Author Title Class LJ.i.£.35- Imprint Book* Vol. I. No, 2 joly^ 1904 MILWAUKEE NORMAL SCHOOL BULLETIN Published Qtiarterly By the State Normal School Milwaukee, Wis. THE PLACE OF THE KINDERGARTEN IN THE WISCONSIN PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM Mrs. Carl Schurz. A pupil of Froebel, and the first kindergartner in the United States, who in 1855 opened a kindergarten in her home in Watertown, Wis. Vol. I. No. 2 July. 1904 Milwaukee Normal School Bulletin THE PLACE OF THE KINDERGARTEN IN THE WISCONSIN PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM BY NINA C. VANDEWALKER. B. L. M. Pd. Diredor of Kindergarten Training Department, Milwaukee State Normal School. Formerly Teacher of Methods and Supervisor of Pradlice, Whitewater (Wis.) Normal School 1 904 BURDICK & ALLEN PRINTERS M I LWAU KEE Program for First Term, September J, 1904, to November 9, 1904. 8:10-8:55. Physics Physiology Drawing Composition Literature History of Education Music Kindergarten Theory 9 :oa— 9 :45 Physics Prof 1 Geography Literature Psychology Botany U. S. History Reading and Language 9:50—10:35. Social Science Prof'l Arithmetic Physiography Drawing Expression Zoology German Composition 10:40 — II -.30. Political Economy Physiography Drawing Music Literature Composition Science of Education Biology- English History Psychology Music Latin Composition II :30 — 12:00. General Assembly 1:30—2:15. Physiology Physiography Drawing Composition U. S. History Psychology Kindergarten Principles Music Prof'l Grammar 2 :20— 3 :05. Physiography Penmanship Expression Composition Psychology Nature Study German 3 :io — 4:00. Trigonometry Kindergarten Technics Pedagogy Literature U. S. History History of Education Wm. N. Hailman, President of the Milwaukee German-English Academy from 1874-1878, whose enthusiasm for the kindergarten did much to pro- mote the cause in Wisconsin. Elizabeth Palmer Pea body, of Boston, Mass., generally recognized as the apostle of the kindergarten movement in the United States. Sarah Stewart, principal of the Milwaukee City Normal School from 1873-80, and later the first public school kindergartner and kindergar- ten supervisor in Milwaukee. The Place of the Kindergarten in the Wisconsin Public School System. I. The kindergarten movement is one of the most significant movements in American education. In the forty-nine years that have passed since the first kindergarten was opened in the United States, its vahie has been so demonstrated that not less than two thousand private and charitable kindergartens have been established, and more than twenty-five hundred are maintained at public expense as organic parts of the school system. At a most conservative estimate there are, therefore, between four thou- sand and five thousand kindergartens in the United States, and not less than a quarter of a million children enrolled in them. To provide the eight thousand or more kindergartners needed, over one hundred private training schools have been established, and between thirty and forty state normal schools have established departments for the training of kindergartners at public expense. The rapid spread of the kindergarten is due to several causes. Up to the time that the kindergarten began to attract attention — in the early seventies — educational effort had been occupied mainly with the problem of organization. There was, however, no satisfactory theoretical basis for educational procedure, and Froebel's conception of man as creative, and education as a process of self-expression, met a recognized need. The exponents of the kindergarten proclaimed a new educational gospel — that of activity instead of repression, and of the child's right to himself and to happiness during the educational process. They emphasized the import- ance of early childhood, and set a standard for the teacher — that of the ideal mother. They recognized the value of beauty as a factor in the child's development, and by means of music, plants and pictures in the kindergarten they revealed the barrenness of the old time schoolroom. By their intense moral earnestness, their sympathetic interpretation of childhood, their exaltation of motherhood, and their enthusiasm for hu- manity, they carried conviction to the educational world. The kinder- garten won its way to the hearts of the people, and its principles were seen to underlie the whole educational process. It has become the symbol of the spirit and method of the new education. In the advancement of the kindergarten in the United States, Wis- consin has played an important part. The first kindergarten in this country was that conducted by Mrs. Carl Schurz, in her own home in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1855. It was Mrs. Schurz, herself a pupil of Froebel, who gave the kindergarten impulse to Miss Elizabeth Peabody, / generally recognized as the apostle of the movement in the United States. The first large city in the country to follow the lead of St. Louis in in- corporating the kindergarten into the public school system was Milwaukee, in which kindergartens were established in 1882. The first normal school to establish a kindergarten for the purposes of observation was the normal school at Oshkosh. Wisconsin now has kindergartens in six of its seven normal schools, and it is conspicuous among the states that train kindergartners at public expense. In the public schools of Wisconsin, too, the kindergarten has gained a firm foothold, over eighty cities and towns having adopted it as a part of the school system. In the two hundred twenty, or more, public kinder- gartens established in these cities, there are over fifteen thousand children enrolled. To all appearances this is an admirable showing, but in view of the conditions that exist in Wisconsin the number of kindergartens in the state should be multiplied many times. The legal school age is four years — one or two years lower than that in most states, New Jersey and Oregon being the only others in which the age is four. A school age of four years makes tlie kindergarten a necessity, and kindergartens should exist in consequence wherever there are graded schools. The natural kindergarten age is from four to six years, and the work of the kinder- garten is adapted to the needs of children of that age. The customary grade work, on the contrary, was originally planned for children of five or six, and the four year old child is incapable of doing it, as every pri- mary teacher knows. Where kindergartens are established, this early school age is a distinct gain ; where regular grade work is attempted the time is practically wasted. But since children have the right to attend school at the age of four, kindergartens or no kindergartens, the school authorities must do something. This something is usually one of two things : Either the children are refused admission — illegally — until they reach the age of five ; or a "sub-primary" department is organized, in which a diluted form of grade work is attempted, interspersed with busy work, much of which is profitless because it is not the expression of thought. But it is only as the work of the so-called sub-primary ap- proaches the kindergarten type that it has either interest or value for four-year-old children. Why not, then, have a full-fledged kindergarten instead of a weak infusion of one? Every sub-primary department is evi- dence of the need of a kindergarten. Supt. Maxwell, of New York City, says : "Educators are agreed that the proper school for children under six years of age is the kindergarten. Children under six have no part or lot in the work of the grades." Dr. Wm. T. Harris says : "The kindergarten should take the children at the age of four, and retain them two years. The kindergarten is the most essential adjunct now required to perfect our system of city schools." Other educators without number could be quoted to the same effect. The arguments advanced for the adoption of kindergartens in states where the school age is five or six years can be reduced mainly to two, viz. : that children who enter the kindergarten at the age of four thereby gain one or two years in school attendance, which counts for much with the great number who leave school early; and that the character and practical efficiency resulting from kindergarten attendance will facilitate the work required in the grades. The truth of these arguments is gen- erally admitted ; the difficulty lies in the necessity for changing the legal school age, and appropriating school funds for the education of four year old children. Neither of these objections can be urged against the adop- tion of kindergartens in Wisconsin, since the four year old children are -already in school, theoretically at least, and money is already appropriated for their education. The questions are, therefore : Shall the four year old children be illegally refused school privileges because they are in- capable of doing the customary grade work? Or, shall their instruction be of the school or of the kindergarten type? It is not a question of establishing kindergartens, but rather one of substituting the kindergarten form of education for the grade form, since the sub-primary must exist if the kindergarten does not. The cities that have made the substitution could not be induced to return to the old regime, realizing that thq kindergarten does more effectively than the sub-primary can the following things : It develops and strengthens the child's imperfectly developed body through the varied activity furnished by the games and rhythmic exercises'. It furnishes adequate training for the hand and eye through its many forms of manual activity, and therefore lays the foundation for the manual training and art work of the grades. It wakes the child up intellectually. Through the games, the con- stant contact with objects, and the association with plant and animal life, his powers of attention, discrimination, and association are trained, and he develops the interests and gains the stock of mental images the grade work requires. It places stress upon the development of the child's character. The keynote of the kindergarten is co-operative activity. By working and playing with his equals the child comes to recognize that if all are to be happy, each one must be kind, fair and truthful. This leads to the funda- mental virtue, self-control. By the emphasis placed on individual, cre- ative effort, self-reliance and practical efficiency are developed. It is in the development of these qualities of character that the value of the kindergarten lies as a preparation for grade work, rather than in the fact that kindergarten trained children learn to read or write more quickly than do others — a claim often made, but not fully proved. The kinder- garten stands for a principle in education — that of awakening an all-sided interest and developing an all-sided efficiency. To the degree that this principle is being recognized in the grades, as is shown in the introduction of manual training and kindred forms of work, are the ideals of the kindergarten and of the grade work approaching each other. In conse- quence there will hereafter be less measuring of the results of the kinder- garten in the exact terms of reading and writing, or other forms of grade work. If, however, there is no preceptible difference in favor of the kindergarten child in awakened interest and increased efficiency, the work both of the individual kindergartner and of the primary teacher needs investigating. Harm is sometimes done by continuing children in the kindergarten too long. The needs and interests which the kinder- garten is intended to ineet have in a measure passed away at the age of six, and under normal conditions children of that age should begin grade work, even though they have not been in the kindergarten. In the adjustment between the work of the kindergarten and that of the grades lie some of the problems of modern day education. In many cities it is the custom to pay grammar and high school- teachers better salaries than are paid the teachers of the younger children. But the better paid high school-teacher will tell you that she cannot do the work the high school calls for because she must spend her time teach- ing what the pupils should have learned in the grades below. And the teacher in the grammar grades — what does she say? Too often she is not only teaching the fundamentals that it is the business of the lower grades to teach, but she is undoing the work that was done there and correcting habits that should never have been formed. Where there are no kinder- gartens the first grade teacher must spend many months doing for tlie children what should have been done in the kindergarten. Is it not time for school authorities to see that true economy consists in giving children the right start? The establishing of kindergartens under proper condi- tions will be an important step in this direction. There are many cities in the state where the desirability of opening kindergartens or substituting them for sub-primary departments has been recognized, but where action has been postponed because of other pressing needs. In other instances the idea that the kindergarten is too expensive for the average town has prevented action. It is true that the opening of a new department, whatever its character, involves additional expense, though the furnishing of a kindergarten room with tables and chairs costs much less than the furnishing of desks for a primary department. The running expenses of a kindergarten, too, are but little, if any, greater than those of a primary department. Kindergartners have high educa- tional ideals, however, and many would refuse to undertake work under the conditions that exist in many primary departments. The better the primary teacher the better she knows that good grade work cannot be done with the number of pupils usually assigned her — sixty or seventy — if not more. But if good grade work is difficult, kindergarten work with so large a number is impossible, unless the children are divided into two sections, each attending but a half day. Even then good work could not be done without an assistant. This brings up a whole series of practical considerations— the reasons for the smaller number of children that the kindergartner insists upon; for employing an assistant, and for limiting the attendance of kindergarten children to one session a day. The reason why the number of children assigned to one kindergarten should not exceed thirty is found in part in the greater amount of attention of the nursery maid order that children of kindergarten age require, but more fundamentally in the manual character of kindergarten work. This cannot be done en masse, even with older children, and much less with those who lack wholly as yet the power of attention, co-operation and self-control. An assistant is required, not because the kindergartner is less competent or willing to work than is her neighbor in the primary department, but because the purposes of the kindergarten can be but partially realized without music. The work of the kindergarten would be Hamlet with Hamlet left out, without its songs, games and rhythms and their musical accompaniment, and no matter how expert a kinder- gartner may be, she cannot properly lead the games or rhythms and act as accompanist at the same time. While one kindergartner could, there- fore take sixty children by taking one-half of them each session, the best results cannot be obtained in this manner, and the attempt to force the kindergarten into the school form and conditions would defeat the purposes for which it was established. The fact that a thorough musical training, as well as a course in kindergarten training, is essential to successful kindergarten work, should receive practical recognition in the salary paid. That children of kindergarten age should attend school or kinder- garten for but one session of from two and a half to three hours was taken for granted in the early days of the kindergarten movement, and all medical authorities are agreed upon the correctness of this position. The kindergarten has always stood for a union between the home and the school, and the true kindergartner considers her work but partially done when she has dismissed her children for the day. To do her best with them she must spend much time in preparing the work for the next session. She must also visit the children in their homes and secure the co-operation of their mothers. That she should give her mornings to the children, and her afternoons to the larger work of home visitation and mother's meetings is the kindergarten ideal, and the kindergartner who does this larger work thereby doubles her power with the children. In recent years this larger social work has been somewhat lost sight of, and with the introduction of the kindergarten into the public schools has come the demand that kindergartners should "work all day," as primary teachers do. This has brought about the two-session kindergarten, i.e., the division of the children into two groups, each attending but one session,' which has become quite general in the larger cities. While the effective- ness and power of the kindergartners work are impaired by these condi- tions, this is partly compensated for by the additional number of children 8 that can receive kindergarten advantages. In the fact that the conditions required for good kindergarten work are so far superior to the condi- tions existing in most primary departments lies the difificuh}' in substituting kindergartens for the prevailing forms of primary work. A knowledge of the expense of equipping a kindergarten may be of interest to those who are contemplating the suggested change. With thirty children enrolled for each session, three dozen chairs and four tf.bles, 6 X 2J/2 feet, will be needed. The price of these chairs is about $6.00 per dozen, but they can sometimes be obtained at lower rates through a local furniture dealer. The tables are of special make, ruled in squares, and should be obtained from a regular dealer in kindergarten supplies. They cost about $6.00 each. If the thirty children must all work with one person during the periods for manual work, as is the case if there is no assistant, the number of articles to be used by individual children, such as scissors, pencils, boxes of gifts, etc., must be equal to the number enrolled at one session. If there is an assistant, the number of children will be divided into two groups for each work period, and hence a smaller number of articles will answer. Much of the material, such as balls, peg-boards, the gifts, etc., is permanent, and needs to be purchased but once. Many things that can be obtained at slight expense can be sub- stituted for some of the more expensive kindergarten material. Manilla and other paper, for mounting, folding and cutting, can be obtained at any printer's, cut to the desired size. Such material is less accurate, however, and the work done with it is, therefore, of less value. The ingenious kindergartner will find many uses for spool boxes and ribbon paper, which any dry goods merchant will be willing to save for her. Much nature material, such as corn, seeds of different kinds, corn husks, and leaves can be used also. Shoe strings are excellent for stringing beads, and the wooden or paper trays used by grocers are convenient for distributing material. Drawing paper and pencils, clay for modeling, scissors for cutting, charcoal and wax pencils, water colors and paste are probably provided for the manual and art work of the grades, and the additional supply needed for the kindergarten can be obtained at relatively little additional expense. A sand table and window boxes can be made by a local carpenter, or by the high school manual training students. In ad- dition to these a certain amount of strictly kindergarten material is needed — the amount depending somewhat upon the ingenuity and ideas of the individual kindergartner. Excluding the cost of tables, chairs, and a musical instrument, the first equipment can be obtained for from $50.00 to $60.00, though an additional $25.00 will secure a more satisfactory one. After the first year the expense for material need not exceed from $20.00 to $30.00. Milwaukee appropriates $25.00 per year for each kindergarten, and this secures a very liberal supply. Other' cities consider a smaller sum sufficient. The strictly kindergarten material needed for a kindergarten of thirty children, where there is no assistant, is as follows : 5 first gifts in boxes, $i.oo each $S.oo I set second gifts, in bulk, twelve of each form 3.50 30 third gifts in boxes, 20 cents each 6.00 30 fourth gifts in boxes, 20 cents each 6.00 The fifth gift may be omitted the first year. 2;000 Hailman beads, spheres, cubes, cylinders $4.00 300 square tablets 1.80 300 circular tablets 1.80 2,000 i", and 2,coo 2" sticks, uncolored 50 2,000 i", and 2,000 2" colored sticks 50 30 peg-boards 5.00 Sewing and weaving material 5.00 This allows from $10.00 to $20.00 for the material to be purchased of local dealers already mentioned. It does not include the necessary song and story books, however, some of which should be in every school library. The song books having the largest use among kindergartners are probably the following ones, any of which can be obtained of the standard dealers in kindergarten supplies : Songs of the Child World, Gaynor $1.00 Songs and Games for Little Ones, Walker and Jenks 1.65 Songs for Little Children, Eleanor Smith, Parts I and II. . . . 1.25 each Song Stories, Hill i.oo Holiday Songs, Poulsson 2.00 The leading story books for kindergarten use are : In the Child's World, Poulsson $2.00 The Boston Collection of Kindergarten Stories 60 Mother Stories, Lindsay i.oo Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks. Wiltse 75 In Story Land, Harrison 1.25 Cat-tails and Other Tales, Howliston i.oo The Story Hour, Wiggin i.oo These can also be obtained from the kindergarten dealers, and the following books on the theory of the kindergarten as well : A Study of Child Nature, Harrison $1.00 Love and Law in Child Training, Poulsson I.OO Children's Rights, Wiggin i.oo Kindergarten Principles and Practice, Wiggin i.oo Froebel and Education by Self- Activity, Bowen i.oo Froebel's Educational Laws, Hughes 1.50 The first four of these are of special interest to mothers. The last two are better adapted to teachers and school principals. The following pamphlets can be obtained at a few cents each, and they are therefore useful for campaign work: lO What the Kindergarten Does for the Children, Beebe, 2 cents. Kin- dergarten Magazine Company, Chicago. The Kindergarten as an Uplifting Social Influence, Richard Watson Gilder, New York, 5 cents. The Kindergarten as a Preparation for the Highest Civilization, Wm. T. Harris, 6 cents. Pub. School Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111. The standard magazines pertaining to the kindergarten are : The Kindergarten Magazine, Kindergarten Magazine Co., Chicago, $2. The Kindergarten Review, Milton Bradley Co., Springfield, Mass., $1. The writer will be glad to answer legitimate questions concerning the organization of kindergartens not answered by this pamphlet. II. It is because the public is demanding an acquaintance with kinder- garten principles on the part of primary teachers, and because the kinder- garten is the embodiment of the new educational philosophy, that kinder- gartens are being introduced into the normal schools of the country. It is not the main purpose of such kindergartens to meet the needs of the children who attend them, but rather to acquaint the students in such institutions with the form of kindergarten procedure, to familiarize them with its aims and methods, and to lead them to discover its underlying principles. Educational progress would be less tardy if all teachers at the present time had even the slight acquaintance with the kindergarten and related movements that can be gained from an occasional visit. But has not the future a right to expect more of its teachers? Should they not be able to further the progress of educational reform by intelligent appreciation and application of the principles involved? But how and when shall the needed insight be gained, if not during the normal training course. An acquaintance with the leading facts of educational history is demanded of the normal graduate. Is not a knowledge of current educa- tional movements quite as essential to professional intelligence? The or- ganization and spread of the kindergarten, with its effect in transforming educational theory and practice, is one of the great facts of modern edu- cational history. The normal school whose graduates know nothing of Herbartianism would at the present time be considered out of date in educational circles, but the influence of Froebel upon education has been infinitely more vital. What method of getting an acquaintance with the source of his influence can be compared with observation in a kinder- garten? The normal schools are realizing this, and the kindergarten is becoming a valuable agency for the study of psychology and pedagogy. But it is not for the sake of kindergarten progress alone that the student will be benefited by observation in a kindergarten. Success in teaching demands scholarship ; it also demands much more, a sympathetic acquaintance with the fundamental facts of child life. How shall this be gained? A study of children in the home is impracticable. Observation in the school has little value because of the necessary restraints of school II life, and that upon the playgrounds must of necessity be fragmentary. In the kindergarten there is sufficient freedom to make the observation worth while, and enough direction to make progress evident. Does the student wish to know the content of children's minds on entering the grades? He can learn it in the kindergarten. Does he wish to acquaint himself with the child's power of expression? The kindergarten furnishes the opportunitj'. Does he wish to study the imitative instinct? In the kindergarten he can see it in operation. Does he desire to test the child's power of co-ordination? The kindergarten games and rhythms present the occasion. These are but a few of the many aspects of child life with which the student should be familiar. If the course in psychology and pedagogy aims to give students a practical insight into the problems of current education, actual observation along these and similar lines must constitute a part of the course. It is in the normal school that the student must get his professional ideals, and in the building up of these ideals the kindergarten plays an important part. Principles and methods may be evolved by class room discussions, but the finer points in teaching — the spirit of the teacher, her attitude toward the children, the adoption of her method to the needs of the individual, her tact in meeting emergencies — these must be seen and felt. The kindergarten that is not characterized by spontaneity, natural- ness and free self-expression on the part of the children is not worthy of the name. The kindergartner must, therefore, be alive to the varying moods and interests of the children, and must know how to turn these into right channels. If the play of the children is genuine she must lose herself in the spirit of it, yet she must be alert and resourceful that the highest purposes of the activity may be realized. This involves a power of con- trol of a different kind from that usually found in the schoolroom. The young teacher is apt to be self-conscious and mechanical. One who has seen a first-class kindergartner at work cannot but have a new conception of what adaptation to children means and of what the spirit of the teacher should be. Since the kindergarten forms a necessary part of Wisconsin's public school system it is but natural that it should be recognized in its normal schools. Kindergartens have been established in six of these, as has been stated, and one will be added in the remaining school — that at Platteville, as soon as the new building now in contemplation is completed. With the kindergarten an organic part of the school system, the state must train kindergartners as well as grade teachers. A complete course of kinder- garten training is therefore provided in the Milwaukee Normal School, of which further mention is made later. It is not intended that the other five schools, Oshkosh, River Falls, Stevens Point, Whitewater and Su- perior, shall train kindergartners, since the demand for kindergartners can still be fairly met by the Milwaukee Normal School. The kinder- gartens in these schools have been established for the purposes above 12 described — to serve as schools of observation for students in the general course. While the method of utilizing the kindergarten differs in detail in the different schools, its general purpose is the same. Each kinder- gartner holds conferences of some sort with the students who observe, to acquaint them with the purposes of the different exercises, to familiarize them with the kindergarten material, especially that which can be used in the first grade, and to elucidate the principles embodied in its procedure. At Whitewater a course of reading in kindergarten and child-study litera- ture is given, a plan worthy of adoption in other schools. One of these kindergartners thus describes her work : "General observation is invited and no day goes by without visitors. Special work in the kindergarten is assigned to a few students each quarter. This is not designed for kindergarten training, but to give the young teachers an insight into the whole of education, from the kinder- garten to the eighth grade. Those are especially assigned who can play somewhat, and they all learn to interpret the children's songs, to play for their different rhythmic games, and to enter into all that is going on in the room at that particular period. The broader training for these young teachers consists in affording them opportunity for close contact with very young children, thus developing the sympathy and adaptability to conditions that form so large a part of a real teacher's power." The kindergartner who can see the significance of the kindergarten for general education and interpret it to normal students will play no small part in the progress of the kindergarten movement and in the advancement of education in general. The kindergarten training course of the Milwaukee Normal School has attracted considerable attention the past few years, because it differs in several important respects from most kindergarten training courses. The kindergartners of the country are divided into conservatives and pro- gressives, according to their attitude toward the founder of the kinder- garten. The conservatives hold that the kindergarten has little to gain from general educational thought, and that its progress depends upon the study of, and adherence to Froebel alone. Changes made in the kinder- garten material with a view to adapting it to modern thought, therefore endanger the efficiency of the institution. The progressives give Froebel credit, not for the conception of the kindergarten only, but for having given a new direction to all education. They hold, however, that the kindergarten as he conceived it must be modified and completed by the fuller light of modern thought, and that its instrumentalities — the songs, games, gifts and occupations are open to improvement with growing educational insight. The Milwaukee Normal School places itself unreservedly with those who adopt the latter view and interpret Froebel in the light of modern thought. It holds that the kindergarten in a public school system should not be a thing apart, but an organic part of that system. Kindergartners in train- ing for public school work should therefore be given an insight into the 13 whole educational progress from the kindergarten to the high school, and not a knowledge of the kindergarten only. If kindergartners are to work side by side with grade teachers they must equal the latter in scholarship and culture. A diploma from a four-year high school course is therefore required for entrance to the kindergarten course of the Milwaukee Normal School, and the course itself is equal in the quantity and quality of work required to any of the other courses offered. The contact with many teachers who are specialists in other than kindergarten lines, and with a large body of students taking other courses, keeps the kindergartner in ■training from getting the idea, still too prevalent among kindergartners, that educational wisdom is found in Froebel and the kindergarten only. It is in its insistence upon adequate scholarship in all lines that bear upon kindergarten work; in its demand for an acquaintance with the general principles of education as fundamental to good work in the kindergarten proper ; in its interpretation of Froebel and the kindergarten in the light of modern psychology and child-study; and in its subordination of the technique of the kindergarten to a study of child nature, that the char- acteristic features of the course may be found, and it is to these features that the attention of educators is called. For the sake of kindergartners and others interested, into whose hands this pamphlet may fall, the following description of certain features of the course is given, taken from the catalogue. Those who may wish for information concerning other features can obtain it from the Annual Catalogue, which will be sent upon application. The course is as follows, the work being estimated on the basis of five recitations per week in each subject, each recitation period being fifty minutes in length. Four subjects at a time are allowed, except when students are engaged in practice teaching. Then two subjects constitute the required amount of work. JUNIOR YEAR. First Semester. Second Semester. Weeks Week« Music 10 Biology 20 Drawing 20 Drawing 10 Composition and Rhetoric 10 Psychology 10 Kindergarten Theory 20 Kindergarten Theory 20 Kindergarten Technics 20 Kindergarten Technics 20 SENIOR YEAR. First Semester. Second Semester. Weeks Weeks Music 10 Expression 10 Literature 20 Child Life in History 10 Nature Study 10 Psychology 10 Kindergarten Principles 20 Primary Methods 10 Teaching 20 History of Education 10 Kindergarten Principles 10 Teaching 20 The fundamental requisites of the good kindergartner are sympa- thetic insight into the nature of the child, and an adequate mastery of the kindergarten instrumentalities, such as games, songs, stories, gifts, and occupations. Kindergarten instruction therefore falls into two well- 14 marked lines, the purpose of the first being to give the needed insight into child-life, and that of the second to acquaint the student with the above named means for the child's development. The work along both lines is taken up during the Junior Year, the first being known as "Kinder- garten Theory," and the second as "Kindergarten Technics." The work in Kindergarten Theory is the correlating center of the whole Kinder- garten course, since an insight into child nature is the foundation of all work that is truly educative, and a knowledge of the technical part has no value without it. The work in Theory is carried on by means of observation of children in the kindergarten or home, by the reading of Froebel's Mother Plays and other child-study literature, by the discussion of reminiscences of the student's own childhood, and the summarizing of results arrived at. From it the students are led to discover for themselves the principles upon which kindergarten procedure is based. Among the topics taken up are the following: The periods in a child's development — infancy, early childhood, and later childhood; im- pulses and interests; the senses and their development; the nervous sys- tem of the growing child; imitation and its value in education; the for- mation of habits ; the dawn of reason ; the development of the moral sense ; methods of control ; play and its significance ; the social interest ; the constructive interest; the aesthetic interest; the nature interest; the gradual change from the play interest to the interest in doing and learn- ing as means to an end, and many others. With such an insight into child nature, the organized play of the kindergarten, taken up in the work in Kindergarten Technics, becomes readily intelligible. In the study of the kindergarten play material known as the "gifts," the child's nursery play with balls and blocks is first con- sidered, and students are led to see that such play might be made more educative by a modification of the customary toys. In this way Froebel's gifts are rediscovered, and the kindergarten method of using them is made clear. The "occupations" are taken up in a similar manner, the nursery use of clay, pencils, scissors, etc., being considered, and a study of the organized materials known as occupations — clay, paper, cardboard, etc. — following. Each is considered as a means of expression, hence the weaving, paper-folding, cutting, painting, are not taken up in the customary form of "schools of work," but always with reference to the group of ideas to be expressed by their means. Hence the gifts and related occupations are always taken up with reference to each other and to the program in which they are to be used. The manner of instruction in the above work is similar to that in the course of Kindergarten Theory. Students write original gift and occupation exercises showing how specified educational aims are to be realized, and carry them out with their fellow students as children. Discussion and criticism follows. The same general plan is carried out in the instruction in the kindergarten games. During the Senior Year the study of the kindergarten philosophy is continued in the course known as Kindergarten Principles. The purpose of this is to familiarize the students with the literature of the kinder- 15 garten and to obtain therefrom a body of principles for the guidance of educational procedure, not only in the kindergarten, but in the home and primary school as well. This work is closely related to the actual work done in the kindergarten, the procedure with the children being used to interpret the principles and vice versa. The origin and growth of the kindergarten movement are also studied in this class, and the whole is supplemented by ten weeks of work in primary methods. The most important part of the Senior work is the practice teaching. Students are assigned for periods of ten weeks, for the whole morning session. It is intended that students shall spend one quarter in one of the mission kindergartens, one in the normal kindergarten, and, whenever feasible, another in the public school kindergartens or the primary grades. The subject-matter taken up in the kindergartens in which practice teach- ing is done is outlined for the students in the form of printed "programs." These are furnished to the city kindergartners also, and used by many. In the general conference held each week by the director of the depart- ment these programs are discussed as to the adaptation of the subject- matter to the needs and comprehension of the children, and the purposes to be realized by their means. The conference, therefore, takes on the character of an experience meeting in part, the results of preceding work being discussed, or it becomes an occasion for instruction in the work that is to follow. The practice teaching is under the immediate supervision of the directors of the kindergarten in which the work is done. The students write weekly plans for the different exercises in the kindergarten program, and these are submitted to the directors for criticism or approval. The directors hold individual or group conferences whenever necessary for the discussion of these plans or for criticism upon the work done. One of the most valuable courses in the Kindergarten Department is that known as "Child Life in History." As far as known this is the only course of the kind given in the country. The underlying thought of this course is that the student needs a wider knowledge of child life than the study of the modern child affords. Hence the attempt is made to picture child life at representative stages in the development of the human race, for the purpose of showing what is fundamental and permanent in child life, and what is accidental and the result of environment. While the material for a knowledge of primitive child life is scattered and frag- mentary, a fair idea of this phase of the subject may be obtained from such books as "The Story of Ab," which gives a picture of child life during the Stone Age, "The Childhood of Ji Shib," which portrays the life of the Indian child, "Lolami, the Little Cliff Dweller," and others. The material for the knowledge of child life during historic periods and in other lands than our own is more readily obtained. The work has a practical as well as a theoretical value, since children of any age are interested in the story of other children's lives. i6 The Milwaukee Normal School offers exceptional advantages for those who wish to prepare themselves for kindergarten work. Though the scholarship idea is emphasized throughout the course, it is not to the neg- lect of the work along purely kindergarten lines. The instruction given in the theoretical work of the kindergarten is up-to-date and thorough, the opportunities for the observation of kindergarten work are excellent, and the practice teaching required is of a high order. The mission kinder- gartens of the Milwaukee Mission Kindergarten Association are allied with the Normal School for purposes of observation and practice. There are four of these kindergartens supported by the Association in the poorer districts of the city. The number of children enrolled in each is from sixty to ninety. Since each of these kindergartens is a center for neighbor- hood work of the Social Settlement type, students have the opportunity of becoming familiar with the management of the children's clubs, mothers' meetings, day nurseries, and public playgrounds. Many of the students in other courses, as well as those in the kindergarten course, availed them- selves of these opportunities the past year, and received a practical initia- tion into current sociological problems, besides rendering needed and effective social service. Since a part of the required practice teaching is done in these kindergartens, the students become thoroughly familiar with the needs of children of different social grades and the best methods of meeting them. In addition to the above named advantages there are others equally important. The opportunities for the observation of, and instruction in, grade work are as adequate as those for observation along kindergarten lines. The student is thus led to see the relation between the kindergarten work and that of the primary school, and to see the development of the child as a continuous process. bl^f^'^'^Y Of" CONGRESS 019 822 724 9