As she speaks, she reaches one leg toward the ground and one arm toward the ceiling, forming the letter "K" with her body.

Everything Peck teaches is somehow connected to her body. She has an expression like this for each letter of the alphabet.

Peck, a longtime Saratoga resident, recently published her first book, Kindergarten Education: Freeing children's creative potential. Peck says she originally intended to title the book, Kindergarten: The celebration of life for the adult and child, but her publishers at Hawthorn Press decided to give it a more marketable name.

Peck says the book is targeted for teachers and parents. She adds it was Saratoga kindergarten teachers who first encouraged her to write the book.

"I'm hoping that in reading this book, they can feel the necessity of pulling the child and the universe together in celebration of life," Peck says. "The gratitude that must flow from the hearts of all of us teachers, parents and children is vital to the building of an adult."

With more than 50 years of experience teaching kindergarten and working in education consulting, Peck brings her wisdom and experience across in her writing. The book is a compilation of case studies, teaching practices and research from German educationist Friedrich Froebel, who coined the word "kindergarten" and assigned it to the world of the young child.

When asked how long she's been working on the 192-page book, Peck says "forever." The book is a collection of her "life story" of teaching, including running a kindergarten forum for local teachers, starting the Los Gatos­Saratoga Observation Nursery School and founding the Saratoga Community Garden, an educational organic garden for children. When she first submitted the book for publication, she says, there was enough material to fill three books, but her editors condensed it into one.

When Peck was first hired by the Saratoga Union School District, she says she required her classroom at the Oak Street School to include a kitchen and a door that opened up into a garden.

"My whole philosophy is the garden is the source of all wisdom and the basis of all art," says Peck, blowing three kisses in the air.

She retired from teaching in 1988 and three years later earned her doctorate. Pecks says since her teaching days, classrooms have drastically changed.

"There's no celebration of life and no real material," Peck said. "It's all plastic. There's no real wooden chairs to sit on and no feel of nature."

April Halberstadt, Saratoga Historical Museum director/curator, praised Peck's book for her unique view of how a kindergarten should operate. Halberstadt said she believes Peck to be an extraordinary educator, and said people have been looking forward to the book for the wisdom it brings to early childhood development.

Her book wouldn't have been possible without many people, Peck says, especially her editor and husband Willys—the wordsmith.

"He'd say, 'Betty, this deserves a period,' " says Peck, referring to a sentence in her book. "He makes everything positive. He'd say 'This is so wonderful it needs to stop here.'"

Peck has plans to write two more books, one about the celebration of death and the other about her experiences teaching third grade at the University Avenue Grammar School in Los Gatos, where Old Town is now located.

Peck will host booksigning on June 3, 2­4 p.m., in the community room of the Saratoga Library, 13650 Saratoga Ave. Copies of her book will be available for purchase and are also available at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com.