_Hats._--Hats may be made for the millinery store from any of the materials commonly used. This is a good way for girls to develop their ingenuity and resourcefulness.
_The Store Front._--The front of each store may be made of either wood or cardboard, the s.p.a.ces for doors and windows being left open that the merchandise may be conveniently handled. Brick or stone fronts, second-story windows, offices, etc., may all be indicated as artistically as the capacity of the cla.s.s permits by the use of colored crayons. The sign is an important feature and should stimulate an interest in well-made lettering.
=Additional Projects.=--In addition to representations of retail shops, various industries, such as the carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, flour mill, ice plant, and other familiar industries, may be represented.
Cooperative inst.i.tutions, such as the post office and fire department, should be included in the study.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 33.--A grocery. Fourth grade.]
=Excursions.=--Wherever possible, the plant should be visited by the cla.s.s.
Before making the visit, the cla.s.s should discuss what they expect to see, and go prepared to find out definite things. Each child should have at least one question which he is to ask, or one item of information for which he is to be responsible to the cla.s.s on the return. Often the visit is more worth while to the cla.s.s after they have tried to make a representation from what they already know and from what they can read on the subject. They are then more conscious of their needs and more alive to the important elements than when they are merely seeing a new thing which is to a great extent foreign to their experience. If they make the visit first, they are apt to feel the need of another when they attempt to work out their representation. If they make a representation first, they are quite sure to be dissatisfied with it and want to make another after they have made the visit. In either case their consciousness of need is a measure of growth.
=Correlation.=--While the building of a store is in progress the study of the sources and processes of manufacture of the various articles of merchandise will supply valuable subject matter in several fields.
_English._--Books containing information on the subject will be read with a definite purpose and more than ordinary interest. Especially if the group method is used, will the members of a group be proud to bring to the cla.s.s interesting items concerning their particular part of the work.
These narratives and descriptions may be made excellent practice in either oral or written English and will be of the sort Dewey characterizes as "having something to say rather than having to say something."
_Geography._--This study may also enter as deeply into the field of geography as the development of the cla.s.s warrants. It will be geography of a vital sort. How these things are brought to us touches the field of transportation, creating an interest in ships and railroad trains, pack mules and express wagons.
_History._--The study of the process of manufacture opens up the field of industrial history, and in this, as in the geography, the study is limited only by the capacity of the cla.s.s.
_Number._--In the field of number the possibilities are also unlimited, in studying the weights and measures used for different commodities, the actual prices paid for these things, and the usual quant.i.ties purchased.
Playing store will involve the making of bills, the changing of money, and the measuring of merchandise. Different pupils may take turns acting as salesmen or cashier. The common practices of business life should be followed as closely as possible, only in this case each purchaser should make out his own bills. Actual purchase slips may be brought from home and used in number lessons.
An inventory of the stock may be taken and will supply excellent practice in addition and multiplication. After the example of _real_ stores, a stock-taking sale at reduced rates may be advertised. The writer answered such an advertis.e.m.e.nt by a third grade and asked how much could be purchased for one dollar. Pencils were busy at once, and a variety of combinations suggested. One pupil was quickly called to account by his mates for offering only ninety-five cents" worth of merchandise for the dollar. By these and numerous other exercises which will suggest themselves to lively children and wide-awake teachers a vast amount of vital subject matter may be dealt with in a natural way, quite on the level of the child"s experience and interest.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 34.--A grocery. Third grade. Columbia, Missouri.]
_Art._--The art side also may receive due attention in the general proportioning and arrangement of the stores, in the modeling of certain features from clay, as enumerated above, in the making of labels for boxes and cans, in the writing of signs and advertis.e.m.e.nts, and in the color combinations. These features are to a great extent incidental to other problems just as the use of good taste is incidental to all the affairs of life and should receive corresponding emphasis.
ILl.u.s.tRATIONS
Figure 32 shows about half the stores built by one third-grade cla.s.s. Some of the subject matter drawn from the various stories was as follows: in connection with the grocery, a study of the source of various articles of food with oral and written descriptions of processes of manufacture; the common measures used in the grocery, and ordinary amounts purchased.
In connection with the meat market, the names of various kinds of meat, the animals from which they are obtained, and the part of the animal which furnishes certain cuts; as, for example, ham, bacon, chops. The current prices and approximate quant.i.ty needed for a meal made practical number work.
The bakery called for an investigation of the processes of bread making and a study of the material used. In all of the processes the teacher had opportunity to stress the necessity for proper sanitation.
In connection with the dry goods store, the distinguishing characteristics of cotton, wool, linen, and silk were emphasized and ill.u.s.trated by the samples collected for the store and by the clothing worn by the children.
Common problems in measuring cloth enlivened the number lessons.
The millinery store disclosed considerable ingenuity in the field of hat manufacture, and a lively business in doll hats was carried on for some time.
In connection with the post office, registered letters, dead letters, money orders, rural free delivery, etc., were discussed, and the advantages of cooperation touched upon.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 35.--A dry goods store. Third grade.]
The other stores of the village street offer further opportunity for becoming better acquainted with the common things which lie close at hand and touch our daily lives.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 36.--Home in a hot country.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 37.--Home in a cold country.]
CHAPTER VII
SAND TABLES AND WHAT TO DO WITH THEM
A sand table should be considered one of the indispensable furnishings of every schoolroom. Its possibilities are many and varied. It may be used merely as a means of recreation and the children allowed to play in the sand, digging and building as fancy suggests. Or it may be used as the foundation for elaborate representations, carefully planned by the teacher, laboriously worked out by the children, and extravagantly admired by the parents on visitors" day. While both of these uses may serve worthy ends on certain occasions, the most valuable function of the sand table strikes a happy medium between the two, as means of ill.u.s.trating and emphasizing various features of the daily lessons. In this capacity the laborious efforts of the show problem on the one hand and purposeless play of the other are both avoided. In this capacity the work on the sand table goes along hand in hand with the regular work in geography, history, language, or any subject in which it is possible through an ill.u.s.tration to teach more effectively.
The purpose of this work is not so much to produce fine representations as to help the children to clarify and strengthen their ideas through the effort to express them in concrete form. The value lies in the development which comes to the children while they work. The technique of processes of construction is of secondary importance, though careless work ought never to be permitted. The completed project has little value after it has served its purpose as an ill.u.s.tration and may be quickly destroyed to make way for the next project. For this reason emphasis is laid on the general effect rather than the detail of construction. The work should be done well enough to serve the purpose, but time should not be spent on unnecessary details which do not add to the value as an ill.u.s.tration. In most cases speed is an important element. The project should be completed while the subject it ill.u.s.trates is under discussion, if it is to be of most service. The first essential is that the work shall be done wholly by the children. The teacher may by skillful questions help them to build up in imagination the project they intend to work out, so that they may work with a definite purpose. She may sometimes suggest improved methods of working out various features when the improvements will add to the value of the ill.u.s.tration, but she should seldom, if ever, plan a project definitely or dictate the method of procedure.
Not least among the possible benefits to be derived from work of this kind is the development of resourcefulness. The necessity for expressing an idea in concrete form with whatever materials are at hand often calls for considerable ingenuity. Ability of this sort will show itself only when the children are expressing their ideas with utmost freedom and feel the responsibility for the success of their work. The more earnestly the children try to express their ideas, the greater will be their development. The teacher should feel that she is hindering the growth of the children and defrauding them of their legitimate opportunity for development when she allows an over-anxiety for tangible and showy results to make her take the responsibility upon herself.
The details of method are best presented through a detailed description of typical ill.u.s.trations actually worked out in the cla.s.sroom.
A SAND-TABLE FARM--HOME LIFE IN THE COUNTRY
The study of home life as a general subject will include "our home" and the homes of other people who live under different conditions. To the town child the country will often be somewhat familiar and hold the second place in his interest. In the country school the farm may often be the best place to begin.
Various questions will arise as soon as it is decided to make a sand-table farm, the answers to which will be governed by the habits of the locality.
What sort of farm shall we have? Shall we raise stock, fruit, corn, wheat, vegetables, or a little of everything? What shall we need to plant in each case, and in what proportion? How much pasture land shall we need? What buildings? What machinery?
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 38.--A sand-table farm. First grade. Columbia, Missouri.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 39.--A sand-table farm. Second grade. Columbia, Missouri.]
=Fences.=--As soon as the question of crops and the division of the table into fields is settled, the problem of fencing presents itself. What sort of fence is needed, wire, boards, pickets, rails, or hedge? How far apart shall the posts be set, how tall should they be, and how many will be needed? How many boards? How wide? How long? How many wires?
The making of the fencing will supply material for one or more number lessons. Various materials may be used.
_Twigs_ may be cut to given lengths and set in concrete (clay) posts.
_For wire fence_, cut posts from small wooden sticks. Drive small tacks in each post--one for each wire. Use fine spool wire or wire raveled from fly screen. Twist wires once around each tack, or drive the tacks in firmly so that the wire is held by the head of the tack. This is not an easy fence for very little children to make.