having to worry about violence or another other negative signals. "There's so much bad stuff on television now, and Lucy is good, clean fun," Roberts said. "You don't have to worry about a thing. And it's funny; it makes them laugh and they love it. They laugh, and I love to see them laugh watching the show."

Ever since she was a young girl Roberts has idolized Lucy. "All my life, since I was about seven years old, I have loved Lucy," she said. She has even attended an "I Love Lucy" convention in California, and she has plans to attend a convention, "The Lucy-Desi Days," in Jamestown, N.Y., this summer. Jamestown is Lucille Ball's birthplace, Roberts said.

Some of Roberts' students shared her love of Lucy before they even entered her classroom, and some have developed an adoration of her since then. "They want to watch it everyday, but I don't let them do that in class," Roberts said. "A lot of them watch it at home, though, and then tell me about it."

Lucie Arnaz even sent the class a letter stating that "a good education is something that no one can take away from you, so it is very important to pay attention to your teachers and your parents because they all want what is best for you. Make sure you take time over the summer to read with your parents. That's the best way to feed your brain."

Several students collaborated that they find Lucy entertaining as well as educational. "It's really funny. I liked the show when she shoved all that chocolate down her mouth in the chocolate factory," said student Kaylinn Holland. "She's really funny, and I love to watch it. When I get home I'm going to watch all my Lucy tapes. I have the Lucy lunchbox, too. This summer I'm going to watch it every day and every night."

Holland is one of those students who was a Lucy fan before she discovered Roberts' love of "I Love Lucy."

Student Ashley Trumps said she learned a valuable lesson from one of the episodes in which Lucy overextended her budget. "I learned not to buy things that are too expensive when you're not supposed to," she said.

Roberts said she tries to point out other lessons in the shows as well as exposing them to new things such as ferryboats and subways. "I try to teach them valuable lessons, like how important it is to always tell the truth."

In addition to the "I Love Lucy" lessons, Roberts said she teaches her students Spanish vocabulary words just to help them learn a foreign language at an earlier age.

Anything that would help her students learn she would do for them, Roberts said, because "I just love teaching so much. I can't imagine doing anything else."

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