shining eyes and a bit of color in the unwholesome tint of her cheeks - and the bath nurse close at her heels with the request that she come again to-morrow. "I couldn't get it all off in one scrubbing," she said. "Her poor little feet are caked with dirt, and her underclothes!" she threw up her hands in despair. The teacher prevailed upon the child to ask her mother to let her have clean clothes throughout for the next day, and was gratified when the girl appeared next morning so neat that the latent promise of future beauty was apparent. "Did your mother like you to be clean?" was asked. "Oh, yes," she answered, "mine mudder will do anything the teacher says." Thus was the thought born that even one small teacher may become a power in at least a small part of the world. But swiftly upon the heels of encouragement came another problem. The little girl was being persecuted because, said her tormentors, "She is so dirty she has to take a batt every day." "But everyone should take a bath every day," assured the teacher. "Do you take a batt every day?" came a shy question. "Of course I do," was the assuring answer. "Gawd!" came in an awe-hushed stage whisper from the rear of the room. So, little by little, with unremitting vigilance, are the little foreigners brought to the practice of American standards. And in this process of uplift toward the goal of godliness, the power of the primary teacher is a factor not to be despised. H Hygiene for Grades I and II (A Suggestive Series of Lessons) Mary B. Pratt State Normal School, Worcester, Mass. OW are we to relate more closely the natural tendencies and interests of the child to the various phases of subject-matter in the primary grades? How shall we so organize CHILD and SUBJECT that in every case our aim is consciously driving us toward education for citizenship in a democracy? I think we can all agree that real democracy is difficult to find, in spite of the fact that we read about it, think about it and want it as a universal form of government. There are too many of us who have the Kaiser temperament, and who, both consciously and unconsciously, dominate to a serious degree the personalities of the children and permit repression rather than expression to be the keynote of the various forms of activity in the schoolroom. In order to meet the educational demands of to-day, every lower grade schoolroom should be a social center where the aim is fullness of life, health, vigor, joy and efficiency; where the individuality of each child is sacred and allowed to develop; where little laws and standards are discussed and made because they are best for the group; where self-expression is a dominant factor, and where there is no conflict between the natural growth and development of the child and the kind of training imposed by the teacher. Also, as Health Education becomes an important subject in the lower grade curricula, it may be successfully correlated with Reading, Handwork and Nature Study. Suggestive Outline Series I I Home interests and activities Therefore, in the case of every child, in the case of every subject, and in the case of all the inter-relationships between II these two, initiative and leadership, originality and good thinking, based primarily upon actual experience and environment, should be the point of departure for the teacher's work in carrying out her fundamental aim - Education for Democracy. Having attempted to show in preceding articles how Silent Reading and Project Constructive Work in the lower grades may be a means to this end, I am submitting the following suggestive series of lessons in Hygiene toward the same end. The development of these outlines would be consistent with the child's native interests and with the use of his environment. It would build up within his growing consciousness a knowledge of the following facts: 1 The ideal citizen has a sound body. 2 The ideal citizen cares not only for himself, but he is interested in the public welfare. III Autumn excursions 1 Gathering of leaves 2 Gathering of fruits, vegetables, nuts 3 Food brought from farm 4 Value and use of different foods 5 Care of foods in home and market 6 Canning and preserving .(Emphasis of child's part in each activity) Your cat not only takes good care of herself, but she takes care of her kittens. What does she do that mother does for the baby? She feeds them, washes them, brushes their hair, and sometimes carries them from one place to another. Who knows how she carries them? How can we take care of kitty? There are a great many ways. Give her plenty of good food. Do not use her dish for any other purpose and always keep it clean. Never let her eat out of your dish or with your fork and spoon. Teach her not to jump on the table or touch food which is not meant for her. Teach her to be clean about the house, and give her a comfortable, clean bed to sleep in. How does mother take care of your bed? You must take care of kitty's bed in the same way. Always be kind to your kitty. Similar lessons may be given on the dog, horse, cow, rabbit and squirrel. In each case care, responsibility, cleanliness should be emphasized. f Keeping our hands in the right place g Cheerful disposition 2 How to keep clean and orderly at school (Need emphasized) a Care of books and other material b Care of plants and pets Clean and orderly desks d Clean floor (make children responsible for these matters) 3 How little children may become good citizens a Correlate with 1 and 2 b Obedience and helpfulness at home Responsibility of each child toward making school a healthful, happy place This series of lessons need not be used necessarily in the order in which they are given here. Always plan lessons in view of the specific need. Materials used for illustrative purposes and for concrete needs in the development of these lessons may be as follows: 1 A miniature house given to the children to furnish and keep clean. 2 Dressing dolls. 3 Weaving blankets. 4 Excursions to country, city, markets, factories, etc. 5 Reproducing home interests and activties in dramatization, drawing, construction project work, oral and silent reading. 6 Seasonal interests-reproduced through various other school activities. 7 Animals in the room for a few days at a timedog, cat, rabbit, squirrel, hen and chickens. 8 9 Games. Stories. There are no books written on hygiene simple enough for the lower primary grades, so the work has to come from upper grade books adapted and simplified to meet the needs of little children. A book which particularly lends itself to the needs of the teacher for adaptation is "Healthy Living," by C. E.VA. Winslow. Outlines and Finished Figures Illustrating" The Boy and His Goats." (See "The Story Stand-ups," page 175) 1 A small number of pupils may be sent to the board to work upon some letter form which they find difficult. The teacher should write the letter in correct form for each child and also write one or two easy words in which the letter occurs. This provides the child with a correct model of the letter to guide his practice and shows him how to combine it with other letters. 2 Write at the top of one of the blackboards a complete alphabet in capital letters. Using this as a guide the pupils may practice writing the capital letters at the board for busy work. However, it is not advisable to let them practice writing any capital letter that has not first been studied and practiced under the teacher's direction in a regular class period. 3 Write words beginning with capital letters guided by models written on the board by the teacher. Also sentences. VI Spelling 1 Procure a copy of a spelling list which has been worked out for the grades, such as the Ayres or the Kansas City list. Hektograph that portion of it which should be taught in the second grade, being careful to write clearly and form all letters correctly. Give each child a copy of it. Mount these on stiff and fasten togther a set for each child. paper Now they have a list of words which every second grade child should be able to spell and write correctly at the close of the second year. For seat work the pupils may work on these lists. Since they are in script the children may practice writing them. When a pupil thinks he has mastered a specified portion of the list, he may write his name on a piece of paper and put it into a box on the teacher's desk which is labeled "Spelling." As soon as a number of names are there, the teacher tests these pupils on this group of words by dictating easy sentences containing the words. Those pupils who write all of the words correctly in the sentences, may be assigned a new portion of the list to study independently, whereas, if any child shows by his test that there was any word he hadn't learned, he works further on it and takes the test again with the next group. This device will greatly stimulate pupils to independent effort in mastering the list of words during seat work periods, and consequently more class time will be left for application of the words in written sentences, which is the real test of spelling ability. 2 Besides this list of required words, the children will be greatly interested in keeping a little book in which they write all words they have learned to spell which are not found in the required list. These words may come from any source, either in or outside of school. It will make the pupils more observant of the letter order in words they see and will have the effect of greatly increasing the spelling vocabulary. 3 Cut slips of paper and write a letter on each. Pass down the aisles placing one of these slips on desk of each pupil who is to do seat work during the next period. Have each child write as many words as he can which begin with the letter he has. The letters e, i,j, k, n, o, q, u, v, x, y and z are not good to assign for this work because of the small number of words in a child's vocabulary which begin with these letters. 4 Writing lists of phonetic words is good work to supplement work in spelling. 5 Have a race to see which child can write correctly the longest list of words in a given time, perhaps twenty minutes. At the close of the time the pupils may count their words and each one state to the class how many he has, but the winner will not be known until the teacher has time to look over the lists and find out who has the greatest number of correct words. Then she will announce the winner to the class. 1 After a story has been retold by the children, give them patterns of the characters in the story. Let the children trace these on colored paper and cut them out. They may be used in making a blackboard border, or each child may use his in making a poster. 2 Let the children make original posters to illustrate the poems that they memorize, or the story they have had in language class. This should not be done until after posters have been made as class work. 3 After the children have memorized or read a little poem, write it on the board omitting certain of the important words. Let the children copy it and supply the omitted words. Example "The north wind doth blow, And down comes the snow. Oh, what will the robin do now, poor thing! He will sit in the barn, And keep himself warm, And hide his head under his wing, poor thing!" (Omit the italicized words.) 4 Make hektographed copies of a poem that has just been memorized. Cut each copy apart by lines and put it into an envelope. Give an envelope to each child, and let him arrange the lines as they should be and paste them on mounting paper. 5 Let each child make a book in which to keep the poems that have been memorized. Have covers of dark colored mounting paper and leaves of lined writing paper. Fasten the book together with brass brads so that new leaves may easily be inserted from time to time. The covers may be suitably decorated during the drawing period. When a poem is being memorized, write it on the board for the children to copy as seat work. If well done, it may be put into the book. Illustrations may also be added. 6 Original illustrating of stories is good seat work. 7 Let the children make plans for dramatization of stories as suggested in II, 2, c. 8 Place on the board a short list of words related in thought. Let the children make a simple story, using these words. Mount the best ones and fasten them up where good work is displayed. 9 a Have the children copy sentences containing words which they have been trying to learn to use correctly, as are for is, saw for seen, etc. b Fill blanks with such words. c Write original sentences containing these words. 10 Each child may write statements, naming things or children that are at the right of him as he sits in school. Also those at his left. Example May sits at my right. |