;«n*s*?* 
 
 
 BULLETIN OF THE 
 
 ■ ■ ' . , ■ , ■ • 
 
 MISSOURI STATE 
 NORMAL SCHOOL 
 
 THIRD DISTRICT 
 
 A COLLEGE FOR TEACHERS 
 CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI 
 
 SYLLABUS OF HISTORY WORK 
 IN FIRST GRADE 
 
 1911 
 

 *g*<j!f* 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https ://arch i ve .org/detai Is/sy llabusof h istorOOstat 
 
BULLETIN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 State Normal School 
 
 THIRD DISTRICT 
 
 A COLLEGE FOR TEACHERS 
 
 Vol. XI MARCH, 1911 No. 4 
 
 SYLLABUS OF HISTORY WORK 
 IN FIRST GRADE 
 
 CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI 
 
 Published by the Missouri State Normal School, Third District. 
 
 Issued January, March, June, October and December. 
 
 Entered at the Post Office at Cape Girardeau, Mo., as Second-class Matter. 
 Printed by The Daily Republican, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 
 
BOARD OF REGENTS 
 
 LOUIS HOUCK, CAPE GIRARDEAU, 
 President. 
 
 L. J. ALBERT, CAPE GIRARDEAU, 
 Secretary. 
 
 E. A. ROZIER, FARMINGTON. 
 MOSES WHYBARK, MARBLE HILL, 
 CHARLES D. MATTHEWS, SIKESTON, 
 
 WILLIAM P. EVANS, 
 
 State Superintendent of Public Schools. 
 
DEPARTMENT FACULTY 
 
 WASHINGTON STROTHER DEARMONT, 
 
 A. M., D., Litt. D. (Westminster), 
 
 President and Professor of Education. 
 
 EDWIN ANDREW HAYDEN, B. S. Ph. D. (Michigan), 
 Professor of Philosophy and Education. 
 
 WILLIAM WOODROW MARTIN, Ph. B. (Chicago), 
 Professor of Education and Superintendent of Training School. 
 
 MARTHA CATHERINE SHEA, A. B. (Hardin), 
 
 Critic Teacher and Instructor in Method in High School. 
 
 ADA MILAM (Chicago), 
 
 Critic Teacher and Instructor in Method in Upper Grades. 
 
 EMMA JANE HOWARTH, A. B. (Michigan), 
 
 Critic Teacher and Instructor in Method in Intermediate Grades. 
 
 RACHEL ELIZABETH GREGG, B. S. (Columbia), 
 
 Critic Teacher and Instructor in Method in Primary Grades. 
 
 ELMA WILLIAMS EALY, B. Pd. (State Normal), 
 
 Critic Teacher and Instructor in Method in Kindergarten. 
 

 
The Work of the Training School 
 
 HIS syllabus represents a field of endeavor wliich 
 the department of education of the Missouri State 
 Normal School at Cape Girardeau has been plan¬ 
 ning for some time and is now putting into 
 execution as rapidly and completely as its facil¬ 
 ities for the work will permit. It is the work of 
 Miss Elizabeth Gregg, supervisor of primary 
 teaching, and serves a three-fold purpose: it represents the 
 actual work done in the training school, as organized by 
 Miss Gregg and developed by her student teachers; it is an 
 attempt to illustrate one of the essential functions of the 
 department of education in a Normal School in formulating 
 sound educational procedure; and it undertakes to be one 
 solution of the problem of how this department should 
 render practical assistance to teachers in the ranks. This 
 department is an integration of three phases of professional 
 training for teachers. ‘It includes the foundational courses 
 upon which educational principles are based; the courses 
 in which these underlying principles of school procedure 
 are derived and formulated; and actual class-room teaching 
 in which the student attempts, by putting them into intel¬ 
 ligent practice, to utilize his grasp of the principles derived 
 from the two other phases. This syllabus is an expression 
 of the view that the professional training of teachers can be 
 accomplished only through a close integration of these 
 three phases, which have long been in almost complete 
 isolation in many Normal Schools. One important function 
 of departments of education in Normal Schools is to pro¬ 
 mulgate sound educational procedure. Miss Gregg’s 
 syllabus attempts to illustrate school procedure that will 
 work in the public schools. 
 
 This brings up a neglected aspect of professional train¬ 
 ing in Normal Schools, that of giving practical assistance 
 
6 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 to teachers in the field. Too many times the notion pre¬ 
 vails that the things done in training schools will not work 
 if attempted in public schools. Something is radically 
 wrong in a training school if its fundamental practices will 
 not work when intelligently applied in public schools. 
 Furthermore, one of the most important functions of a 
 training school is to assist teachers by working out school 
 practice adapted to public school needs. This syllabus is 
 offered to the primary teachers of Southeast Missouri, and 
 to all others who may come upon it, in the belief that it can 
 be of direct assistance to primary teachers in both urban 
 and rural schools. To this end the co-operation of city and 
 county superintendents, principles, and primary teachers 
 throughout this section of the state is asked in getting the 
 syllabus into the hands of those who may find it helpful. 
 County and city superintendents are also asked to study it 
 for the purpose of pointing out its value to their teachers. 
 Copies can be procured free of charge by writing to the 
 State Normal School, Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 
 
HE question of the relation of the 
 school to the child’s life is at bottom 
 simply this: shall we ignore this 
 native setting and tendency, dealing 
 not with the living child at all, but 
 with the dead image we have erected, 
 or shall we give it play and satisfaction? If we once 
 believe in life and in the life of the child, then will 
 all the occupations and uses spoken of, then will all 
 history and science, become instruments of appeal 
 and materials of culture to his imagination, and 
 through that to the richness and orderliness of his 
 lif e * * * *. When nature and society can 
 
 live in the schoolroom, when the forms and tools of 
 learning are subordinated to the substance of 
 experience, then shall there be an opportunity for 
 this identification, and culture shall be the demo¬ 
 cratic password. 
 
 Dewey: The School and Society. 
 
 The fundamental factors in the educative pro¬ 
 cess are an immature, underdeveloped being; and 
 certain social aims, meanings, values incarnate in 
 the matured experience of the adult. The educative 
 process is the due interaction of these forces. 
 
 Dewey: The Child and the Curriculum. 
 
Some Educational Principles 
 
 T has become almost a habit with some in these modem 
 days of transition in educational procedure to indict 
 the public school for its alleged failure to do many 
 important things. Chief among these charges is the 
 assertion often repeated that elementary school train¬ 
 ing does not equip the child to meet successfully the 
 situations which come up in practical life. In citing 
 particulars to support this general assertion the public 
 school is grilled because it does not teach children morals and 
 manners, a knowledge of the fundamental laws of health and 
 cleanliness, a sufficient mastery of elementary facts and processes 
 which every individual must have if he is to succeed, and so on. 
 Without going into a detailed discussion of the fundamental prob¬ 
 lems implied in this indictment, it must be admitted in all fairness 
 that public school training has not touched life as vitally, and 
 therefore as practically, as it should. Such an admission is not 
 necessarily an arraignment of our present public school system, 
 nor does it assent to the extreme position taken by those who 
 rush in to belabor the public school without investigating its con¬ 
 ditions or weighing its problems. Without prejudice, and in the 
 attitude of accepting squarely for the school every responsibility 
 which it should justly assume, much effective study is being given 
 to the fundamental character of both elementary and higher edu¬ 
 cation; and an honest attempt is being made to formulate school 
 procedure on a truly scientific basis, that is, on a basis that means 
 a maximum of development for the individual and gives him the 
 initial training that will best enable him to do the work for which 
 he is fitted. This means that a heavy burden of responsibility is 
 placed upon the elementary school. Indeed, the tendency on the 
 part of some who undertake to say what the modern school should 
 do, is to assign to the school problems which rightfully belong to 
 the home, the church, or other institutions of society. 
 
 The outline in this bulletin represents an attempt to formu¬ 
 late a statement of the work done in the first year of the element¬ 
 ary school which shall be in harmony with the spirit now pervad¬ 
 ing the best study of education and in line with the most satis¬ 
 factory principles that have so far been worked out. It rests 
 upon the fundamental idea that the functional development of 
 the child, as conditioned by the possibilities of his own nature in 
 its growing reactions to the larger life of which he is becoming a 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 9 
 
 part, is the focal process in education. Other conditions, it is 
 true, have an influence in determining the complex process of 
 school education, but these are significant only as they constitute 
 modifying elements. According to the viewpoint adopted in this 
 bulletin, this principle furnishes the essential unity underlying 
 the content as well as the process of education. Too many times 
 unity in education is derived from sources which are really not 
 inherent in the child at all, as is illustrated in some doctrines of 
 correlation, interest, motor skill, and the like. The problem of 
 unity as it is confronted in working out a scheme of practical 
 education is one of two dimensions. It means a common denomi¬ 
 nator of values by which all of the child’s school experiences are 
 appraised; and it also furnishes the underlying sequence running 
 through all stages of school life from kindergarten to college and 
 making transitions easy and natural. 
 
 Miss Gregg has made the orientation of the child in a world of 
 social experiences this common denominator of values. In this 
 way the child’s previous experiences in both the home and the 
 kindergarten are made to have the greatest possible utility. In¬ 
 stead of setting up some basis, such as the development of tech¬ 
 nical skill, the 'acqusition of partly extraneous knowledge, or the 
 growth of more or less external interests, the attempt is made to 
 take the child just as he is and help him on the way toward true 
 self-realization. One of the tests of true self-realization is the 
 presence of suitable motives. The quest for functionally ade¬ 
 quate and suitable motives is so fundamental in education that it 
 may well engage the attention of the profoundest educational 
 thinkers; but superficial discussion of the nature of the problem 
 has well nigh become a fad in current educational literature. 
 There must always be a motive operative in the child’s conduct, 
 no matter what the form of the response may be; because re¬ 
 sponse necessarily presupposes motive of some sort. The diffi¬ 
 culty, then, is not to find a motive, but to find the motives which 
 are really native to the child, to select those which are the most 
 desirable, and to make these function effectively in his responses. 
 Miss Gregg has sought to find motives natural to children in the 
 problems coming up in the usual run of experiences which they 
 ordinarily encounter up to the time that they enter the first year 
 of school life. These problems are found sometimes in their 
 home contacts and play life, sometimes in their kindergarten ex¬ 
 periences, if they have had the latter. 
 
 The term “problem” is used intentionally in order to stress 
 the fact that children are constantly trying to find solutions to 
 situations which are for the time being problems for them. In 
 
10 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 spite of the fact that many teachers either do not know or forget 
 that children actually think, the fact constantly obtrudes itself 
 upon any careful observer of children that they not only do think, 
 but that the most characteristic form of their mental life is the 
 thinking out of situations that confront them as unexplained, and 
 hence uncontrolled. As Miller points out in his Psychology of 
 Thinking, following the lead of Dr. Dewey, the functional aspect 
 of thinking, that is, the use of thought to control situations and 
 determine responses toward them, is the most important one in 
 elementary, as well as in higher education. Motor activities are 
 thus the basis of thought processes rather than the by-products, 
 so to speak, of these processes. This differs vastly from the prac¬ 
 tice, so often the vogue in schools, of tacking motor training to 
 thought training as a sort of concession to a modern fad that is 
 too troublesome to be ignored. Miss Gregg is essentially in 
 accord with Miller and Dewey. In making use of the child’s 
 motor tendencies she does not therefore lug them into her sched¬ 
 ule of procedure at the cost of much labor to herself and pain to 
 the child; on the contrary, she utilizes such activities as weaving, 
 modeling, drawing, painting, cutting, pantomime, and the like, as 
 motives for thinking and .the consequent solution of problematic 
 situations not yet brought under the child’s control. Thinking 
 thus grows out oif situations which are problematic; and these 
 problems are solved by making new adjustments involving motor 
 responses. 
 
 It should be apparent that Miss Gregg has made her outline 
 thoroughly flexible in its use of details. All the devices which 
 she has selected are only by way of concrete illustration and 
 would naturally be replaced by others under different circum¬ 
 stances. Her main effort has been to indicate underlying princi¬ 
 ples and to show how these may be worked out in concrete form. 
 
 WILLIAM WOODROW MARTIN. 
 
The Basis for This Work 
 
 N the present development of educational thought, three 
 things seem to form the fundamental factors in deter¬ 
 mining the selection and handling of material for 
 children during the first years of school life. These 
 are the social development of the child; the basis In 
 the child’s previous experience upon which educa¬ 
 tional procedure rests; and closer unity in the educa¬ 
 tional system. The outline presented in the following 
 pages has been developed fro-m this standpoint. For this reason 
 it seems advisable to state briefly the interpretation placed upon 
 these points. 
 
 If the aims of education, throughout the history of the world, 
 are thought of for the purpose of generalization, we find that 
 society has always educated its young for the purpose of securing 
 for itself efficient members. As the qualities which make an 
 efficient social unit have changed with advancing civilization, we 
 need but to analyze these in order to find where the emphasis 
 will fall in the educational system. Yet it is true that, some¬ 
 times, only one of these qualities will be emphasized by different 
 thinkers in the educational field. We also find the remains of 
 some aims which represent the desired qualities of several decades 
 past. To-day the entire tendency is toward a broader, fuller under¬ 
 standing of what the present age needs in a member of the social 
 body. It is not possible here to analyze the social situation nor 
 to determine the reasons which have led up to this. We can only 
 note that the emphasis is being placed upon the individual, his 
 broadening and development, so that he may not only fit into the 
 general social conditions, but that he may rise, himself, and help 
 pull upward the social body also. The individual is handicapped 
 in many ways. He is a unit in a very complex situation where 
 the clews are hard to discover. Without help he can never 
 understand nor appreciate the many lives which are touching his 
 at every point. Without this understanding and appreciation, his 
 development or education will be incomplete and the end for 
 which he was created not obtained. Therefore, his education 
 rests upon 'the discovering of these clews, and the tracing out of 
 the entire process of civilization around him. 
 
 Two ways for doing this are now being used in the educational 
 world,—both of which present logical reasons for their work. 
 
12 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 The first begins with the primitive world and traces, step by step, 
 the development of inventions upon which the advance of civiliza¬ 
 tion has been founded. Those who follow this plan allege strong 
 psychological data upon which to base their work. They main¬ 
 tain that the adult represents, in a cumulative way, the mental 
 development of the race even back to the earliest life. From 
 childhood to manhood, he has successively passed through the 
 race history of many thousand years. Therefore, those activities 
 which assisted the race to develop, are best understood by the in¬ 
 dividual during the corresponding period. Another advantage 
 lies in the fact that these activities are at first simple, and gradu¬ 
 ally approach the complex, following the general law of develop¬ 
 ment, therefore they suit the educational needs of the child. 
 
 The other point of view is equally strong. According to it, 
 the child is living now in the midst of a very complex, social life 
 which touches him closely on every side. He does not under¬ 
 stand it, but he lives it, experiences it, every day. To him, it 
 does not seem complex. It is just a great, big whole of which he 
 is the most important part. To understand this whole all at once 
 is impossible, but, day by day, to press gradually outward, always 
 coming back to himself, will furnish the clews needed and keep 
 the individual in his right relation to the whole. Further, the 
 child is a member of society, just the same as the adult, and he 
 needs that which will help him to live his life better now, rather 
 than twenty years from now. 
 
 The second point is an accepted educational principle, and has 
 been given by some the mystical name of apperception. This is 
 the old law of assimilation and analogy with great emphasis 
 placed upon the past experiences of the individual which forms 
 the basis for assimilating new experiences. This assimilation of 
 new experiences, which may be either purely mental or motor as 
 to response, is the process we term education. Therefore, in 
 dealing with a child, we have to first take account of his past 
 experiences which may be judged from his environment. Upon 
 these we must found our educational structure. When the 
 normal child of six enters school, his experiences have been en¬ 
 tirely bound up with home and the activities found there. For 
 that reason, the education of the first year has a stronger ap¬ 
 proach through the home than through the study of race develop¬ 
 ment. 
 
 The last point considered is unity, both in the educational 
 system and in the year’s work. 
 
 Dr. Dewey has pointed out in his School and Society some of 
 the wastes in the educational system due to isolation,—one 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 13 
 
 of which is between the kindergarten and primary grades. 
 The child who is fortunate enough to have had a year of kinder¬ 
 garten training before entering the first grade,—ns most of our 
 children have,—will have received an introduction to this work as 
 outlined, the utilization of which will help weld the kindergarten 
 more firmly to the elementary school. Moreover, by taking the 
 experiences which the child has gained in the kindergarten and by 
 making these the basis of broader work, the child’s knowledge is 
 organized into a system of related thought which has more 
 educative power to the young mind than many tid-bits of learn¬ 
 ing, however rare. 
 
 Throughout th© day’s program, throughout a term’s work, 
 there needs to be a controlling thought which is going to make 
 the work in each subject vital. Isolation of subject-matter tends 
 to even greater waste in education than isolation of departments. 
 By relating reading, language, nature study, numbers, and the 
 manual arts, to the solution of one vital problem, we are helping 
 to organize the child’s experience into a logical system of thought. 
 
 Then, those experiences which Froebel’s master mind felt 
 were essential to the normal development of the child, can be 
 given through this course to those children who have been denied 
 the privilege of the kindergarten. The child of six or seven has 
 grown beyond the age when the kindergarten program has the 
 greatest value for him. To give the occupations and gifts to him 
 in isolation from the kindergarten program, as has been at¬ 
 tempted at times, does not yield the expected results. They are 
 much the same as any other type of unrelated busy work which 
 holds the child through its motor element. The value of these 
 gifts and occupations, songs and games, is largely in their power 
 of bringing about experimentation in thought and action, in 
 stimulating tne mind through appropriate suggestion, but unless 
 they are used in the solution of a vital problem, the work is of no 
 special value. 
 
 The outline given will be based upon the actual work carried 
 out in the Training School, but will suggest lines of development 
 which have not been practical here. The conditions in a training 
 school are not the best to work out a closely related course, 
 because of the number of teachers which the children have in one 
 day. The difficulty in taking long field trips is another disad¬ 
 vantage, as each teacher has but fifty-five minutes to spend with 
 her class each day. 
 
 RACHEL ELIZABETH GREGG. 
 
History m tlie First Grade 
 
 I. SHELTER PROBLEM. 
 
 The work during part of the first grade groups around the 
 shelter problems, not because the need for shelter is prominent 
 in the child’s consciousness, nor because it corresponds to the 
 development of the race, but because more of the child’s exper¬ 
 iences are involved in the home, its activities, and the occupations 
 related to it. It is through these experiences that we hope to 
 develop an education which will reach into the home and the life 
 of the child. 
 
 During the first week of school, the talks, which form part of 
 the language period are based upon the family group. These 
 talks are carried on in an informal manner, the children sitting 
 on the circle with the teacher, who guides and controls the con¬ 
 versation, helping to bring out the shy and to organize the 
 thoughts of the more active through skillful questions. This is 
 a subject which is familiar to each child, and its use will gradually 
 draw him into the general discussion. 
 
 This Mother Play song forms the basis for these talks: 
 
 This is the loving Mother, 
 
 Always good, always dear; 
 
 This is the busy Father, 
 
 Always brave, full of cheer; 
 
 This is the merry brother, 
 
 Grown so strong and tall; 
 
 This is the gentle sister, 
 
 This is the baby small; 
 
 Here, then, they all together 
 Gladly meet, gladly meet; 
 
 Here is the happy family, 
 
 All complete, all complete. 
 
 Other finger games are also given, first, to provide those chil¬ 
 dren from the kindergarten with some familiar work; second, to 
 furnish those children who nave not had the kindergarten work 
 some of the valuable elements which these games include. They 
 are especially helpful to the little fingers and muscles in gaining 
 control and strength. The home group is first discussed. Through 
 this the names of all the members in each home are learned. This 
 
16 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 knowledge is needed by the teacher to aid her in understanding 
 each child and it is gained in the most natural way. The 
 different members of the family then become successively 
 the center of attention. First of all comes the loving mother, 
 with her many duties and loving service to each member of the 
 family. Through the questions of the teacher, the child is 
 made to feel the love and care which is the mother’s constant 
 thought. Children accept life without any questions, without any 
 thought, as to the love and service given them. This is accord¬ 
 ing to their nature and development. But the child who never 
 becomes conscious of this love and service, who always accepts 
 these as his just due, is in danger of developing a narrow, 
 selfish manhood or womanhood. He needs gradually to be im¬ 
 pressed with those services which first the home and then the 
 community gives him. 
 
 The children study and memorize the stanza: 
 
 Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky; 
 
 Hundreds of shells on the shore together; 
 
 Hundreds of birds that go singing by, 
 
 Hundreds of birds in the sunny weather. 
 
 Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn; 
 
 Hundreds of bees in the purple clover; 
 
 Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn; 
 
 But only one mother the whole world over. 
 
 Pictures of mothers and two of the Madonnas are studied. 
 
 In our paper cutting, clay modeling and drawing, which is 
 connected with this work, we portray the members of the family. 
 We draw and cut the activities of the mother in the home and 
 with her children. On the circle, the different occupations of the 
 mother are expressed in pantomime, the children guessing what 
 is being shown. 
 
 The children’s first reading lessons should be the summing up 
 of the talks, first on the board, later in hectographed copies, 
 fastened with paper brads and given to each child to take home. 
 
 The method which is used in giving reading lessons in con¬ 
 nection with the mother in the home, would come at the first of 
 the second week of school when the child’s visual vocabulary is 
 very, very meagre and would be somewhat as follows: 
 
 As an introduction to the lesson, the teacher would probably 
 say, “Children, of whom were you talking on the circle to-day?” 
 
 “Mother.” 
 
 The teacher writes this on the board, repeating the name, 
 
Jane’s father and brother. II. Paper cutting' illustrating washing and ironing activities. 
 
 Ill and IV. Colored drawings of washing. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 17 
 
 Mother. She then says, “I am going to tell you how we feel 
 toward Mother.” 
 
 Sh© writes, We love Mother. 
 
 “Who can read how we feel toward Mother?” 
 
 This usually can be read without difficulty from the sugges¬ 
 tion given. 
 
 The teacher then says, “I want some one to whisper to me one 
 thing that Mother did for him this morning.” 
 
 This is written upon the board and the child reads it to the 
 class. The lesson is continued, having each child, if the class is 
 not too large, tell Something that Mother does for him. The 
 reading lesson would appear upon the board somewhat in this 
 way: 
 
 MOTHER. 
 
 We love Mother. 
 
 Mother gave me my breakfast. 
 
 Mother kissed me. 
 
 Mother washed my face. 
 
 Mother brushed my hair. 
 
 Mother found my ball. 
 
 There is only one Mother the wide world over. 
 
 After this lesson has been put upon the board with the help 
 of the children, then it is read again, sentence by sentence, the 
 teacher holding the ruler under each sentence. The children who 
 gave the sentences will always be ready to read theirs over again 
 when it is singled out; others quickly remember what has been 
 said about Mother and can probably read some of them. 
 
 The teacher’s aim in this lesson is two-fold: first, to give 
 the children material offering the least difficulty, so that the 
 whole attention may be directed to the thought and its oral ex¬ 
 pression; second, to teach the word, Mother. Incidentally the 
 children acquire other words. The second day, in a similar man¬ 
 ner, another lesson is given on the work that Mother does in the 
 home. After these lessons have been developed in this manner 
 upon the board, hectographed copies are given to the children, 
 first for review, later to make into a smaller book to take home. 
 
 The father is the next theme. First, the father in the home 
 is considered. The father should be connected with thougths of 
 honor, obedience and love. Through the father the child should 
 be able later to interpret God’s relation to man. Fathers do not 
 always assume such important places in the home life as the 
 mother. But certain duties fall to the father, especially those 
 
18 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 which represent protection, the bearing of heavy burdens and 
 tasks. In the summer he cares for the lawn or live stock; in the 
 winter he looks after the furnace and the fuel. Probably he 
 does some work in mending doors and windows or other simple 
 repairs around the house. He sits at the head of the table and 
 says grace at meals. At night he reads the paper, in the sum¬ 
 mer, on the porch, in the winter, before the fire. In connection 
 with the father in the home, we fold his newspaper and read from 
 it as he does. We cut the shovel, the rake, the lawn mower. 
 We draw Father watering the lawn and tending the furnace. 
 But father has a more important mission than doing these 
 few things around the house. Each day he spends many hours 
 earning money to buy all of the things that the mother and 
 children need. Without this work of the father, there would 
 probably be no home. The variety of occupations which are 
 furnished by the fathers of almost any class will give much 
 material for work in language through discussion, for pantomime 
 games, representing the different trades and professions, and 
 much work in drawing. 
 
 These drawings, paper cuttings and modelings are very 
 crude. The inexperienced teacher must not be discouraged 
 because of this. These results should and will express the 
 child’s conception of the subject. They are of interest to the 
 teacher of children for two reasons: first, they show graphically 
 how the mind of the child perceives; second, they should form 
 a basis, through comparison with the adult’s conception, for 
 adjusting the teaching process to the needs of the child. Do not 
 try to have these come up to the adult standard. That will not 
 benefit the child; it will only crowd out the basis for his educa¬ 
 tion. (See illustration opposite page 17.) 
 
 Next in the family group should come the brother “straight 
 and tall.” He should have a part in the work of the home. 
 Care is taken to discover the useful things he does in each home. 
 His relation to the other children is dwelt upon; his spirit of 
 love and protection toward them emphasized. Some of his 
 games and sports are shown in pantomime. They march as the 
 boys do when playing soldier. They cut him with his books or 
 wagon. They fold a six-inch square on one diameter and read 
 from his book. They draw him playing foot ball or some other 
 interesting game. 
 
 The sister with her doll and toys is our next topic. She, too, 
 should be of some help in the home. She plays with baby while 
 mother is busy, picks up toys, crumbs the table, helps with the 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 19 
 
 dishes. Each of these little duties can be worked out in panto¬ 
 mime for the circle. The sister’s jumping rope is made of cord 
 in chain stitch. The shawl for her doll Is folded on a diagonal. 
 She is cut from paper, is drawn in many ways and her dolly may 
 be modeled in clay. They all love to sing: 
 
 All my toys are dear, 
 
 But my dolly, pretty Molly, 
 
 She’s the one I love 
 
 Best of all, and she’s my dove; 
 
 She’s my darling ch'Td, 
 
 And I love her, just as mother 
 Loves dear Tom and me; 
 
 Mothers always do, you see. 
 
 —French Folksong. 
 
 Last of the family comes baby, “dearest of all.” Van Dyck’s 
 picture of Baby Stuart is studied. Other pictures of babies, some 
 taken from magazines, some of babies dear to our hearts, are ob¬ 
 served and discussed. All of the interesting things that the 
 babies at home do, are talked of. A lullaby is learned to put the 
 baby to sleep. 
 
 Bye-low, bye-low, 
 
 Baby’s in the cradle sleeping; 
 
 Tip-toe, tip-toe, 
 
 Still as pussy slyly creeping. 
 
 Bye-low, bye-low. 
 
 Rock the cradle, baby’s waking. 
 
 Hush my baby, oh! 
 
 —Alys Bentley’s Song Primer. 
 
 The children memorize the old German lullaby: 
 
 Sleep, baby, sleep. 
 
 Thy father watches his sheep, 
 
 Thy mother is shaking the dreamland tree. 
 
 And down falls a little dream on thee; 
 
 Sleep, baby, sleep! 
 
 Sleep, baby, sleep! 
 
 The large stars are the sheep! 
 
 The little stars are lambs, I guess; 
 
 And the gentle moon is the shepherdess. 
 
 Sleep, baby, sleep! 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 Sleep, baby, sleep! 
 
 Our Saviour loves bis sheep; 
 
 He is the Lamb of God on high, 
 
 Who for our sakes came down to die. 
 
 Sleep, baby, sleep! 
 
 Some of the Nursery Rhymes about baby are memorized. We 
 read and study the poem of George MacDonald, “Where Did You 
 Come From My Baby, Dear?” 
 
 The ball which is held in Baby Stuart’s chubby hands is the 
 principal toy of baby. At this point much of the work given in 
 connection with the first gift in the kindergarten can well be 
 utilized. Because of our conditions, we use but part of the ball 
 material. The six colored balls which constitute the first gift are 
 valuable in the primary work for sense training and number 
 work. By studying them as baby’s toy the needed correlation is 
 secured. In the observation work with the ball, we note the num¬ 
 ber of things it can do. It can roll. It can bounce. It can fly up. It 
 can come down. It is compared in regard to shape with many 
 things familiar to the child; as the orange, the apple, the cherry. 
 When the colored balls are used, they are compared with that 
 which is alike in color as well as shape. The child distinguishes 
 those objects which are similar to the ball in certain respects, 
 as the pipes, clock face, flower pots. Later, when the cylinder 
 is given for comparison with the ball, these are again discussed 
 and identified. The ball is used in counting; first, the colored balls 
 are counted to see how many of each color are thrown into the 
 basket, or remain on the floor; second, each child bounces in turn 
 the large rubber ball while the rest count the number of times 
 the ball is caught. Those who reacb the desired number, which is 
 ten at first, then gradually increased to 100, have their names and 
 score written on the board. The ball lends itself to clay work for 
 little hands, better than any other object. The size, smoothness, 
 roundness, and number of balls are the points to be worked to¬ 
 ward. The ball game Which we use and which is brought to us 
 from the kindergarten, is “Little ball, pass along.” This song 
 is from Walker and Jenks’ songs for Little Folks, and is played 
 the same as the old game of “Button, button, who’s got the 
 button?” 
 
 The next topic for discussion is the days of the week and what 
 each one means to the home. This can be taken up under the 
 mother’s work, but we leave it until this time, for if taken then it 
 separates the family group too much. If possible, we discuss 
 each day upon the day of the week which corresponds with it. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 21 
 
 Monday is the traditional washing day. The old nursery 
 rhyme is studied: 
 
 They that wash on Monday 
 Have all the week to dry; 
 
 They that wash on Tuesday 
 Are not so much awry; 
 
 They that wash on Wednesday 
 Are not so much to blame; 
 
 They that wash on Thursday 
 Wash for very shame; 
 
 They that wash on Friday 
 Must only wash in need; 
 
 And they that wash on Saturday 
 Are lazy folks indeed. 
 
 This rhyme gives an opportunity for discussing the need of 
 doing things at the right time. But the principal points brought 
 out in these talks are: first, the need of washing, the pleasure 
 of clean clothes, the dependence of health upon cleanliness; and, 
 second, the method of laundering clothes properly. In some lo¬ 
 calities we find children who have never seen the process carried 
 out. They do not know the work and skill necessary to give 
 them the clean dresses which are so quickly soiled. The story 
 of the Pig Brother is told to the children at this time as a begin¬ 
 ning for the many lessons we must give in cleanliness and orderli¬ 
 ness if we reach the results desired. 
 
 After the clothes are washed, they must be dried. Some 
 simple experiments are made which show the children the effect of 
 sun and wind upon water and upon the water which remains in 
 the clothes after washing. Questions then elicit the following 
 information: Clothes dry best on a clear, sunshiny day; the 
 
 sun helps to dry them; the wind blows them and pulls the water 
 out. 
 
 After the clothes are dry, they are taken down, sprinkled 
 and folded for to-morrow’s ironing. When possible we have the 
 children wash their paint cloths or some of the furnishings of the 
 last year’s house. For our manual work, clay is used to model 
 the tubs, boilers and baskets. The drying clothes are represent¬ 
 ed in both paper cutting and drawing. There are several songs 
 which furnish dramatic possibilities for games. The old game of 
 The Mulberry Bush is one of the best. 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 This is the way we wash our clothes, 
 
 Wash our clothes, wash our clothes. 
 
 This is the way we wash our clothes, 
 
 So early Monday morning. 
 
 Two excellent songs are found in Holiday Songs by Emilie 
 Poulsson, which are full of dramatic action. One is the washing 
 song, which describes the process having appropriate actions; the 
 other is a sprinkling song, showing the same characteristics 
 
 The outline for the other days are as follows: 
 
 TUESDAY,—THE IRONING DAY. 
 
 Materials: Hot stoves; irons; clean boards. Nature Work: 
 Means of making fires, fuels; effect of heat upon cloth; testing 
 heat of iron. Manual Arts: Drawing—(1) ironing boards, ( 2 ) 
 baskets, (3) irons; clay—(1) irons, (2) boards; paper cutting— 
 
 (1) clothes, (2) irons, (3) board, (4) stove. Songs and Games: 
 Mulberry Bush, two verses; Hot Irons, Hot Irons. Reading 
 and Writing: Summary of talks; writing days of week. 
 
 WEDNESDAY,—THE MENDING DAY. 
 
 Ethical Lessons: Need—(1) orderliness, (2) neatness, applied 
 to care of wraps, desks, materials. Manual Arts: Sewing, 6x6 
 inches cheese cloth hemmed for paint cloths; drawing—mother 
 sewing. Songs and Games: Mulberry Bush, three verses. 
 
 THURSDAY,—THE VISITING DAY. 
 
 Ethical Lessons: Receiving guests, forms of politeness, rais¬ 
 ing hats, shaking hands, verses emphasizing these. Manual Arts: 
 Paper cutting—making card case and cards; drawing—people 
 visiting. Songs and Games: I Went to Visit a Friend One Day. 
 Language: In each case a talk regarding the day and what the 
 activities of the day mean. 
 
 FRIDAY,—THE CLEANING DAY. 
 
 Hygiene: Necessity for sweeping, causes of dirt in house, 
 danger from it—(1) insects, (2) germs which cause (a) diseases 
 through inhaling and (b) diseases from entering skin. Methods: 
 Of sweeping—(1) experiments (a) with broom (b) with moist¬ 
 ened broom (c) with wet paper or sawdust upon the floor, (2) 
 generalizations as to best method; of dusting—(1) experiments 
 (a) observing dust particles in air (b) dusting with feather duster 
 (c) dusting with cloth (d) dusting with oiled cloth, (2) generali¬ 
 zation. Manual Arts: Raffia, broom; paper cutting—(1) broom, 
 
 ( 2 ) dust pan. Songs and Games: Additional verses to Mul¬ 
 berry Bush, and I Went to Visit a Friend One Day; Sweeping. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 23 
 
 SATURDAY,—BAKING AND MARKETING DAY. 
 
 Hygiene and Ethical Lessons: Cleanliness, need; careful 
 buying of food, avoiding foods out of season, proper cooking, 
 nourishing foods. Nature Study: *The story of wheat. Manual 
 Arts. Clay, modeling,— (1) bread, (2) pies, (3) cakes, (4) roast 
 chicken; paper cutting and drawing those things which mother 
 cooks. Songs and Games: New verses added to the Mulberry 
 Bush, and I Went to Visit a Friend One Day; The Cook. 
 
 We need to complete the week cycle with Sunday and the 
 things we do on that day; the reason for going to church and 
 Sunday school. Many of the children of this age are cheated out 
 of their religious training. The schools at present can do but 
 little to help because of sectarian prejudices; but that which can 
 be done to instill in the child reverence for holy things, respect 
 and obedience, is a step in this direction. 
 
 Again we fold our books; this time several leaves are added to 
 our book and sewn in place. From it we sing the songs most 
 generally used in Sunday school. Later the book is used for the 
 purpose of drawing pictures of the children going to church and 
 Sunday school and some of the things which they do there. The 
 entire song, I Went to Visit a Friend One Day, is sung and acted. 
 
 The church is cut in paper, the bells are both cut and modeled. 
 The third kindergarten gift consisting of eight one-inch cubes is 
 given. With these blocks the church may be built. They are 
 compared with the sphere, cube and cylinder, which the children 
 have already studied. Games based upon these forms are given. 
 
 At the close of this series of lessons the children are given a 
 large sheet of paper 9x12 inches, which is folded to form three 
 oblongs. This is opened and again folded on long diameter in 
 order to make six oblongs. In each space the children draws 
 those things which represent the days of the week. (See illus'- 
 tration opposite page 25.) 
 
 Every family has a home, even the families of feather and fur 
 have homes. Every home differs from every other home, both as 
 to the physical conditions and as to the spiritual conditions, which 
 is termed atmosphere. Strange to say, those homes which excel 
 as to physical conditions are meagre as to atmosphere. Each 
 group of children will furnish a variety of these conditions. What 
 we hope to gain through the talks and work with the house, be¬ 
 sides the knowledge, is an attitude toward the sacred, ideal condi- 
 
 Best reserved until food problem in bakery is studied. 
 
24 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 tions of home, and a development in aesthetic and cultural ideals. 
 This will have more or less hearing upon the individual homes. 
 
 In our early talks we include the birds and squirrels as home¬ 
 makers. We find as many different bird’s nests as we can. The bare 
 trees, full of abandoned nests, furnish a topic for fall study. Some 
 of these are built of moss, string and straw, some are plastered 
 with mud, some are made in the grass. 
 
 The song of the Trades People describe many of these homes 
 and furnish us with a good song. 
 
 The swallow is a mason, 
 
 And underneath the eves, 
 
 He builds a nest and plasters it 
 With mud, and hay, and leaves. 
 
 The woodpecker is hard at work; 
 
 A carpenter is he; 
 
 And you may find him hammering 
 His home high up a tree. 
 
 —Songs in Season. 
 
 We sing and play the following kindergarten games: 
 
 The Bird’s Nest, The Pigeon House, which includes The 
 Carpenter song from the Mother Plays, and Mr. Squirrel in Small 
 Songs for Small Singers. The Pigeon House forms part of our 
 games and songs throughout the housebuilding period, as it de¬ 
 scribes the work of the carpenter both in the words and in accom¬ 
 panying activities, and is always enjoyed by the children. We 
 play Rabbit in the Hollow,—one of Mari Hofer’s Folk Games. 
 
 We study the chicken coops and introduce the triangular 
 prism blocks which represent them. These blocks are discussed 
 in comparison with those already studied and form the basis for 
 observation and number work. We model the bird’s nest and 
 eggs in clay. Drawing furnishes another means of expressing our 
 study of homes. 
 
 But the family lives in a house made of brick, stone, or wood. 
 The homes of the animals are compared with the homes of the 
 children, as to size, materials used, shape and divisions. The 
 problem of why children’s homes need so many more rooms re¬ 
 views the activities of the home, for the numerous activities of 
 the human family make it necessary to have places in which these 
 may be enacted. After this each child draws his own home and 
 gets interesting results. 
 
 At this point of our work we tell the story of a little boy 
 whose name this year is Tom. This is the outline of the story: 
 

 
 
I and II. Illustrations in drawing of many homes III and IV. Drawings of the activities of the week. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 25 
 
 Tom, with his father and mother, lived in a very large city, up 
 many flights of stairs, in a tall building. The home consisted of 
 four small rooms, into two of which the sun shone a few hours 
 each day. When Tom looked out of the window, instead of see¬ 
 ing hills .covered with trees and fields of grain, he saw only the 
 walls of other tall buildings. 
 
 Tom could not play out of doors. There were no yards, only 
 streets filled with many people and wagons, and strips of park 
 where the children could play only on the walks; so Tom had to 
 play most of the time in the four rooms. The air which came 
 into his windows was not pure, but was filled with dust and dis¬ 
 ease germs. The sun did not shine in these rooms long enough 
 to kill all of these germs. 
 
 When Tom was about three years old his father decided that 
 he could not keep his son in the city any longer, for he was be¬ 
 coming thin and pale. So he bought a big covered wagon, packed 
 the necessary things in it, and carefully arranged a place for 
 mother, the little baby sister, and Tom. Then they drove many 
 miles out into the beautiful country. They would stop at night, 
 cook supper over a fire outdoors, and go to sleep looking up at the 
 stars. Finally they came to a town probably as large as Cape 
 Girardeau. Here they decided to stay for a long time. They 
 were so happy to get away from the city with its smoke and dust 
 that they did not want to live in a house, so they put up a tent on 
 a hill and lived in it. (The tent and life in it are described.) 
 
 Tom and his little sister grew strong and chubby, and now 
 there was a little baby in the happy family. When Tom was six 
 3 r ears old and was ready to start to school, his father decided that 
 they must build a house for Tom to live in, so that he might be 
 like other boys and girls. 
 
 Then we go out with Tom’s family to select a suitable place 
 for the home. Several things have to be considered in this selec¬ 
 tion: (1) nearness to the school and church, (2) the height of 
 
 the land, under which topic drainage is discussed, (3) the beauty 
 of the surroundings and the view from the site. After the lot 
 has been selected, it has to be bought. This can not be discussed 
 in detail, as the greater part of the discussion would be beyond 
 the child’s field of experience 
 
 The next thing that the family must consider is the material 
 from which the house is to be built. This affords an opportunity 
 for the study of processes. Wood is taken up first and the story 
 of its manufacture into lumber is worked out from the tree in the 
 forest to the finished lumber for the house. Pictures are found 
 in advertisements and magazine articles which are cut out and 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 mounted in scrap books or cards to illustrate the story. The 
 planing mill, which is the only sawmill accessible to the school 
 was visited. Here the children observed the lumber sawed 'into 
 different sizes, planed, and made into sashes and doors. (See 
 illustration opposite page 33.) 
 
 The carpenter, who does the work with wood, is discussed 
 under the following outline: 
 
 1. What he builds and repairs: Houses, porches, barns, and 
 furniture. 
 
 2. His tools: Saw, hammer, plane, bit, square, chisel. 
 
 3. Materials: Boards, shingles, studding, rafters, nails, etc. 
 
 4. Manner of working: Carefulness, accuracy—in every de¬ 
 tail,—even though it does not show. 
 
 The method of putting on weather-boarding was studied from 
 a near-by building—the children reproduced through drawing, 
 the mill visited, the carpenter at work, and the house built of 
 wood. The logs are represented by cylinders and furnish another 
 form for observation and number work. In our songs and games 
 we have again the Pigeon House, and Trade People, and take up 
 The Brook. 
 
 Certain stories in Emilie Poulsson’s book In the Child World, 
 are closely related to this work. The “Logging Camp” gives good 
 word pictures. This old-fashioned rhyme appeals to the child’s 
 love for repetition and addition in stories. 
 
 This is the Tree in the forest. 
 
 This is the Ax whose steady blows 
 Cut down the Tree in the forest. 
 
 This is the Woodman, who every one knows, 
 
 Wielded the Ax whose steady blows 
 Cut down the Tree of the forest. 
 
 This is the Log—to the river’s side 
 
 Rolled by the Woodman, who every one knows, 
 
 Wielded the Ax whose steady blows 
 Cut down the Tree of the forest. 
 
 This is the River whose flowing tide 
 Carried the Log that was rolled to its side,—• 
 
 Rolled by the Woodman, who every one knows, 
 
 Wielded the Ax whose steady blows 
 Gut down the Tree of the forest. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 27 
 
 This is the Wheel that went whirring round, 
 
 Turned by the River whose flowing tide 
 Carried the Log that was rolled to its side,— 
 
 Rolled by the Woodman, who every one knows. 
 
 Wielded the Ax whose steady blows 
 Gut down the Tree of the forest. 
 
 These are the Saws which, with buzzing sound, 
 
 Were moved by the Wheel that went whirring round, 
 Turned by the River whose flowing tide 
 Carried the Log that was rolled to its side,— 
 
 Rolled by the Woodman, who every one knows, 
 
 Wielded the Ax whose steady blows 
 Cut down the Tree of the forest. 
 
 These are the Boards, so straight and long. 
 
 Cut by the Saws which, with buzzing sound, 
 
 Were moved by the Wheel that went whirring round, 
 Turned by the River Whose flowing tide 
 Carried the Log that was rolled to its side,-— 
 
 Rolled by the Woodman, who every one knows, 
 
 Wielded the Ax whose steady blows 
 Cut down the Tree of the forest. 
 
 This is the Carpenter, skillful and strong, 
 
 Who planed all the Boards, so straight and long, 
 
 Cut by the Saws which, with buzzing sound, 
 
 Were moved by the Wheel that went whirring round, 
 Turned by the River whose flowing tide 
 Carried the Log that was rolled to its side,— 
 
 Rolled by the Woodman, who every one knows. 
 
 Wielded the Ax whose steady blows 
 Cut down the Tree of the forest. 
 
 This is the House with its windows and doors, 
 
 With timbers and rafters and roofs and floors. 
 
 Which was built by the Carpenter, skillful and strong, 
 Who planed all the Boards so straight and long, 
 
 Cut by the Saws which, with buzzing sound, 
 
 Were moved by the Wheel that went whirring round, 
 Turned by the River, whose flowing tide 
 Carried the Log that was rolled to its side,— 
 
 Rolled by the Woodman, who every one knows, 
 
 Wielded the Ax whose steady blows 
 Cut down the Tree of the forest. 
 
28 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 This is the family—all are here— 
 
 Father, and Mother, and Children dear, 
 
 vv no live in the House with windows and doors, 
 
 With timbers and rafters and roofs and floors, 
 
 Which was built by the Carpenter, skillful and strong, 
 Who planed all the Boards so straight and long, 
 
 Cut by the Saws which, with buzzing sound, 
 
 Were moved by the Wheel that went whirring round, 
 Turned by the River, whose flowing tide 
 Carried the Log that was rolled to its side,— 
 
 Rolled by the Woodman, who every one knows, 
 
 Wielded the Ax whose steady blows 
 Cut down the Tree of the forest. 
 
 —Emilie Poulsson. 
 
 The story of the Honest Woodman is told and reproduced at 
 the story period. 
 
 This old rhyme is read and memorized: 
 
 If all the seas were one sea. 
 
 What a great sea that would be! 
 
 If all the trees were one tree. 
 
 What a great tree that would be! 
 
 If all the axes were one ax. 
 
 What a great ax that would be! 
 
 If all the men were one man, 
 
 What a great man that would be! 
 
 And if the great man took the great ax, 
 
 And cut down the great tree! 
 
 What a splish-splash that would be! 
 
 Brick was taken up next. Bricks were examined and broken 
 to find out the material. Experiments were made by making 
 brick of clay and drying them in the sun, in the dark room and on 
 the radiator. The kiln was then visited in order to see the pro¬ 
 cess of making brick. The back of the Training School was 
 studied to see the method of building with brick. The first draw¬ 
 ings were not successful, so we had to make the second observa¬ 
 tion before the method was seen accurately. The mason who 
 works with brick is studied under a similar outline as given for 
 the carpenter. In the study of brick, we use the rectangular 
 prisms corresponding to the fourth kindergarten gift. The method 
 of building with brick is illustrated with these and then copied in 
 drawing—'houses are drawn and built of brick. The rectangular 
 prisms are part of the number-work lessons. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 29 
 
 Stone follows a similar outline for discussion. A brief history 
 of stone is told and illustrated by sand, clay and specimens from 
 Science Hall. The children immediately begin finding their own 
 specimens. The quarry is visited and the structure of stone and 
 method of blasting are noted. The many ways in whic'h the stone 
 is used is observed and discussed; the large blocks are saved for 
 building, the smaller pieces may be used for making lime, cement 
 or for paving street. Then the stone which forms part of our 
 building is observed and the shape and method of putting together 
 is discussed. The children are allowed to experiment with tools 
 in chipping the stone. 
 
 The study of cement and concrete is not taken up, as it is 
 impracticable, both because of the distance to the plant and the 
 complicated process of manufacturing. 
 
 After having studied these materials,—wood, brick, stone,— 
 we decide upon which material we shall use in building Tom’s 
 house. Last year the house was built of wood; but the choice 
 this year fell upon brick. 
 
 Houses can not be built without plans, therefore a plan must 
 be made for Tom’s house. The meaning of plan had to be en¬ 
 larged upon. We first imagined that we were a fly on the ceiling 
 looking down on our room. What could he see? Then we drew 
 just what the fly would see. This should be the plan of the floor. 
 It is hard for little children to keep out of the drawings the walls 
 and other objects which are about them. These plans have to be 
 drawn several times before the child gets the correct impression. 
 
 After we had drawn this plan we studied an architect’s book of 
 plans, and through this discussed how we wanted Tom’s house to 
 be built. Last year, his house was a two-story house with a base¬ 
 ment. This year the children decided upon a bungalow type hav¬ 
 ing two dormer rooms, which are used for Tom’s bed-room and 
 play-room. Many plans were drawn on blackboard and paper 
 before one could be called the plan for Tom’s house. 
 
 After securing the plan we must next consider who will build 
 the house and how many men will have to work on it. We visit 
 houses in the community under process of building and notice the 
 number of men at work. We also notice where the men begin to 
 work on the house. We find probably seven men working. We 
 see that first an excavation is made for the basement and that 
 walls of stone are made upon which the walls of the house are 
 built. The children measure on the playground a space corre¬ 
 sponding to the size of the house to be built, and dig some of the 
 earth for the foundation. This needs work in the number class 
 
30 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 in developing the foot and the use of the ruler before the work of 
 measuring out of doors can be carried out. 
 
 Our houses are built of orange boxes, as they make a conven¬ 
 ient unit for building. Owing to the need of covering the boxes 
 before finishing them inside, after reaching the point mentioned 
 above, we make the covering. One year, it was a wooden house, 
 and the covering was weather boarding, which was made from 
 strips of cardboard, fastened to the boxes in an over-lapping man¬ 
 ner. We then reviewed the songs and games related to the car¬ 
 penter and the carpenter himself. This year, as our house is of 
 brick, the children marked off brick on bogus paper, 2x4 inches, 
 and colored them with crayola. It required patience and skill to lay 
 brick in the right position. With this work we review the mason, 
 his work, his tools, the materials. We sing our song of Trades 
 People. Throughout the building period we sing a finger play 
 song, Building the House, and ’Twas This Way and That Way. 
 
 As the work of building the house is begun in the basement, 
 we begin there and finish each room as we build. The reason we 
 follow this plan rather than that of finishing the whole house, 
 papering the house, carpeting the house and so on, studying each 
 industry and selecting the material for the whole house, is be¬ 
 cause the home is the predominating thought. Each room is 
 studied as representing certain essential qualities in the home 
 life and everything in each room must be studied and selected 
 with that as the fundamental problem. 
 
 The questions which need to be considered in the furnishing 
 of the basement are as follows: 
 
 Divisions: Furnace room; coal bins; laundry. 
 
 Manual Work: Finish for walls and floors; furnishings of 
 each room; furnace, (1) methods of heating, (2) fuel, (3) visit to 
 heating plant; coal bins; shovel; swinging shelves for fruit; 
 bench of wood for tubs; tubs of clay; washboard of wood and 
 corrugated paper; ironing board of wood, covered with muslin; 
 chairs and tables of wood; clothes lines; clothes basket. 
 
 The lessons discussed in hygiene are much the same as were 
 taken up in Monday’s and Tuesday’s work. We review our songs 
 and games, and wash our paint cloths and dusters. 
 
 The next room furnished is the kitchen. Our discussion and 
 work follows this outline: 
 
 Purpose of Kitchen: Its importance to health and life; clean¬ 
 liness must be exercised everywhere. 
 
 Treatment of Floor and Walls: Must be finished so they can 
 be constantly cleaned. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 31 
 
 Furniture: Stove; made of paper or wood—(1) kinds (a) 
 wood (b) coal (c) gas; discussion of fuel; cooking utensils, made 
 of clay—(1) kind of utensil, (2) care of utensils; table, wood; 
 places where food is kept; refrigerator—(1) care of ice, (2) clean¬ 
 liness in caring for refrigerator, (3) need of special care in pre¬ 
 serving foods on account of disease germs—(a) safes (b) closets; 
 sinks, wood; care of pipes; chairs, wood; towels and curtains. 
 
 In this discussion too much emphasis can not be placed upon 
 the correct treatment of the food and utensils in the kitchen. Not 
 only do many diseases arise from this cause, but a great propor¬ 
 tion of the unhappy homes comes from ignorance of the care and 
 preparation of food. If the body is not nourished by properly 
 prepared, wholesome food, the natural craving has to be supplied 
 by stimulants of various kinds, which lead to the evils that are 
 undermining our social structure. 
 
 The dining-room in each home should represent good cheer 
 and hospitality. Our talks are upon this subject and lead up to 
 the need of food, the right way to partake of it, with an emphasis 
 upon the simpler forms of etiquette of which children need con¬ 
 stantly to be reminded. 
 
 It is very nice to think 
 
 The world is full of meat and drink, 
 
 With little children saying grace 
 In every Christian kind of place. 
 
 A child should always say what’s true 
 And speak when he is spoken to, 
 
 And behave mannerly at table; 
 
 At least as far as he is able. 
 
 These rhymes of Stevenson’s are memorized and applied to 
 our behavior at table. 
 
 We then discuss the furnishings of the dining-room, the best 
 color scheme, and the proper treatment of walls and floor. 
 
 The manual work in the dining-room consists of the following: 
 Designing and making of wall paper; weaving of rug; making 
 from wood of (1) table, (2) chairs, (3) serving table; making 
 curtain, tablecloths, and napkins of muslin; selecting appropriate 
 pictures. 
 
 In connection with the dining-room study, we serve a simple 
 lunch, following as far as our supplies permit, the best form of 
 table service. This gives the children opportunity to prepare the 
 table and lunch, serve it properly, and partake of it. The class is 
 divided in groups in order that each may have some responsibility. 
 We have some invited guest, either a teacher or some members of 
 
32 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 another class. These lunches are repeated several times during 
 the year, so that some of the lessons become a permanent memory. 
 All children do not need these lessons, but we always find some to 
 whom such things are not daily occurrences. It is an uplift to 
 every one to be guests occasionally. During the lunch we discuss 
 the way to eat properly and the injury to the stomach from im¬ 
 proper mastication of food. 
 
 The living-room, which is the center of the home life, should 
 represent love, happiness and contentment. Here the family is 
 bound together by common interests and enjoyments. The rest 
 of the house simply assist in making the life in this room perfect 
 in harmony. In the talks, each member of the family group, with 
 his interests and privileges, is brought up for discussion. Each 
 one has to remember the rights of the other and act accordingly 
 if we are going to have happiness and contentment. The exam¬ 
 ples and precepts given and received are based upon our daily 
 experience, and are enforced in our class-rooms, for our study- 
 room and class-rooms are living-rooms in which we spend six 
 hours each day. If these are to be bright, happy hours, our con¬ 
 duct must be regulated by the consideration of the rights of the 
 others who live with us. This room is treated the same as in the 
 outline for the dining-room. The furniture consists of a couch, 
 table, armchair, straight chair and bookcase, all of which are 
 made of wood. 
 
 If a hall is added to the first floor, we wish it to speak in every 
 way a welcome to those who enter. The furnishing must be sim¬ 
 ple, only the necessary articles being made. 
 
 The bedrooms bring to us thoughts of rest; the need of rest; 
 conditions under which it does us the most good. We discuss 
 the time when children should go to bed, the need of abundance 
 of fresh air while we sleep; the fact that many draperies hold 
 dust and cause the air to become impure. The lessons of neat¬ 
 ness and orderliness are again emphasized in discussing the care 
 of closets and dressers. Tom’s room is one which affords much 
 pleasure in furnishing. We wish him to learn the same lessons 
 of neatness and health which we have discussed. Each article 
 of furniture is designed and made for a little boy who has grown 
 very real to us. The treatment of each bedroom follows the 
 general outline for the rooms. 
 
 Between Tom’s room and his mother’s is the bath-room. In 
 furnishing this, an opportunity is given to thoroughly discuss the 
 need and means of bodily cleanliness. The care of teeth, hair and 
 nails is especially emphasized, even to exaggeration. The proper 
 
I, II, III and IV. The development of child’s ideas in understanding - the plan of a house. 
 V aud VI. Study of brick laying - . VII, VIII and IX. Drawing's after visit to Planing Mill 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 33 
 
 treatment is demonstrated for the children, and special comment 
 made upon their appearance. 
 
 When our house is completed Tom and his family move in, 
 and at recess and noon their home life is carried on by the child¬ 
 ren. 
 
 The treatment of walls and floors needs separate considera¬ 
 tion. In our discussion of each room we select the color which 
 seems to represent the thought of that room. We discuss the 
 paper found on that room at home. Tne children draw samples 
 of their paper. Each of these designs is talked over and criti¬ 
 cised, until a standard is partially formed. Then each one is 
 given a strip of drawing paper, upon which he makes a design for 
 the room under consideration. These designs are again discussed 
 with the class and a vote taken as to the most appropriate and 
 artistic paper. After the selection is made a strip of paper, which 
 forms a unit for the wall is given to each child. The selected de¬ 
 sign is made upon it. Later a group is chosen to paper the house. 
 
 Two experiments should be carried out in connection with the 
 papering of the house. One is to visit a paper hanger’s if there is 
 one accessible to the school. The method of caring for wallpaper 
 and of selling it, should be observed, and the designs which are 
 considered suitable for the different rooms, should be criticised. 
 The trade of paper-hanging can also be taken up in the same 
 manner as the carpenter and mason. The second experiment is 
 the making of paste to be used in papering the house. 
 
 The floor coverings bring up another problem. In the kitchen, 
 the floor is covered with linoleum. The design is made first with 
 the square and triangular tablets, which constitute the seventh 
 kindergarten gift. We then make a sample design upon squared 
 paper. The one to be made for the house is selected in the same 
 manner as the wallpaper, and the linoleum is finally made as a 
 group problem. The other floors are treated as hardwood floors 
 and covered with rugs. It would be well to visit a carpet store to 
 study the designs, methods of caring for and showing carpets and 
 rugs. A piece of carpet is then unraveled and the question of 
 what it is made and how it is woven is taken up. The previous 
 experience of weaving the paper and linen kindergarten mats is 
 reviewed. This also furnishes the children an opportunity for 
 experimenting with designs. If the clothing problem is not to be 
 taken up later, this is the time to study wool, from the pelt 
 through the processes of cleaning, carding and combing, spinning 
 and dying. As we study the clothing problem, we leave this until 
 that time. But we discuss the various materials from which 
 carpets and rugs are made, as straw, cotton or woolen rags, and 
 
34 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 woolen warp. A sample rug may be made from each material, so 
 that the children may have a basis for their choice in selecting 
 the rugs. This year we are to visit Mrs. Brenecke, who weaves 
 rag rugs upon a somewhat primitive loom, and observe bow she 
 sets up the loom and weaves. We will then make our rugs upon 
 wooden looms, some of rags, some of jute, in colors to harmonize 
 with the color scheme of each room. 
 
 As the furniture for each room is made, designs for this fur¬ 
 niture is studied in catalogues, such as the Craftsman. The 
 children measure and saw their own material and put it together. 
 It is then stained with easy dyes and rubbed with cotton waste. 
 The making of curtains, bedding, cushions, and couch covers 
 furnishes much experience in simple sewing. 
 
 One of the things we expect the children to gain from this 
 work beside the language, number work and ethical lessons 
 brought out in the discussions, is an appreciation for appropriate 
 color schemes, furnishings which will harmonize, and simple, 
 artistic designs in furniture. Through these we hope to estab¬ 
 lish some standards which may counteract the desire for cheap 
 tawdriness. We also want to teach the 'interdependence of society 
 and the home, through the study of the many people of various 
 trades, and the making of many rooms, each with its separate 
 function, which are needed to form a home where love and happi¬ 
 ness and contentment should be found. We hope through con¬ 
 crete work to impress deeply upon the child mind lessons of neat¬ 
 ness, cleanliness of each part of the home and of the body, and 
 the necessity for rest, sleep, fresh air and wholesome food. We 
 are able to relate through this problem the work in language, 
 reading, literature, numbers, observation and sense-training, 
 drawing and other forms of the manual arts, and the songs and 
 games. 
 
 The following is a type lesson on rug-making in its completed 
 form: 
 
 Floors are covered with carpets and rugs. 
 
 These are made of rags, wool and straw. 
 
 They are woven on looms. 
 
 They have two sets of threads. 
 
 One set is fastened to the loom. 
 
 This is called the warp. 
 
 It is not always of the same material as the other threads. 
 
 The second set of threads is the woof. 
 
 It is put over and under the warp threads. 
 
 We weave the paper and linen mats in the same way. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 35 
 
 In rag rugs the woof is made of strips of cloth. 
 
 The warp is like a string. 
 
 The rags were cut in straight, narrow strips. 
 
 We sewed these strips together. 
 
 Then they were wound in a large ball. 
 
 We strung the loom with carpet chain. 
 
 Then we threaded the shuttle with the rags. 
 
 We put the shuttle over one warp thread and under one. 
 
 When we had the woof across the loom we pushed it up close. 
 Some rugs are made of straw. 
 
 These are called matting. 
 
 We made one out of raffia. 
 
 Our warp threads were plain. 
 
 But the woof was in two colors. 
 
 The rug was of red with a black border. 
 
 We made a rug of wool for the living-room. 
 
 The wool of our warp came from a sheep. 
 
 When it was on the sheep it was fleece. 
 
 They cut the fleece oft. 
 
 The tangles were straightened with a sharp brush. 
 
 This was a carding comb. 
 
 Then the wool was spun into thread on a wheel. 
 
 Many of the smaller threads were twisted together to make 
 this heavy thread, or yarn. 
 
 The warp is of wool also. 
 
 This rug will have two colors. 
 
 They are brown with two yellow stripes at each end. 
 
 II. FOOD PROBLEM. 
 
 These problems center around the building of the stores and 
 the discussion of the goods found in the stores. They are taken 
 up by the advanced first grade, thus making it possible to carry 
 the social study beyond the home, yet dealing constantly with 
 the child’s experience. A new center of interest is furnished 
 through these for those children who remain in the first grade two 
 years. But the more advanced children work out the whole ser¬ 
 ies of problems in one year. 
 
 The food study begins in October and is carried through No¬ 
 vember. We observe and discuss the preparation made by nature 
 and man for the approaching winter. These language and nature 
 talks are upon the following subjects: 
 
36 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 I. Change in vegetation due to—(1) ripening of seeds (a) 
 the fulfillment of plants’ life, (2) effect of Jack Frost. 
 
 II. Preparation of trees; change and falling oif leaves; protec¬ 
 tion of leaf buds. 
 
 III. Preparation of animals. 
 
 Those who remain in this climate; thickened coats; storing of 
 food; safe hiding places from cold; birds; food of birds that stay. 
 
 Migration of animals and birds; names; reason for migration 
 — (1) food (a) kinds. 
 
 IV. Man’s preparation for winter: 
 
 Storing of fuel—(1) kind (a) methods of heating; changes 
 in clothing—(1) material, (2) quantity; storing of food—(1) 
 kinds of food stored, (2) from where obtained. 
 
 Man’s advantage over animals. 
 
 V. The farmer. 
 
 Review work of spring and summer, plowing, sowing, cultiva¬ 
 ting crops, care of live stock. Full work: Harvesting crops, stor¬ 
 ing for winter, hay in barns and stacks, corn in barn, or to mill to 
 be ground; wheat—ground into flour, potatoes; planting wheat 
 for next year; care of stock, food, beds. Winter work: Care of 
 stock, mending tools, providing fuel for house. 
 
 VI. Songs and games: Farmer in the Dell; Oats, Peas, 
 Deans and Barley Grow; Do You Know How the Farmer? 
 
 Many field trips are made during the fall; out on the campus 
 to notice the changing leaves; to the Normal farm to observe the 
 different grains and vegetables which had been planted—(1) how 
 they grew, (2) how they were harvested, and (3) what was left 
 on the field; to the Home of the Birds to see which birds are still 
 with us; again to the campus and woods to secure twigs in order 
 to observe the leaf buds. 
 
 The many things for which we are thankful are enlarged upon 
 from day to day. Of the food products, corn, pumpkin, and tur¬ 
 keys receive the most attention, as they are essentially American. 
 But this discussion includes health, clothing, homes and many 
 things which are sometimes forgotten in our prayers of thanks. 
 A story which comes from a forgotten source, of a small boy 
 who develops a case of mumps upon Thanksgiving eve and has to 
 remain at home, furnishes the medium for arousing some of these 
 ideas. This year, a teacher told the children of a visit to a school 
 farther down the state, where one of their former teachers now 
 works. The account of the different school conditions of these 
 other children made a great impression upon them. Later, when 
 we were discussing the many things for which we were thankful, 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 37 
 
 their minds reverted to this story, and they included much that 
 surrounded them in school. 
 
 In the manual work a farm is built upon the sand table, repre¬ 
 senting it ready for the coming winter, with vegetables stored in 
 barns and hay in stacks. 
 
 The songs and poems selected for November are upon the 
 harvest and the special crops which are causes for thansgiving. 
 One song gives us a good summary for our talks: 
 
 The hay and straw are in the stack, the corn is in the bin, 
 
 And peace and plenty now abound the farmer’s home within. 
 
 The autumn’s store of nuts is housed up in the attic high, 
 
 While strings of good things hang upon the rafter beams to dry. 
 Old Mother Earth has yielded up a rich, abundant store 
 Of fruits and nuts and golden grains, full measure, running o’er. 
 And now with snow upon the fields and fire upon the hearth, 
 
 Man must return thanksgiving for the bounteous gifts of earth. 
 
 —Dorothy Gaynor. 
 
 We study the little stanza for the month: 
 
 The happy thank-you day has come. 
 
 And harvest time is past. 
 
 We’ve gathered fruits and nuts and grains, 
 
 Will say good-by at last; 
 
 Good-by to Autumn, Autumn dear, 
 
 And with our parting words 
 
 Will sing our thanks to God above, 
 
 For fruits and trees and birds. 
 
 D. H., Child Garden. 
 
 In December we continue this work by enlarging upon the 
 ways of storing or preserving foods, and the kinds and parts of 
 food stored. We find that food may be preserved by burying, 
 drying, salting, smoking, by grinding into flour or meal, by keep¬ 
 ing in cool, dark places, as in barns and cellars, or in cold-storage 
 plants. The kinds of food thus preserved are meats, certain fruits 
 and vegetables and grains. The different kinds of food may be 
 stored in barns, cellars, store-rooms, elevators, warehouses, and 
 stores. The following questions furnish the needed step for the 
 connection with the store: Can we go to the farmer to get all of 
 these things? Where are they stored so we can get them? In 
 what store do we find most of these things? 
 
 This discussion reviews the previous work in Nature Study. In 
 connection with the topic of preserving foods, some simple experi¬ 
 ments are made. Apples are pared, sliced and dried in the sun; 
 
38 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 peas or beans are dried in the same way. Potatoes are kept in 
 the warm school-room, while others are put in a cooler, darker 
 room in the basement, and the effect upon each set noted. To¬ 
 matoes may be canned with very llittle trouble, if the garden can 
 furnish any ripe ones at the season this is studied. 
 
 The physical conditions of the grocery store then becomes the 
 center of discussion and work. The study follows the following 
 outline: 
 
 I. The Store: By whom owned; location, why found gener¬ 
 ally on corners; general appearance; number of rooms; arrange¬ 
 ment of furniture; method of keeping stock; tools and imple¬ 
 ments used—(1) scales, (2) measures. 
 
 II. The Work of the Grocer: Care of store and stock—(1) 
 keeping shelves in order, (2) keeping everything clean and well 
 dusted; the selling of goods—(1) how sold (introducing use of 
 money), (2) how measured; replenishing of stock—(1) where 
 procured (a) from farmer (b) from larger stores (wholesale), 
 (2) how transported (a) wagons (b) railroads (c) steamboats; 
 keeping accounts—(1) of goods sold, (2) of money received; 
 hiring and paying clerks. 
 
 III. The Interdependence of Grocer and Community: Value 
 of grocer to community; the grocer’s dependence upon the people; 
 his dependence upon different means of transportation; condition 
 of community without a grocer; the grocer’s pay. 
 
 IV. Ethical Lessons: Grocer’s duties—(1) cleanliness, (2) 
 orderliness, (3) honesty (a) in weight and measure (b) in money 
 (c) in properly representing goods; communities’ duties—hon¬ 
 esty to grocer in paying debts promptly. 
 
 The work correlated with this is: 
 
 1. Manual Training: A box about 24x18 inches is the store 
 building. While this outline is being developed, a visit is made to 
 a store and the children observe the various points that have been 
 discussed. They also observe the treatment of the walls, shelves, 
 counters and other furnishings. In building the store, w r e do not 
 again discuss the methods of erecting a house, but proceed to 
 cover the outside of the box with construction paper or wallpaper 
 of solid color. The shelves and counters are made of wood; these 
 are measured, sawed and put together by the children. Paper 
 boxes are made to contain the various cereals. Cans and bottles 
 are made of clay, the one covered with tinfoil and labelled, the 
 other painted red for catsup, and blue for bluing. Vegetables and 
 fruits are made of clay. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 39 
 
 2. Number: Besides the work in measurements which comes 
 in connection with construction, the following problems are taken 
 up through experimentation—(1) liquid measure, (2) dry meas¬ 
 ure to pecks, (3) avoirdupois, simple balance constructed, (4) 
 money, buying and selling goods in store. 
 
 3. Language: A booklet is written upon the work in each 
 store. Usually only one phase of the work is used. In the work 
 of the grocery store, we select the different methods of preserving 
 foods. The method followed in all of this written work is similar. 
 The teacher develops through questions, point by point, the topic 
 which has been previously discussed. The answers which the 
 children give to these questions are written upon the board. The 
 children then read them over to see if they express their knowl¬ 
 edge clearly. They are taught through this to criticise the use of 
 words, to appreciate simple sentence structure, and to give clear 
 expression to thought. Some times this booklet is written as the 
 discussion progresses from day to day; again, it is written after 
 the series of lessons are completed, thus furnishing a good sum¬ 
 mary. 
 
 The stores which are studied and constructed in connection 
 with the food problem are the grocery store, butcher shop, dairy, 
 and bakery. Practically the same outline is followed in the build¬ 
 ing of each store as is given for the grocery store. Necessarily 
 there are changes in regard to the stock found in the store and its 
 form before its appearance in that store. 
 
 With the butcher store we study the anJimals furnishing meat, 
 —cows, pigs, sheep, chickens; their food, which brings us back 
 to the farm and vegetable life again; the methods of preserving 
 meat; various parts used as food; products from animals,—lard, 
 mutton, sausage, etc. 
 
 In working out the dairy problem, we chose the farm rather 
 than the store, as this community furnishes us this type. There is 
 no dairy farm near the school, so we visited one of the farms 
 where there were a few cows. In discussing the care of the barns 
 and cows, the importance of cleanliness was emphasized and the 
 danger of disease germs in the milk, especially of typhoid germs, 
 was shown. The laws enforced in many states regarding the care 
 of the cows, the milking utensils, and even -the clothing of the one 
 who does the milking, were told the children. The kindergarten 
 literature furnishes us with several suggges-tions and stories: 
 “The Story the Milk Told Me,” in In the Child’s World, and a 
 series of well-developed stories in the Kindergarten Stories and 
 Morning Talks, picturing the many things which the cow gives us, 
 furnish an interesting development of the story of milk. 
 
40 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 The dairy farm was built upon the sand table; it consisted of a 
 large pasture, in which was a pond, a barn yard having a barn, a 
 pump, and a spring-house with tiled floor, a wagon filled witn 
 milk bottles ready to start to town, and the animals. A windmill 
 was added later at the suggestion of the kindergarten children, 
 who felt the farm was incomplete without it. 
 
 The problem taken up for experiment was the care of cream 
 and the making of butter. The children scalded all of the utensils, 
 —the dashers, quart fruit jars, and dishes for working the butter. 
 While the churning was being done, the children were lead to 
 understand the reason for securing cream from milk, the right 
 temperature for the cream, and again the need of cleanliness. 
 After the butter had come, some had the surprise of finding but¬ 
 ter-milk in the jar. When the butter was ready, we set the table 
 and served our lunch of crackers, butter, and butter-milk. 
 
 One of our songs is from Eleanor Smith’s Music Primer, 
 “Molly and I.” 
 
 Stevenson’s poems always touch the child’s nature. This one 
 of the cow helps us at this time: 
 
 THE COW. 
 
 The friendly cow all red and white, 
 
 I love with all my heart: 
 
 She gives me cream with all her might, 
 
 To eat with apple-tart. 
 
 She wanders lowing here and there. 
 
 And yet she cannot stray, 
 
 All in the pleasant open air, 
 
 The pleasant Tight of day. 
 
 And blown by all the winds that pass 
 And wet with all the showers, 
 
 She walks among the meadow grass 
 And eats the meadow flowers. 
 
 The study of wheat is taken up in connection with the bakery.. 
 The story is told of the little girl who loved her father so much 
 that she wanted to make him a loaf of bread without any one help¬ 
 ing her. So she told her mother, who sent her to the cook for the 
 material. But the cook said that the flour came from the grocer’s, 
 so she would have to go there for it. She went to the grocery 
 store and said: “Mr. Grocer, I love my father so that I want to 
 make a loaf of bread for him all by myself. The cook told me that 
 I would have to come to you for the flour, for she could not help 
 
 9f 
 
 me. 
 
I. House built in 1909. 
 II. Detail of Furniture. 
 III. Grocery Store. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 41 
 
 “But I got the flour from the miller,” said the grocer. “I 
 would give it to you, but if you want to make this bread all by 
 yourself, you wiill have to go to the miller.” 
 
 So the little girl went to the mill, where the big wheels were 
 turning. There she saw Mr. Miller with a white cap and white 
 apron. 
 
 “Mr. Miller,” the little girl began, “I love my father so much 
 that I want to make a loaf of bread for him all by myself. 1S0 
 cook could not give me the flour, as she had 1 bought it of the 
 grocer. The grocer could not give it to me for he had bought it 
 from you. So, Mr. Miller, I have come for the flour.” 
 
 “Oh,” said the Miiller, “I can’t give you the flour, for that 
 would be helping you. The farmer brings me wheat to grind into 
 flour. Go to the farmer and get the wheat. Then I will grind it 
 into flour for you.” 
 
 So the little girl trudged along the road until she reached the 
 farm. When she met the farmer, she said, “Mr. Farmer, give me 
 some wheat, please, that I may take it to the mill and have it 
 ground into flour. For I am going to make a loaf of bread for 
 my father all by myself. Cook could not give me the flour, for 
 she had bought it of the grocer. The grocer could not give me 
 the flour as he had gotten it from the miller. The miller could 
 not give me the flour for you had brought him the wheat to grind 
 into flour, so I have come to you.” 
 
 Then the farmer took the little girl out to the field and saiid, 
 “I do not make the wheat. I only plow the ground, and plant the 
 seed, but that does not make it grow. The soft ground cares for 
 it. The rain falls on it. The snow covers it during the winter. 
 In the spring the sun shines on it and the rain and breezes wake it 
 and make it grow until it is ready to cut. No one can grow the 
 wheat all by himself. For God has to send the sun and rain and 
 snow to care for the wheat.” 
 
 Then the little girl went slowly back to the cook, took the flour 
 and made the bread. She learned that she could not make the 
 loaf of bread all by herself, no matter how much she loved her 
 father. 
 
 Another story, “From Seed to Loaf,” which deals more partic¬ 
 ularly with the care and growth of the wheat, is found in one of 
 the Spring Plan Books. This story is told and illustrated with pic¬ 
 tures taken from magazines and advertisements. Through these 
 we study the planting of the wheat in the fall, the hills in the dis¬ 
 tance showing us their green fields during the winter as examples; 
 the harvest in June; and the mill where it is ground, put in sacks 
 and barrels, and later sold to the grocer and baker. 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 Many -poems and stories contribute to the story of wheat: 
 
 Back of the bread is the snow flour; 
 
 Back of the flour is the mill; 
 
 Back of the mill the growing wheat 
 Nods on the breezy hill; 
 
 Over the wheat is the glowing sun 
 Ripening the heart of the grain 
 Above the sun is the gracious God, 
 
 Sending the sunlight and rain. 
 
 Blow! wind, blow! Go! mill, go! 
 
 That the miller may grind his corn, 
 
 That the baker may take it, 
 
 And into rolls make it, 
 
 And bring us some hot in the morn. 
 
 The Johnny Cake poem traces the story of corn in a similar 
 manner, should there be sufficient time to study two grains so 
 thoroughly. 
 
 In our games we play The Windmill, The Green Mill, and 
 Jolly Is the Miller. 
 
 The process of bread-making was studied through actual 
 experience. The dough was mixed in the morning, the teacher 
 explaining the importance of each step. The nature of yeast was 
 explained, which adds to the interest in watching the growth of 
 the bread. The recipe was written upon the board and copied 
 into a book of recipes which the children made with this store. By 
 twelve o’clock the dough, which had been placed in a sunny win¬ 
 dow and which had been visited frequently during the morning, 
 was made into loaves. These were ready to bake by 1:15 p. m. 
 The class took the bread to Science Hall for the purpose. The 
 heating of the oven, the effect of the heat upon the bread, and 
 the time required for baking were discussed while waiting for the 
 right moment to put the bread in the oven. While the bread was 
 baking, butter was churned; so when the bread was finished we 
 had made for ourselves a feast. The fact that this was furnishing 
 a review of work studied in connection with our house, and more 
 recently in the dairy problem, was disguised by the joy of having 
 “a party.” 
 
 Two other problems were studied in a similar way, the 
 making of small drop cakes and of candy. These recipes were 
 each written upon the board, as the article was made, and copied 
 on loose sheets for the small volume which was to be taken home 
 to mother. One small boy said, “I am so glad that we can take 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 43 
 
 them home to-day, for mother is going to make some bread like 
 ours and she needs the recipe.” 
 
 We sing as we cook. In Songs of the Child World 1 is ‘‘The 
 Song of the Loaf of Bread,” which helps us. In Lilts and Lyrics 
 are three songs which give us the whole cycle of bread. We also 
 play and sing, “Oh, Have You Seen the Muffin Man?” Some of 
 the loaves and cakes made for the store are very realistic, 
 especially those which represent the Gingerbread Boy. 
 
 III. THE CLOTHING PROBLEM. 
 
 The clothing problem is begun with the study of textiles; the 
 materials from which the different children’s clothes are made 
 furnish the starting point. Just which textile is studied first 
 makes little difference and the choice is usually decided by the 
 tendency of the class toward one fabric. Last year the first 
 topic selected was cotton A history of cotton from the seed up 
 to the cloth is studied through discussions and illustrations. This 
 year we shall go a step further and have the growing plant as a 
 basis for this discussion. The Story of Polly Flinder’s Apron, 
 from Mother Goose Village, is a help with the development, also 
 the Cotton Field Stories in In The Child’s World. 
 
 The manufacture of woolen cloth is studied from the un¬ 
 carded wool to the finished product. The outline given under the 
 weaving of carpet is followed and experiments in each process are 
 made. Simple spindles of wood are made, by which the wool may 
 be drawn into threads. In The Child’s World furnishes some help¬ 
 ful material to -illustrate and develop the story. The little poem 
 of Emilie Poulsson furnishes a good summary: 
 
 SEQUEL TO AN OLD STORY. 
 
 Mary had a little lamb, 
 
 Which grew to be a sheep; 
 
 The wool upon its back became 
 Too thick and. warm to keep. 
 
 Then Mary’s sheep did wiith the rest 
 Down to the brookside go 
 
 And soon again it well could boast 
 “A fleece as white as snow.” 
 
 The shearer came, and with his shears 
 Cut off the heavy wool, 
 
 Till every sheep was shorn at last 
 And all the bags were full. 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 The wool that came from Mary’s sheep 
 Was spun and woven, dears, 
 
 And made into a nice warm coat 
 That Mary wore for years! 
 
 The story of linen is best approached through Hans Ander¬ 
 son’s story, “The Flax.” We are going to have the plant well 
 started before reaching this topic this year, so that we may know 
 more than comes through word knowledge. Barbour Linen Com¬ 
 pany will send on application a case showing the process of man¬ 
 ufacturing their linen thread. 
 
 Silkworm cocoons furnish a basis for the study of silk. In 
 the Child’s World gives “The Lite of a Silkworm,” which de¬ 
 velops the manufacturing step by step. The children are taught 
 to distinguish each fabric when examined. 
 
 A booklet upon textiles is compiled from this study. The 
 cover designs for these furnished work for a drawing period. 
 
 The additional problem in numbers is the extension of the 
 linear table to include yards, as the material in this store is 
 measured by this. The use of glass in making a show case for 
 displaying embroideries, ribbons and such fancy articles, gave the 
 children a new material to work with. Some clothing was de¬ 
 signed and made, thus causing the children to realize that the 
 clothing whioh was bought at the store was made by some one— 
 net as one small boy told me when I admired a new blouse and 
 inquired if sister made it, “It wasn’t made, :it was buyed.” 
 
 The following is an extract from the booklet: 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Story of Cotton. 
 
 This is a piece of cloth. It is made of cotton. Cotton comes 
 from a plant. The cotton plant is a large plant. It has large 
 green leaves and big flowers. The cotton comes from the flower. 
 We say it grows in bolls. The cotton is planted in the spring and 
 blooms early in the summer. All summer the cotton grows shut 
 up tight in a boll like this. (Child’s drawing.) In the fall when 
 the weather gets cool the boll bursts and the cotton looks like 
 this (drawing.) The cotton is then picked and taken to the cot¬ 
 ton gin. Here all the seeds are taken out, and the cotton is put 
 in bales. The bales look like this (drawing.) The bales are 
 shipped to the cotton mill and made into thread, cotton bat¬ 
 ting, cotton goods and many other useful things. Calico, percale, 
 and gingham are goods made from cotton. Paper is made from 
 old cotton cloth. Cotton is a very useful plant to us. 
 
HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 45 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Story of Linen. 
 
 This piece of cloth is made of linen. Linen comes from flax. 
 Flax is a tiny plant. This plant grows tall and slender and has a 
 pale blue flower. When the plant gets larger its stalk gets quite 
 hard. The flax is cut down and soaked until these hard fibers 
 can be taken out. This is the flax fiber. The flax is spun into 
 thread or woven into cloth. Cloth made from flax is put out on 
 the clean grass as soon as it is woven. Every morning the cloth 
 is sprinkled and the sun shines brightly on it all day. This is 
 done for many days until the cloth becomes white. We call this 
 bleaching. After the cloth is bleached, it is put in bolts and 
 shipped to storekeepers. Linen is the strongest cloth. It does 
 not wear out easily. 
 
 Our clothing problem included also a millinery and shoe 
 store. Hats were studied,— (1) as to use; (2) as to material— 
 which depends upon climate; (3) as to shape,—which is regu¬ 
 lated by custom (fashion), material and climate; (4) as to 
 method of making hats. Hats for the store are made of braided 
 raffiia. Stocking caps and Tams are woven of yarn on cardboard 
 looms. The shoe problem has stopped short of the construction 
 of a store so far, but the study is taken up according to this out¬ 
 line: (1) material—another product of the animals, which has 
 
 to be tanned (experiment of tanning rabbit’s skin), (2) steps 
 in manufacturing—studied through models from factory. The 
 stories of The Elves and the Shoemaker, and of Goody Two Shoes 
 are told. The booklet is made as a summary of the entire 
 process from cow to foot. We sing The Shoemaker, and play The 
 Shoemaker’s Dance. 
 
46 
 
 HISTORY IN THE FIRST GRADE. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The course as outlined is for first grade work; but under 
 other conditions, the food and clothling problems could be well 
 worked out in second and third grades, or even higher. The 
 principal emphasis would remain unchanged, but the connection 
 then should be made through this to the study of the world at 
 large, thus vitalizing the subject of geography. 
 
 In all of this work the main purpose is not to secure for the 
 child skill in certain processes, nor to make this work the study 
 of industries; but tit is for the development of social power and 
 insight. I should like to quote again from “School and Society,” 
 “In all this there was continued training of observation, of inge¬ 
 nuity, of constructive imagination, of logical thought, and of the 
 sense of reality acquired through first hand contact with actuali¬ 
 ties.” These points are necessary to mental development, and 
 we feel that the child is truly educated by the working out of 
 these social problems. 
 
 There are two or three words of caution which seem neces¬ 
 sary. With most young teachers, the enthusiastic interest 
 which this type of work arouses, causes them to strive for a fin¬ 
 ished product along lines which they have worked out. But they 
 must give place to the child’s interests, giving them the initia¬ 
 tive, being satisfied to guide, rather than to control. They must 
 restrain their desire to make various things or remake those 
 which the children have made. If, for instance, the chair does 
 not stand steadily, the work of correcting the error must remain 
 with the 'children after they have been helped to see the difficulty. 
 One of the benefits derived from manual work is the premium 
 placed upon accuracy of measurement and cutting. If the teacher 
 corrects the children’s errors, this value would be destroyed. 
 
Books Used m this Outline 
 
 *In the Child’s World .Emilie Poulsson 
 
 Paradise of Childhood.Edward Wiebe 
 
 Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks.S. E. Wiltse 
 
 How We Are Clothed.Chamberlain 
 
 How We Are Fed.Chamberlain 
 
 How the World Is Fed. Carpenter 
 
 ♦Seat Work and Industrial Occupations.Gilman and Williams- 
 
 Hand Work for Kindergarten and Primary Grades.Jane Hoxie 
 
 Plan Books for Primary Grades.Marian George 
 
 Bulletin, Macomb State Normal, 1907. 
 
 Song Books and Game Books. 
 
 ♦Songs of the Child, No. I.Gaynor 
 
 Songs of the Child World, No. II.Gaynor 
 
 Lilts and Lyrics .Jessie Gaynor 
 
 Merry Songs and Games .Hubbard 
 
 Holiday Songs . Poulsson 
 
 Songs and Games for Little Ones.Walker and Jenks 
 
 Songs in Season .Marian George 
 
 Songs and Music of Froebel’s Mother Plays. Blow 
 
 Song Primer . Alys Bentley 
 
 Eleanor Smith’s Music Primer. 
 
 ♦Children’s Singing Games, Old and New.Mari R. Hofer 
 
 Popular Folk Games . Mari R. Hofer 
 
 The Folk Dance Book . jC. W. Crampton 
 
 Graded Games and Rhythmic Exercises.Marion Newton 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 Three Years with the Poets . Hazard 
 
 ♦Songs of the Treetop and Meadow . McMurry 
 
 Child’s Garden of Verse . Stevenson 
 
 Little Folk’s Lyrics . Sherman 
 
 * For teachers who can have only a limited number of books, these are the most 
 useful. 
 
* 
 
2105734 
 
 87