If no table is available, a goods box may be turned on its side, the top covered with oilcloth, and a frame, made from the cover of the box, fitted around the edge. The inside of the box may be used as a closet in which to store tools and materials, and a neat appearance given to the whole by a curtain of denim or other plain, heavy material.

ILl.u.s.tRATIVE PROBLEMS

One of the most valuable uses of the sand table is in making ill.u.s.trations for stories, historical events, and similar topics in which the relations between people and places is important. No definite rules can be laid down for working out such ill.u.s.trations. The conditions under which they are made, the time to be devoted to the work, the importance of the subject, all affect both the nature and the quality of the work. Any material which lends itself to the purpose should be called into service.

The method of procedure is best set forth by describing several problems as actually worked out by children.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 46.--A home in Switzerland. Second grade. Columbia, Missouri.]

(1) =Story of Columbus=--_First Grade._

_Materials Used._--Paper for cutting and folding, twigs for forests, acorns for tents, large piece of gla.s.s for ocean.

_Details of Ill.u.s.tration._--The piece of gla.s.s was imbedded in sand in the middle of the table; one end of the table represented Spain, the other, America. The representation of Spain included:

"Castles in Spain" being large houses with many windows in which the king and queen lived. They were cut from paper.

Many people, cut from paper, including kings and queens and the friends of Mr. Columbus who came to tell him "good-by." The kings and queens were distinguished by royal purple robes and golden crowns and necklaces, produced by the use of colored crayon.

The three ships made from folded paper. In one of them sat Mr.

Columbus.

Fishes, of paper, inhabited the hollow s.p.a.ce underneath the gla.s.s.

The forest primeval was shown on the American side by green twigs of trees set very close together. On pulling apart the leaves and peering into the depths of this forest, one found it inhabited by bears and other wild beasts, also cut from paper.

The Indians lived in a village of acorn tents set up in a little clearing on the sh.o.r.e.

Flags.--The Spanish region was identified by a Spanish flag, while the stars and stripes waved above the Indian village.

_Values._--The project being on the level of the children"s experience, they worked freely and with intense interest. The characters in the story were all very real to them. They literally swarmed about the table whenever opportunity was given, moving the figures about as they told the story over and over again. Mr. Columbus sailed across the sea many times.

Many boats were made and named for one of the three, according to the preference of the maker. They peeped into the forest and shuddered in delightful fear "lest a bear get me." They made and remade the scene as new ideas suggested themselves during several days of Columbus week.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 47.--Two little knights of Kentucky. Fourth grade.

Columbia, Missouri.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 48.--How Cedric became a knight. Fourth grade.

Columbia, Missouri.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 49.--A sugar camp. Built late in the spring by a third-grade cla.s.s. They enjoyed the green gra.s.s, though it suggests an overlate season.]

Several discrepancies existed which are mentioned here because they troubled some overconscientious visitors. The stars and stripes did not come into existence until centuries after Columbus died and therefore never waved over the Indian village which he found. But chronology does not trouble the first grader very much, while "my country" and "my flag"

are ideas which are developing together. And when he is singing, "Columbus sailed across the sea, To find a land for you and me," the red, white, and blue forms the most fitting symbol in his representation of that land. The wild animals which infested the sand-table forest are not all mentioned in the histories as found on San Salvador, but they did exist in the child"s idea of the wild country which the white men found on this side of the Atlantic. The children having truthfully expressed their ideas, the teacher had a basis from which to develop, correct, and emphasize such points as were of real importance, while the unimportant features would fade out for lack of emphasis.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 50.--A western cattle ranch.]

On the occasion of the supervisor"s visit the members of the cla.s.s vied with each other in telling the story and explaining the significance of the various ill.u.s.trations. The supervisor expressed a wish to own some of the cuttings, whereupon, at a hint from the teacher, the cla.s.s which had gathered about the sand table scampered joyfully (but quietly) back to their seats. Scissors and paper were quickly distributed, and in about five minutes an empty shoe box was required to hold the collection of "Mr.

Columbuses," kings and queens in royal purple, gold crowns, and necklaces, ships, fishes, etc., that were showered upon the guest. Needless to say many sc.r.a.ps of paper had fallen to the floor. The teacher remarked that it was time for the brownies to come. Down went all the heads for a sleepy time. The teacher slipped about, tapping here and there a child, who quickly began gathering up the sc.r.a.ps as joyously as he had helped to make them.

The supervisor bade them good-by, with a wish that all children might begin their school life under such happy and wholesome influences.

(2) =Story of Jack Horner=[3]--_First Grade._--As the story was read the different characters were subjects for free paper-cutting exercises. An abundance of paper (scratch paper and newspaper) was supplied, and each child allowed to cut each figure many times, very quickly.

The story was also dramatized and acted out over and over again. Figure 1 shows the result of an hour"s work in a.s.sembling the various characters and telling the whole story on the sand table and in a poster. The different figures to be cut were a.s.signed to or chosen by the different children, the teacher taking care that no characters were omitted. Having cut figures of the various characters as they were met in the story, all were eager to reproduce the part called for, and in a few minutes more than enough cuttings were made to supply both sand table and poster with ample material. Two groups of children, one for the poster and one for the sand table, were a.s.signed the work of placing the figures. The teacher superintended both projects, giving a few suggestions as needed, but throwing the responsibility upon the children as much as possible.

This problem was worked out by the same cla.s.s which made the Columbus ill.u.s.tration just described. The Jack Horner story was ill.u.s.trated in the spring, after much work of this sort had been done. The quality of the cuttings showed an interesting improvement over the cuttings made for the Columbus story, which came during the third week of the school year.

(3) =Story of Three Little Pigs.=--This is a long story, and three weeks were occupied in reading it and dramatizing it. During this time there were frequent discussions about how it was to be worked out on the sand table. Contributions in great variety were brought in: straw for the straw house, twigs for the house of sticks, bags of brick dust to make a roadway different from the sand, rose hips to be tied to a small branch to represent the apple tree, and various other articles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 51.--The story of Three Little Pigs. First grade.

Columbia, Missouri.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 52.--A j.a.panese tea garden. Third grade. Columbia, Missouri.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 53.--A coal mine. Fourth grade. Columbia, Missouri.]

The houses were built as suggested by the pictures in the reader. The pig and wolf were modeled in clay, each being shown in the several different positions described in the story. Over and over a little clay pig rolled down the hill in a paper churn and frightened a clay wolf. One group, not having wherewithal to build a brick house, used a wooden one made by another group. Another cla.s.s made the brick house out of blocks, and built in a fireplace with its kettle ready to hold the hot water whenever the wolf should start for the chimney. (See Fig. 51.)

(4) =j.a.panese Tea Garden.=--A third-grade cla.s.s used the sand table to ill.u.s.trate what they had gleaned from reading several stories and descriptions of life in j.a.pan, in connection with elementary geography.

The sand-table representation included a tiny bridge across a small stream of "real" water. The "real river" was secured by ingenious use of a leaking tin can which was hidden behind a clump of trees (twigs). A thin layer of cement in the bed of the river kept the water from sinking into the sand. A shallow pan imbedded in the sand formed a lake into which the river poured its waters. (See Fig. 52.)

(5) =A Coal Mine.=--The sand table shown in Fig. 53 was worked out by a fourth-grade cla.s.s in connection with the geography of the western states.

Descriptions and pictures were studied with great earnestness to find out how to fix it, and the children made it as they thought it ought to be.

The actual making occupied very little time, the various parts being contributed by different pupils.

Problems of this sort develop leadership. There is usually one whose ideas take definite shape promptly and whose suggestions are willingly followed by his group. If there is one pupil in the cla.s.s whose ability to lead is so strong that the others are overshadowed, it is sometimes well to let the work be done by small groups who use the table turn about. This plan stimulates a wholesome rivalry and discourages dawdling.

(6) =Stories.=--Ill.u.s.trations for two stories are shown on page 94. In the first (Fig. 47) part of the cla.s.s made a representation on the sand table while the rest prepared a poster from paper cuttings. In the second (Fig.

48) empty shoe boxes were used in making the castle. Very little time was spent on either project.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 54.--A chariot race. Second grade. Pasadena, California.]

CHAPTER VIII

ANIMALS AND TOYS