Each little pair of children's feet helps us to form our circle. Now as each little hand clasps that of a playmate we begin our game. The teacher, holding the hand of the first child, gently leads them all around to form a spiral as in the kindergarten "Snail" game. The line of children stops in such a way that each child is again facing the center of the ring (which we now call a pond). At a signal from the teacher the children all adjust imaginary skates and are ready for the ice frolic. But first Jack Frost is chosen to step out into the middle of the pond and by blowing through his hands changes the "still water to ice." Three or four sets of children are chosen from the others to be partners. The teacher, also taking a companion, leads the way, showing the rest how to stroke and to skate around the circle, in the same direction so as not to collide with each other. After skating once or twice around the circle, each boy bows to his girl partner and leads her to her place on the circle. These are the words that we say or sing, while we play: A little brook was running at play, With little Jack Frost on a cold, winter day, They stopped to rest at the foot of a hill, Tra-la-la-la-la-la-la. "Ah, ha!" said Jack Frost, "Now, isn't this nice?" Tra-la-la-la-la-la-la. And quickly he turned the still water to ice, The children came running from far and from near, And soon they were skating from shore unto shore. When enough snow has fallen to nicely cover the ground, and the snow has melted until it packs beautifully, we are ready to make a snowman right in the school-room. One child is chosen to be the snowman and then two others are called to the front to help make him. Beginning at the feet, the helpers, one on each side, carefully pat and mold a very strong, straight snowman. When the snow image is done all the children stand in the aisles and play pack snow-balls, piling them on the desks. Then, with a one, two and a three the volley of snowballs begins and continues until the defenceless snowman slowly falls in a heap on the floor. Sometimes the snowman is so well made that even the three volleys of snowballs do not knock him down. Then each child places his hands above his head in a circle to represent the sun and as its warm rays begin to be felt, and tiny tots as sunbeams leave their places and with fairy fingers gently touch With November ushering in Thanksgiving, the children go into ecstasy over our "Going to Grandma's" game. A little pair of lines with sleighbells on the front will make a fine harness. With one child for a horse and another for a driver everything is ready for a ride. driver everything is ready for a ride. Between the horse and the rider is the play carriage, that will hold three or four small children, if they are willing to ride standing up. With a crack of the whip and the waving of good-byes they are off to see grandma, who lives in a remote part of the room. As the children start off, those at the seats sing: Jingle, jingle go the bells, And a right good time have we. Dear grandmamma to see. The day is bright; away we glide, As swift, as swift can be. We're dashing o'er the shining snow, At Christmas time how the children love to go for a walk and stop to look at the toys in the store windows! When the air is full of the holiday spirit we play "Toy-man's Shop" for a recreation. The toy-man walks down the aisles and chooses children as toys for his counter, and taking them to the front of the room arranges his store for customers. When all is ready he winds up the mechanical toys and the child representing the talking doll says: "Papa and Mamma"; the rocking-horse rocks mechanically back and forth, and the jumping jack jumps slowly up and down. As the shopman shows his wares and the customer carefully tests and buys a toy the children at their seats say together: THE TOY-MAN'S SHOP Oh, who will take a walk with me The toy-man's shop oh, ho! oh, ho! Such dolls and horses - great and small, Light-bird, light-bird! But you cannot hold or keep it, BERTHA E. BUSH For the Geography Class I Make little booklets cut the shape of your state. Write inside any facts you wish. 2 See who can write the longest list of rivers. The class may, or may not, look in their books according to their age and proficiency. Seas, bays, gulfs, islands, etc., may be used for lists. 3 See who can write the longest list of geographical names beginning with a certain letter. 4 For a review, the questions may be written on slips of paper folded to look like powders. Put them into a medicine box and at class time give each child one. 5 Another review which the children enjoy is prepared by enclosing the written slips inside English walnut shells. There is always some one in the class who will beg for the privilege of gluing the shells back again. The box is then put away for the next term. 6 Give the children tickets-strips of paper with the name of a place written on - and send them on a journey. Each child goes to a different place and during study time. finds out all he can about the place he is visiting. When recitation time comes each child returns from his trip and tells of his journey, describing places seen, incidents on the trip, etc. 7 No. 6 can be varied by the children describing the places visited, but not giving the names. The class see how many places they can guess from the descriptions. The accounts may also be written and read. 8 The children may each choose a place to visit and write a letter to the teacher, from the far-away land. Such letters are often surprisingly good. 9 The children enjoy guessing games. If we have been studying islands, we sometimes review in this way. The teacher writes on the board, On what island do I live? Each child in turn stands before the class and describes his home. The others guess. Then the child writes his name and the name of his island home on the board. Language and spelling are, of course, incidental, but excellent supplements to the regular lessons. For a general review, the teacher writes: What am I? and the lesson proceeds as given above. These exercises may be simple or elaborate; oral or written; assigned before class or not, according to the discretion of the teacher. Simple little prizes, as a picture of some place studied, cut from a magazine or railroad folder, mounted on a piece of construction paper, add zest to the reviews and are appreciated by the children. 10 We are required to learn definitions of many of the geographical forms of land and water. Each form is explained clearly and illustrated by drawings and pictures with sand when possible. Then the definition is written on the board, and copied by the class into their blank books. The definitions are written on cards by the teacher in the form of questions and answers, as: What is a mountain? A mountain is a high elevation of land. As our time for this work is short, the teacher writes question and answer on the same card. She stands before the class with the pile of cards in her hands and asks each child a question in turn. If he an swers correctly not necessarily in the language on the card - he receives the card; if not, the next child has a chance. If a child is over eager and answers out of his turn he misses his turn on the next round. With older children, the rivers of the world are used in the same way. The teacher writes the name of the river at the top of the card, with the question underneath, for instance. Obi is written at the top of the card. Underneath, What river of Asia, flowing north into the Arctic Ocean has only three letters in its name? Occasionally, we give the cards to the class, allowing one child to come forward and stand in front of the class. The children ask the questions and the child reciting tries to win every card. II Another card game, used with excellent results with a class studying the United States, was made by the children themselves. We wrote the name of a state at the top of each card. Underneath we wrote: I The capital. 2 Important river. 3 Two or three important cities. 6 The principal resources or manufactures. With these cards we could play capitals, asking for the capital of each state, or giving the name of the capital, and asking for the state, the rivers, cities, etc., in the same way. 12 A pleasant help in learning the definitions spoken of in No. 10 is to make a chart. Paste a picture of each form as studied, on the chart and write the definition below. Or, if the class is not too large, they may illustrate their own books in this way, searching for their own pictures. 13 For a real party game, small pictures of well-known places and objects of interest, as the United States Capitol, the Liberty Bell, Plymouth Rock, a geyser, etc., may be mounted and the cards numbered. These may be placed on the blackboard ledge and the children with papers and pencils pass by and write where each is located. On the blackboard above the pictures may be written, Where must you go to see me? The answers will be Washington, D. C.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Plymouth, Mass.; Yellowstone Park, etc. A simple prize is a pretty railroad folder with colored pictures. CERIDWEN SAMUEL Queries for Teachers Do you have your first, second, third, and fourth grade. children get five-cent blank books, and once a week do a lesson in spelling, language, and number in them? Look over and mark the work and have children make their corrections on the opposite page. It is a great help having these books for reference and comparison. Do you make booklets for your memory gems and poems? The first and second grade work will have to be done on the mimeograph, but the third and fourth grade children can write their own. The children refer to these books frequently and the poems are not forgotten from year to year. When children have to learn a poem at home, did you ever try copying it as if it were prose? This does away with the sing-song. Do you use Brownie, soldier, Teddy Bear, or animal stamps or stars for good work? Or do you do what the small boy told his mother? "Miss Alice used to put a Brownie on my paper, but Miss Edith only puts on an old black one hundred. I can make a better one myself than she does. See me. don't like her anyway." K. K. O'N. I hints from the Instituter's Note-book If you would catch the interest of parents of primerites use "carry-home booklets" of good work for bait. Don't make special day programs out of whole cloth. Make them rather a re-hash of rounded out Language work. Measure the success of your teaching by its effect upon the pupils with whom you come in contact. If you "rub children the wrong way" your teaching is worse than a failure, it is a disaster. There is no mental growth except through physical growth. Wriggling is the child's way of growing. He must wriggle if he have not some better exercise to do. Cultivate a low voice. The high shrill voice is a sign of overwrought nerves. A panacea for nerves is fresh air open windows and have calisthenic exercises. Use tongue twisters to aid in correct pronunciation, with foreign born pupils and others Six thick thistle sticks. (NOTE The four, six, and eight-lined verses of this series are specially arranged for very young children. As it is easier for beginners to speak if not alone, many of the "pieces" are planned for two or more to give. And because often it seems best to include a number of little folks in one exercise, some simple rhymed plays are given. These are easier to learn and remember than prose plays because of the rhythm and rhyme. Usually they are so arranged that each child has but one or two lines to say.) Leggings and Mittens (For two little boys, one of whom speaks for Leggings, and one little girl who represents the Mittens.) (Little Play for six little boys, which may be given as single recitation, if desired. If given as a play, the "littlest boy" is seated on a throne, wearing as much of the fire color as possible. The Pipe is represented by boy with roll of stiff paper around him, to look like length of stove-pipe. The Draught is a boy puffed out to look like a bellows. The Fiddlers, Snap, Crackle, and Roar, are three small boys, who carry imaginary fiddles.) Dance of the Months (Play arranged and words adapted from selection of same name.) (For thirteen children, each showing some characteristic of the month he represents. New Year wears 1912; January, furs; February is a very tiny child with big flag; March "blows"; April weeps behind her hands; May carries tiny May Pole; June scatters roses; July "bangs"; August holds her ears; September shows sheaves; October waves leaves; November waits quietly; December carries tiny Christmas Tree. Each recite line or lines to fifteenth, where all recite, join hands, make ring, and circle with any dance-step. Last four lines may be sung to any long meter hymn.) Who is pulling? Brother Ned? Dick, the pony? Uncle Fred? Good old Ponto? No, or yes? Someone's pulling! Who can guess? |