The eighth-grade pupils were allowed to suggest and discuss the need of any materials by the school, and the secretary was authorized to do the actual buying. This led to lessons in making out checks and receipts.

Eventually the school established a school-supply store, which is operated entirely by the eighth grade and which is a great help to both teachers and pupils.

18. Guessing weight and verifying (grade 4).-Have one pupil stand in front of the room. Let members of the class estimate his height. After getting exact measurement, compare the estimates and see which is nearest.

This can be repeated any number of times. The idea of estimating height can be applied to doors, windows, desks, lights, etc.

19. Noting attendance (grade 2).—The number showing our total enrollment is always kept on the blackboard. Children know that that number should be present. The number of absentees is determined. A member of the class writes the two numbers on the blackboard and substracts them aloud. The daily attendance is then written on the blackboard. If borrowing is involved, no child is called upon until that has been taught.

LIFE SITUATIONS USED AS A BASIS FOR SCHOOL EXERCISES

Though the actual life situation has superior value for educative purposes, it is evident from the reports sent in by teachers that actual situations are not used to any considerable extent. "Playlike" situations based upon actual life situations and connected directly with pupils' present interests are more common. The illustrations which follow have been chosen as least artificial and most worthy of imitation. It is evident that the idea of a school store has been widely accepted. Special sales as advertised through the newspapers are used freely. The furnishing on paper of a room, or a home, the making of a family budget, the imitation bank, and the building of a home-these are ideas which can readily be traced as illustrations of motivation in the subject of arithmetic, during the past few years. They are spreading effectively from school to school, and they are undoubtedly modifying school practices in the right direction. In this connection teachers need to be encouraged, first, to use more actual life situations, and, second, to bring more reality into "play-like" situations. Teachers should make sure that a play store" uses the prices which are current, and that a play bank" uses the practices which are current. In fact, these school imitations should be accompanied by a study of the actual situations in the community. In this way the children are brought nearer to reality.*

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Several illustrations of the same thing, such as the "play store," are given to show the many variations in practice that are possible with a usable idea.

1. A play cafeteria (grade 2).-First, the class plans a trip to a local cafeteria. The trip is made and careful observation is encouraged. On the return much discussion follows and a cafeteria for the second grade is planned. It is decided that food prices shall be lower at this cafeteria than at the one visited.

Posters are made representing meats, vegetables, salads, bread, desserts, and milk. Prices are mounted on small frames which stand on the table.

The waiters stand behind the various foods as they are arranged on a long table. A child takes a tray and starts along the table. "I'll take roast beef," he says; "three cents," the waiter calls out; then "I'll take potatoes"; "two cents," says the next waiter; etc. At the end of the line sits a child who serves as cashier. He hands a

slip to the child with the tray. On the slip is the amount the meal costs. The child with the tray then turns to the class. "What is my bill, Mary?," "Tom?," "Anna May?," etc. Finally, "How many made it nine cents?" "Nine cents is right. I shall pay it with a nickel and four cents;" or, "I shall pay a dime and the cashier will give me a cent." He then pays out of the toy-money box.

NOTE. It would be better to defer this until third grade, and then use actual prices.

2. Keeping store (grade 4).-Empty boxes are collected and pictures of articles are cut out for our stock of goods. Boxes with shelves are obtained to place the stock in. Price lists from the nearPaper money is used, and

by grocery are put up about the room. each child is given a certain amount. One child acts as clerk, and others are allowed to come as customers. The bill must be calculated correctly before the goods can be taken.

3. The school grocery (grade 24).-The pupils go to the grocery store and buy three articles, such as bread, 9 cents; milk, 5 cents; and rice, 8 cents. Count up the cost of all. Prices must be the correct current prices.

4. Grocery store (grade 3A).-Pictures of grocery packages are cut from advertisements in magazines (colored ads. preferred) and pasted on oak tag. Price lists for daily "specials" are obtained from local stores and posted in the room.

One child is clerk. One is manager. Members of class ask prices and give orders. Clerk finds cost. Class also do so at the same time and verify. Manager makes the change. Points emphasized are dozen, half dozen, and prices of three, two, or four articles. With lemons at 30 cents per dozen, find the cost of two, etc.

5. A dry-goods store (grade 4).-As a means of connecting the knowledge of the children with the everyday world in which they live, I used the following class exercise in the sixth-grade arithmetic. The exercise involves common fractions and is based on the use of money. The business of a dry-goods store is conducted; several pupils act as clerks, others as customers. A piece of cardboard 20 by 30 inches is procured, and carefully cut samples of cotton, woolen, linen, silk, velvet, and ribbon are pasted on it in rows. By home questioning and the reading of advertisements the current prices per yard and the names of the different materials are procured and written beneath each sample. Girls find how much material is used in their dresses, aprons, coats, etc., and the boys learn the number of yards of cloth in their suits and blouses. Each pupil then finds the exact number of yards of material needed for at least three articles of clothing and proceeds to purchase the same from the clerk in charge. The clerk in turn has to find the total number of yards purchased, the amount of the bill, and to make change if necessary.

6. The grocery store (grade 5).-We use two large tables in our room, one for the groceries and the other for the dry goods. The children bring empty cereal boxes, fruit cans, receptacles for sugar, flour, butter, and spices, and such articles as are sold in a grocery store. When it is not convenient to have the articles we use pictures. One of the stores gave us some advertising material consisting of small sacks of salt, flour, soap, and loaves of bread. The children are asked to find out the customary price of each article and then print the price on pieces of cardboard.

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7. A dry-goods store (grade 5).-For dry goods we use samples of silk, wool, lace, etc., with prices attached. The table is marked off in inches, feet, and yards; and when customers buy "cloth" string is substituted to give the children practice in actual measuring. The children make out the list of supplies they need, then to the store and select them. The storekeeper makes out his bill, which is verified by the customer. We use money made from cardboard. Some pay by check. The storekeeper keeps books and at the end of each day makes a statement of the amount of money taken in and of the amount expended during the day. Each child is storekeeper for a day.

8. Our school store (grades V and VI.)-There is one period in our fifth and sixth grade work which the children welcome with delight. This is the time when we open our school store. In the fifth grade this usually happens when they have finished their work in fractions and easy decimals and begin work in bills. In the sixth grade it comes at the end of work in simple accounts, when bills, receipts, checks, and vouchers are studied.

When not in use the store is kept in one end of the cloak room, folded up out of the way. Just before it is to be used it is rolled out and set up. Each box is dusted and carefully price-marked by the children. We try to have these prices the same as the local prices.

The boxes and cans are all empty ones which the children have brought from home, or carton boxes sent out as advertisements by some company. The children arrange the store, putting groceries in one place, drugs in another, thread boxes in another, etc.

When the morning finally comes each child in the class is given $5 in school currency. The store is open during class period for at least one week. Because the clerkship is an envied position, we use it as a reward to those who have had the most perfect lessons before the store opens. It is friendly rivalry and adds enthusiasm to the work.

The children take turns buying and each one buys four articles. We have two clerks, so two children may buy at once. The rest continue their regular work. We have the kind of pads used in

stores, so each clerk makes out three bills at once. One he gives to his purchaser, one he keeps for himself, and one he puts into a box for the teacher. Each purchaser takes his purchases and his bill home (to his desk).

These bills must be carefully made out, as a mistake counts against the clerk. Each pupil looks over his slip carefully when he reaches his seat, and if there is any mistake in bill or returned change he must find it before the next child finishes buying and go back to the store and have it corrected, else the mistake counts against him at the end of the week, when his change must equal $5 minus the amount of his bills for the week. The teacher verifies this amount by adding the bills which have been put in her box for him and subtracting the total from the original $5. (Next year I think I shall have the pupils at their desks follow each transaction so as to catch any mistake as soon as made.)

The articles which were bought remain on the desks until recess, then the children place them on the counter of the store as they pass out, and the clerks for the day remain behind, putting everything in its proper place ready for the next day's business.

In the sixth grade the children are required to write a receipt for $5 given to each. They are also allowed to write out checks in payment for any amount under $5, the teacher being their banker. Sometimes the clerks ask for payment the second time; then the children ask the banker for their vouchers, which they present to prove that the bill has been paid.

NOTE. This school "store" is well planned.

9. Storekeeper (grades 2 and 3).-One of the devices I use with good results is "Playing storekeeper." A pupil, supplied with a box of toy money, takes the part of storekeeper; each of the other pupils is given a coin, 10, 25, or 50 cents, and coming to the store in turn asks for the articles he wants and gives his coin to the storekeeper, who counts out the change. The pupil on receiving the change counts it and decides whether it is correct or not. This game has proved quite a help in rapid addition and subtraction.

10. Keeping a store (grade 3).-The desire to play store arose from the fact that many children are sent to the store by their mothers, and they confess not knowing whether they receive correct change or not.

Empty boxes, cans, bottles, etc., are brought from home; the children are requested to bring only articles of which they know the correct prices. Cardboard money is made and a handful of it distributed to each child. The store is then arranged, everything put neatly upon shelves and in a special place; for instance, the cereals are in one section, spices in another, and beverages in another.