CITIZENSHIP IN SCHOOL AND OUT DUNN AND HsLtt (StoUt^s of Agticultuce At QtocneU IninerBttH ffiibtarg Cornell University Library JK 1759.D78 Citizenship in school and out; the first 3 1924 014 468 304 The original of tliis bool< is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014468304 / .*r>-^ . ' V. ] '*^"'' ".^'Ife^- .# fe>^,;*;; '>:::rf • ■ W^'^ 'M f .V We^ i 1 ^^ J *! JlMBBHBjte^S-^-'" ■K— .— ^,- *- ■■ CITIZENSHIP IN SCHOOL AND OUT THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF SCHOOL LIFE BY IJCV, ARTHUR WILLIAM DUNN SPECIALIST IN CIVIC EDUCATION, U. S. BUREAU OF EDUCATION, AND AUTHOR OF "tHE COMMUNITY AND THE CITIZEN" AND "COMMUNITY CIVICS AND RURAL LIFE " AND HANNAH MARGARET HARRIS INSTRUCTOR IN HISTORY, CIVICS, AND ENGLISH, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, HYANNIS, MASSACHUSETTS D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO Copyright, 1919, By D. C. Heath & Co. 1 j9 ACKNOWLED GMENTS So far as my part in this book is concerned, it is mainly the outgrowth of some yfears of experience in supervising the work in history, civics, and English in the Training School at Hyannis, Massachusetts, which has for its motto, "A live child in a live school." The philosophy of educa- tion which finds brief expression in this motto has provided the congenial atmosphere in which these plans of work have unfolded, and I desire to acknowledge with gratitude my indebtedness to Mr. W. A. Baldwin, Principal of the State Normal School at Hyannis, for stimulating suggestion and illuminating aid received all along the way. My hearty thanks are due also to all my fellow teachers in both Normal School and Training School for most obHg- ing and able cooperation. Among the favors received at the hands of my colleagues I cannot omit to mention with special gratitude the valuable suggestions received in the course of my writing from Miss Julia Anna Haynes and Miss Annie S. Crowell, each of whom has read parts of the manuscript and in various other ways has given the help of a friend. To Mr. Clarence D. Kingsley, Supervisor of High Schools, Massachusetts Board of Education, I am indebted for the en- couragement which first led me to this attempt to pass on my plans for training in citizenship to a larger number of teachers than those of our own school. Finally, to my collaborator in this attempt I make grate- ful acknowledgment of counsel so wise and sympathetic as to be invaluable to me personally and of criticism so dis- criminating and constructive as to be essential to whatever success the attempt may attain. Hannah Margaret Harris CONTENTS HAPTER PAGE Introduction xi I. The Opportunity of the Elementary School in A Democracy i Before the War and Now i Different Conceptions of the Teaching of Civics ... 3 The Grown Citizen in the Five Fields of Citizenship 5 The Growing Citizen in the Five Fields of Citizen- ship ' 6 The Essential Character and the Inevitable Condi- tions of Training in Citizenship 7 II. The Daily Program of the Elementary School 15 Possible Reorganization of School Work 15 The Use of the Following Lessons with a Conven- tional Program 16 III. Centers of Interest in the Earlier Grades... 19 Centers of Interest ig The First Year in School 23 The Second Year in School 32 The Third Year in School 34 IV. Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade... 35 Citizenship in the Home 35 Housekeeping Play 35 An Illustrative Lesson 38 Stories and Poems which Idealize Home Life 39 Citizenship in Recreation 40 Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments .... 40 Stories, Poems, Songs, Pictures 43 Celebration of Holidays 44 V vi Contents CHAPTER JAOE Citizenship in Work 48 Working Together 48 Citizenship in Social Intercourse 50 Practice in Social Virtues and Graces 50 Stories Illustrating Social Virtues and Graces ... 50 Citizenship in Organized Community Life 51 Sharing Consciously the Community Life of the School 51 Dramatization of Getting and Giving Help on a City Street 52 V. Suggestions for Lessons in the Second Grade. sS Citizenship in the Home 55 A Study of the Children's Own Homes 55 Activities of the Home Life 55 Stories, Poems, Pictures 56 A Study of Eskimo Home Life 56 Citizenship in Recreation 57 Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments. ... 57 Stories, Songs, Poems, Pictures 58 Celebration of Holidays 60 Citizenship in Work 6i Working Together 61 Citizenship in Social Intercourse 62 Practice in Social Virtues and Graces 62 Stories Illustrating Social Virtues and Graces ... 63 Citizenship in Organized Community Life 63 Sharing Consciously the Community Life of the School 63 Playing Postman 64 VI. Suggestions for Lessons in the Third Grade . . 66 Citizenship in the Home 66 A Study of the Children's Own Homes 66 Relationships of the Home Life 66 Stories, Poems, Pictures 67 A Study of Indian Home Life 67 Contents vii CHAPTER PACE A Study of the Neighborhood 68 Citizenship in Recreation 69 Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments .... 69 Stories, Poems, Songs, Pictures 70 Celebration of Holidays 71 Citizenship in Work 72 Working Together 72 Citizenship in Social Intercourse 73 Practice of the Social Virtues and Graces 73 Stories Illustrating Social Virtues and Graces ... 74 Citizenship in Organized Community Life 75 Sharing Consciously the Community Life of the School 75 A Study of the Advantages of Organized Cooper- ation 75 Dramatization of Visits to Places of Pleasure and Privilege 77 The Park 77 The Library 78 VII. Courses of Study in the Intermediate Grades 79 Work Expected from Children of these Grades. ... 79 The Use versus the Abuse of Courses of Study .... 80 Illustrations: American History in the Fourth and Fifth Grades 81 European History in the Sixth Grade 83 VIII. Suggestions for Lessons in the Fourth Grade 85 Citizenship in the Home 85 Connecting School Work and Home Work 85 Literature of Home Life 86 Citizenship in Recreation 87 Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments. . . 87 Stories, Poems, Songs, Pictures 89 Celebration of Holidays 90 Citizenship in Work 93 viii Contents CHAPTER PAGE Working Together and for Others 93 A Study of Occupations 95 Citizenship in Social Intercourse 96 Practice of the Social Virtues and Graces 96 A Study of Certain Social Customs 96 Citizenship in Organized Community Life 97 A Study of this School 97 A Study of Voluntary Cooperation 100 IX. Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade. . 101 Citizenship in the Home loi Connecting School Work and Home Work loi A Study of the Essentials of Home Life 102 Historical Stories and Projects 103 Citizenship in Recreation 104 Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments. ... 104 Recreational Reading 106 Celebration of Holidays 107 An Illustrative Lesson 108 Citizenship in Work 113 Working Together and for Others 113 A Study of Physical Surroundings and Getting a Living 114 Historical Stories 114 A Study of How Our Wants are Supplied 115 A Study of How We Supply Wants of Others .... 116 Citizenship in Social Intercourse 117 Practice of the Social Virtues 117 Citizenship in Organized Community Life 119 The Playing of Organized Games 119 A Study of "The Rules of the Game" 119 A Study of CoQperation for Safety 120 X. Suggestions for Lessons in the Sixth Grade. . 123 Citizenship in the Home 1 23 Connecting School Work and Home Work 123 A Study of the Connections of Home with the Outside World 123 Contents ix CHAPTER PAGE Citizenship in Recreation 124 Celebration of Seasonal Festivals 124 Recreational Reading 127 Citizenship in Work 128 Working Together and for Others 128 A Study of Several Inventions 129 A Study of Services to the Community 130 Citizenship in Social Intercourse 131 Practice of the Social Virtues 131 Stories from European History 131 Citizenship in Organized Community Life 137 Organization and Conduct of a School Club. . . . 137 A Study of the School Community 137 A Study of Concrete Instances of Beneficial Community Action 138 Bibliography of Children's Literature 141 INTRODUCTION For the plan and execution of the following chapters the reader is indebted to Miss Harris. All that is original in the plan and in the method of treatment is hers, and has grown directly out of her own successful experience and that of teachers under her direction or observation. It has been a privilege to cooperate in a slight degree in the elaboration of her plan and in making available to other teachers the results of her experience. Citizenship In School and Out is timely. The outcome of the war has committed the world to the principles of democracy as it has never been committed before. America's part in this outcome has imposed upon her a mighty responsi- bihty and an equally marvelous opportunity for service. Whether the principles for which we have fought shall be reaUzed or discredited wiU depend upon our ability to make them hve in practice; and our American schools will in- evitably have much to do with determining how we shall meet our responsibility and opportunity, and whether the results of the war shall be permanent and beneficent as we have faith that they will be. Perhaps the obligation of the schools is no greater at this time than at any other, but we feel it more keenly and more generally. For this very reason their opportunity is greater. Never before has there been so general an interest in civic education as at present. It is finding expression not only in the schools themselves and in the propaganda of educational and civic organizations, but also in express legislation enacted or proposed in several states. The subject received recogni- xii Citizenship In School and Out tion by the President in the midst of his preoccupation with international affairs of the greatest moment; indeed it was because of the gravity of the national and international situation that he urged upon the schools the necessity of training in civic consciousness and civic duty. No one doubts the need for civic training in a democracy, nor the responsibility of the school in the matter. The question is, how shall the responsibility be met ? The follow- ing chapters afford an answer to this question, so far as the elementary schools are concerned, that should be welcome to teachers who are in quest of methods of procedure that will help them practically to ful&U their obligations as trainers of citizens. While it is, perhaps, not the only answer, it is one, at least, that is based on principles that must guide in any attempt at the civic training of yoimg citizens that is to be at all efficacious — principles that have been too generally overlooked. It has been prophesied that the work of the public schools will be profoundly modified by the war, and in some direc- tions more than others; for example, in physical education. The war has made us vividly conscious that the schook have not done their full duty in developing a physically fit man- hood and womanhood. No less, however, should be the effect upon the civic training afforded. In fact, the increased attention to physical training has a distinctly civic motive. Efficient democracy is the thing aimed at whether we think of it in terms of physical fitness, industrial fitness, or moral, social, and political fitness. If the lessons of the war are really applied constructively to the modification of the work of the schools, education for citizenship and in citizenship will hereafter be "a more conspicuous aim," to use a phrase of Commissioner of Education Payson Smith, of Massachu- setts. The initial premise upon which the following chapters are based is that "the one essential function of the American Introduction xiii public school" is "to educate citizens who will make demo- cracy safe for the world." A second conviction underlying this book is that civic education to be efiScacious must begin with the child's entrance to school and must be continuous and persistent. The chief desideratum is to cultivate an habitual attitude of mind toward one's civic relations and responsibilities and toward the community's organization and practice by which alone these responsibilities can be fulfilled. Such habitual attitude of mind cannot be grafted on to the citizen after he has largely attained his growth, but must grow into the very texture of his being, must be an essential part of him. Speak- ing more precisely, the young citizen is developing an habit- ual attitude of mind toward his civic relations aU the time, without guidance if not with it. It is not a thing that we can will him to do or not to do. If the process goes on with- out guidance during the six formative years of elementary school life, any attempt to shape civic habits in the later years becomes vastly more difficult. It becomes a process of re-making, and the longer it is postponed the more difficult it becomes The school has a large responsibility for getting the young citizen started right in his civic growth, no matter how well-planned a course of civic instruction may be await- ing him in later years. The responsibiUty appears even greater when we think of the large percentage of young citizens who reach the age when they may legally leave school by the time they complete their elementary course, and do so; when we realize that "school terms are so short in many states and compulsory attendance is so badly enforced that the school life of the average person growing up in rural sections is only 4.5 school years of 140 days each." The Committee on Social Studies of the National Educa- tion Association's Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education recognizes this need for an early be- xiv Citizenship In School and Out ginning in civic education. Its rqiort advocates a "cycle" organization of civic studies (see Report on Social Studies in Secondary Education, Bulletin, 1916, No. 28, U. S. Bureau of Education). "The course of social studies proposed for the years VII-IX consti- tutes a cycle to be followed by a similar cycle in the years X-XII, and presumably preceded by another similar cycle in the six elementary grades.'' The reasons suggested for this cycle arrangement are three: (i) It gives opportunity for a well rounded, though elemen- tary, course of civic or social training in the earlier grades for the very large number of young citizens who pursue their education no further; (2) it makes possible a tjrpe of training and instruction in each cycle adapted to the mental and social experience and needs of the pupils during well marked periods of growth; and (3) it provides for a foundation in the earlier cycles that is absolutely indispensable for effective work in the later cycles. "Assuming that provision has been made for the social aspect of education in grades I-VI of the elementary school, the following general plan ... is pro- posed for the years VII-XII." (^Report on Social Studies, pp. 11-12). A good deal of progress has been made in recent years toward vitalizing civic education in the upper grades, esp>e- cially in the junior high school period in the form of " com- munity civics." But even the best of this work has lost in effectiveness because the assumption of the Committee on Social Studies that "provision has been made for the social aspect of education in the elementary school," has not been realized. Citizenship In School and Out makes a distinct contribution not only to elementary civic education as such, "but also to the problem of the higher grades. Courses of civic instruction or of civic training for the Introduction xv elementary grades have by no means been entirely lacking. Such courses, however, are as a rule one-sided or expressive of a single idea and in too many cases disregard recognized educational principles. A few years ago the author of this Introduction in discussing "the trend of civic education"^ pointed out that the aims of civic education must be at least threefold: it must train citizens who ate intelligent with respect to civic matters; it must cultivate adequate and proper motives for civic conduct (including civic ideals) ; and it must cultivate the traits and habits that characterize the " good citizen." All of these aims must be constantly present in the mind of the teacher, and her procedure must be such as to realize them. Unfortunately this is not often the case. Since it is largely the recognition of all these aims that gives significance to the plan and method of the following chapters, it may be well to consider them in some detail. I. Civic Intelligence. — The controlling aim in most courses of civics has been civic intelligence. Moreover, civic intelligence has been conceived of as synonymous with civic knowledge. The result of this is that much of our civic instruction has been content with the impartation of infor- mation — supposedly true information, but almost always of narrow range and pertaining primarily to governmental mechanism. Knowledge about government is not the only knowledge that the intelligent citizen must have; but more important than this, no amount of knowledge will make an intelligent citizen unless he is able to %se it, and unless he uses it vfith. judgment, which includes the power and habit of deferring final judgments until all essential facts are in hand and interpreted in familiar terms. It is one of the duties of citizenship to be informed about government and other civic matters; but it is not the duty '■ Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1914, Vol. I, Chapter 18. xvi Citizenship In School and Out of young citizens to know as much about these things as adult citizens should know. The attempt to make children learn many of the things which adults have found useful is very often fruitless because children have not the basis of experi- ence that alone can give meaning to the knowledge. They quickly "forget" because they never really knew. One fault with efforts to train for citizenship has been that of concen- trating attention too exclusively upon the citizenship that children are to enjoy and exercise in the future to the neglect of the citizenship that they are enjoying and experiencing now. A result of this is that our methods have been those of filling the mental storehouse for future use instead of those of cultivating a growing plant. The gardener is of course concerned with the crop he is to get at harvest time, but he knows that the best way and the only way to assure that crop is to provide the plant with nourishment that it can use in its present growth.^ This is the cardinal principle that permeates the report of the Committee on Social Studies and to which the Committee gives expression in the words of Professor Dewey: "We are continually uneasy about the things we adults know and are afraid the child will never learn them unless they are drilled into him by instruction before he has any intellectual use for them. If we could really believe that attending to the needs of present growth would keep the child and teacher alike busy and would also provide the best p>ossible guarantee of the learning needed in the future, transformation of educa- tional ideals might soon be accomplished, and other desirable changes would largely take care of themselves." This is also the cardinal principle that permeates the follow- ing chapters and to which the "suggestions for lessons" give an interpretation in practice that should be of the greatest service to teachers and to our democracy. ' Instruction and Practice in the Duties of Citizenship, by Arthur W. Dunn, Bulletin No. i, 1918, Massachusetts State Board of Education. Introduction xvii In his story, "The Brown Mouse," Mr. Herbert Quick admonishes us to "cease thinking so much about agricultural education, and "devote ourselves to educational agriculture. So will the nation be made strong." This admonition con- tains an educational principle in harmony with that stated in the preceding paragraph, and peculiarly significant in its application to civic education. If Citizenship In School and Out seems to contain, or to suggest, a minimum of the kind of information that we adults have come to consider essen- tial to inteUigent citizenship, it is because the book aims throughout to make the child's present citizenship educational, in the belief that this is " the best possible guarantee of the learning needed in the future;" that education /or citizen- ship is contingent upon education in citizenship. "In the effort to increase children's intelligence in social or civic matters the teacher is sometimes tempted to begin by giving information which has perhaps been carefully prepared to reach their understanding, but which does not touch their interest, because it seems to them remote, belongs in a world which concerns only grown-ups, hence is easily forgotten" (p. ii). " In this exercise from day to day of all the functions of citizenship which are already theirs, occasion will often arise for them to acquire such information regarding govern- ment and other social arrangements as will be useful both then and in later life. . . " (p. 13). It is only by the application of this principle, also, that the other essential factors in civic intelligence, so often neglected, can be cultivated — the ability to use knowledge, and judg- ment. Ability to use knowledge comes from practice in using it; and practice in using it can be had only in relation to situations actually experienced. Also, "to attempt to train the power of judgment by exercising it upon adult citizens' problems is a vain effort . . . The problem, then, which we select for the purpose of training the child's judgment must xviii Citizenship In School and Out be each and every time a child's problem, all its factors and conditions familiarly known to him, and its solution of some real concern to him" (pp. ii, 12). 2. Civic Motives and Ideals. — Reliance upon civic in- telligence as a means to good citizenship is vain unless that intelUgence is grounded in proper civic motives and ideals. Whatever limitations are imposed upon the cultivation of civic intelligence by the child's immaturity and lack of experience, the task of cultivating motives and of forming ideals is vastly more difficult and deUcate. The importance of this aspect of civic education has not been overlooked, and many teachers do exercise, consciously or imconsciously, a potent influence in fixing high civic ideals and in stimulating right civic conduct in their pupils. But efforts to lay down rules, or to prescribe methods, for the guidance of others have almost always been wofxilly inadequate. Their inadequacy often results from advocating specific devices, perhaps good enough in themselves, instead of clarifying principles that must control in the use of all devices if they are to be at all effective. It is beheved that the foEowing chapters, while they can not make this phase of civic education easy, wiU make it less formidable to the earnest teacher by the emphasis they give to such a controlling principle, and by the concrete illustration of the apphcation of the principle in the several grades. The most important principle emphasized in this connection is the same as that already noticed in discussing the training of civic intelligence: "Must we not, when we are trying to show the children ideals, stand with them on the plane of their own experience . . . ? We are brought always to the same conclusion: whatever characteristic of the grown citizen we are trying to foster in the growing citizen, we find that the reasonable procedure is to use for our purpose the circumstances in which the child is naturally placed and the material which his own interest indicates is appropriate to his growth at that particular stage in his experience.'' (See p. 13.) Introduction xix 3. Ciinc Traits and Habits. — The third aim of civic edu- cation is the cultivation of civic traits and habits (see above, p. xv). It is not too much to say that in the elementary grades, and especially in the primary grades, this should be the principal aim. Not a great deal should be expected of children in these grades by way of reahzation of civic intelli- gence or of appreciation of civic ideals. But civic traits and habits not only can be well started in these years, they must be started then both to meet present needs and to provide safely for the future. The truth is now generally recognized that we "learn to do only by doing;" that habits are formed only by practice. Any plan of civic education that includes this aim of culti- vating civic habits and traits must, therefore, make use of the young citizen's activities. This is no new idea; but it is an idea to which, again, must be applied the principles to which we have already given so much attention. There is need for the caution urged in the following pages (pp. 3, 4, 9-10) — to find out, first, "what civic relationships and activities do . . . concern the children and engage their thoughts and feelings in the present years of their lives and in the place which they normally fill as child citizens of the com- munity." An instance was reported in the newspapers before the United States entered the world war, of a monster petition signed by thousands of school children in one of our large cities, to be presented by a committee (according to the newspaper report) directly to the diplomatic representatives in our country of the belligerent powers in the interest of peace. To say nothing of the wrong lesson in international procedure, such an incident (if it really occurred) is a striking example of the exploitation of children by interested adults in matters about which children could have no judgment and no immediate concern. "We cannot be certain of the per- XX Citizenship In School and Out sistence of habits formed in any matters in which the children have not a natural, live, personal interest. Habits formed by indifferent compHance with outside authority or sugges- tion are not always permanently useful habits" (see pp. 10, ii). It may not be out of place, in this connection, to refer to the various forms of "pupil self-government " which imitate the forms of city, state, or national government, — a topic which may strike some as conspicuous, in the following pages, by the absence of explicit treatment. The authors of this book believe in pupil participation in many activities relat- ing to the management of the school, evidence of which is abundant in the following chapters. They also believe in the dramatization of governmental activities, as they believe in the dramatization of other activities, as a means of insirtic- tion at times when governmental activities are a proper subject of instruction. But it is well to remember that the instruc- tional value of such dramatics, or imitation, is a thing wholly distinct from the educational value of real participation in the activities connected with the management of the school, which may exist without the dramatization. "Real civic training requires practice in meeting real present prob- lems by appropriate means. Neither the problem nor the means should be artificial. We cannot get away from the fact that the school com- munity is not a state nor a city community; that its problems are of their own kind; that the means of dealing with its problems must be adapted to their own ends. What is needed most is to inject democratic principles and methods into the realities of sdiool life, rather than to make the school appear something that it is not. "This point of view does not overlook tlie instructional value of following the forms and procedure of city or state governments. In regard to this it may be said; (i) Occasional dramatization of govern- mental procedure has a certain value, but tliis value is apart from the principle of self-government. (2) The actual knowledge that boys and girls acquire regarding the forms and procedure of government through the establishment of an imitation in the school is extremely superficial, Introduction XXI inadequate and erroneous. It can only be the roughest approximation to the reality. (3) By the time young citizens reach the high school, and indeed the grammar grades, their knowledge of government may be acquired much more effectively and directly by other means, — by observation, by reading, and by participation in the activities of the larger communities of which they are also members just as truly as they are members of the school. Hence, the value of community civics which affords to pupils the opportunity to organize both their knowledge and their activities in relation to their larger community life, and in such a way ?,s to deal with realities."' The course outlined in the following chapters makes the children's activities, "in school and out," its point of depar- ture and its principal medium for civic training. The reason for this is partly because only so may civic traits be instilled and civic habits fixed. But more than this, these activities afford the basis of experience by means of which civic knowl- edge and civic ideals may be interpreted. "The first step is to find out what civic relationships and activities do, as a matter of fact, concern the children and engage their thoughts and feelings in the present years of thiir lives . . . ; the next step is to give recognition in the school life to the most useful among these relation- ships and activities, and to supplement them in the school-room and on the playground until they become well-rounded social experiences pro- ductive of desirable social habits; and the final step is to interpret these experiences in lessons based upon them so as to add to the children's intelligence in civic matters and supply incentives toward good citizen- ship." (Page 4). It is believed, therefore, that teachers will find profitable the discussion of "centers of interest" in Chapter III and the illustration of their use which occurs in the succeeding chapters. Another significant feature of the plan of Citizenship In School and Out is the recognition in each grade of the "five 1 Instruction and Practice in the Duties of Citizenship, by Arthur W. Dunn, Bulletin, 1918, No. i, Massachusetts State Board of Education. xxii Citizenship In School and Out fields of citizenship" (pp. 4-8) — the home, work, recrea- tion, social intercourse, and organized community life. It is not the recognition of these five "fields" that is original — they or similar fields have been recognized before — but the plan of organization by which all of them are distinctly recognized in each and every grade. It has become quite common in courses of civic instruc- tion in the elementary grades to recognize, more or less clearly, some such fields of citizenship in sequence — the "home" being the center of attention in the first grade, the "school" in the second grade, the "neighborhood," perhaps, in the third, "industry" (the "field of work") in a later grade, and so finally leading up to a more comprehensive study of "the community" in the grammar grades or first year of the high school, when "local," "state," and "na- tional" governments are taken up also in sequence. The significance of the plan followed in the present book has in the fact that in the actual experience of the growing citizen these "fields" of citizenship are not in sequence, but con- current, and together make up the sum of his social experi- ence at any given time. The very fact that they " are not as distinctly differentiated in his [the child's] case as in that of the adult citizen" makes it necessary to recognize all fields from the very beginning. Though they become more clearly differentiated as the citizen grows to maturity, and though interest centers in one more than in another at different times, they are all present at all times. The home never ceases to be an important field of citizenship, and the young citizen of school age always has some interest, however slight, in the "field of work" or in that of "organized community life." If the young citizen's civic education " is to be well rounded, each and every one of these fields must receive the teacher's attention, at one time or another, and in due proportion" in Introdiiction xxiii every grade. By this means the growing citizen is carried through a lesser "cycle" of social education each year, instead of merely through a segment, as well as through the larger cycles recommended by the Committee on Social Studies. Each year's experience in every "field" thus becomes working capital for definite use in succeeding years. Comment may be made, finally, upon the conviction underlying the course of study here outUned, that civic education in the elementary grades, to be effective, must not only be continuous throughout these years, but must also look for its opportunity and its materials in connection with every subject and every activity of the school. There are those who fear, as is pointed out in a later page, that civic instruction that is "incidental" to instruction in other "subjects" will tend to become wholly "accidental," and who, therefore, insist upon a definite period of the day for such instruction. If such a period is available, well and good, but by itself it is wholly inadequate. The course here outhned deliberately organizes the work in relation to the other "subjects" of the curriculum, not as a makeshift for lack of an available "period" for independent civic instruc- tion, but because of the belief that the training of the young citizen for and in the duties of citizenship should be neither an "accident" nor an "incident," but the one controlling aim of public education. Arthur William Dunn CITIZENSHIP IN SCHOOL AND OUT CHAPTER I The Opportunity of the Elementary School in a Democracy In the fierce light which a world-wide war has shed upon all social institutions, certain features half hidden before in the shadow of custom are now plainly discernible, and shapes before but vaguely seen through the mists of speculation are at last revealed in bold and clear cut outline. Among the institutions whose purposes and work are being thus seen anew the public school looms large. Before the war we, the American public, had often pointed out differences between those whom we proudly called t3rpical American citizens and the typical subjects of a European autocracy, but we had not fully realized the significance of these differences. It had not yet been brought home to us that the power of independent thinking, the sense of civic responsibility, and all the rest that we choose to call dis- tinctively American traits, are not only the product of demo- cratic institutions but are also the hope for the continuance of these institutions; nor had we keenly sensed the dangers attendant on the fact that this type of citizenship is far from being universal among us. Now, taught by the marked 2 Citizenship In School and Out contrasts which war has shown us, we have learned that there are certain traits, habits, and ideals, differing widely from the requisites for contented citizenship in an autocracy, which belong by eternal necessity with useful citizenship in a democracy; moreover, that these must become the posses- sion of the mass of our citizens if our republic is to live. Before the war we had begun to think of schools as agencies not only for building the characters of individuals, but also for modifying the characteristics of society itself, but we had not dreamed how far reaching this modification might be. Now, better informed by the exhibition which Prussia has made of her schools and their product, we are convinced that a carefully planned and eflSciently operated system of educa- tion can go very far indeed toward producing exactly the kind of citizenship which is desired by those who shape the policy of a State. Before the war we were coming to believe that to educate children in good citizenship was one of the important func- tions of the school, but we were still "careful and troubled about many things," and it often seemed impossible to make room in a crowded curriculum for this one thing more. Now, inspired by the greatness of the opportunity which the outcome of the war has brought us, we see clearly that to educate citizens who wiU make democracy safe for the world is the one essential function of the American public school. We may expect the next decade to bring about a radical modification of our educational system with the distinct purpose of meeting this public demand for training in citizen- ship. This demand, so much more sharply accentuated now than ever before, is, of course, no new demand created by the war. For longer than the past decade many teachers and other school officials throughout the country have heard clearly this demand, have recognized fully its justice, and have devoted their chief efiforts to meeting it and to satis- The Opportunity of the Elementary School 3 fying their own ideal of the education most useful to the citizens of a democracy. These efEorts furnish us with a considerable body of experiments very valuable for study, and such study may well bring rapid advance from now on. In the progress already made there may be plainly seen the tendency to broaden the definition of the term citizen- ship far beyond its meaning to the last generation of teachers. The mastering of a text book in "Civil Government" is no longer considered sufficient education in citizenship; for citizenship is seen to cover much more than a knowledge of the machinery of government and its operation. That citizen- ship means also actual participation in community affairs is conceded, and in many schools instruction in civil govern- ment is supplemented by much attention to the pubUc activities of the local community. It is sought to interest the children in all the good movements which are engaging the attention of the grown citizens of that locaUty. Chil- dren's crusades against ill-kept markets, juvenile organizations for assisting the street cleaning department, even junior poUce squads, are instituted to secure this participation. Unquestionably this method of teaching civics is a step in advance, not only because it broadens the definition of citizenship, but also because it recognizes the truth that children are chiefly interested in things which they can do and that they can "learn to do only by doing." Experi- ments in this direction have, however, not infrequently failed to reaUze the hopes with which they were undertaken. There are doubtless some public causes more likely to be retarded than promoted by the efiorts of children, and some in which their interest can be only the result of artificial stimulus and therefore must soon flag or turn to disappoint- ment and distaste. More fruitful than these attempts to educate children in citizenship mainly by giving them a share in the civic under- 4 Citizenship In School and Out takings of their elders is the effort of some schools to use for this purpose the civic situations in which their pupils are actually living. In this effort the first step is to find out what civic relationships and activities do, as a matter of fact, concern the children and engage their thoughts and feelings in the present years of their lives and in the place which they normally fill as child citizens of the community; the next step is to give recognition in the school life to the most useful among these relationships and activities, and to supplement them in the school room and on the playground until they become well rounded social experiences productive of desir- able social habits; and the final step is so to interpret these experiences in lessons based upon them as to add to the chil- dren's intelligence in civic matters and supply incentive for efforts toward good citizenship. This plan of civic educa- tion appears to conform to the general principles of teaching which have been conceded to be sound when other phases of education have been of recent years under discussion. Hence there appears reason to hope that through the application of these principles education in citizenship may receive the same impetus that has already been received by education in "the natural sciences." Perhaps the greatest hindrance to progress by the path last indicated is the vagueness in which our conception of citizenship is apt to lose itself as soon as we cease to limit it to political affairs alone. We must indeed admit a wide inclusiveness in the term citizenship. It is plain that the quaUty of a man's citizen- ship shows itself not only in the vote which he casts and the way in which he fills a political office, but also in all relations and activities which demand cooperation with others to secure the benefits of an ordered social life. The variety of relationships and activities which the term citizenship must cover becomes, however, a source of confusion in our think- The Opportunity oj the Elementary School 5 ing when we attack the problem of education for each and every one of its functions. We need to simplify the problem by some sort of classification of the situations in life which have a civic bearing. If we attempt to define our ideal of a good citizen of the United States, we shall no doubt picture to ourselves a man who takes an active, competent, and helpful part in the great' cooperative enterprise of this democracy. Now to make our classification of the relations and activities in which this ideal citizenship manifests itself we have only to discover the typical situations in which this complex enterprise of national life is being carried on, the situations in which the individual citizen has the opportunity to make his contribution to the successful life of the democracy. Surely in the homes of the nation, which furnish to this generation its material and spiritual shelter and to the next generation its nurture, an essential part of this enterprise is being wrought out. No less, in the mines and factories, on the railroads and in the shipyards, in the banks and on the farms, — wherever the industries of the country are producing and distributing to its people the means of life, a necessary part of this immense undertaking is being performed. Even in the places where sports and amusements are filling leisure hours this high enterprise is being furthered by a renewal of health and happiness in the participants. Again, where people are met together for the forming of friendships and the social inter- course which leads to honorable courtship and marriage another indispensable phase of our national life is taking shape. Finally, in legislatures and courts, in the army and navy, in churches and fraternal orders, in clubs and in labor unions, — wherever men have definitely associated them- selves together to secure through organization their common purposes, there is being carried forward, of course, a most conspicuous part of this enterprise in democracy. 6 Citizenship In School and Out Thus it appears that there are five fields of ciUzenship in which the normal man Uves and finds his opportmuty to contribute to the common life of the nation, — in the home, at work, in recreation, in social intercourse, and in organized community life. These are, then, the five classes of relation- ships and activities for which our schools must educate their pupils. It is the grown citizen, the product of the schools, whose civic Kfe we have thus pictured. But must the child wait for man's estate to enter upon all or any of these fields of citizenship ? Let us shadow any individual, of any age, and see if he can be found, at any time, living, thinking, acting, in any other than one of these five fields. Let us seize any moment of his life and ask, Where is he ? What is he doing ? He is at home. He is dependent on the family life for his infant existence; or he is helping to make the home, to carry on its activities; or he is just enjoying the fruits of those activities and the family relationships; or perhaps he is trying to endure them or to escape from them. At all events, he is at home. Or he is at work. His work may or may not contribute to the support of the home, but we say we have foimd him at work rather than at home when his mind is bent, for the time, not on his part in the family life, but on his job. He is trying to do some bit of the work of the world, either for its own sake, or for the reward its accomplishment will bring him, or because he is driven to it. Small boy or full grown man, stock broker or engine stoker, he is at work. Or he is at play. Riding his bicycle, driving his car, playing Indians or dolls, on the beach, at the " movies" or the opera, on the foot-ball field or the playground, — somewhere he is looking, or listening, or putting forth his own effort, all for the pure pleasure of it or for the recreation of his powers of mind or body. He is at play. The Opportunity of the Elementary School 7 Or he is in society. Not necessarily is he now at a so-called society function, though he may be at such; but quite as likely he is seated with one other on a bench in the park, or he is in the midst of a crowd of boys on a street corner. He may be "chumming," he may be courting, or he may be "grappling a friend to his soul with hoops of steel," but somewhere and somehow he is seeking and enjoying the companionship of his kind. He is in the field of social inter- course. Or he is in organized association. That is, in school or in church, in boy scout activities or club meeting, in the jury box or at the polls, he is playing his part in the organized effort by which the community secures for itself the larger opportunities that individual effort alone could not compass. He is in organized community life. If, then, every child, as well as every man and woman, is to be found at each hour of his life hving and acting, in one or another of these fields of citizenship, it must be the func- tion of the school not only to educate /or citizenship, but also to educate in citizenship. It further appears that the earlier grades of the elementary school have by no means the least important part of this work to do. The life of the young child is of course lived mainly in the fields of the home and of play; but he has some tasks to per- form, some social contacts outside of family life, and as soon as he enters school, at least, he has more or less conscious part in an organization. These five fields of interests and activities are not as distinctly differentiated in his case as in that of the adult citizen, but as he grows to maturity, the differentiation becomes gradually more marked, and an increasing share of his life is found in the fields of work and of organized community life, while the field of social inter- course is especially important in the periods of dawning and early manhood and womanhood. 8 Citizenship In School and Out At any stage in the individual's life a single activity may be concerned with more than one field of citizenship; for instance, a boy doing an errand for his mother may be thought of as performing work and also as taking part in the home life. The classification of relationships and activities at which we have arrived does not exhibit five mutually exclusive fields, but rather shows five fields which merge into one another as different phases of life are always bound to do, since the life of the individual has a imity more con- stant and essential than all its variety. Nevertheless, in spite of the overlapping of these fields of citizenship, their recognition is helpful in the planning of even the young child's education in citizenship; for if this is to be well rounded, each and every one of these fields must receive the teacher's attention, at one or another time and in due pro- portion. Training in citizenship, if it is to produce effects which are genuine and lasting, must begin at least with the beginning of the child's school life and continue at least throughout its entire course. The necessity for prolonged and continuous training results from the very nature of the undertaking, which consists largely of bringing about certain attitudes of mind and forming certain traits of character and habits of action. These are necessarily matters of slow growth. The child must come gradually into a consciousness of his social relationships in each of the five fields of citizenship, must realize the common interests and the interdependence of action which exist between himself and those with whom he lives and works and plays. He must finally awaken to the perception that government in a democracy is but the means by which these common interests are attained and this inter- dependence is made to help more than to hinder. Since he is being educated as a citizen of a democracy, not as a subject of an autocracy, he must be especially The Opportunity of the Elementary School g encouraged to develop as much individual initiative as he is capable of. At the same time he must acquire through practice the indispensable civic habit of cooperation. His civic intelligence must be gradually increased through the gaining of information and the training of his judgment. Finally, he must be aided to form social ideals which shall be both incentives and guides to his action in civic matters. In the recent advance which has been made in the use of sound methods of teaching civics, chief attention has been paid to work in the upper grades of the elementary school and in the high school. It is worth while to examine what methods of training in civic traits and habits, and of culti- vating civic intelligence and ideals, are especially appropriate to the earlier grades of our school system. It appears self-evident that the trait of character which is needed perhaps above all others by the citizens of a democ- racy, that is, the power of initiative, cannot be developed if the children act always under direction or even suggestion. They must be allowed sometimes to act upon their own initiative; and such action can be expected to be successful only when the situation in which they are placed is a situation suitable to a child at that stage of growth, and when the choice which they are given is a choice natural for a child of that age to consider. The appropriate situation to give a child opportunity to develop the power of initiative which we admire in the leading citizens of any community is some situation in which the child citizen naturally finds himself, and which he can use to make himself an active, influential member of his own group, most often of boy and girl citizens. The lack of opportunity for such self-activity in those schoolrooms where obedience to authority is the chief prin- ciple emphasized may well account for the fact that the most successful pupils, judged by the ranking they attain, are by no means certain to be found in later life among the most lo Citizenship In School and Out useful and influential members of the community. Children who are naturally the most docile and imitative make the readiest response to authority, and hence are the most success- ful where the requirements are mastery of subject matter taught by authority, and unquestioning obedience to rules laid down by the powers that be. On the other hand, the children with the greatest capacity for initiative and self- direction, finding in the school life small outlet for their self- activity, turn their main attention to matters outside of school. In this way they often secure for themselves such practical education in the various fields of social life as en- ables them to excel, in later life, the mature achievements of the citizens who took the prizes of their school days. The school, however, has in such cases lost its opportunity to make the most of the best material for citizenship in a democ- racy. It has neglected to encourage in its pupils of greatest promise the practice of initiative guided by useful social ideals, and has left to chance the cultivation and direction of this most desirable civic trait. To work successfully for the formation of the habit of cooperation, or of any other useful civic habit, we must remind ourselves that we cannot be certain of the persistence of habits formed in any matters in which the children have not a natural, live, personal interest. Habits formed by indifferent compliance with outside authority or suggestion are not always permanently useful habits. They often break down when the outside influence is removed, as is indicated by the entire absence from the behavior of many grown persons of habits which were practiced through all the years of their school-life; for instance, the "habit of promptness" or the "habit of writing painstakingly." Many a teacher has been disappointed to find that some former pupil has broken the good habits over whose jiainful formation she had conscientiously labored. Perhaps she had omitted to secure The Opportunity of the Elementary School ii at any stage of the process of habit formation the "inner consent," as the psychologists call it, the reasoned conviction of the pupil that the habit is good, or to associate with it any strong feeling favorable to its retention. Such convictions and feelings can, of course, be most easily secured in connec- tion with matters in which the children have a natural and lively interest. In the effort to increase children's intelligence in social or civic matters the teacher is sometimes tempted to begin by giving information which has perhaps been carefully prepared to reach their understanding, but which does not touch their interest, because it seems to them remote, belongs in a world which concerns only grown-ups, hence is easily forgotten. We may well borrow a hint in this newer line of teaching from the methods which have proved so successful in teach- ing elementary science, or nature study, and instead of giving the children information, let them discover it for them- selves through experience and observation, until the matter becomes real enough and interesting enough to lead them to question the teacher. Enrichment of experience and train- ing of observation in each of the five fields of citizenship are more useful to young children than is any study of facts collected for them by another, and such information as does come to them through their own activities and questions will be a lasting possession and the best sort of foundation for the more systematic study of civics which they will be ready for a few years later. The teacher's share in much that the children are doing and her part in the conversation, when they are talking it all over together, constitute, of course, her opportunity to help them to interpret the meaning of their experiences and to cultivate the power of judgment. To attempt to train the power of judgment by exercising it upon adult citizens' problems is a vain effort. The children may master from the pages of a civil government, or of a town 12 Citizenship In School and Out report, the facts involved; but it does not follow that they perceive the relations of these facts, and it is in the actual per- ception and comparison of relations that the exercise of the judgment takes place. The problem, then, which we select for the purpose of training the child's judgment in social matters must be each and every time a child's problem, all its factors and conditions familiarly known to him, and its solution of some real concern to him. When we come to examine the process by which ideals, especially social ideals, take shape in the minds of children, or indeed in any minds, we come, of course, to an immensely difficult inquiry. It is by no means a simple matter to give conscious and direct aid in this process. Older persons who attempt to recall the help that they have received from parents, teachers, and friends commonly report that it has been largely indirect, and on the part of the giver, uncon- scious. No doubt direct and clear instruction in matters of right and wrong, and also such exercises as the learning of "memory gems," have their place. But is it not evident that, like sermons and "inspirational hterature" in the case of grown people, they are effective only when the learner, through his own experience and thinking thereon, has almost reached the same conclusion that the teacher puts into con- vincing and inspiring words? As for stories from the real life of to-day, from history, and from fiction, they are indeed most potent to suggest ideals, provided only that they are not spoiled by the forced statement of a moral, and that the experiences of the characters therein are not too unlike the children's own to reach their understanding, and so furnish materials for their imagination to use. "The necessity of the interaction of the near and the far follows directly from the nature of thinking," and there is "need for both imagina- tion and observation in every mental enterprise." * If we * Dewey's How ff ? Think, pp. 222, 223. The italics are mine. The Opportunity oj the Elementary School 13 accept these statements, must we not, when we are trying to show the children ideals, stand with them on the plane of their own experience, in order that they may look about them and observe the "near" and compare with it the "far" which, by aid of their constructive imagination, we are pre- senting to them? Is not this the only way in which we can bring about the "interaction" and so help the children to the actual possession of that complex result of thinking which we call an ideal? We are brought always to the same conclusion; whatever characteristic of the grown citizen we are trying to foster in the growing citizen, we find that the reasonable procedure is to use for our purpose the circumstances in which the child is naturally placed and the material which his own .interest indicates is appropriate to his growth at that particular stage in his existence. Though this conclusion will force us to postpone till the later years of the elementary school any systematic instruction from a text book, yet we shall find no reason for discouragement in lack of opportunity or of material for our work. The children are, even at the moment of entering the first grade of the elementary school, already citizens with important social relationships and live social interests in each of the fields of citizenship which we have noticed above. If we can bring these interests and activities into the school and make them the basis of such study and discussion as will awake in the children consciousness of their social relation- ships with their present resulting responsibilities and oppor- tunities, and can at the same time give them scope for putting into practice whatever useful notions they develop, we may surely wait with confidence for the years to bring the gradual change of intelligent and good child citizens into intelligent and good citizens of a larger growth. In this exercise from day to day of all the functions of citizenship which are already 14 Citizenship In School and Out theirs, occasion will often arise for them to acquire such information regarding government and other social arrange- ments as will be useful both then and later in life, and nearly all studies of the elementary school curriculum can in all grades be laid under contribution to this end. However, even in the higher grades, where definite time is set apart for instruction in what is ordinarily termed civics, we cannot hope to teach all the facts a knowledge of which will be needed for the discharge of all the duties of citizenship in mature Ufe. We may, however, do better than this if throughout the years of school hfe we help the children to such an attitude toward society and to such mental habits that both now and in. the future, as occasions arise, they will feel the need of information, acquire it easily, and put it to good uses. CHAPTER II The Daily Program oj the Elementary School It is entirely conceivable that in this period of readjust- ment upon which we are entering at the close of the war, the reconstruction of our elementary school system may go so. far as to discard the conventional daily program of study and recitation and reorganize the day's work on a different basis. Such reorganization has in fact already been begun in a num- ber of schools throughout the country. It appears to have been imdertaken in a larger number of instances, so far, in those schools where the problems of administration have been simplest, and the authorities have been freest to consider the requirements of the most modern principles of education : witness the practice schools connected with normal schools or schools of education in several States, a few private experi- mental schools, and public rural schools in certain fortunate districts. The new basis of organization is thus described in a bulletin of the United States Bureau of Education (1915, No. 17), and here it is work in a city system of schools that is the example. "The aim in the Indianapolis elementary schools seems to be to make of education not a process of in- struction in a variety of subjects, but a process of living, of growth, during which the various relations of life are un- folded — civic, geographical, historical, ethical, vocational, etc. In the first grade, for example, the pupil does not even study 'English' or 'language'; he merely does things, and talks about things, and hears and tells stories about things, the teacher alone being conscious that she is giving the chil4 IS i6 Citizenship In School and Out his first organized lessons in civic life as well as in the English language." This aim is freely pursued by the most progressive teachers and supervisors in that school system in spite of the fact that the course of study for the IndianapoUs schools is made up from the standpoint of the "subjects" of the curriculum. In schools where the work is thus planned primarily to meet the demands of the children's physical and mental growth, and secondarily to impart certain graded portions of informa- ,tion and degrees of skill in the subjects selected for the curri- culum, the conventional daily program tends to lose its rigidity or to disappear entirely. Such changes are not made, however, in a day; and at the present time it is true that in a large majority of the schools of the country one finds a program which divides the school day into a certain number of brief periods of time and assigns each period to the study or recitation of a differ- ent subject. It is true also that many teachers who hold the aim in education which has been referred to in connection with the schools of Indianapolis are able to plan their work satisfactorily in accordance with a program of this sort. They exercise, however, a wise discretion in following its requirements. If the needs or real interests of the children at any time demand a substitution of some other school exercise for the one indicated by the program, the substitu- tion is made, and on a later occasion the "borrowed" minutes are "returned" that no "subject" may be defrauded of its due share of time. Teachers who work in this way will have no difficulty in using the lessons that are suggested in the following pages, for nearly all of these were originally worked out in a school which does make use of a program, though one of a very flexible type. Although some of the lessons are appropriate for use in a period labeled "Civics." yet in schools where The Daily Program of the Elementary School 17 that name does not appear on the program of work prescribed for the first six grades, place can still be found for all the training in citizenship here suggested. It needs only that advantage frequently be -taken of the minutes which, after the devotional exercises, are usually given to opening school in the morning; that all the time appropriated to history be utilized; that the social side of geography be not neglected; that in a due proportion of the periods set down for drawing, language, and oral reading the subject matter upon which these arts of expression are practiced be of a character socially useful; and that no activities of the industrial hour, of the playground, pf school entertainments, or the like, be left outside the teacher's scheme of civic education. The following chapters are intended to illustrate the kind of work that is done by teachers who have the point of view indicated in the preceding chapter. They may be of use in suggesting answers to certain questions which teachers often have occasion to ask themselves, familiar questions like these: — What subject shall I take for morning exercises to-morrow ? Where shall I find a story, or a poem which puts concretely this or that idea which I wish to bring home to the children ? What topic shall I propose for the oral language lesson to-day, or for the composition which must be written? What stories shall I recommend to the children for reading in spare minutes at school or at home? What projects in industrial work appeal to children of this age or of that? What kind of entertainments is it worth while to plan for Friday afternoons ? What is the point in teaching this part of the history to the children, or what other part would have more meaning for them? What special features would it be well to emphasize in the conduct of the school club ? What "center of interest" can I find for the coming week or month which will supply a motive for most, if not all, of the " regular studies," and will set the children to work on real problems? 1 8 Citizenship In School and Out Under each of the five fields of the children's social interests and activities there is suggested in the following chapters one or more means by which the teacher may cultivate that field. These means are designated by the Roman numerals. The numbering of them does not, however, indicate that they should be used in any fixed order. On the contrary, all of the means of social education appropriate to any one grade must be kept in mind all of the time, and each means used, and used again, whenever that one seems to the teacher the most available and effective one for that week, day, or hour. To superintendents and teachers who are already at work with the aims and in the spirit which this manual attempts to embody, it may perhaps bring some support in the effort to systematize such work without destroying the vitality of it. Experience proves that it is difficult to keep work of this kind incidental, responsive to the needs of the moment, with- out letting it lapse into being accidental, neglected unless brought forward by chance. This outline may be an aid in avoiding this Scylla and that Charybdis, (i) by its recogni- tion of the five fields of citizenship in some one of which the child's life of the moment is always to be found, and (2) by its enumeration of certain of the means by which this Hfe may be touched and helped in each of these fields and at each stage of the child's early education. To inexperienced teachers, and to students preparing to teach, it is hoped that this sketch of work may be of interest, not only as a study of some things actually being done in schools committed to the modern point of view in education, but also as an invitation to an enterprise of no mean worth to our democracy, the social leadership of a group of children who are practicing citizenship in school and out. CHAPTER III Centers of Interest in the Earlier Grades Notice a group of children anywhere who are showing lively interest in any way, — watching intently, asking questions, trying to plan, to execute, or to help, giving vent to enthusiastic exclamation or earnest wish. Edge your way toward the inner circle of the group to discover what is the cause of all this interest, and ninety-nine times out of a himdred, you will find at the center some activity taking place; in the expressive phrase of the day, there is "something doing" here. Only the hundredth time will you find at the center of the group an individual holding forth to the children, and in such case he is either explaining how something may be done, or he is telUng by story or picture about something which has been done. On observations such as these, touching the free life of children outside school hours, is based the effort to have in the Ufe of our primary schools throughout the year first one and then another plan of activity present and prominent, a center of interest which shall draw to itself the group of lively, questioning children, shall hold them by its common appeal, and shall teach them, through the answers and the thinking and the doing involved, those lessons in the various subjects which are required by the school curriculum. The teacher's part is, of course, first to find these centers of interest, — a series of them which shall profitably occupy the time throughout the school year, and then to help the children to derive from these, not only those valuable lessons 19 20 Citizenship In School and Out about persons and things and their relations that are some- times named geography, nature study, history, and civics, but also at least a motive and the occasion for the more formal lessons which impart skill in reading, writing, language, drawing, and arithmetic. In the selection of centers of interest the teacher has to consider what the children of her own school are doing and thinking about at home and on the playground or the street, as well as in the school-room; has to decide also what are the most profitable of those'interests to choose for emphasis in the work of the school. From the very nature of the case, it fol- lows that no course of study can be constructed which will entirely meet these requirements for more than one school or for more than one year in that school. The ideal course of study varies as classes of children vary in home surroundings, in race inheritance, in community influence, and the rest; varies also from year to year as the events of school, neigh- borhood, or national life which claim the children's attention vary with the changing years. In the months while we bore our part in the recent war, to cite a striking example, rapidly moving events of an imf ore- seen character created for children, as well as for their elders, certain totally new interests and occupations. No course of study had made provision for school work connected vAMi. Junior Red Cross activities, War Saving Stamp drives, food saving, or the like. Yet these new and absorbing matters could not be ignored by any school without great loss to the children. Fortunate were the teachers who taught through those days in schools whose work was dominated, not by a fixed course of study, but by the purpose alwa)^ to utilize the interests which actually engage the children at any given time. Fortunate, too, are those teachers now, as the in- terests of war give way to those of peace and reconstruction; for they can still take advantage of the changing situation Centers of Interest in the Earlier Grades 21 and help the children to derive from it its full educational value. The responsibility of determining the year's program must rest largely with the teacher. No printed outHne pan pre- scribe in advance material as rich in opportunity for useful work as her close contact with the situation enables her to choose. No superintendent can suggest one half of all the occasions which her intimate acquaintance with the children inspires her to utihze. It is possible, however, to discover a few general principles which apply in considering the work of all our primary schools. There are two certainties upon which we may base our efforts to outUne a course of study for any American school. We know, in the first place, that there are certain natural interests common to childhood in all parts of the world, and certain other interests, traditional we might call them, com- mon to nearly all American communities. An example of children's natural interests is the observation and imitation of grown-ups as they go about their every day work of house, field, office, or shop; and an example of traditional com- munity interests is the celebration of historic holidays. Instruction, therefore, which starts with an interest of either of these types will be availing itself of a point of contact with the minds of children in any of our schools. We know, in the second place, that in each of the five fields of social life (see Chapter I) there are certain personal traits, certain attitudes of mind and habits of action, which are characteristic of good citizenship, the child's good citizen- ship, and, no less, the good citizenship of the grown man or woman. Two or three, at least, in each field we can mention without fear of controversy. At home, unselfishness, sym- pathy, and loyalty make for the usefulness and integrity of that institution, as well as for the happiness of its members. In work, the power of initiative and a sense of personal re- 22 Citizenship In School and Out sponsibility, combined with a sense of interdependence and habits of cooperation, make for efl&ciency and progress. In play, ideals of clean and healthful sport, the exercise of the imagination, and habits of cooperation make for actual re-creation for both individual and community. In social intercourse, self-respect and self-control, respect for worth in others regardless of externals, generosity, chivalry, and the capacity for real friendship make for a healthy and demo- cratic state of society. Finally, in organized commxmity life, the habit of active participation and cooperation, a sense of individual responsibility, a conception of law as the will of the community, and of government as the means of getting this will realized make for welfare and progress, not only in the Ufe of the school and in all matters of the local community, but also in affairs of national or even inter- national scope. Hence it appears reasonable that any effec- tual course in citizenship in any school must provide oppor- timities for the practice of such habits as these and must foster the growth of such characteristics. Starting with these two certainties and using their impli- cations as guiding lines, it is possible to compile a list of centers of interest for each grade which may be used in any American school as a source of suggestion for the teacher in her work of planning the course in civics for the year. It cannot be too much emphasized that these lists must be re- garded only as types which are to be modified by the peculiar demands of each and every class of children. Lest it be objected that many of the centers of interest mentioned in the following enumeration are taken from other "subjects" than "civics"; as, for instance, nature study or industrial work, it is necessary to explain that it is an essential feature of the plan of civic education which is here advocated to use in training for citizenship whatever, in any subject or in any activity, has social value or significance. Centers of Interest in the Earlier Grades 23 It is self-evident that there can be no clear line of de- markation between the grades of school work called "pri- mary" and those called "intermediate." There can be no fixed day or month or year when every child of that age changes from one set of interests and activities to another set and is appealed to by entirely different methods of instruc- tion. It is nevertheless true that most children do pass, between the ages of eight and ten years, through important changes in their tastes and their normal occupations — changes which must be reckoned with in planning their school work. In the earlier years the work — which is largely laying foundations in experience and training the senses — can be organized almost wholly about the series of situations in which the children find themselves successively placed by the ordinary incidents of daily living. In the later years more consideration must be given to grading the processes by which certain information and certain skill shall be imparted. And so it happens that the lessons of this manual, which have been worked out with children in the first six years of school life, fall naturally into two sets of three grades each, the first set prefaced by this discussion of Centers of Interest, and the second set prefaced by a discussion of Courses of Study in the Intermediate Grades (Chapter VII) . In spite of this division, however, we must admit that standards established by well tested courses of study should have their influence over the formal side of work in the prim- ary grades. We must also recognize that the "doctrine of centers of interest" may not safely be forgotten by teachers of the intermediate grades. The First Year in School In the pleasant fall days of the opening weeks of school it is desirable to plan work that will take the children out of doors occasionally, perhaps twice a week, for one or two 24 Citizenship In School and Out periods beside their regular recesses. This will not be practicable during the first few days of school, but by the second week the teacher knows the children well enough to make the venture a comfortable one. Even though the school work is governed by a daily program which divides the time into brief periods, each labeled with the name of some subject of study, the invitation to a walk which is given by the beauty of a bright September day need not be denied. The teacher appropriates for the walk the fifteen minutes , marked on the program "nature study," to this time she adds another fifteen minutes borrowed from some other study, the "drawing," perhaps (for how can children draw till they have been taught to observe accurately, and is this not a tour of observation upon which they are bound?), and in the half hour now at her disposal she gives valuable training to the children's senses and at the same time awakens some definite interest which shall become a center from which other school work shall lead out in radiating Unes for several days to come. Perhaps a spot is found in which golden-rod is growing. The children may be asked to notice how tall the stalks are and how like queens they look, bending and nodding above the other flowers g owing near; then to stand near some of the tallest stalks and see if there is any one as tall as one of the class. Now they are allowed to pick the flowers at their pleasure, being cautioned only not to make them less like "queen flowers" by breaking the stems too short. While they are picking, such questions as these are raised: What color is golden-rod ? What other flowers are the same color? What kind of stem makes the flower stand so tall? Is the stem stiff near the top, where the flower bends over? At what time of year does golden-rod blossom ? These questions are not all answered on the spot; but they set the children to thinking, also to watching, as they return, for other flowers that are yellow, others that are tall or have stiff stems, etc. Centers of Interest in the Earlier Grades 25 After the return to the school-room the children count the stalks and arrange them in several vases: — three in this vase; four in that one; as many (counted) as will look pretty in this large one; etc. Then put the vase with five in it on the teacher's desk; the one with four in it on the table; etc. The first period after the return has gone like a flash, and the "number lesson" has been given. In the reading class it is made plain that there are two words in the name, golden- rod; what the meaning of each word is, and why someone gave the name to the flower. Finally the children learn to recognize the name written on the black-board. For the "language lesson" the children are helped to tell in good clear sentences something about the height of the golden-rod com- pared with their own; to say so tall (not that tall), and to use taller and tallest. Or, it may be, the words standing, bending, and nodding are dwelt upon; the action of different children is suited to different words, and preparation is made for to- morrow's "drawing lesson" in which the children learn to represent a bending stem. The subject readily suggests other conversations, which though informal, do give the children practice in certain expressions of which they need to gain fuller and more exact use. These conversations are easily given the turn which leads naturally to a lesson in reading or draiving or color. In short, from this walk has come suggestion and a basis in experience for most of the regular lessons untU it is time, two or three days later, for another little excursion. There are likely to be physical activities, music lessons, and perhaps other exercises, which are called for by the program, but which are not related to this center of interest. It is never desirable to force a correlation. This other work comes in on its own merits, affording the children a change from the main interest of the day or week. The next walk may be taken with intent to seek out and 26 Citizenship In School and Out learn to recognize the commonest birds of the vicinity, or later, to collect the bright colored leaves that are falling, or perhaps to find nuts or fall berries. The situation of the school-house, no doubt, as well as the course laid down in nature study, must govern the objects sought in these walks; but no country school is without rich material at hand, and few city schools are now without grounds of their own or access to some park, open square, or tree-lined street. To sum up, this practice of taking the children out for several walks during the early weeks of the school year, has these advantages: It makes less irksome the change from the active out-door life which many of the children have led through the summer, to the quieter, more confined life of the school-room; it is the beginning of elementary plant and bird study; and in the knowledge of directions and distances which the children gain, there is a natural introduction to geo- graphy; finally, it provides a series of centers of interest for the lessons of these weeks in number, reading, language, drawing, and color. For the social and civic training in- volved, see pages 40-42. In October, when the children have had time to become acquainted with each other, with the teacher, and with their new surroundings, the center of interest chosen may well be the house-keeping play described on pages 35-39. On pages 35-36 the social value of this activity is suggested. On pages 36-37 attention is called to the way in which language lessons, story-telling, drawing, number lessons, singing, and reading are all carried on at the same time that tliis play is being introduced into the program two or three times a week; and it there appears how closely these lessons are connected with the play, deriving their motive and their material from it. The work is lent variety by the drills and games which mean- time serve their purpose of impressing number and language facts by means of repetition. It is enriched by the stories, Centers of Interest in the Earlier Grades 27 poems, and songs which are told or recited by the teacher, talked over with her, illustrated, committed to memory, perhaps, or told again, sung, or acted by the children. So varied and so enriched, this work may profitably be con- tinued for a month or more. The attention of the school will then be centered on some other form of activity, but much that has been emphasized in this work will be brought for- ward again and again in the course of the year. Perhaps next in order a Hallowe'en party will absorb all the children's interest for two or three days, giving a good opportunity for lessons in paper cutting, in color, and in language. The social value in such parties is suggested on pages 40-42. By this time the children feel very much at home in their new surroundings, and may now have their attention turned to the routine activities by which the school-room, coat- room, etc., are kept in order, material for work is distributed and collected, the pupils are summoned and dismissed, and in general, the order of the day is carried through. They may well be admitted into as large a share in conducting this routine business as they are capable of taking with happy pride. See pages 48-49. There is an excellent chance here for number work, oral language, and black-board reading. It is for only a short time, a week perhaps, that this interest is made prominent enough to serve as a "center" for lessons, but like the subject of home life, this interest, once introduced into the school work, is never again wholly ignored, and the training begun this week continues throughout the year. There may be time before Thanksgiving for the introduc- tion of another project, the fitting up of one corner of the room as a "children's corner." The furnishings may be simple and few, no more than a low table with several picture books and two or three games on it. If a bright colored rug, a flowering plant, and a picture hung low on the wall can be 28 Citizenship In School and Out added, all the better. In any event, if the children are allowed to make suggestions as to the arrangement of the fur- nishings, and as to some of the pleasant things which can be done in this corner by those who satisfactorily finish ahead of time the ordinary work at their seats, they will become much interested in the project, and the teacher will find an opening for lively language, spelUng, and number lessons, and for study of color and form. That the children shall have the responsibility for keeping this comer in good order is worth while, as is suggested on pages 48-49. For a week before Thanksgiving Day the work indicated on page 46 is naturally the prominent feature of the school life. After this holiday is past, all thoughts are fixed on the fast approaching season of Christmas, and the gifts which the children plan and make with the teacher's help not only furnish material for the lessons in hand-work, but also suggest the most fascinating themes of conversation, song, and story. On returning to school after the Christmas hoUdays it is natural for the children to talk about the presents which they have received and bring some of them to show the teacher and each other. Here, then, are subjects ready to hand for the language, reading, and number lessons. Janu- ary, when so much of the time is likely to be spent indoors, is a good month also for considering what teacher and pupils together can do to make and to keep the school-room attrac- tive. Not only the children's corner, in which they have already been interested, but the entire room is brought to their attention. Pictures on the walls are talked over, and sometimes new ones are added. How the children's drawing and the other hand-work can be most attractively displayed is discussed. The very best place for a new plant is carefully considered. Neatness and order are emphasized, and the help of the children is enlisted to secure these. In all these matters there is opportunity for training the children's Centers of Interest in the Earlier Grades 29 powers of observation and of expression, for increasing their ability to count and measure, and best of all, for cultivating appreciation of clean and attractive surroundings. It may be at this time of year (though not necessarily at this time) that there occur opportunities, such as are sug- gested on page 53, to interest the children of a city school in dramatizing the theme, "Getting and Giving Help on a City Street." Even though these scenes are acted mainly in pantomime, yet each one must be carefully talked over with the teacher, in such fashion as is indicated on page 54, before the play can begin. These conversations constitute "lan- guage work," and out of . them grow naturally black-board lessons in reading and spelhng and perhaps in drawing. The civic lessons that may be impressed on the Uttle actors are discussed on pages 52, 54. In February there is a chance to relate much of the school work to the celebration of three days: Lincoln's Birthday, St. Valentine's Day, and Washington's Birthday. Language and music lessons give the preparation for two of these days which is suggested on pages 46, 47. Paper-cutting, drawing, writing, reading, and language work are all involved in the making and exchanging of the pretty valentines in which the children take such pleasure, and which set a different stand- ard of taste from many of the cheap affairs that attract their attention in the shop windows. A school-room party is a, project which is well suited to early March, and the proposal of which is received by the children with much enthusiasm. They like to dictate the invitations which the teacher writes for them to parents and younger brothers and sisters. They enjoy planning what they shall show their guests, and how they shall entertain them with stories, music, and games. And during the week or two of happy preparation, they make rapid progress in the regular school lessons which this preparation involves. The 30 Citizenship In School and Out lessons which they are at the same time receiving in certain quaUties of good citizenship are discussed on pages 40-42. It may be at this season that some pet animal, a rabbit, perhaps, is brought into the school-room to be kept there for a few weeks. The children observe and describe its appear- ance and its movements, watch and comment on its habits, and have a share in giving it the regular daily care which it needs. They are thus getting the sort of training suggested on pages 48-49, and also are supplied with an interesting subject for brush-work or paper-cutting, language and read- ing lessons, story telling, and a Uttle incidental number work. In April the renewal of life in the out-of-door world brings itself here and there to the children's attention, and the teacher avails herself of this fact to plan work which shall stimulate further interest in plants and animals and give further opportunity for work and play in the open air. Such observance of Arbor Day as is common in our schools, yields its greatest benefits if it is preceded for some days by work which directs the children's attention to the trees, shrubs, and vines of the vicinity, and to the birds that are beginning to build their nests in these. The sjonbols of the Easter season which are brought to the children's notice in church, at home, and in the shops, — the butterflies, the colored eggs, the profusion of flowers, — all make attractive subjects for simple "nature lessons." Here again it is easy to con- trive lessons in which gain in power to observe, to count, and to measure goes step by step with gain in ability to express ideas through language and drawing. Making May-baskets and getting ready for the May Day frolic on the lawn or in the woods, with its songs, action plays, and dances, gives a lively turn to the work of the school for a week or two before the celebration of the spring festival usually permitted by the weather sometime during the month of May. The liveliness of the work, however, does not Centers of Interest in the Earlier Grades 31 interfere at all with its value as physical culture, or as training in music and drawing, language and reading, and the selection of colors. By this time in the year the children are familiar enough with the routine of the school day to be interested in planning with the teacher how to introduce variety into the exercises with which the morning session is opened, and to enjoy taking a more active part than before in these exercises. The children are separated into groups; each group in turn has private consultations with the teacher and is given some share in the responsibility and the leadership of the entire class for that first period in the day. This is equivalent to special lessons in music, story-telling, picture-study, physical exer- cises, etc., — all taken with particular zest because of the chance to surprise the other children with the results. The help that such exercises may give in development of group consciousness is noticed on pages 51-52. Preparing to celebrate Decoration Day as suggested on pages 47-48, will supply a motive for most of the work in the last week of May. The rehearsal of the flag drill involves counting and physical culture, while learning the songs means not only music lessons, but a combination of language and reading lessons to give mastery of the words which are set to the music. In June there is time before the close of school for one more "party," and what word is dearer to childish fancy? Again home friends are asked, but this time the children themselves write the invitations and have a larger share than before in planning and conducting the entertainment. If it is prac- ticable to have this party out of doors and to let the children help prepare sandwiches, or other simple refreshments, and serve their guests to these, their cup of pleasure will be filled to the brim. The civic training involved is suggested on pages 40-42. 32 Citizenship In School and Out The last of the special days to be celebrated during the school year is likely to be the fourteenth of June. The manner of celebrating is indicated on page 48. The study of number, drawing, and language involved in the study of the design of the flag is obvious, and other lessons like those preceding Decoration Day are given in rehearsing drills and songs. On pages 44-45 are discussed the reasons for con- sidering the observance of this day, and of all hoUdays mentioned in this chapter, an important factor in civic education. The Second Year in School On the pages immediately preceding this there is not only suggested a succession of "centers of interest" which it is possible to utilize in the first grade, but also there is shown in considerable detail, for the convenience of those teachers who have not been accustomed to organize their work in this way, the manner in which the "regular lessons" of the school may be brought into relation with these "centers." This makes it unnecessary to treat the work of the second and third grades in the same detail, both because the general method of organizing the work is the same, and because many of the centers around which it is organized are identical. There is not, of course, much change in the typical interests of children in the first three years of school Ufe. The change which marks their progress comes in their better grasp of more matters connected with these interests, and in their increased skill in reading, writing, and the like. This latter change is taken account of in the chapters which suggest specific lessons in citizenship for these years. (Chapters V,VI.) For the convenience of teachers of the second and third grades who have read to this point it will suffice, then, to give a list of interests which are commonly found among Centers of Interest in the Earlier Grades 33 children of these ages, and which can be profitably used as centers in planning the work of these years, accompanied in each instance by a reference to the pages of succeeding chap- ters where there is discussion of those lessons in citizenship which are involved. It should be repeated, however, that such a Ust will serve its purpose only if it is regarded by the teacher not as a prescription, but rather as a type that may be suggestive to her from time to time throughout the year as she develops her own plan of work to meet the needs of her own group of children. A typical list of centers of interest for the second year of school is as follows: September — Observations made and material collected during several walks taken in the vicinity of the school-house under the teacher's leadership. See pages 57, 62, 64. October — Dramatization and description of the children's own home activities. See pages 55-56. A Hallowe'en party. See pages 57-58. November — The organization and performance of work done in "committees" and by "turns" with the purpose of leaving the school-room in good order at the close of each day's session. See pages 61, 63-64. Preparations for the celebration of Thanksgiving Day. See page 60. December — Preparations for the celebration of Christmas. January — The description and dramatization of Eskimo home life. Comparison with the children's own home life. See pages 56-57. February — Celebration of Lincoln's Birthday, of Valen- tine's Day. "Playing Postman." Celebration of Wash- ington's Birthday. See pages 60-61, 64-65. March — Making and caring for a window-garden. "Play- ing Store." See pages 61-62. April — Work in the school garden. See page 62. Prep- arations for the celebration of Arbor Day and of May Day. 34 Citizenship In School and Old May — Gathering flowers and arranging them in the school-room. Taking the part of the teacher in conducting the class. See pages 63-64. Celebration of Decoration Day. June — Story-telling and dramatizing out of doors. See pages 57-58. Celebration of Flag Day. See pages 60-61. Getting ready for vacation. The Third Year in School September — Fall garden work. See pages 69-70. Dram- atization of "An Hour in the Park." See pages 77-78. October — Dramatization and description of family rela- tionships. See pages 66-67. Description and representa- tion of Indian home life. See pages 67-68. November — Some neighborhood event. See pages 68-69. Preparations for the celebration of Thanksgiving. See page 71. Dramatization of "An Hour at the Library." See pages 77-78. December — Keeping the school-room attractive. See page 75. The birds' Christmas. See pages 71-72. January — Furnishing a doU house. See page 73. "Orders of the Day" and "Officers of the Day." See page 75- February — Celebration of Lincoln's Birthday, of Valen- tine's Day, and of Washington's Birthday. See page 71. Exchange of visits with another grade. See page 69. March — Exhibition of hand-work. See page 69. A review of "What we have been doing together and how we have done it." See pages 75-77. April — Raising a family of chickens. See page 73. Preparation for the celebration of Arbor Day and May Day. May — Making a calendar of flowers or birds. Celebra- tion of Decoration Day. See page 71. June — Celebration of Flag Day. See page 72. A picnic. See pages 69-70. CHAPTER IV Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade Citizenship in the Home /. Housekeeping Play The ability to see the familiar facts of our every-day lives in their true relation to one another, to ourselves, and to other people, — this is surely one of the chief things for which we strive, throughout the entire process of education, as long as we live. By bringing into the school-room that dearly loved play of childhood, "keeping house," the teacher is taking a step toward helping the children to do just this thing. This play is, of course, the children's dramatization of certain portions of their own lives in their own homes; and these familiar scenes, planned for with the teacher, acted out by different groups of children in turn, and dwelt upon by all in conversation, become the means of making vivid and clear impressions of certain essential facts of home life in their true relations. The teacher's share in this play consists largely in leading the children to imitate, and by this imitation of course to emphasize, the pleasantest, most essential, and most educa- tive features in the daily routine of orderly home Hfe. The fact that the children bring a variety of experiences and standards from their different homes adds to the value of the play and affords the teacher an opportunity to show the "sweet reasonableness" of certain practices and to modify the children's ideas concerning others less desirable. It is 35 36 Citizenship In School and Out possible to emphasize many ways in which they may become considerate and helpful members of the family, contributing here a bit and there a bit to the necessary work of the home, to its pleasures, and to the wise and thrifty use of its re- sources. It would be a mistake, however, to conduct this play as a series of object lessons in manners and morals. Such lessons would be sure to lose touch with the real thing, the actual home life of each child present; and it is only as sincere, spontaneous expression is given to this reality that the great- est benefit will result. This play not only possesses educational value in and of itself, but it also proves a very useful center around which to organize for a time the other work of the school. It is a live subject in the treatment of which the children's powers of expression may be developed, and their errors in speech may be corrected. The play itself and the conversation lessons which naturally grow out of it are appropriately enough assigned to any period which on the school program is labeled "language." During the weeks that this dramatization is filling a part of the time given to language work, other periods are devoted to games contrived to confirm the use of the correct expressions whose lack has been revealed by these conversations about every-day home matters, and still other periods are given over to telling stories of home life. These stories are often illustrated, by use of brush, pencil, or scissors, in the time assigned to "drawing." The play is also useful as a basis for black-board reading lessons. The transition to reading from a book is made easy by the use of "Little Home Workers," by Ida E. Finley,^ a primer which was written while the aiuthor was working with children in this way. In the midst of the play itself there is a chance for some counting when the table is set, the dishes are put away, ' Benj. H. Sanborn & Company. o a Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade 37 etc., also for some other use of numbers in the games which "the family" play. In order to give drill in these number facts to all the children the game may be played for but a brief time by the family group alone, then for a longer time by the entire class. Thus the period for "number work" is occupied. Music lessons too, in the form of lullabies and other home songs, contribute their part to this play, and take on in turn an added pleasure because of their relation to this center of interest. The details of this series of play lessons are capable of great variation. The following scenes are some of those which have been found useful: Setting the table. Family serving one another. Clearing the table. Washing the dishes. Looking at pictures together, sewing, playing games, etc. Welcoming a guest. The equipment needed for housekeeping play is not elabor- ate. The play serves the purpose better if the school does not provide much in the way of outfit. It is desirable to have the following: a low table and chairs, such as are usually found in a first grade school-room, a doll's tea-set (one which is of fair size and includes knives, forks, and spoons), a white table-cloth, six small napkins, two pans, a dish mop, and a dish towel. A wooden box set up on end will serve for a cup- board, or there may be a shelf conveniently placed. Food is not used except as a treat once or twice a year. The illustrative lesson given below is the third in a series of lessons given two or three times a week and continuing for a month or six weeks. The series is introduced by showing the children the pretty set of dishes and letting them help plan how the corner of the school-room can be turned into a play-house (dining room and kitchen). On the second day 38 Citizenship In School and Out the children who are to play the parts of Father, Mother, Little Boy, Little Girl, Big Sister, and Grandmother are chosen. Upon other days the two last named characters are changed. Grandfather, Big Brother, Baby Sister, Our Guest, etc., are introduced into the play. In the second lesson all the class discuss with the teacher what is needed on the table, who will set the table, who will help her, who will arrange the vase of flowers, who will set the chairs in place, what Father may be doing meantime, who will call him to supper, who will draw out Grandma's chair for her, etc. Then the children chosen go through the play up to the point of being seated at the table. The other children watch the play. An Illustrative Lesson The same children who played before can to-day set the table more rapidly and soon be seated for the meal. This "playing tea-party," with all the other children and the teacher looking on, seems a Uttle strange to the children the first day that it is attempted, and though they enjoy it, they are very qviiet. The teacher is obliged to ask ques- tions and make suggestions that will help the play along and keep the attention of the rest of the class. The children sometimes answer her in words, and sometimes merely do that which she suggests, showing by their bright faces and expressive gestures their pleasure in the doing. Anything that they do or say spontaneously is, of course, taken ad- vantage of by the teacher in developing the lesson, but in the absence of initiative on their part, she shapes the play somewhat as follows: "Let us see whom Father will serve first." "To whom does Mother offer tea?" "Now has everybody either tea or milk and some bread and butter, nobody forgotten?" "While the family are eating, perhaps Father will tell — " (mentioning some school-room incident). " Has this family any dog or cat ? " " When is kitty going to Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade 39 be fed ? " "Will Mother tell one of the children what to give kitty for her supper?" "Is that the cake plate near Big Sister ? " " Will she pass it and help herself when it has been around the table?" "Isn't it good cake?" "Did Mother make it?" "How prettily Big Sister arranged the flowers." "Did Little Boy pick them for her?" "Has everybody finished eating now, nobody left any good food on his plate?" "Then all can leave the table, and Little Girl can feed the kitten just as Mother told her." As the play is continued on other days, the strangeness gradually wears off, the children grow less timid about exercising initiative, and the teacher is able to keep herself more in the background. She always, however, finds some suggestions needed, and she always tries to make such as are not unsuitable to the children's own home conditions. There is often a demand upon her tact to avoid the chance of any child's feehng that the customs of his own home are criti- cised. The above lesson is of the sort given in a school where most of the children come from homes in which the mothers do the housework, and the members of the family serve each other at the table. In a school where all the children's mothers employ servants, one of the children would naturally play the part of the maid, and the service at the table would be quite different, of course, but would give, perhaps, no less opportunity for thoughtful attention to the comfort of others. In a school where both types of homes are represented, the lessons can be varied from day to day, so that every child shall both recognize familiar customs and also learn of those practiced in other homes than his own. II. Stories and Poems which Idealize Home Ldfe There are certain stories and poems which, though they are simple in style and interesting to little children, yet do idealize the familiar features of home life and so make felt 4© Citizenship In School and Out something of its deeper, even its spiritual significance. To illustrate: How the Home was Built, Mother Stories, Lindsay. The Little Traveler, Mother Stories, Lindsay. The Journey, Mother Stories, Lindsay. Fleet Wing and Sweet Voice, Mother Stories, Lindsay. The Birthday Present, More Mother Stories, Lindsay. The Little Red Hen, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. Trottino, Madame Colomb, Through the Farmyard Gate, Poulsson. Which Loved the Best, The Golden Ladder, Sneath and Hodges. One, Two, Three, The Golden Ladder, Sneath and Hodges. Watching for Father, Little Knights and Ladies, Sangster. A Little Fairy, Little Knights and Ladies, Sangster. The Land of Nod, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. The Land of Counterpane, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. I Know a Little Maiden, When Life is Young, Dodge. Seven Little Pussy Cats, When Life is Young, Dodge. What Does Little Birdie Say? Tennyson, Chiid Life, Whittier. This literature is suitable to be used not only in close con- nection with housekeeping play, as already suggested, but also at other times. On many a morning throughout the year it is the best material which the teacher can add to the devotional exercises in opening the school day. For always the children come to school in the morning with experience of home life uppermost in their minds, and they listen with ready interest to the story or poem which touches such ex- perience and illumines it with the glow of S5rmpathetic imagination. Citizenship in Recreation /. Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments The work of the modern psychologists has put upon a scientific basis the belief — already held by many parents and teachers as a result of personal observations — that children educate themselves in a great variety of directions Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade 41 and often with surprising success; furthermore that they do this through their play. Hence play has come to be valued by every thoughtful teacher as a most powerful ally. "Recess periods" are no longer regarded as interruptions to the busi- ness of the school, necessary only to prevent fatigue. On the contrary, they are planned for by the modem teacher as care- fully as any other periods in the day. By this forethought and by the tact with which she joins in the play, stimulating and modifying it, without taking away self-direction from the children, she avails herself of the children's natural play instincts; and she finds these instincts exceedingly helpful in bringing about a finer physical development, stamina, and grace; a greater mental alertness ; more power to make quick decisions; higher standards of honesty and justice; in short, physical, mental, and moral growth. It is necessary here to do no more than call attention to the place of play in that education which keeps civic ends dis- tinctly in view. There are three outstanding reasons why play is especially useful in civic training. It is in games and other forms of play that the children feel the keenest incentive to individual effort, and there consequently comes through these the greatest increase to their power of initia- tive. It is in happily managed recreational activities that the end attained is so immediate, so pleasurable, and so evidently brought about by all pulling together, that there is the most natural kindling of the social spirit and most willing practice of cooperation. Again, it is in the wisely contrived recreational hour that pleasure may be associated in the children's minds with the widest variety of objects and pursuits, and so there may be awakened the largest num- ber of healthy desires and ennobling tastes which would have otherwise remained dormant. Now it appears that the power of individual initiative and the habit of cooperation in a social spirit are the two prime qualities of good citizenship in child 42 Citizenship In School and Out or man. It further appears that the use of a citizen's leisure hours for the benefit of himself and his community is best promoted, at any age, by his possessing a variety of healthy desires and ennobUng tastes. If, then, recreation which the teacher guides, and in which she participates, is so important an aid in the children's training, it can hardly be confined to the brief moments of the conventional "recess." The spirit of play must be brought into certain of the so-called "regular exercises" of the school, and at least one or two periods of some length must be frankly set apart each week for recreational activities. Or this time may be occasionally "saved up" for a week or two, and then an entire afternoon may be spent in this form of civic training. It can not be too strongly insisted, how- ever, that the time may be wasted, or worse, unless the conduct of these recreation hours is governed in the teacher's mind by the following definite purposes: 1. To cultivate individual initiative. 2. To form habits of cooperation. 3. To increase the range of recreations enjoyed. The greatest benefit results when the teacher, her ingenuity stimulated by the children's eager suggestions, plans in advance such expeditions and entertainments as are worth while in themselves, yet are connected in interest with other school work. To illustrate: a. Walks for bird study, for finding flowers, etc. b. An outdoor party with games, and lunch, and guests invited by the children. c. A Hallowe'en party. d. An indoor party with games and really good music, for which a victrola may serve. Teachers' Aid Games for the Playgrounds Home, School, and Gymnasium, Jessie H. Bancroft, The Macmillan Co. Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade 43 //. Stories, Poems, Songs, and Pictures It has been suggested (on page 42) that the play spirit be brought into certain of the so-called "regular exercises" of the school. What in children we name the play spirit, in grown-ups we call the spirit of art. Its essence is the delight which the artist takes in the thing which he is doing and the immediate results of his activity. The spirit of work may be as full of satisfaction, but it dwells upon the more remote ends of the activity and is thereby somewhat sobered. Much as we all need the true spirit of work for many serious under- takings, it is the play spirit which gives the appropriate inspiration for the creation of what are called "works of art," and — what is more important to most of us — for their appreciation as well. So it appears that the study in school of literature, music, and drawing should not be made too sober a task, but that frequently stories, poems, songs, and pictures should be selected with the thought of recreation uppermost. Furthermore it appears that in presenting these selections to the children they should be treated in such ways as will: 1. Give actual pleasure. 2. Associate pleasure with books, music, and pictures. 3. Associate pleasure with acting, singing, and reciting. 4. Help the imagination to reach out in a variety of directions. The following list indicates some of the material which is appropriate for use in this grade with the purposes stated above: Mother Goose Rhymes. Illustrations of Mother Goose Rhymes by Frederick Richardson, also by Jessie Wilcox Smith. The Three Bears, Story Hour Readers, Book Two, Coe and Christie. The Gingerbread Man, Stories to Tell, Bryant. The Elves and The Shoemaker, Stvries to Tdl, Bryant. 44 Citizenship In School and Out Epaminondas, Stories to Tell, Bryant. Grandfather's Penny, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. The Story of Three Little Pigs, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. Mrs. Tabby Gray, Mother Stories, Lindsay. The Little Gray Pony, Mother Stories, Lindsay. Hans and His Dog, More Mother Stories, Lindsay. Dumpy the Pony, More Mother Stories, Lindsay. Patsy the Calf, More Mother Stories, Lindsay. Mrs. Specklety Hen, More Mother Stories, Lindsay. Out of the Nest, More Mother Stories, Lindsay. The Visit (Thanksgiving), More Mother Stories, Lindsay. The Christmas Stocking, More Mother Stories, Lindsay. Through the Farmyard Gate (the first sixteen stories), Poulsson. Patty's Thanksgiving, In the Child's World, Poulsson. The Chicken World, Pictures drawn by E. Boyd Smith. Kitty in the Basket, Follen, Poetry for Children, Eliot. Butterflies, Follen, Poetry for Children, Eliot. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Taylor, Poetry for Children, Eliot. The Cow, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. The Swing, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. At the Seaside, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. Over in the Meadow, Wadsworth, Child Life, Whittier. The New Moon, Follen, Child Life, Whittier. The Visit of St. Nicholas, Moore, Child Life, Whittier. Spring, Stories and Poems for Children, Thaxter. Little Gustava, Stories and Poems for Children, Thaxter. Rhythmic Action Plays and Dances such as are found in the collection of Irene E. Phillips Moses. ///. The Celebration of Holidays The school celebration of those holidays which have a national character should perhaps be treated in the section devoted to Organized Community Life. Such celebrations, thoughtfully planned, certainly are a means of helpmg children to grow into a consciousness of the national life. The suggestions concemmg these days are instead placed here un^^r the head of Recreation, partly because such school Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade 45 exercises have in the past sometimes been rather dreary affairs, consisting mainly of the learning of facts about the man or the event celebrated and the recitation of poems expressing sentiments which the children certainly did not entertain. It is believed that placing emphasis on the rec- reational character of these occasions, availing ourselves of the children's natural pleasure in an approaching holiday, is useful in two ways: it suggests the mood of a fete-day, a happy pride in the heroes and events honored, and it may serve to give the children special associations with each holiday which will make it, throughout life, different from every other day in the year, and so a source of peculiar pleasure, quite other than that which comes with a plain vacation day. The character of the celebrations is deter- mined by the following definite aims: 1. Give the children real pleasure. 2. Give appropriate associations with each day. 3. Create admiration for national heroes, the true Christ- mas or Thanksgiving spirit, etc. 4. Impart variety to the children's notions of "a good time." The days most appropriate to be observed in this grade are as follows: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Lincoln's Birthday, Valentine's Day, Washington's Birthday, Arbor Day, May Day, Decoration Day, Flag Day, and the Eleventh of Nov- ember, or whatever day shall in good time be settled upon by the Nation as the annual occasion for the fullest expression of its deep thankfulness for the victory of Right over Might. In some instances of course the school is closed on the day itself, and the celebration is held on the preceding day. In most cases the celebration is the outcome of work that has been carried on for a number of days. To iUustrate: I. Thanksgiving — The home celebration is made more full of meaning to the children if the language lessons for the 46 Citizenship In School and Out preceding week consist of story-telling and conversation on such topics as these: a. How we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. h. What we are doing to help mother get ready. c. The story of the first Thanksgiving Day (well told in The Story Hour by Wiggin and Smith, Houghton MifHin Co.). Lessons in drawing and paper cutting contribute illustra- tive work which may be carried home and which will perhaps add to the family pleasure at the dinner table. 2. Christmas — The hand-work done during December is enjoyed more than any other, for it consists in making gifts for father and mother and perhaps other members of the family. The stories told at this time illustrate the spirit of generous giving; and there is a "morning talk" by the teacher which explains simply that gifts are to show love, and that Christmas, the Birthday of Jesus, who taught us the joy of unselfish loving and giving, is the festival of love and gifts. Two books will aid the teacher here: In the Child's World by Poulsson and For the Children's Hour by Bailey and Lewis, both published by the Milton Bradley Co. 3. Lincoln's Birthday — Stories suitable to be told before the day are: a. The little boy Abraham Lincoln giving his fish to a soldier. b. President Lincoln's kindness to soldiers. c. The protection of a turtle. d. The rescue of a dog. Features of a celebration suitable for February 12th or the preceding day are: a. A picture of Lincoln in a prominent place before the class for the day, draped with the national colors or framed with laurel or other green. Our flag displayed near. b. Explanation by the teacher of why we keep the Birth- Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade 47 day of Lincoln, our best loved president, — loved because he was kind, because he was strong. Examples of his kind- ness given (told or acted) by the children from stories pre- viously taught. c. Patriotic songs, such as: Salute to the Flag, and Hail Fairest Land. In preparing the stories from any biography of Lincoln the teacher needs to read much between the lines and make many adaptations to the children's understanding and appre- ciation. She is much helped in this by letting the children ask questions and talk the story over as it proceeds. Ma- terial is furnished or suggested in the following books: Life of Lincoln, Coffin, Harper and Brothers. Lincoln the Man of the People, Mace, Rand McNally & Co. The Kendall Third Reader, Kendall and Stevens, D. C. Heath & Co. 4. Washington's Birthday — Two stories which deal with the boy, George Washington, and his mother are of special interest to children of this grade. a. The death of the colt. b. The giving up of the desire to be a sailor. These stories are told in detail by the teacher and carefully talked over with the children, then dramatized by them. Books useful to the teacher are: An Elementary History of the United States, Thomas, D. C. Heath & Co. First Book in American History, Eggleston, American Book Co. Four Great Americans, Baldwin, American Book Co. George Washington: An Historical Biography, Scudder, Houghton MiflEUn Co. American Leaders and Heroes, Gordy, Charles Scribner's Sons. 5. Decoration Day — The children are not old enough to be given historical facts, nor will they benefit by listening to stories of fighting and suffering. They can, however, be led to look upon the flag with a f eeUng of pleasure and respect, 48 Citizenship In School and Out and to understand, even though vaguely, that it somehow stands for our country, that soldiers protect it, and so must we. The attempt to cultivate this sentiment may take the following form: a. Teacher's explanation: the day on which we honor the soldiers, because they were btave and loved our flag. b. Appropriate exercises: Marching, flag drill, flag salute, bringing flower tributes. Singing patriotic songs. 6. Flag Day, June 14th — The aim here is similar to that of the Decoration Day celebration. The observance may be as follows: a. The meaning of the design of the flag explained. b. Appropriate exercises: Flag salute, flag drill, singing about the flag. Citizenship m Work /. Working Together Even in this first year, when school life is yet very far — the farther the better — from being a series of set tasks, there are already efforts at learning which may be made by the children in the true spirit of work, a spirit which leads them to look forward with steadiness to the end for which the effort is made, and, though they may be happy in the doing, to get their chief satisfaction in the fact of attainment. Every teacher tries to cultivate this attitude toward the task of learning lessons. Many teachers feel, not without good reason, that to do this is one of the most important contribu- tions the school can make to character development. The highest degree of success in cultivating this attitude is doubt- less met by the teacher who, other things being equal, best helps the children to perceive the end for which each effort is made as something very real and concrete, an unquestioned Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade 49 "good" from their childish point of view, and not too remote. The consequent growth in diligence and perseverance is, however, only half the story of growth in good citizenship in the field of work. All the relations of the individual worker to other workers and of his labor to the labors of others, — relations which, in the texture of modern industrial life, are to the strictly individual characteristics of the work- man as the warp is to the woof, — all these are yet to be con- sidered. And even in the first year of school Ufe we may consider these civic relations of work, and may make a point of the children's working together in such fashion as to get the beginning of social consciousness and some notion of co- operation and interdependence. There are certain activities which, because of their social character, serve these purposes better than study and recita- tion do. To illustrate: 1. Distributing and collecting material used by the class. 2. Caring for "the children's corner" in the room. 3. Cleaning erasers, watering plants, keeping room neat. 4. Keeping in order coats, over-shoes, etc. 5. Opening and closing doors, ringing bell for recess, etc. 6. Helping in the care of a pet. This work is of the greatest educational value when it is done, not mechanically in obedience to the teacher's direc- tions, but whole-heartedly and with a sense of responsibility, because each child who does any bit of work is brought to realize in what way it is of benefit to the whole group. In these repeated activities and in the actual perception of the resulting benefits to the group, certain specific habits and ideals which are greatly needed in civic life are beginning to be formed; for example, orderUness and thrift. In this coimection there may sometimes be a use for such stories as the following: The Ant and the Cricket by .(Esop, The Open Gate and Dust Under the Rug by Lindsay in Mother Stories. 50 Citizenship In School and Out Citizenship in Social Intercotjrse /. Practice in Social Virtues and Graces Teachers have sometimes been known to remark with sur- prise that certain pupils whose behavior within the school domain is a model of propriety, when met outside the school grounds, show no more social training than so many little barbarians. And frequently, in less extreme cases, it appears that this child or that has failed to see any close connection between social behavior in school hours and social behavior at any other time of day. This fact points to the conclusion that it is desirable to give as many opportunities as possible in the school life for the exercise of those virtues and graces which are distinctively social in character, — courtesy, helpfulness, unselfishness, self-restraint, and the like; and furthermore that the most useful opportunities are those where the artificial con- ditions of the conventional school-room prevail least, and many features of the children's own social environment outside school are recognized, perhaps even reproduced. To illustrate: 1. A period during school hours when the children engage in activities of their own choice. Ring-toss, bean-bag, simple construction work, paper-cutting, and looking at pictures, for instance, are suggested to the children. They then select their activity, divide into groups, and within each group choose for themselves whatever leaders, score-keepers, or the like, are needed. 2. Other occasions available for this purpose: a. Playground periods. b. Industrial periods. c. Outdoor expeditions. d. Outdoor or indoor entertainments or parties. //. Stories Illustrating Social Virtues and Graces Though it is an axiom that good manners were never learned from books, still it is probably true that entertaining Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade 51 stories which make very attractive such traits as unselfish- ness, helpfulness, courtesy, and self-restraint are not without their effect upon impressionable children if wisely used. These stories are usually best left to exert their own influence on the children's feelings and standards of action, without the aid of a formulated "moral lesson"; but are likely to be most effective if told in connection with the social occasions specified on the preceding pages, sometimes before the event, sometimes after it, according to the nature of the case. A few stories which may be found useful are the following: Diamonds and Toads, Child Life, Vol. Ill, MacDonald and Blaisdell. Cinderella, The Book of Fables and Folk Stories, Scudder. The Pig Brother, The Golden Windows, Richards. Goops and How to Be Them, Burgess. The Little Shepherd, More Mother Stories, Lindsay. The Broken Window Pane, More Mother Stories, Lindsay. Citizenship in Organized Community Life /. Sharing Consciously the Community Ldfe of the School With the child's entrance into school he is coming into his first experience of active membership in an organized com- munity, and the teacher's chief care necessarily is that he shall reahze that there is here a common life in which all the children and the teacher share, and that his relationship to this life may be a helpful and happy one. This realization is best reached through taking part in many activities which are evidently useful to the whole class or the whole school, and for this reason foster the beginnings of loyalty and pubUc spirit. To illustrate: 1. Making decorations for the Christmas trees of the children in other rooms of the school. 2. Bringing nuts, suet, etc., for the use of all the children in feeding birds. £2 Citizenship In School and Out 3. Sharing class property (plants, books, music, etc.), with the children of another class. 4. Bringing from home, for the class to hear, some story, victrola record, or the Uke. 5. Planning and giving by one group a special "morning exercise" treat for the rest of the school. Actual experiences like the above help the child citizens of the school community to form ideals such as no literature, however suggestive, could by itself create in them. Used in a supplementary way, however, appropriate stories are often useful. For example, ^Esop's fable of the Lion and the Mouse and the folk-tale of The Old Woman and her Pig, found in Bailey and Lewis's collection. For the Children's Hour. II. Dramatization of Getting and Giving Hdp on a City Street ' It is on the street that young children come into most frequent contact with the organized life of the city. It is here that they make acquaintance with the policeman, watch the street-cleaner at work, or follow the sprinkling cart at a distance just close enough to be exciting. On their way to school they may notice a fire-alarm box, and wonder in passing why it is painted a different color from the jx)st boxes; or they may be startled by the clang and clatter of a fircrengine on its way to a burning building. Their attention is attracted by these signs of a corporate life, but they cannot read them. They do not know that they are observing some of the means by which the city protects the lives and property of its citizens and procures for them conveniences and opportunities. Nor can they be taught this by formal lessons, no matter how simple the wording or how entertaining the method employed. The city is too complex an organization for young children ' For city or suburban schools, only. Suggestions for Lessons in the First Grade 53 to study profitably, as a unit, either by listening to explana- tions of its make-up, or by going through motions which the teacher tells them are in imitation of its government. The school can, however, helpfully interpret to them first one and then another manifestation of the city's care for its people. Here again, as in the case of home life, dramatization is an excellent way of emphasizing important facts and bring- ing about right attitudes of niind. Incidents which have fallen imder the children's observation, or better still have befallen themselves, as they have passed through the city streets, are good material with which to begin the interpre- tation of the Ufe of the city. This interpretation may well be continued in some fashion in each year of the school course of every city child. In the first grade the scenes dramatized must be very simple and very close to the experience of all the members of the class. To illustrate: 1. If there is a day when the streets are covered with ice, the children may play a street scene which shall show a poUceman helping a number of persons to cross the street in safety. The children will play with equal zest the part of the strong, attentive policeman and the r61es of the various pedestrians who need his help, — the lame soldier, the boy with a heavy bundle, the feeble old lady, the little child, and all the others who are saved from sUpping and falling on the icy pavement. 2. If the children have recently seen a street parade, they will like to reproduce it. In this scene the paraders have prominent parts, but scarcely less prominent are the policemen who keep the street clear for the procession to pass through, prevent the automobiles from blocking each other's way, guard people in the crowd from being too roughly jostled, and rescue smaU boys from being nm over. 3. If there has been a fire in the vicinity, the children 54 Citizenship In School and Out may show how the fire was discovered, and how the alarm was turned in; how the firemen hastened to reach the spot, and how they put the fire out; finally, how sorry someone is that he was careless about this, that, or the other thing that may have caused the fire. In this dramatization of street scenes the teacher's part is much the same as it is in the housekeeping play. There is need for her to help the children by questions and sug- gestions to weave together from their experiences, the story which they act; but there is no need for her to point in words "the moral of the play." Children who really have a share in arranging such scenes, and who act their parts under- standingly, will not fail to receive the impression that the pohceman and the fireman are useful guardians of the street and of the homes that line it; but that their guardianship must be helped out by the carefulness and responsibility of the individual residents and passers by, big and little. CHAPTER V Suggestions for Lessons in the Second Grade Citizenship in the Home I. A Study of the Children's Own Homes The children's study of their own home lives may become a little more systematic in this grade than was the house- keeping play of the year before. The teacher may plan the lessons to conform to some such outline as the following: AciioUies of the Home Life 1. Eating: a. Kinds of food. b. Where certain kinds come from. c. By whom the food is brought to the home. d. By whom prepared at home. e. How put upon the table, how eaten, etc. /. How and why not wasted. 2. Sleeping: a. When we go to bed. S. The kinds of beds we sleep in. c. Any songs or stories to put the younger ones to sleep? d. The first sounds we hear on waking in the morning. 3. Working: a. The kinds of work Father does. b. The kinds of work Mother does. c. The ways in which the children help. d. Why the work must be done. 55 56 Citizenship In School and Out 4. Playing: a. Out of doors: Games, sports of the different seasons, riding, walking, gathering flowers or fruit, etc. b. Indoors: Games, romping, music, pictures, stories, dolls, whittUng, etc. This outline is used by the teacher to aid her own plan- ning; it is not used at all by the children. In class the study is conducted by a series of informal conversations in which the children take a Uvely part. Frequently the lessons are varied by throwing them into a very simple dramatic form. Groups of children, in turn, imitate the familiar activities of home life, while the others look on, and, encouraged by the teacher, make constructive suggestions as to the play. Certain points in the study are illustrated by appropriate stories, poems, and pictures, such as the following: Sweet and Low, Tennyson, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith.' The Lost Doll, Kingsley, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. Feeding her Birds (picture), Millet. My Bed is a Boat, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. The Land of Story Books, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. The Fairy who Came to our House, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. The Sheep and the Pig, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewi^. The Big Red Apple, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. Do What You Can, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. The Johnny Cake, In the Child's World, Poulsson. Sleep Baby Sleep, Cradle Song, Child Life, Whittier. The Little Nurse (picture), von Bremen. II. A Study of Eskimo Home Life The activities of a home life very different from the child- ren's own are studied concretely in the story of an Eskimo child. The Story of Agoonack, in the Seven Little Sisters by Jane Andrews, is an excellent guide to the study. This study is best taken in mid-winter, when it may be possible Suggestions for Lessons in the Second Grade 57 at times for the children to imitate in their out-of-door play some of the Eskimo child's work or sports. Comparisons are made at every turn of the story with the children's own home life, as outlined under / above, and this comparison of their familiar interests and surroundings with similar or contrasting things in a more primitive and picturesque mode of life, not only lays a foundation for the study of history and geography in later years, but also makes the children more ahve in the present moment to many significant facts of their own social environment. Teachers' Aids Seven Little Sisters, Andrews, Ginn & Co. Each and All, Andrews, Ginn & Co. Children of the Cold, Schwatka, Cassell Publishing Co. The Snow Baby, Peary, Stokes & Co. Eskimo Stories, Smith, Rand McNaUy Co. Eskimo Land, Hawkes, Ginn & Co. Little Folks of Many Lands, Chance, Ginn & Co. Citizenship in Recreation /. Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments Here again, as in the first year of training in citizenship, the teacher who desires to utilize in this training as far as possible the children's play instincts, not only devotes much attention to recess periods, but also plans occasional expe- ditions and entertainments with the conscious purposes: 1. To cultivate individual initiative. 2. To form habits of cooperation. 3. To increase the range of recreations enjoyed. Enterprises which appear to the children to be exclusively for their delight may be undertaken and carried through by the teacher with careful adh'erence to these purposes. 58 Citizenship In School and Out To illustrate: a. A Hallowe'en party. b. Story-telling and dramatizing out of doors. c. A musical, comprising songs, singing games, folk- dancing, victrola or piano selections, and the dram- atization of a song. Teachers' Aid See Chapter IV, p. 42. II. Stories, Poems, Songs, and Pictures In the second grade, as in the first, it is worth while to make sure that the children, as well as we ourselves, are connecting the thought of literature and art with that of recreation. Hence stories are put into the freest sort of action; the dramatic and the rhythmic elements of poetry are made prominent, so that the children of their own desire repeat lines, and often with spontaneous gestures; pictures are examined with eager interest to find the story they may tell; and songs are sung merely for the joy of singing. In brief the purposes mentioned before are held in mind. 1. Give actual pleasure. 2. Associate pleasure with books, music, and pictures. 3. Associate pleasure with acting, singing, and reciting. 4. Help the imagination to reach out in a variety of directions. The following list may be suggestive as to material suitable for these purposes. Other suggestions may be found under other heads, since in the field of recreation it is the method of treatment which is of prime importance, and much subject matter useful for education in other fields is also available here. Dick Whittington and His Cat, The Book of Fables and Polk Stories, Scudder. ^ The White Cat, The Book of Fables and Folk Stories, Scudder. Suggestions for Lessons in the Second Grade 59 The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, The Book of Fables and Folk Stories, Scudder. Odysseus and the Bag of Winds, In the Child's World, Poulsson. Daffydowndilly, Warner, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. The Legend of the Dandelion, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. Nell and Her Bird, Dodge, Poetry for Children, Eliot. Mabel on Midsummer Day, Howitt, In the Child's World, Poulsson. Little White Lily, MacDonald, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. The Hayloft, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. The Wind, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. How the Leaves Came Down, Coolidge, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. Snowflakes, When Life is Young, Dodge. Thanksgiving Day, Child, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. Mrs. Santa Claus, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. The Story of Gretchen (Christmas), Mother Stories, Lindsay. Mother Hubbard and Her Wonderful Dog, Heart of Oak Books, Vol. I. The House that Jack Built, Heart of Oak Books, Vol. I. The History of Tom Thumb, Heart of Oak Books Vol. I, Norton. The Tongue Cut Sparrow, Ozaki, The Children's Hour, Vol. I, Tappan. Playing Store, Stepping Stones to Literature, Second Reader, Arnold and Gilbert. Jack and Joe, Slipping Stones to Literature, Second Reader, Arnold and Gilbert. Rhythmic Action Plays and Dances such as are found in the collec- tion of Irene E. PhilUps Moses. In the list above there is one kind of literature which has inevitably been drawn upon. Fairy stories and folk lore appeal especially to children's taste, and must be included in any collection made primarily for their entertainment. The selection of stories of this class from the over abundant material pubUshed is, however, a matter for careful con- sideration. The effort has been made here to avoid all those which exhibit the lower ethical ideals which prevailed in the childhood of the race; e.g., the exalting of a hero because of his successful deceit or his exercise of power to the point of 6o Citizenship In School and Out cruelty. No matter how charming the Uterary form of such stories may be, or how much light they may throw on the history of the race (witness certain stories from Homer or almost any of Grimm's fairy tales), acquaintance with them may well be deferred until the children are old enough to have developed ethical notions of their own more in accord with the higher standards held in the present age, at least through- out the larger part of the civilized world. ///. The Celebration of Holidays The same holidays are celebrated in this grade as in the first grade (see page 45) and for the same reasons; viz.: 1. Give the children real pleasure. 2. Give appropriate associations with each day. 3. Create admiration for national heroes, the true Christ- mas or Thanksgiving spirit, etc. 4. Impart variety to the children's notions of "a good time." To illustrate: 1. Lincoln's Birthday — Stories which may be told and talked over with the children before the day are: a. The return of the young birds to the nest. b. How Lincoln helped a strange little girl. c. Tad's plaj^ellow. d. Stories told in Grade I recalled. On the day itself, or if school is not then in session, on the day before, the children may make their own choice from among the stories they have heard, and may act out those which they think best show Lincoln's kind heart and helping hand. 2. Washington's Birthday — The story of the making of the flag for Washington by Betsy Ross may be told by the teacher and illustrated by pictures. Then the story may be acted Suggestions for Lessons in the Second Grade 6i by the children or shown by them in tableaux arranged as they suggest from their study of pictures. 3. Flag Day, June 14th — On preceding days the symbol- ism of the flag is explained. On the day itself there take place exercises of the following character: A drill which gives prominence to the separate colors of the flag; songs about the flag; the flag salute. Teachers' Aids For Lincoln's Day : Makers of the Nation, Coe, American Book Co. Abraham Lincoln for Boys and Girls, Moores, Ginn & Co. See also Chapter IV, p. 47, for other books. For Washington's Day and Flag Day: The Story of the American Flag, Wayne Whipple, Henry Altemus Co. See also Chapter IV, p. 47, for other books. Citizenship in Work /. Working Together In this grade the effort is continued to lay stress not only upon the desirable characteristics of the individual worker, but also upon his social relations. This stress is of course not laid by means of words, since in this field, as in others, moralizing is believed to be the least effective of methods, but the effort is made to place the children in situations where they will work together in such fashion as to increase social consciousness and call attention to instances of interdepend- ence and cooperation. To illustrate: 1. Making and caring for a window garden. 2. Leaving the school-room in good order at night, each child having a part in the work. 3. "Playing Store." The last mentioned "project" is an excellent means of teaching not only carefulness, courtesy, and economy in buy- ing and selling, but also many lessons in arithmetic and 62 Citizenship In School and Out language, including spelling; and when the play is connected with actual conditions outside the school-room, the social value of the lessons is increased. This connection may be made by sending some children on real errands to real stores and by letting others report informally on errands which they have done for someone at home. These experiences help in starting the play right and give a chance to apply the lessons learned in the course of the play. Citizenship in Social Intercourse /. Practice in Social Virtues and Graces In this grade the effort is continued to give as many opportunities as possible for the exercise of those virtues and graces which are distinctively social in character, — courtesy, helpfulness, unselfishness, self-restraint, and the like; and to make these opportunities such that the artificial conditions of the conventional school-room prevail as little as possible, and many features of the children's own social environment outside school are recognized, perhaps even reproduced. To illustrate: 1. Garden work is especially rich in such opportunities. The use of tools must often be shared, the girls need the help of the boys in the heavier work; one child's crop of radishes or lettuce fails, through no fault of his own, and another child finds a way to temper his friend's disappointment; flowers are sent to a near-by hospital or to a sick acquaintance; there is never an end to the list of chances to cultivate a truly social spirit. 2. Other occasions available for this purpose: a. Playground periods. b. Industrial periods. c. Outdoor expeditions. d. Outdoor or indoor entertainments or parties. Suggestions for Lessons in the Second Grade 63 //. Stories Illustrating Social Virtues and Graces If it be borne in mind that stories designed to make any virtues attractive will be effective only if they enlist the children's sympathies, and that they are then best left to exert their own influence on the children's feelings and standards of action, without the aid of a formulated "moral lesson," — if this be borne in mind and govern both the selection and method of telling or reading such literature to the children, the teacher may find useful, in connection with the sort of social occasions suggested on the preceding pages, stories such as are given in the following list: The Wind and the Sun, jEsop. St. George and the Dragon, The Golden Path, Sneath and Hodges. The Talkative Tortoise, The Golden Path, Sneath and Hodges. Why Violets Have Golden Hearts, The Golden Path, Sneath and Hodges The Half Chick, The Golden Path, Sneath and Hodges. The Magic Mask, The Golden Path, Sneath and Hodges. Sara Crewe, Burnett, The Golden Path, Sneath and Hodges. Nixie Bunny in Manners Land, Sindelar. Citizenship in Organized Community Life /. Sharing Consciously the Community Life of the School Loyalty, pubhc spirit, and obedience to law are civic virtues which the every-day life of the ordinary school-room gives ample opportunity to cultivate, since here is commun- ity life in which each child has a citizen's share. The main difficulty is to cultivate these qualities without sacrificing another characteristic equally essential to good citizenship, — the power to think and act independently. Activities which make especially plain the reasonableness of public-spirited conduct and emphasize the beneficial nature of its results are, of course, the most desirable ones to encourage for this pur- pose. 64 Citizenship In School and Out To illustrate: 1. Gathering flowers and arranging them for the pleasure of all in the room. 2. Taking the part of the teacher in conducting one's own class when the lesson in spelling or reading is a review. 3. Participation in leaving the room in order at night, distributing material for work, choosing good work to be exhibited, etc. II. "Playing Postman" In this grade the children are learning to write little letters of their own composing and if there is a "play post-box'' provided for them in the school-room, they may become very much interested in the exchange of letters among themselves and with the teacher and their home friends. Especially on or near Valentuie's Day, they find "The Postman is Coming!" a fascinating play. The interest thus developed, combined with their obser- vations of the postman on the street and at their own doors (or stopping at the Rural Free Delivery box near by), makes a good starting point for several conversational lessons. These may follow some such course as is indicated by this outline: Our Postman (or Rural Letter Carrier) 1. What he does for our family. 2. The many families he does the same for. 3. The miles he must walk (or ride) in all sorts of weather. 4. The care he must take of his mail. 5. Why we must quickly answer his whistle (or must be waiting at the R.F.D. box to give him our parcel). 6. The meaning of the uniform he wears. Suggestions for Lessons in the Second Grade 65 7. The many other postmen in the city, in other cities, and everywhere throughout the country, all wearing the same uniform, all at work in the same way for us and our friends. The close interweaving of this play with lessons in language, reading, spelling, and writing is obvious. Number work and drawing are almost as easy to connect with it, and even singing can be related to it. See The Postman in Songs of the Child World, No. 2, Riley and Gaynor, published by The John Church Company. CHAPTER VI Suggestions for Lessons in the Third Grade Citizenship in the Home /. A Study of the Children's Own Homes In the study of home activities followed in the preceding grades the essential family relationships have of course been touched upon again and again. Now, however, it seems profitable for them to become the center of interest for a series of conversational lessons, helped by Uterature and pictures, and constituting, as well, useful "language lessons." The conversations with the class are of course entirely in- formal, but the teacher may aim to cover the ground sug- gested by the following outline. Relationships of the Home Life 1. The Father: a. Provides — what? 6. Protects — how? c. - Helps the children to enjoy — what and how? 2. The Mother: a. Makes the home — how? b. Cares for all — how? c. Helps the children to enjoy — what and how? 3. The Children: a. Need what from others? b. Give what to others ? The following stories, poems, and pictures may be found useful in the development of the subject: 66 Suggestions for Lessons in the Third Grade 67 The Children's Hour, Longfellow. The Wilderness Babies, Schwartz. Hans and the Wonderful Flower, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. The Mince Pie, Richards, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. The Lullaby of an Infant Chief, Scott, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. In Which Hand? (picture), Meyer von Bremen. See What Mother Has Brought Home (picture) , Meyer von Bremen. The Pet Bird (picture), Meyer von Bremen. A Helping Hand (picture), Renouf. II. A Sttidy of Indian Home Life The activities and relationships of the home Ufe are also studied concretely in the story of an Indian child. Com- parisons are made at every turn of the story with the chil- dren's own home life as outlined for this grade and the preced- ing one. Just as in the Study of the Eskimo life, so here, these frequent comparisons of familiar interests and sur- roundings with whatever is fundamentally like, or strikingly different, in a mode of life more primitive and picturesque, not only lay a foundation for the study of history and geog- raphy in later years, but also make the children more alive in the present moment to many facts of their own experience which aire full of social significance. In developing this story of the Indian child, attention is • paid to giving the children an active share in the work. They are encouraged to ask and answer questions and retell parts of the sto y, to act out other parts, and (after they have acquired ideas definite enough to represent) to make things that appear in the story, either on the sand table or by the use of clay, paper, plasticene, cloth, etc. Pictures also are an aid in this study, and are chosen carefully to represent objects. and situations of which the children have already formed some conceptions. They are useful only 68 Citizenship In School and Out when each child is allowed to look long enough the first time and look again on other days often enough to satisfy his curiosity and interest. Bits of poetry, like the lullaby sung by Nokomis (from Hiawatha), add to the pleasure of the study, if they are talked over by all, read aloud s)Tnpatheti- cally by the teacher, and then committed to memory by the children. Teachers' Aids The Song of Hiawatha, Longfellow, Houghton Mifflin Co. Docas, The Indian Boy, Snedden, D. C. Heath & Co. Indian Child Life, Eastman, Little, Brown & Co. Indians and Pioneers, Hazard and Dutton, The Morse Co. Children of the Wigwam, Chase, Educational Publishing Co. Stories of the Red Children, Brooks, Educational Publishing Co. The Indian Primer, Fox, American Book Co. American Indians, Starr, D. C. Heath & Co. III. A Study of the Neighborhood ^ A study of the relation of each home' to its neighborhood^ is now in order. This study is conducted by conversations based on the children's own observations and experiences. Some neighborly act which the children have just known about is the natural starting point. Concrete instances are more useful than general statements. The statement, "We do thus and so" is better than the statement, "We ought to do thus and so." The following outline may be suggestive: I. What we do for our neighbors: a. Share good things; e.g., something nice which mother has cooked, something from the garden. h. Help in little ways; e.g., run on an errand, let them use our telephone. C. Protect their property; e.g., if we saw a neighbor's dog straying away, if we saw hens scratching up his flower seeds, etc. ' For rural schools, .especially. Suggestions for Lessons in the Third Grade 69 d. Protect them from harm; e.g., if we saw a little child playing in the street or other dangerous place. 2. What our neighbors do for us: As under i above. Citizenship in Recreation /. Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments The reasons for taking time from the " regular school work" for recreational activities are the same here as in the earlier grades; viz.: 1. To cultivate individual initiative. 2. To form habits of cooperation. 3. To increase the range of recreations enjoyed. The opportunities for civic training by this means become greater, however, as the children grow older. This is espe- cially true, perhaps, of the opportunity to train in habits of cooperation. The children are old enough now to take a large share in making plans for the recreation hour. They may even do considerable work in preparing for it. Finally they may be led to appreciate how each one's share in the planning and the work has fitted into the whole scheme and contributed to the success of the final event. The entertainments may now be somewhat more elaborate, since the time spent in preparation is no less beneficial than the occasion itself. To illustrate: a. Exchanging visits with another grade, the visiting grade being entertained by a program made up from such material as is suggested under // below, or being shown an exhibit of hand-work; for instance, such articles as the children have made and collected during their study of Indian life. 70 Citizenship In School and Out b. Making a bonfire of rubbish which has been collected in the process of clearing up the garden plot in the late fall. c. Taking a picnic supper out of doors some afternoon in June. Teachers' Aid See Chapter IV, p. 42. //. Stories, Poems, Songs, and Pictures In this grade, in much of the study of Uterature, pictures, and music, the same purposes hold good that have been mentioned before under the head of Recreation; viz.: 1. Give actual pleasure. 2. Associate pleasure with books, music, and pictures. 3. Associate pleasure with acting, singing, and reciting. 4. Help the imagination to reach out in a variety of ways. Material which lends itself to these purposes is to be found in the following list: The Golden-rod and Aster, For the Children's Hour, Bailey and Lewis. The Fairies of Caldon Low, Howitt, Poetry for Children, Eliot. October's Party, Nature in Verse, Lovejoy. The Fairies' Shopping, Deland, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. Racketty Packetty House, Burnett. A Trip to Toyland, Eugene Field, The Art-Literature Readers, Book HI, Chutter. My Shadow, The Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson. The Birds' Christmas, In the Child's World, Poulsson. Old Christmas (Selected stanzas). Poetry for Children, Eliot. Guessing Song, Johnston, The Posy Ring. The Hare and the Tortoise, /Esop. Philip's Valentines, In the Child's World, Poulsson. Play Days, Jewett. The Story of Mouflou, Perry, The Story Hour, Wiggin and Smith. The Oriole's Nest, Wiggin, The Story Hour, Wiggin and Smith. Nature Myths, Cooke. Red Riding-Hood, Whittier. The Yellow-Bird, Riley, The Art-Literature Readers, Book IV, Chutter. Playtime and Seedtime, Parker and Helm. Suggestions for Lessons in the Third Grade 71 Robert of Lincoln, Bryant. Chorus of the Flowers, Wheelock, Nature in Verse. Seven Times One, Ingelow, Child Life, Whittier. Hiawatha's Brothers, The Song of Hiawatha, Longfellow. Stories told by Nokomis, The Song of Hiawatha, Longfellow. A Picture of Hiawatha, Norris. A Mother's Care (picture), Leigh Hunt. Rhythmic Action Plays and Dances such as are found in the collection of Irene E. Phillips Moses. III. The Celebration of Holidays The same holidays are celebrated in this grade as in the first and second grades (see page 45) and for the same reasons : 1. Give the children real pleasure. 2. Give appropriate associations with each day. 3. Create admiration for national heroes, the true Christ- mas or Thanksgiving spirit, etc. 4. Impart variety to the children's notions of a "good time." To illustrate: 1. Thanksgiving — For several days before Thanksgiving Day the "morning talks" and the story-telling direct the thoughts of the children to the reason for its observance, and help them to see the significance of the home celebration. The following topics may be suggestive: a. How the Pilgrim children helped their mothers get ready for this day. h. Some of the things that the Pilgrims were thankful for. c. Some of the things that we are thankful for. 2. Christmas — Preparing a Christmas Tree for the birds is an excellent' form for this celebration to take. This tree is a delightful feature of a Christmas party in the woods on the closing day of the term, or if circumstances do not permit this, set up in a corner of the school yard, it gives pleasure for several days preceding the holiday. Its preparation is a 72 Citizenship In School and Out cooperative enterprise which gives none the less opportunity for valuable training because there is so much of joy in it. 3. Flag Day, June 14th — The story of the making of our flag may be told before the day arrives and facts recalled which the children have before learned as to its design and its symbolism. A few stories of the recent war may be added to show how it has been held in honor by our soldiers and by even the little children of the nations to which it has brought help. On the day itself a flag raising is an appropriate cere- mony. If the children earn the money to buy the flag, by running errands, etc., and the new flag is displayed for the first time in some spot which they regard as especially their own, it need not be a very large or expensive flag to evoke real enthusiasm. Teachers' Aids For Thanksgiving Day: The Pilgrims in their Three Homes, Griffis, Houghton MifSin Co. Mary of Plymouth, Otis, American Book Co. Pilgrim Stories, Pumphrey, Rand, McNally Co. Stories of Colonial Children, Pratt, Educational Publishing Co. The Kendall Third Reader, Kendall and Stevens, D. C. Heath & Co. For Christmas Day: In the Child's World, Poulsson, Milton Bradley Co. Poetry for Children, Eliot, Houghton Mifflin Co. For Flag Day: The Story of the American Flag, Wayne Whipple, Henn- Altemus Co. Feeding French Children, National School Ser\ace, Nov. 13, 191S, Committee on Public Information. Citizenship in Work /. Working Together As the children grow older, it grows easier and even more profitable than in the first two years to plan undertakings which shall be carried out by all the pupils in one school-room Suggestions for Lessons in the Third Grade 73 working together for one object. It is often necessary, of course, to have "division of labor," but each one contributes his share and sees how the result, beneficial to all, is brought about. He gains thereby in the vividness with which he realizes his membership in a group and appreciates the fact of interdependence and the necessity for cooperation and personal responsibility. Projects suitable for these purposes at this age are often very rich in material for lessons in arithmetic, drawing, language, etc., as well as valuable for their social suggestion and training. To illustrate: 1. Furnishing a doll house; planning the furnishings, making them, and arranging them in the house. 2. Setting a hen, caring for her and for the chickens when they are hatched. 3. Junior Red Cross Work. Teachers' Aid Junior Red Cross Aclivities, Teachers' Manual, Published by the American Red Cross. Citizenship in Social Intercourse /. Practice of the Social Virtues and Graces In this year the same effort as for the two preceding years is made to give as many opportunities as possible in the school life for the exercise of those virtues and graces which are dis- tinctively social in character, — courtesy, helpfulness, unselfish- ness, self-restraint, and the like, and to make these opportunities such that the artificial conditions of the conventional school-room prevail as little as possible, and many features of the children's own social environment outside school are recognized, perhaps even reproduced. 74 Citizens hip In School and Out To illustrate: 1. Being allowed to choose, when work is done, each his favorite form of recreation from those practicable in the "play-corner" of the school-room, and there enjoying all the freedom which is compatible with others having the same privilege. 2. Other occasions available for this purpose: a. Playground periods. b. Industrial periods. c. The luncheon hour. d. Outdoor expeditions. e. Outdoor or indoor entertainments or parties. It may be well here to call attention to the fact that among occasions which have been mentioned in the preceding fields of recreation and of work all those of this character are useful also in this field of social intercourse. The only reason for giving this field a separate place in this outline is the need to exhibit the fact that the aims in this field are distinct from those in any other. It must often happen that the same occasion offers an equally good opportunity for cultivation in each of two or more fields. The double oppor- tunity is utilized, however, only if, at one and the same time, the distinctive aims in both fields are present to the teacher's mind. //. Stories Illustrating Social Virtues and Graces Occasionally a story may be useful in connection with the foregoing events. Those suggested below and others like them may be trusted to exert their own influence on the chil- dren^ s feelings and standards of action without the aid of a formic lated "moral lesson." To illustrate: The Story of Echo, In the Child's World, Poulsson. The Shepherd Boy who Became King, Old Stories of the East, Baldwin. Suggestions for Lessons in the Third Grade 75 The Master ot the Land ot the Nile, Old Stories of the East, Baldwin. Damon and Pythias, Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Baldwin. The Snappy Snapping Turtle, The Golden Door, Sneath and Hodges. Citizenship in Organized Community Life /. Sharing Consciously the Community Life of the School In this grade the children are not too young to appreciate and enjoy orderly proceedings and beautiful surroundings, in short to have civic pride. The community in which they are best able to take pride is the one in which they are active members for a large part of their waking hours, the school community. This pride is cultivated by activities which give them frequent opportunities to compare existing con- ditions with the highest standards which they at the time hold in mind, and then, if necessary, to alter the conditions to fit the standards. To illustrate: 1. Choosing from their own number a "captain" who sees that the school is in good order for dismissal, gives the word of command, and leads the line, marching in military fashion from the building. If the line is long, he is assisted by mar- shals. The "officers of the day" are the critics of the pro- ceedings, and the teacher is careful to let them have real responsibility in the matter. They in turn are subject to the criticism of the school. 2. Choosing from their own number a "housekeeper" who has the privilege of changing certain appointments of the room, pictures, flowers, and the like, and is responsible throughout the day for the neat and attractive appearance of the room. II. A Study of the Advantages of Organized Cooperation At this point the teacher may set the children to thinking and talking about the way ig Tybich they are working and 76 Citizenship In School and Out playing and getting results in the organized life of the school and of the larger community. They may discover something like the following: 1. Some of the things which no one of us could do alone, but which we as a school can do: March, sing in concert, play games, have spelling matches, dramatize stories, have number drills, etc. 2. Some of the things which no one of us could do alone, but which we working with many others can do: Raise enough money to help our Government a great deal toward paying our share of the cost of the war (W.S.S. drive), take care of sick and wounded soldiers and chUdren who have lost their homes through the war (Red Cross work), feed thous- ands of hungry people (food saving), etc. 3. How it is possible for us to do these things together: a. There is a plan. b. There are leaders. c. There is a part for everyone, and everyone is doing his part. The value of this series of lessons lies in every answer being thought out by the children. The teacher's question- ing is based upon activities in which the school has actually engaged. When the conclusions have been reached by the class, they may well be summed up by the teacher and placed where they can be often seen and referred to. The class may from time to time add to the list of organized enterprises, and each time discover the plan, find the leader or leaders, and recognize the part of every participant. Perhaps the teacher may find a use for a few such stories as these: Billy, Betty, and Ben, and the Circus, Tlie Golden Ladder, Sneath and Hodges. A Quarrel among Quails, The Golden Path, Sneath and Hodges. The Discontented Pendulum, The Golden Path, Sneath and Hodges. Three Bugs, Poems, Alice Gary. Suggestions for Lessons in the Third Grade 77 Working for the Red Cross, Van Amburg, Primary Education, Dec, 1918. Palma's Friend, The Junior Four Minute Men, Nov. 15, 1918, School Bulletin No. 4. Finding the Black Walnut Trees, St. Nicholas, Sept., 1918. The Call to Service (A Conservation Play), Junior Red Cross Activities, Teachers' Manual, Published by the American Red Cross. Our Home and Personal Duty, Young American Readers, Fryer, The John C. Winston Co. III. Dramatization of Visits to Places of Pleasure and Privilege Children of this grade are making acquaintance outside of school hours with some of the places in which the city provides special opportunities for their recreation and educa- tion in one direction or another. They are accustomed to playing in the park, or perhaps on the municipal play- ground or recreation pier. It may be that they often are taken by their parents and friends to the public Ubrary, the museum, the aquarium, and the like. It is very desirable that they occasionally shall be taken to such places by their teacher, not only for the sake of the children who may not otherwise go at all; but also because if the teacher shares with the class the experience of a visit of this sort, she can more easily plan a profitable lesson in civics based upon what they have seen and done. When it is not practicable to make such class excursions, the first step to be taken by the teacher is to find out what have been the individual experiences of the children in these public places. She is then ready to plan with them informal dramatization of visits to such places as are known to most, if not all, of the children. To illustrate: I. "An Hour in the Park" — The school yard or the school-room may become, for the time, the city park. The children decide upon the location of the flower-beds and the 78 Citizenship In School and Out grass plots that must not be stepped upon, of the places where the children may play freely, of the pond, of the walks, of the drives, etc. Next they decide upon the characters which they wish to assume in the play. Among these characters there must be, not only visiting children and their friends, but also policemen, gardeners — whatever care-takers are likely to be found in the real park near by. There may also be included horses, dogs, automobiles, baby-carriages — whatever is likely to bring about interesting situations in the play. In the course of the play the teacher gives the children chances to show each other the variety of pleasures and privi- leges which the park offers, and helps them to discover what part the care-takers play in keeping it attractive. Finally she leads them to see, in concrete cases, why there must be city regulations to govern certain situations, and how the public can cooperate with the police to carry out these regu- lations and thus keep the privileges of the place open to all. 2. "An Hour in the Library" — In this Uttle play the chief r61e (played by a child, of course), is that of the Ubrarian who presides over the children's books. It is shown that she helps the visitors to find what they want, to see interesting books and pictures which are new to them, and to carry away books which will be enjoyed by others at home. The attrac- tions of the room and the building are recalled to mind, and the regulations which preserve these attractions and make the conditions for reading favorable are emphasized. The reason for the orderly arrangement of the books on the shelves is made plain, and the conditions under which books may be taken home are illustrated. CHAPTER VII Courses of Sttidy in the Intermediate Grades In the intermediate grades it is customary to divide the work of the children more definitely than in the primary grades into various "subjects." The "courses of study" which have been assigned to us by tradition, or have been prepared by specialists in the different subjects, all grow more insistent as the child grows older, that he shall acquire a certain body of knowledge in each of the informational studies, as well as a certain degree of skiU in each of the arts of expression. The demand is no doubt to some extent a proper one. The child, having learned to read, is now in a position to help himself more in this effort at learning, and the educational process can now be "speeded up." He is now capable of bearing the strain of sustained attention for longer than a few minutes at a time, and more serious work can therefore be required of him. His mind is receptive, his memory retentive, and we are naturally desirous, sometimes even impatient, to give him now as much as possible of all that will be useful to him in the years to come. A teacher does well to be ambitious for the children at this age of rapid mental growth, and to avail herself of the sugges- tions of the best informed experts in the making of courses of study; provided that she does not allow any pressure from specialists, enthusiastic each over his own subject, to drive from her mind two convictions of which she must be per- suaded through her acquaintance with children themselves. First, that at any age there is much loss of time and energy 79 8b Citizenship In School and Out in changing frequently (every half-hour, say) from one sub- ject to another, if the second has no apparent connection with the first; hence the advantage of finding still in these years, as for the younger children, centers of interest which will show some connection among the different studies and so unify the mental life of each child. Second, that facts and truths, no matter how easily mem- orized, are useful only when applied in some fashion, and that the more immediate the application is, the longer the fact or truth is remembered, and the more hkely it is to be applied again and again, as the exigencies of hfe demand. Holding to these two convictions, the teacher is able to make good use of courses of study not only in the arts of expression, but also in the informational subjects. She does not, however, follow them blindly. She is not troubled by the bugbear of "covering the ground" in a given time. She knows that a little ground made to yield fruit is worth more than much ground merely "covered" in rapid race or tedious dog-trot. She gets from the speciahsts valuable suggestions regarding material of permanent value in science, in history, in literature, — pivotal facts, big generalization, lines that "hold the mirror up to nature"; but she takes from this material only such portions as have a close relationship to the present interests and activities of her particular group of children, and she dwells upon these portions by means of the concrete details so fascinating to children and by means of varied applications of any newly learned truth to well known situations, until these intellectual treasures of the race be- come the children's own, — not merely the possession of their memories, but also veritable factors in their thinking, feeling, and acting. By using this same material for oral and written composi- tions, constructive hand-work, and problems of various kinds, she gives practice in the language, drawing, arithmetic, etc., Courses of Study in the Intermediate Grades 8i required by the courses of study. Best of all, she is doing more than following courses of study; she is availing herself of all the help which the subjects she deals with can yield for her chief work, that of training the children in citizenship. As an illustration of the above principles, let us consider the use which a teacher may make of a t5rpical course in his- tory for the intermediate grades. It is common to find prescribed for the fourth and fifth grades biographical stories from American history. The teacher may decide in the case of each man whether the sug- gestion that will be conveyed to the children by following his experiences with interest will be most helpful in one or in another of the fields of citizenship; it may be in the field of the home, or of work, or of organized community life, for instance. Having made her decision, she may approach the story from the angle of the children's experience in that field and so teach the story as to bring out that phase of the man's life. This does not mean that she will allow her pur- pose to twist historical facts out of the right perspective; but merely that she will present, with faithful adherence to his- torical truth, such efforts of the man and such events of his life as will be of interest and use to the children at their pres- ent stage of experience, and will so present them that what- ever in the narrative has stood out to her as worth while will stand out boldly for the children also to see. Every biographer necessarily has an individual point of view, studies his subject in the light of his own experiences and sympathies, writes of him with the purpose to meet the interests and answer the unspoken questions of his readers. In this method of teaching, the teacher becomes a biographer, and the class her public, for whom she selects facts and to whom she presents them from her point of view. Of course the ability to handle this method belongs only to the teacher who is herself a reader. She cannot do the work 82 Citizenship In School and Out on the foundation of brief stories written for children, but must have read at least one of the longer and more careful biographies, if possible more than one, in order that she may- have in mind, before beginning to plan the work for the children, a vivid sense of the man's personality and a clear notion of his relation to the larger historical movement of which his work is a part. She must also be a reader of cur- rent periodicals. Newspapers and magazines must keep her in touch with what is going on in the world to-day in order that she may judge what persons and what historical move- ments in past days have most vital meanings for children who are living in this particular year of the world's history. No familiarity with the "storied past" will take the place of intelligent and warm interest in the history that is a-making to-day. Witness many a school-room throughout the United States, in which history, before the war a dead subject, is now thoroughly alive, and in which the change is mainly due to the awakening of the teacher herself to a new interest. The participation of our country in a great war, fought for pro- found but simple political principles, has brought close to the thought of all of us, many topics before too often regarded as merely the stock-in-trade of text-book writers; and this new interest is like a clear light showing vital connections between certain men and deeds of former years, or centuries, and the lives of even young children in this twentieth year of the twentieth century. The course of study in history for the fourth and fifth grades is likely to suggest a larger number of biographies than is found in this book among lessons suggested for these grades; but the additional stories, if treated as indicated above, may fit equally well into the social purposes of education which it is the endeavor of this book to exhibit. It is true, however, that the method of study suggested on pages 108-112, for instance, takes no little time for the consideration of one Courses of Study in the Intermediate Grades 83 story; yet it may be time well spent. The teacher whose main effort is bent upon training her pupils in citizenship may sometimes be justified in cutting out certain portions of a course of study prepared by a specialist in history, and thus economizing time for the sake of using it freely and effectu- ally upon the portions which she finds best suited to her purposes. For the sixth grade a course of study is often arranged to give "a background of European history" for the systematic study of American history which is to follow in the seventh year. Here the teacher may do well to. remind herself how little the general statements of a brief history of Europe, no matter how pleasing the style, can mean to readers with such Umited experience and immature grasp as her children have. She will doubtless conclude from her own observation that a passage, of one paragraph or of a dozen, which summarizes the history of a nation or of a stage of civihzation — like Feudalism or the Crusades, for instance — makes on a child's mind far too light an impression to become an effective back- ground for any future study. Whereas, if a child has followed with absorbed interest and lively sympathy the personal fortunes of even one devoted patriot in each of the countries in question, he has caught many a vivid glimpse of what that nation stands for, and the chances are that he has acquired a desire to learn more and yet more of its life. The interest which children manifest in certain countries of Europe and their prominent men, now, since the war has made their names household words, is proof that detailed, personal stories, not logical summaries, are what children's minds feed upon. And the curiosity which they now show about the ex-Kaiser's grandfather, or the "lost Provinces," or the Palace at Versailles — topics which before the war would have seemed to them of the dry-as-dust variety — is proof that the events of the present are the 84 Citizenship In School and Out natural starting point for a study of the past. With these considerations in mind, the teacher will emphasize, in any European history course for the sixth grade, those concrete and personal elements which are strong in human interest and make special appeal to the childish sympathy and imagina- tion. CHAPTER VIII Suggestions for Lessons in the Fourth Grade Citizenship in the Home /. Connecting School Work and Home Work We all know that both the home and the school are essential agencies in the education of our children, and have come to realize that the efficiency of each one is greatly in- creased by maintaining a close connection with the other. The wide distribution and the gratifying success of parent- teacher associations testify to the realization of this fact by both parents and teachers. It is perhaps not so generally recognized that the best results are obtainable only when the children themselves share in the consciousness of this con- nection between home and school and help to make it closer. When the children are old enough to take some part in the work at home, the industrial hour at school becomes an excellent opportunity for bringing about this feeling of harmony of effort in the two places and for availing our- selves of the children's own aid in promoting this harmony. To these ends any one of the following means may serve: 1. Handwork, the products of which can be used or en- joyed at home. 2. Handwork imparting skill which can be immediately useful at home. 3. Exhibitions of work to which parents are invited. The particular projects which each teacher undertakes will be both suggested and limited by the peculiar circumstances of her school; it is important only that they shall belong to one or another of the types mentioned above. 8s 86 Citizenship In School and Out To illustrate: If adapted to the circumstances of the school, any one of the following is a suitable project: a. Raising in the school garden flowers or vegetables to be carried home. b. Reporting in school the plans made for work in gardens at home, also the results obtained from this work. (Usefully supplemented by teacher's visits to home gardens or close cooperation with garden supervisor or inspector.) c. Making in the sewing class articles for home use, such as dish towels and dust cloths. d. Helping to furnish and taking the entire care of a room similar to some one which may be found in a majority of the homes represented. The room mentioned in the project last suggested may be only a "sitting-room" established in one comer of the school- room, a place where it is a privilege to sit and look at pic- tures, read stories, or play games. Or, if circmnstances permit, it may be a model bedroom, absolutely simple in all its appointments, but scrupulously neat and with home-like touches which make it attractive. Such a room is some- times of use in cases of illness or emergency, but its great usefulness is found in the motive it supplies for practical sewing lessons and the chance it gives to impress lessons in housekeeping and in hygiene. Teachers' Aid Industrial-Social Education, William A. Baldwin, Milton Bradley Co. //. Literature of Home Life A second potent, though subtle, means of touching the children's home life is the reading of literature chosen be- cause it is embued with the family spirit. Suggestions for Lessons in the Fourth Grade 87 To illustrate: Heidi, Johanna Spyri. The Golden Touch, The Wonder Book, Hawthorne. The Pomegranate Seeds, Tanglewood Tales, Hawthorne. Marjorie's Ahnanac, Aldrich, Nature in Verse, Lovejoy. The Baby's Thoughts, Childhood Songs, Lucy Larcom. Father is Coming, Howitt, Child Life, Whittier. Peggy's Garden, Stories and Poems for Children, Celia Thaxter. Mary's Manger Song, W. C. Gannett, My Lady Sleeps, Page. Seven Little Sisters, Jane Andrews. Several of these stories and poems are too difficult for the children of this grade to read for themselves, but they are much enjoyed when read aloud by the teacher. Their in- fluence is most strongly felt when the children enter into the spirit of each one as a particular, concrete case, and no gener- alization or "moral" is drawn. The teacher will naturally add to this brief illustrative list favorites of her own that are written in the same happy spirit. Citizenship in Recreation I. Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments "The boy without a playground is father to the man with- out a job." So runs the already famous dictum of a promi- nent leader in one of the most significant social movements of recent years. It may be added that the boy who makes trouble on the playground, and then complains that the other fellows wont play his way, is father to the man who takes his pleasures selfishly, without regard to community interests, and then complains because others do the same. Furthermore it is true that the boy or girl who is often at a loss for "something to play," and who answers the inquiry, "What did you do on Saturday afternoon?" with a half- hearted "Oh, not much of anything," is on the road to be- coming the man or woman without resources for the profit- 88 Citizenship In School and Out able and pleasurable use of leisure time, one who when the day's work is over, merely loafs, or else spends every evening in the same sort of diversion — moving pictures, poker, auction-bridge, or whatever it may be — indulging in it from habit rather than with zest, and withal pitifully missing the revivif3ang influence of real recreation. All bound up in the present day movement toward a shorter working day is the equally important movement toward the development, by every individual and by the community, of the possibili- ties for good which lie in the leisure hours thus gained. The wonderful benefits which this generation expects from the success of the one movement may indeed fail of realization unless the other movement shall attain an equal success. In short, not only is education through play one of the necessities which child nature itself lays upon us, but also education for play is by no means the lightest obligation which our desire to train for citizenship binds upon us. Consequently the teacher of intermediate grades may well plan, no less carefully than does the teacher of younger chil- dren, to introduce occasional expeditions and entertain- ments with the purposes: 1. To cultivate individual initiative. 2. To form habits of cooperation. 3. To increase the range of recreations enjoyed. Occasions which give ample opportunity to combine the above aims are not far to seek. To illustrate: a. A visit to a neighboring farm or to "the park" to see animals that the children are curious about. b. A Hallowe'en party carefully planned by committees of the children acting with the teacher, and giving a chance for the joUiest possible time, but avoiding the objectionable tricks which children at about this age are often tempted to play. Suggestions for Lessons in the Fourth Grade 89 Teachers' Aids Education Through Play, Henry S. Curtis, The Macmillan Co. Games for the Playground, Home, School, and Gymnasium, Jessie H. Bancroft, The Macmillan Co. //. Stories, Poems, Songs, and Pictures In this grade the children's ability to read for themselves makes it even easier than in earlier grades to attain certain ends which have been already mentioned as desirable for the teacher to hold in mind, viz. : 1. To give actual pleasure. 2. To associate pleasure with books, music, and pictures. 3. To associate pleasure with acting, singing, and reciting or reading aloud. 4. To help the imagination to reach out in a variety of directions. Although the children can now get much enjoyment directly from books and pictures, there is still, however, many a chance to enhance this enjoyment by the skill of the teacher's interpretation," by the social exercise of listening and looking together, and by the delight which children take in showing others "the fun of it." Of course the teacher's first effort is to make selection of material excellent in itself and well adapted to recreational purposes for children at this age. The following list may prove suggestive: Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. Just so Stories, Rudyard Kipling. The Peterkin Papers, Lucretia Hale. Fifty Famous Stories Retold, James Baldwin. Old Greek Stories, James Baldwin. Favorite Greek Myths, LiHan S. Hyde. Christmas in Norway, Thaxter, The Art-Literature Reader, Book III, Chutter. A Christmas Wish, Eugene Field, The Art-Literature Reader, Book III, Chutter. Piccola (Christmas), Stories and Poems for Children, Celia Thaxter. 90 Citizenship In School and Out The Story of Piccola, Nora Smith, The Children's Hour, Wiggui and Smith. The Little Fir Tree, Hans Christian Andersen. The Ugly Duckling, Hans Christian Andersen. Merry Christmas, Nature in Verse, Lovejoy. No Boy Knows, Riley, The Art-Literature Readers, Book IV, Chutter. The Village Blacksmith, Longfellow. Horseshoeing, Landseer. The Tree, Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Nature in Verse, Lovejoy. Pussy Willow, Nature in Verse, Lovejoy. The Venturesome Buds, Nature in Verse, Lovejoy. Pussy Clover, Lucy Larcom. Beautiful Joe, Marshall Saunders. The Mountain and the Squirrel, (a Fable), Emerson, The Heath Third Reader. III. The Celebration of Holidays In the fourth grade, as in the three preceding ones, the holidays which have connected with them the greatest possi- biUties in this field of education in recreation are Thanks- giving, Christmas, Lincoln's Birthday, Valentine's Day, Washington's Birthday, Arbor Day, May Day, Decoration Day, Flag Day, and whatever day shall be appointed to commemorate the outcome of the World War. The cele- bration of these days is dominated, too, by the same purposes: 1. To give the children real pleasure. 2. To give appropriate associations with each day. 3. To create admiration for national heroes, the true Thanksgiving or Christmas spirit, etc. 4. To impart variety to the children's notions of "a good time." There is, however, one mistake sometimes made in observ- ing from year to year the same series of hoUdays. The cele- brations of each year are allowed to become mere repetitions of those held the year before. The resulting lack of interest defeats every purpose of observing the days at all. If the entire life story of an historical character, for instance, be Suggestions for Lessons in the Fourth Grade 91 repeated on each anniversary of his birth, the children, after a few years, tire not only of the story, but also of the man him- self, about whom they imagine they know all there is to be known. As a matter of fact, of course they know very little, and the cure for their ennui is a closer acquaintance with the character, but this will not be gained by reviewing an old story. Perhaps the surest method of securing variety and progress from year to year is that of choosing for each cele- bration a different theme, one which is appropriate to the children's interest and understanding at that particular time in their Hves. In developing this theme some one phase of the event, or of the life of the man, commemorated by the holiday is studied in sufficient detail to make it realized vividly. This method also gives an opportunity for much self-activity on the children's part in finding stories with a definite bearing, retelling them, acting scenes, or doing illus- trative work; and taking this active part gives them the pleasurable feeling which it is desirable to associate with the day and with the event or the hero celebrated. To illustrate : I. Christmas. Theme: Christmas in other lands. Presentation by means of stories, poems and dramatiza- tion. When there are children of foreign parentage in the school, the customs of the countries from which the parents come receive special attention, and pains is taken that the pleasure, beauty, or significance of each custom shall be evident. This sort of celebration helps to bring about that sympathy and understanding among the members of the school which is sometimes lacking where there are marked differences of dress and speech to divide the group. It is one way of showing to those children who are used to American customs only that the others have in their home life and traditions much to be enjoyed and admired. Any means by 92 Citizenship In School and Out which this fact can be emphasized is a civic lesson of value in a country whose people are drawn from so many nationalities as are the American people. 2. Lincoln's Birthday. Theme: A strong boy; a strong man. Before the day to be observed the children are given books in which to look up stories to show how strong Abraham Lincoln was. On the day itself they tell the stories; e.g., the story of the nine-year-old boy cutting down trees, of the miles that boy walked to school, of the yoxmg man's wrestling matches. The teacher calls attention to Lincoln's picture, which shows a face as strong as it is kind. She speaks also of the trait of moral strength, of his being strong enough to do what he thought right, no matter how hard; strong enough to free the slaves and keep the country united. A gala touch is added to the day by means of patriotic music and marching with flags. 3. Washington's Birthday. Theme: Washington as a worker and as the Father of his Coimtry. What kinds of work Washington did as a boy and as a man, and how he did it, are the questions proposed to the children several days before February twenty-second. The answers may be found by the children in the stories which tell us of the boy's copybook, the young man's journal, the young surveyor's work, the carrying of a governor's message, etc. The teacher then explains why, later, Washington was called the Father of his Country, illustrating by stories of his taking command of the army, caring for his men at Valley Forge, defeating Cornwallis, being inaugurated President. These stories, well told and helped out by pictures, can be made a fascinating series which furnishes excellent material for impromptu dramatization by the children when the day for the celebration arrives. Suggestions for Lessons in the Fourth Grade 93 Teachers' Aids For Christmas: Oar American Holidays, Christmas, Schauffler, Moffat, Yard & Co. Oiir Holidays Retold from St. Nicholas, Century Co. Christmas in Other Lands, George and Coonley, A. Flanagan Co. For Lincoln's Day: • American Leaders and Heroes, Gordy, Chas. Scribner's Sons. See also Chapter IV, p. 47; Chapter V, p. 61. For Washington's Day: Founders of Our Country, Coe, American Book Co. Hero Stories from American History, BlaisdeU and Ball, Ginn and Co. See also Chapter IV, p. 47; Chapter V, p. 61. For all Holidays : Good Stories for Great Holidays, Olcott, Houghton Mifflin Co. Citizenship in Work /. Working Together and for Others By the time the children have reached nine or ten years of age they are able, under skillful supervision, to make articles of real use; and because this is so, the industrial period in school becomes an hour big with possibilities of civic educa- tion. Since the articles made are to be actually used, they must be made well enough to be acceptable for this use, and thus there is established a practical standard of excellence which appeals to the children, and it is the very same stand- ard which their work must conform to throughout their lives. Again, the thought that the finished product must meet this test of usefulness is present at every step of the process, controlhng conditions and influencing the attitude of the workers. Suppose the work is for a hospital bed, knitting squares for a spread. Each piece must be a true square, and all pieces must be of the same size. It is sure to happen that a few children are able to knit squares that meet these require- ments far more easily and quickly than the others can. Each of the more successful knitters is usually glad to show some 94 Citizenship In School and Out other child how to accomplish the same result, and under these circumstances, the help is hkely to be given not with an air which says, "See how much looser and better my stitches are than yours!" but rather with this explanation, "These stitches are the kind which I found would make a square of the right size, and you can make such stitches if you will hold the needles so." It comes to pass in the most natural way in the world that one child helps another, and in so doing adds both to his skill and to his neighbor- liness. Or perhaps it is an apron that is to be made. Fitting the pattern on to the cloth and cutting out the pieces is work which a boy can do well. The hem, of course, must be made by the girl who can take the neatest stitches, while the seams may be sewed by one who has not yet learned to hem. Thus it happens that groups of children work together, each doing the part of the work which he can do best, and all interested in the entire achievement. Here we have a little concrete illustration of the interdependence of all labor, and hence the need of cooperation in industry. Finally, if the work is undertaken wiUingly by the children to provide for the needs or the pleasures of other people, because these are well understood and sympathized with, the spirit of generosity which is beginning to stir within them at this age is further awakened. And if this seem an issue remote from the training.of hand and eye for which this period has been assigned, it is nevertheless true that the demand which the difficult human problems of modem industry make on the broadest sympathies and the deepest insight of every citizen gives a hint that it may not be amiss to afford what scope we can in the' " industrial hour" to the unselfish impulses of the young citizens working here. Among the articles called for by the Red Cross, also by organizations and persons supplying local needs, there are Suggestions for Lessons in the Fourth Grade 95 sure to be some of simple enough construction to be appro- priate work for an industrial hour of this type. Teachers' Aid See Chapter VI, p. 73. //. A Stvdy of Occupations A study of certain occupations essential to life may be made not only profitable but even fascinating to children of this age if it is based on the Story of Robinson Crusoe. Such a series of lessons may well supply the subject of the lan- guage work for a month, and at intervals during that time it gives material also for geography, natural science, number, and reading lessons. The social value of the story and related study is very great. In the field of work perhaps the most noticeable points that are emphasized by it are the following: 1. The interdependence of men under normal conditions. 2. The possibilities of achievement by individual in- genuity, effort, and thrift. 3 . The respect due to labor. This study involves several lines of effort and may be planned by the teacher in some such way as follows: 1. The Story of Robinson Crusoe told by the teacher and discussed by the class according to the method suggested in the Teacher's Edition of Robinson Crusoe for Boys and Girls by Lida B. McMurry (PubUc School Publishing Co.). 2. Some of Crusoe's efforts attempted by the class in the industrial period. 3. Observation of the occupations in the children's own community which correspond to Crusoe's occupations. 4. Conversational lessons on village occupations, based on the children's questions. 5. Reading aloud "at sight" from an elementary school edition of Robinson Crusoe. 96 Citizenship In School and Out Citizenship in SoaAL Intercourse /. Practice of the Social Virtues and Graces One advantage of q, school in which other things than formal study and recitation occasionally "happen" is the chance thereby given the pupils to act naturally, according to their own notions of the requirements of ordinary social intercourse. This • advantage is, of course, utilized only if the teacher seizes her chance, that of observing what these notions are and deciding whether or not they need modifi- cation or correction. If such need exists, private suggestions to certain children may be the way of meeting it; or it may be that a general class discussion concerning the social demands of the occasion just past will prove useful, crystal- izing public opinion and changing the point of view of individuals. The work is not complete, however, till the new attitudes toward these matters have been shown in practice. And here it is still true, as in the lower grades, that the most useful opportunities for suck practice are those where the artificial conditions of the conventional school-room prevail least, and many conditions of the children's social environment outside school are recognized, perhaps even reproduced. A few of the occasions which may be allowed by the teacher to take on this character are as follows: 1. Recess, indoors or out of doors. 2. The industrial period. 3. Expeditions for nature study, geography, or study of occupations. 4. Entertainments or parties in the school-room. 5. The luncheon hour. //. A Study of Certain Social Customs Besides the incidental study of social behavior already suggested, it is easy to secure the children's interest in a Suggestions for Lessons in the Fourth Grade 97 somewhat systematic study of a few common social customs. This study is conducted by a series of conversational lessons based on the children's own observation of the good manners they have come in contact with. Their observation is given direction and encouragement, and the effects of such manners are indicated. The children enjoy originating and acting little scenes to illustrate points taken up in these lessons. The study may be outlined as follows: 1. Certain desirable social customs which help us to show: a. Hospitality and consideration to guests. b. Appreciation and consideration to host and hostess. c. Generosity to weaker persons. d. Courtesy to girls and women. e. Respect to older persons. /. Cordiality to acquaintances. g. Courtesy to strangers, etc. (Examples: lifting the hat, saying "good morn- ing," offering a chair, carr3dng a bundle, serv- ing another first, etc.). 2. Stories about such customs: Legends of King Arthur and his Court, Frances N. Greene. How Cedric Became a Knight, In Storyland, Elizabeth Harrison. Little Beta and the Lame Giant, In Storyland, Elizabeth Harrison. Prince Harweda and the Magic Prison, In Storyland, Elizabeth Harrison. The Fox and the Stork, jEsop. The Miraculous Pitcher, The Wonder Book, Hawthorne. Hiawatha's Friends, Longfellow. Citizenship in Organized Community Life /. A Study of this School The children of this grade have a sufficient basis in experi- ence for a study of one important and far-reaching organiza- tion which is typical of our American community life; that 98 Citizenship In School and Out is, the school. Of course the particular school in which they are members is the subject of their study. The work takes the form of conversational lessons, and all the answers can be furnished by the children from their own experience or ob- servation or by questioning their elders at home. The object of the study is not so much the new information which is gained as it is the new light in which these facts are shown. The teacher aims to bring out clearly the purpose for which the school exists, for which all the children's work is done, and her own work and that of the other school oflScials as well; also to show interestingly that this purpose is one held by the commimity as a whole and touches intimately the life of all its members in school and out. If she can make her pupils see and feel this to be true, it will greatly aid in securing their intelligent and willing cooperation with each other and with her in their daily work; and it will help the school to become all of a piece with the national democracy in which and for which these young citizens are being educated. The main purpose which all communities seek to realize in their schools and the firmness with which that purpose may be held, inspiring teachers and pupils alike to wonders of endurance and achievement, may be illustrated by stories of schools in the stricken regions of France, carried on in the midst of the alarms and desolations of war to the end that the French Republic shall still, in the next generation as in this, be safe in the intelligence and patriotism of her citizens. Such stories, if used to supplement the study of the children's own school, will broaden their horizon and help to show their own work in its true light. If civics has a place on the program, it is that place, of course, which this series of lessons will occupy. If not, the subject may be used to supply topics for "language work," first oral, then written; for it is evident that there is no sort Suggestions for Lessons in the Fourth Grade 99 of training in speech or writing more needed than that which increases the ability to make clear and convincing statements — no matter how brief and simple — about the true relations of familiar facts, and here is good material on which to make this attempt. The main points of the study may be ar- ranged as follows: 1. What work is done in this school? Studying, teaching, promoting pupils, supplying teachers, deciding on supplies and buying them, taking care of the building, etc. 2. Who do this work ? Pupils, teachers, superintendent, janitor, truant officer, etc. 3. What must they be provided with in order to do this work? Building, grounds, books and other equip- ment, living expenses. 4. Who provide these things and help the work in other ways? Tax-payers, parents (whether tax-payers or not), school board, board of health, etc. 5. Why are people willing to give this money and other help? What results do they expect? Can you mention some men and women who have been through this school and are now paying back the community by the services which their education makes them able to give? Teachers' Aids "Anywhere in France," John H. Pinley, The Outlook, August 8, 1917. Keeping School Under Fire, Octave Forsant, The Atlantic Monthly, February, 1918, especially, pp. 251-255. You are the Hope of the World! Hermann Hagedom; and The War Schools of France, Bernard M. Sheridan; The Liberty Reader, Sheridan, Benj. H. Sanborn & Co. A Letter to the Boys of America, Edward N. Teall, War Readings, Charles Scribner's Sons. The Young Citizen, C. F. Dole, D. C. Heath & Co. loo Citizenship In School and Out II. A Study of Voluntary Cooperation The large part taken in democratic community life by volunteer workers, organizing themselves to do something for the common good, makes desirable some study of this phase of civics. In a few of these organizations the children have a part, yet they often have little understanding why the work which they see being done, was undertaken or how it is being accomplished. Such examples of volimtary cooper- ation as the following are good subjects for study: 1. The organization, work, and exhibit of local garden clubs and canning clubs. 2. The Christmas trees of churches or the community trees. 3. The work of the Red Cross with a few of the simpler features of its organization, enough to show the wide distribution of its membership and its benefits. 4. Current local happenings, as occasions arise which illustrate the theme. Such topics as the above are unfolded by means of conver- sational lessons in such ways as to make plain the following points: 1. The individual is subordinated to the general plan. 2. There are opportunities open to the individual through the general plan. 3. There are benefits resulting both to the individual and to the community. These points are not made in these words, of course, language which the teacher only would understand, but they are made evident to the children by concrete ex£imples. CHAPTER IX Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade Citizenship in the Home I. Connecting School Work and Home Work In this grade the efifort is continued to make close connec- tion in the children's minds between work done at school and that done at home. To this end care is taken that the indus- trial work of the school shall be, for a part of the year at least, of a character which emphasizes this connection. In choosing among different possibihties, it is useful to keep in mind three types of work any one of which is of such charac- ter: 1. Handwork the products of which can be used or en- joyed at home. 2. Handwork imparting skill which can be useful at home. 3. Exhibitions of school work to which parents are in- vited. Among the many specific projects which conform to these types the following may serve as examples: a. Making baskets, the kind of basket often being de- termined by a suggestion brought from home. h. Making small articles for common use, such as holders, bay-berry bags (for ironing), bags to hold twine-balls or dust-cloths. c. Gathering from the school garden vegetables for home use. The project mentioned last is especially valuable in the opportunity which it gives for lessons in thrift. I02 Citizenship In School and Out The children are taught how to harvest the vegetables and how to prepare them for the table with attention to avoiding waste in either process. How to store those for winter use is explained, and a variety of palatable ways in which each may be served is suggested. It is desirable that the vegetables shall be gathered in the fall by the same children who, as members of the fourth grade, planted them in the spring. Lessons in drawing, painting, and written language are easily correlated with this work. Teachers' Aid See Chapter VIII, p. 86. //. A Study of the Essentials of Home Life Stories of American pioneers are commonly studied in this grade, and in these we have at hand material which is well adapted to call attention to the essentials of home life. The record of the lives of those men and women who foimded and maintained homes in the new country, conquering the physical difficulties which beset life in the wilderness, and finding sources of enjoyment in a situation barren of the gifts of civilization, is a record which is likely to make any student of history question thoughtfully, "What makes a home?" And the children, becoming acquainted with a few of these lives, by hstening to stories told by the teacher, reading further accounts, and talking over those distant times in comparison with our own, find again and again that certain essentials made a home then and make it now. They find the physical basis of shelter, food, and clothing always present; and on the higher levels they find suggested, here and there in various ways, other elements of home life, not so tangible but none the less essential, both then and now, — protection, for instance, and the corresponding obedience; effort, both physical and mental; the affection which makes Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade 103 that effort worth while, and the cooperation which makes it effectual. In order to gain such impressions, the children must be led to make frequent comparisons between their own homes and those of the pioneers or colonial heroes studied; but few, if any, of the generalizations which might be drawn therefrom need to be put into words. Such general con- clusions as the children are ready for will form themselves in their minds, as concrete instances are studied with in- terest and examined in the light of their own experiences. For the teacher to state general truths in this connection, or ask the children to do so, is open to the dangers which always attend moralizing. Below are mentioned several of the historical stories which contain much material of the character just described. No one of them is intended to be studied as a complete biography, but each is to be presented in such way as to cover in picturesque detail the topics suggested. Suitable Stories The Pilgrims. — Voyage. Provincetown. Landing at Ply- mouth. Difficulties of the first year. Thanksgiving Day. Why the Pilgrims came. Some of the things they cared most for. The homes they made. The villages they built. Washington. — Boyhood at home. Early manhood to Braddock's defeat. How he was chosen to lead and took command in the Revolution. How he met big emergencies (two or three examples). How he brought the war to a close. How he was made President. Lincoln. — Events of boyhood, family, homes, surroundings. Journeys. On the farm. On a Mississippi flatboat. Read- ing and study. Black Hawk War. Keeping store. A great president who saved the Union and freed the slaves. (Last topic merely touched upon). I04 Citizenship In School and Out Daniel Boone. — Making a home in Kentucky. Capture and rescue of the children. Capture and escape of Boone. Boone as 'a hunter and farmer. Suitable Projects 1. Building and furnishing a log-cabin. 2. Writing and acting a play founded upon one of the pioneer stories. Citizenship in Recreation 7. Occasional Expeditions and Entertainments In the fifth grade, no less than in the first, or any grade between, do the children need vigorous play and the quieter forms of healthful recreation, because of the opportunity these afford: 1. To cultivate individual initiative. 2. To form habits of cooperation. 3. To increase the range of recreations enjoyed. The reasons for emphasizing these aims in any scheme of civic education have been already suggested, and apply to the case of the older children as well as that of the younger ones. It is true, however, that the working time of children grows increasingly valuable as they grow older and are physically able to bear the strain of longer periods of studying quietly at their seats, and the teacher is not likely to plan for as much time to be spent in recreational activities. To offset this tendency and give due emphasis to the aims mentioned above, it is necessary to put even more thought than before into the plans for utilizing to the full whatever time is appropriated to this field of education. The variety of games which appeal to children of this age is large; and the teacher who both encourages the best of those which arc in vogue among her particular children, and also suggests others that they have never played, not only fills Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade 105 the "recesses" with beneficial activities, but also extends her influence over the children outside of school bounds. At this age children have keen curiosity about their sur- roundings. A visit to the engine house to see a fire drill or to the pier where fishing boats are unloading; a walk to observe how a roadway is being paved, or one following a small stream to find just where it joins a larger one; — what- ever expeditions of the sort are possible in the vicinity of their particular school-house in town or country — excite their interest strongly. Helped by a few questions, they are able to observe with surprising accuracy and accumulate much information to help in their indoor study of nature, geogra- phy, history, Kterature, and civics; and if the teacher allows these occasional expeditions to take on the character of a special privilege, showing that she herself shares the enjoy- ment, they become not only outdoor lessons, but quite as much, occasions of recreation that promote the aims men- tioned above. Indoors, an hour may often be used to the full for the pur- suit of some study required by the program, and yet, at the same time, be an hour of delightful recreation. To illustrate: A Uterature lesson may be given in the form of impromptu dramatization conducted by the children in groups. One child chooses a scene from some story with which all the children are acquainted. Titles of suitable ones may be found on pages 106-107. This leader does not tell the others what story he has in mind, but selects as many children as he, needs to help him present the scene. This group withdraws from the room, lays its plans, and returns to act the scene for the others to recognize and enjoy. Then comes the turn of another leader and his group. The history lessons also yield excellent material for this informal dramatiz- ing, but it is best to use the fiction at one time and the true Stories on another day. io6 Citizenship In School and Out Teachers' Aids See Chapter VIII, p. 89. //. Recreational Reading The following lists may be of service to the teacher in her effort to help the children to find in reading a source of true recreation. Poems The Deacon's Masterpiece, Holmes. The Planting of the Apple Tree, Bryant, The Land oj Song, Book II, Katharine H. Shute. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Browning, The Land of Song, Book II, Katharine H. Shute. October's Bright Blue Weather, Jackson, Nature in Verse, Lovejoy. The Christmas Trees, Mary F. Butts, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, Eugene Field, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. The Snowbird, Butterworth, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. How the Robin Came, Whittier. The Frost Spirit, Whittier. Christmas Bells, Longfellow, (First three stanzas). From My Arm Chair, Longfellow. The Windmill, Longfellow. Daybreak, Longfellow. Hiawatha's Sailing, Longfellow. (From the Story of Hiawatha.) March, Lucy Larcom. Little Nannie, Lucy Larcom. The Legend of the Northland, Phoebe Gary. Wild Geese, Celia Thaxter, Stories and Poems for Children. Short Stories The Necklace of Truth, Jean Mac6, Dramatic Readings, Lansing. The Magpie's Nest, Joseph Jacobs, Good Stories for Great Holidays, Olcott. Christmas Under the Snow, Miller, The Children's Book of Christmas Stories, Dickinson and Skinner. A Christmas Fairy, Winter, The Children's Book of Christmas Stories, Dickinson and Skinner. Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade 107 The Golden Cobwebs, SchaufHer, The Children's Book of Christmas Stories, Dickinson and Skinner. Selections by the teacher from the Story of Patsy, Kate Douglas Wiggin. Selections by the teacher from The Wonder Book, Hawthorne. Selections by the teacher from Tanglewood Tales, Hawthorne. The Spray Sprite, Celia Thaxter, Stories and Poems for Children. Madame Arachne, Celia Thaxter, Stories and Poems for Children. Cat's Cradle, CeUa Thaxter, Stories and Poems for Children. Longer Stories The King of the Golden River, Ruskin. The Jungle Book, Kipling. Kingsley's Greek Heroes, Tetlow. The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children, Jane Andrews. Under the Lilacs, Louisa M. Alcott. Sarah Crewe, Frances Hodgson Burnett. Pinocchio, C. CoUodi. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell. Jolly Good Times, Mary P. Wells Smith. Jolly Good Times at School, Mary P. Wells Smith. III. The Celebration of Holidays To the holidays recognized in the program of the lower grades (see page 90) the fifth grade may very well add Columbus Day, New Year's Day, and perhaps a local holi- day, like Patriot's Day in Massachusetts. The several aims to be held in mind are still: 1. To give the child real pleasure. 2. To give appropriate associations with each day. 3. To create admiration for national heroes, the true Christmas or Thanksgiving Spirit. 4. To impart variety to the children's notions of a "good time." Details of three such celebrations are given below by way of illustration. io8 Citizenship In School and Out A. Thanksgiving. A loan exhibition of such dishes, cooking implements, small house-furnishings, samplers, pictures, etc., as might have been seen by a Thanksgiving guest at a colonial home in the vicinity of the school. Each article, its use and associations, may be described by some child for the infor- mation of the class. , B. Lincoln's Day: An Illustrative Lesson 1. Points of Contact: a. Almost any work, physical or mental, which the chil- dren have recently done, provided it be hard work by which difficulties have been overcome, if called to mind in this connection, will furnish a basis for the children's S3rm- pathetic understanding of Lincoln's attitude towards the tasks which confronted him, his determination, his persist- ence, his fatigue, and his pleasure at accomplishment. It is essential that such understanding and feeling be present throughout the series of lessons. h. Whatever experience the children may have had in splitting kindling, building wood fires, working in the garden, camping out, or even walking through the woods, will help them to form pictures of Lincoln's surroundings and to imitate his activities. 2. Content: The dramatization of three scenes from the life of Abraham Lincoln: a. Helping his father to open the road from the Ohio River to Little Pigeon Creek, Indiana, where the new home was to be built. b. Helping his father to build and keep burning the fires in front of the half-faced camp in which the family spent the first year in Indiana. c. Borrpwing and reading the Life of Washington. Work- Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade 109 ing to pay for the injured book. Rejoicing over owning his first book and having the chance to study it. 3. Materials: a. A map of Southern Indiana showing the Ohio River and Little Pigeon Creek. b. A picture or model of a small, rough log-cabin. c. Such stage properties as the ingenuity of the children, supplemented by suggestions from the teacher, can find in the ordinary school-room furniture (e. g., rulers, pointers, and erasers for firewood), or can easily supply from home or out of doors {e.g., an old axe-handle to which a tag board blade may be attached). Any elaborate stage setting or costuming is carefully ruled out. d. Moores' Abraham Lincoln for Boys and Girls, or any other rehable biography of Lincoln which contains a detailed account of his boyhood. e. A large picture of Lincoln. /. An American flag. 4. Method: The celebration of February twelfth begins with the exercise which opens school in the morning. At this time comment is made on the strength and earnestness shown in the face of Lincoln, whose picture occupies a prominent place on one of the walls of the room. Reasons are given for the special display of the flag on Lincoln's Day. The hymn America is sung. At a convenient time later in the day comes an informal dramatization of one phase of Lincoln's life. This part of the celebration is carefully led up to by a series of history lessons extending through several weeks. In these lessons the teacher tells the story of Lincoln's boyhood from the time of moving into Indiana to that of being settled in the log cabin which was built in the second year of residence there. Ten pages, 8 to 18, of Moores' Abraham Lincoln no Citizenship In School and Out furnish the teacher with sufficient information for the basis of the story, but it is necessary for her to amplify this ac- count — or any account to be found in print — by referen- ces to the children's own experiences (such as are mentioned under "Points of Contact"), by explanations and word pictures which make the situation clear and the feeUngs and acts of Lincoln and his companions lively and realistic, also by many questions which reveal whether the children are following the story with understanding and interest. The three incidents given under "Content" are especially emphasized in presenting the narrative. The children retell these parts of the story. They then talk over with the teacher very fully the best way of "acting out" three scenes to represent these incidents. They may plan to show all by action and gesture, or they may put words into the mouths of the characters, as they please. If words are used, the "play" is written. This writing, with the memorizing of the brief speeches, furnishes excellent work for the "language periods." Next comes the election by the class of the members who are to represent the characters in the three scenes. Now the class is ready for the celebration itself, which consists of the impromptu dramatizing of " The Boy Lincoln at Work." The omission of rehearsals is intentional. There is no attempt to present a finished performance for the enter- tainment of spectators. The acting is for the benefit and pleasure of the children themselves; it is their opportunity to express what the story of this part of Lincoln's life means to them. If they have got into the spirit of the story, they lay their plans very earnestly and greatly enjoy the effort to portray in action the events which they have studied. Two boys, impersonating Abraham Lincoln and his father, clear away the thick underbrush, and chop stout branches off giant Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade III trees, — all with the keenest zest and most untiring energy, this, too, in a space on the school-room floor which to the uninitiated looks bare before they begin, but which to their lively imaginations is a forest tract. Two girls, in the r61es of Mrs. Lincoln and Httle Sarah, wait patiently in the corner of the room; for that is the house on the north bank of the Ohio where they are glad to rest after their tiresome horse- back journey from the Kentucky home. It is from the owner of this house that Thomas Lincoln, after the road is cleared, borrows a wagon in which to transport his family and their few household goods. This wagon may be made of chairs, and the actors take much interest in loading it with a few old quilts, a small bundle of clothes, and the small- est number of camp dishes and implements with which it would be possible for a pioneer family to cook and eat primi- tive fare. When the loaded wagon and the family are ready for the ride over the newly cleared road to the site wher: their new home is to be, the first scene of the little play is concluded. The second scene represents the building of the fire upon which depend the very lives of the family sheltered by the half faced camp. The camp has been built of chairs and a box cover or two. Abraham works hard to collect anything which the school room affords for kindling and firewood, while his father keeps steadily at the slow process of striking fire from flint. The mother and sister are meantime making the camp as comfortable as possible with the few means at their command. It may be their part, when the time comes for imaginary flames to burst forth from the pile of wood, to show the audience, by their exclamations or gestures of comfort and pleasure, that the work of building the fire has been accomplished. When the mother and two children, huddled on a bed of boughs on the cramped floor space of the little shack, have gone to sleep, and the father has relied 112 Citizenship In School and Out himself in his blanket and lain down by the fire, with his gtrn by his side, to sleep and watch by turns, in order that the fire may burn steadily all night, — then it is that other actors, impersonating the wild animals of the region, take delight in making the stealthy or fearsome noises that at intervals dis- turb the sleeping family. In the third scene the log cabin of the Lincoln family and that of their distant neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford, may be left to the imagination helped out by the picture which has been previously studied. Mrs. Crawford's kind treatment of Abraham and Mr. Crawford's gruffness can easily be shown, so too the energetic work of the boy pulling turnips, or other fodder, through three long, tiresome dajrs, and the satisfaction which he feels at finally owning the book. This last feeling may perhaps be shown by the triumphant manner in which he brings the book home and reads aloud to his sister some anecdote about Washington. 5. Results aimed at: If, together with close attention to historical facts and probable conditions, the teacher combines sjmipathetic en- couragement of that spirit of enjoyment with which the children naturally take part in this sort of play, this form of celebration associates with Lincoln's Day much pleasure, as well as many impressions which have an educational value. C. Memorial Day: True stories are told or read to illustrate the bravery and self-sacrifice of our soldiers and their families in the Civil War, the War with Spain, and the War with Germany. Poems are recited and songs are sung which express the spirit of devotion to the country and the flag. Poems, whether they are to be recited by individuals or sung in concert when the day comes, are before that day discussed by all the child- ren and interpreted with the help of the teacher. Otherwise the recitations would mean little to the audience of children Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade 113 hearing the ppems for the first time, and the singing would be but a mechanical repetition of words. On the contrary, when first interpreted sympathetically by the teacher who has sincere patriotic feehng, these poems and songs have power to rouse genuine enthusiasm in the unspoiled minds of the young listeners. Examples of such poems are: The Flag Goes By, Henry Holcomb Bennett; Liberty and Union, Ohver Wendell Holmes; The School-House Stands By the Flag, Hezekiah Butterworth; The Old Flag Forever, Frank L. Stanton; Flag O' My Land, T. A. Daley; Makers of the Flag, Franklin K. Lane (Prose for recitation); Keller's American Hymn. Teachers' Aids For Thanksgiving: Home Life in Colonial Days, Alice Morse Earle, The Macmillan Co. For Lincoln's Day : Abraham Lincoln, Wilbur F. Gordy, Charles Scribner's Sons. See also Chapter IV, p. 47; Chapter V, p. 6i; Chapter VIII, p. 93. For Memorial Day: The Romance of the Civil War, A. B. Hart, The Macmillan Co. Our Country in Poem and Prose, Persons, American Book Co. The Young and Field Literary Readers, Books IV and V, Ginn & Co. The Little Book of the Flag, Eva March Tappan, Houghton Mifflin Co. The Liberty Reader (War of 1917-1918), Sheridan, Benj. H. Sanborn Co. For all Holidays: Good Stories for Great Holidays, Olcott, Houghton Mifflin Co. Citizenship in Work /. Working Together and for Others Industrial work of the character described on pages 93- 95, is continued in this grade with the same purposes in view. 114 Citizenship In School and Out II. A Study of Physical Surroundings and their Relation to Getting a Living An elementary study of the physical features of the region in which the children live and the relation of these surround- ings to the work of getting a living is a study that utilizes the eager curiosity which children have to explore their surround- ings and the interest which they feel to watch what people about them are doing. This study is conducted by conversational lessons and composition writing. The work is not carried beyond the ability of the children to make all the observations upon which the general statements are based. This observation needs to be directed, however, by the teacher's questions, and answers to questions are often postponed to another day when the report of new facts observed can be given. The series of lessons may be planned according to the following outline: 1. Leading features of our immediate natural surround- ings; e.g., harbor, shore, pastures, peat-swamps, woods, till- able land. 2. How each of the above is utilized by us or our neighbors in getting a living. 3. Story of John Smith: Exploring Cape Cod and other northern coasts. Settling in Virginia. Capture and adven- tures with Indians. His curiosity to know his surroundings and his mastery over them. His success as leader of the colony. 4. Story of Marquette and Joliet: Reasons for coming to America. Explorations. Adventures. Relations with Indians. DiflSculties overcome. Regions known through their efforts. The observations and discussions brought out in handling topics I and 2 lend reality to stories 3 and 4. The stories Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade 115 in turn help to make clear to the children the importance of the connection which exists between environment and occu- pations. Many comparisons are made between points in these stories and in the stories of the Pilgrims, of Lincoln, and of Daniel Boone. These lessons may be so given as to lay foundations for intelligent study, in the future, of many phases of history, geography, and economics. Teachers' Aids Pioneer Stories of the Mississippi Valley, Charles A. McMurry. Pioneers on Land and Sea, Charles A. McMurry, The Macmillan Co. Stories of Pioneer Life, Florence Bass, D. C. Heath & Co. Heroes of the Middle West, Mary Hartwell Catherwood, Giim & Co. Indians and Pioneers, Hazard and Button, The Morse Company. Book of American Explorers, T. W. Higginson, Longmans, Green & Co. Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, Vol. I, Chapters HI, IV, V, John Fiske, Houghton MiflBin Co. ///. A Study of How our Wants are Supplied A few of the material wants of which the children are most conscious may be the subject of an interesting study; for instance: 1. Desire for food: Milk, meat, groceries, fruit, candy, etc. 2. Desire for clothes: Dry-goods, ready made clothing, etc. This study is conducted by conversational lessons and composition writing based on the individual interests and observations of the children. The following are chief among the phases of the subject which the teacher's questions are directed toward exhibiting: i. The extent and the variety of labor required to supply our wants. 2. The division of this labor between producers and distributors (merchants, delivery men, railroad men, etc.) 3. The interdependence of members of this community and of different commimities. ii6 Citizenship In School and Out IV. A Study of How We Supply Wants of Others A companion study to that suggested by our own wants is one concerned with how we supply some wants of others. The recent war afforded, of course, an unequalled oppor- tunity for showing the interdependence of people the world over in the matter of their daily food. The fact that the children were eating "substitutes" and many of them vol- untarily denying themselves luxuries in order to help in the more even distribution of food throughout this country and a good part of Europe gave them an experience which was in itself most valuable, and which could be turned to account as the basis of useful lessons on production and distribution of products. Our share in the relief work in Europe will for a time afford a similar, though somewhat less impressive opportunity. And the lessons arising from both these opportunities are as important in the field of Organized Community Life as they are here in the field of Work. In ordinary times, however, when children's feelings are not deeply concerned with the wants of those who are at a distance from them and are unknown to them, the study must be more limited in scope, but may still be a useful one. It may take up one, or perhaps two or three, of the leading industries of the place, those only in which it is certain there are points of contact with the children's interests, such as one in which many of their friends are employed, or one which has attracted their attention by the interesting char- acter of some of its processes carried on in their vicinity. The study may be conducted according to the method described under III above and with the same purposes in Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade 117 Citizenship in Social Intercourse /. Practice of the Social Virtues In the field of social intercourse children develop at about this age, some a little earlier, some a little later, several distinct tendencies which increase the difficulties of their training, but at the same time open new possibilities of growth. They are far less imitative and teachable than they have been. Individuality and independence are waking in them and incline them to disregard both authority and public opinion in matters of personal appearance and behavior. They prefer to be different from others; they like to "shock" their elders, and are unwilling to practice even as much as they know of the social amenities. This trait is stronger in boys than in girls, but is present to no small degree in the more enterprising of the girls. Recognizing the existence of this tendency, the teacher has to choose between working against it or with it. She may put more emphasis than ever on the conventionalities of social intercourse, and so enforce their observance, at any rate in her own presence; or she may take the opposite course, and touch more lightly than in the earlier grades upon matters of form, for the sake of emphasizing more strongly the substance. She may even, for the time being, overlook some crudity or some omission which has already been pointed out to the children, when they were younger, and should be called to their attention again, when they reach the more socially sensitive stage of a few years later; but only that she may put her main stress now on the sturdiest virtues, the traits most indispensable to any worthy companionship. She may emphasize respect for one's own character and for others' rights (involving truthfulness, self-control, and honesty), also quickness to see another's needs and wilUng- ii8 Citizenship In School and Out ness to meet these. In this way she may be able to preserve in the children the strength and originaUty of character which belong with the feeling of personal independence, and at the same time to prevent the growth of the selfishness which is its other most frequent accompaniment. If this latter method of training is successful, its benefits no doubt far outlast the more immediate and more evident results of the former method. Another strong tendency at this age is to belong to a gang (in case of a boy) or to a cUque (in case of a girl), and to be dominated by its influence. This tendency seems opposed to that of personal independence, and yet we know that the two exist side by side. We have all seen children who fol- lowed without question the sUghtest hint of the leaders in these small, exclusive social groups, but who were at the same time quite unresponsive to suggestion from any influence outside these groups. In spite of the risks to the child's social nature in the development of cUquishness or of the gang spirit, there is nevertheless, without doubt, something here to be cherished. These natural impulses to follow the leader, to give up one's own will to that of the group, to stand with the group against the world; — these appear to be the germs of the civic virtues of loyalty and cooperation. How to give to their development the right direction is of course the difl&cult question. It seems unlikely that to break up the gang or the cUque is the best answer. A more promising attempt at solution is to enlist the interest of the group in some accomplishment that is worth while and thus seek gradually to broaden the social sympathies of its mem- bers until they become no longer a gang or a clique but a team with a friendly spirit toward other teams or the nu- cleus of a non-exclusive club or circle. In order to make these attempts the teacher is obliged to avail herself of all those occasions when the children come Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade 119 into the freest social contact: recesses, luncheon hours, industrial periods indoors or in the garden, expeditions, enter- tainments, — all such as have been suggested in discussing other fields in education, especially that of recreation. These occasions thus become double, or may be threefold, opportunities for the teacher who keeps in mind the distinct objects to be attained in each field. Citizenship in Organized Community Life I. The Playing of Organized Games The playing of games belongs of course to the field of recreation and has received recognition in the discussion of that field. Organized games, however, are noticed again in this field, because of the training they afford in many requi- sites of the active, useful participant in organized community life. The ability to act promptly and with decision and the habit of acting in cooperation with others and in accordance with law are two of the most important results that may be hoped for from this form of activity well directed. Examples of games which give training of this character and yet are not too difficult for this grade are: "Scrub Base- ball," Basket Ball Distance Throw, Circle Dodge Ball, School Room Dodge Ball, Three Deep, Last Man, Bean Bag Games, Croquet, Blackboard Relay Race. II. A Study of " The Rules of the Game" After the children have for some time been interested players of some game, a class discussion of how that particu- lar game is played supplements very helpfully the training given by the activity itself. Little or nothing is stated by the teacher as an authority, the children's attention is merely directed toward the significance of facts which they are al- I20 Citizenship In School and Out ready familiar with, or which they can discover for them- selves. The discussion may bring out the following points: 1. Exactly what the rules are (of the particular game under consideration). 2. In case of change, who must make the change or agree to it. 3. Why there must be rules anyway. 4. Exactly what "playing fair" involves. 5. Why "not playing fair" spoils the game. 6. What other kinds of activities besides games have rules or laws ? 7. Whether strong and skillful men and women think it worth their while to really "play the game." This study affords material for language work both oral and written. The first topic mentioned above is an especially good one for an exercise in clearness of statement and orderly arrangement. III. A Stiidy of Cooperation for Safety Though children of this age do not readily generalize, nor gain much from studying the generahzations of others, yet it is possible, by choosing a topic close to their experience, to impress the fact that, at least in the concrete instance studied, protection is needed, and can be secured only through com- munity action. The interest which most children take in fire-engines and in automobiles determines the choice of two topics which may be outlined as follows: I. Protection from fire: a. Our own fire drill in school. Why we have it. Exactly how it is conducted. b. The drill of the Engine Company of our district. Why they have it. Results secured by it. Suggestions for Lessons in the Fifth Grade 121 c. Fighting fire in this village (town, city). Steps taken from the discovery of fire to its ex- tinguishment. Any organization, rules, commands, obedience, independent thinking? d. Preventing fires in this village (town, city). Con- crete instances given and examined till the means of prevention is classified as follows: Prohibition by local community or by State. Positive provisions by the same. Prudence of individuals. 2. Protection from automobile accidents. The means of prevention discussed and classified as under d above. Any organization here, rules, obedience, independent thinking ? This series of lessons is developed by questioning the children upon their observations and experiences in these matters and by encouraging them to ask questions in school and out. In the course of the inquiry (especially into the prevention of fires and accidents) they will learn many facts about the government of the town and of the State. The main effort of the teacher, however, is to help them to reason clearly from a variety of starting points, to the following conclusions: (i) There are cases in which no person can protect himself solely by his own efforts. (2) The best pro- tection from certain dangers can be secured only by acting with others (team work). (3) Team work means organiza- tion (each one in his own place), rules, obedience, and in- dependent thinking (to understand the rule; to judge it; if a good one, to obey it in spite of opposing opinions; if not a good one, still to obey it, but help to change it to a better one). Similar lessons may be based upon the activities of the Boy 122 Citizenship In School and Out Scouts and the Girl Pioneers or Camp Fire Girls. These activities are also exceedingly useful aids to the study both of pioneer life recommended in this grade, and, of inventions in the next grade. Boys and girls who belong to these organiza- tions have experiences which make them especially interested in such subjects and enable them to gain much from their study. CHAPTER X Suggestions for Lessons in the Sixth Grade Citizenship in the Home /. Connecting School Work and Home Work To keep a close connection in the children's thought, as well as in fact, between school work and home work the follow- ing lines of effort are useful in this grade: 1. Handwork the products of which can be used or en- joyed at home. 2. Handwork imparting skill which can be useful at home. 3. Written exercises describing work done at home. Several examples of projects which carry out these lines of effort are as follows: a. Re-caning chairs brought from home. h. Making aprons, sweeping caps, towels, etc. c. Mending articles of clothing brought from -home. d. Writing on such topics as: "The most difficult piece of home work I ever did," "Last week's odd jobs at home," "A true anecdote to illustrate the saying, 'A penny saved is a penny earned."' Teachers' Aids Stories of Thrift for Young Americans, Prichard and Turkington, Charles Scribner's Sons. See also Chapter VIII, p. 86. //. A Study of the Connections of Home with Outside World A study of the ways in which the homes of this village, town, or city are brought their supplies and are connected 123 124 Citizenship In School and Out with one another and with the outside world may cover the following topics: 1. Modes of communication: Post Office, telephone, telegraph, newspapers, maga- zines. 2. Modes of travel and transportation: Railroad, motor car, motor boat, steamboat. Uses and convenience of the above are suggested by the children and emphasized by comparison with the times when no such means of communication or travel existed. This gives an opportunity for reviewing stories of pioneer and colonial life, especially in this region, and brings up new historical information. Teachers^ Aids Stage Coach and Tavern Days, Alice Morse Earle, The Macmillan Co. How Our Grandfathers Lived, Source Readers in American History, No. 3, Edited by Hart and Chapman, The Macmillan Co. Children's Stories of American Progress, Henrietta Christian Wright, Charles Scribner's Sons. Citizenship in Recreation /. The Celebration of Seasonal Festivals In discussing the field of Recreation in all preceding grades much emphasis is put on the value of well directed play at recess, of school-room games that review lessons and give pleasure at the same time, of excursions which are recreative no less than instructive, and of occasional entertainments that supply the motive for learning many things. These suggestions apply equally to this field in the sixth grade. It is desirable in this grade to continue all of these activities, but it is practicable now to bring some of them, and also many of the lessons, under the direction of a motive which holds sway for a longer time than for the specific occasion or Suggestions j or Lessons in the Sixth Grade 125 for a few days preceding and following it. Such a motive is foiind in the celebration of seasonal festivals. The main opportunity for education here is in the planning of the festivals and the preparing for them. It is while they are getting ready for the day to be observed that the children come to feel what it is all about, to realize the theme which the celebration is meant to embody. They are therefore given, not only the part of performers on the festival day, but also a large share in making all the plans and executing them. They help in contriving and maldng costumes, in choosing lines to be recited, and in determining the action which shall express the theme. For this reason there is not time for more than two festivals in any one year. Other grades in the school and home friends share in the pleasure of the final occasion, at least so far as guests may. Hence different festivals are chosen for observance in suc- cessive years. Social benefits hkely to follow from the work and play involved in any one of these celebrations are at least these: I. The habit of cooperation and a better understanding of its possibiUties. 2. A more refined ideal of recreation. Some of the social values which are peculiar to each festival are suggested below as guides to the working out of each celebration. Most of the work of preparation will easily find a place in the work of the classes in reading, language, history, geog- raphy, drawing, nature study, and physical training, or will be undertaken by the children in recreation periods. Festival Days from which to choose semi-annually I. Thanksgiving. a. Chief themes: the processes of nature which bring the harvest and prepare the earth for another spring. The labors of man which aid nature and store and distribute her products. 126 Citizenship In School and Out h. Results aimed at: A clearer comprehension of our dependence upon nature. A more sympathetic touch with those whose labors bring to us the yield of the earth and the sea. A keener appreciation of home comforts and pleasures. 2. New Yearns Day. a. Chief theme: Each new year a fresh opportunity to contribute to the forward movement of the social groups of which each one is a member. These developed by dra- matic presentation of progress of one group in past year and possible progress in year to come, with emphasis on individual contribution. The group chosen may be the class, the school, the village, or the neighborhood. b. Result aimed at: Greater degree of social helpfulness. 3. Arbor Day: a. Chief theme: The usefulness and beauty of our trees and shrubs. b. Results aimed at: Added interest in work on trees and in gardens. 4. May Day. a. Chief themes: Joy in the reawakened life of nature. Historic expressions of this feeling and present opportunities for its expression. b. Results aimed at: Increased pleasure in the outdoor world. Better appreciation of the part such pleasure may play in the life of the community. Teachers' Aids Festivals and Plays, Percival Chubb and Associates, Harper and Brothers. (Exceedingly suggestive as to the spirit and purpose of all the above festivals, and helpful as to the details of planning Thanksgiving and May r)a>-.) Our American Uolidnys, Scliaufller, Moffat, Yard & Co. See also Chapter Vllf, p. 89. Suggestions for Lessons in the Sixth Grade 127 II. Recreational Reading So various are the interests and tastes of readers, even at this early age, that it is not easy to prescribe a course in literature that shall have the result aimed at here, — that worth while books shall be thought of as sources of genuine pleasure and shall be eagerly resorted to in leisure hours. It is not easy for anyone to prescribe, but the teacher know- ing something of her children's tastes may suggest, and perhaps the following list of titles may help her to make happy guesses. Poems The Kitten and the Falling Leaves, Wordsworth, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. March, Wordsworth, The Posy Ring, Wiggin and Smith. A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea, Cunningham, Poetry for Children, Eliot. Letting the Old Cat Die, Nature in Verse, Lovejoy. A Christmas Carol, Phillips Brooks, The Young and Field Literary Readers, Book Five. The Wind and the Moon, McDonald, Heath Fourth Reader. April Rain, Robert Loveman, The Young and Field Literary Readers, Book Five. Talking in Their Sleep, Edith Thomas, The Edson-Laing Readers, Book Four. A Boy's Song, James Hogg, The Edson-Laing Readers, Book Four. The Law of the Jungle, Kipling, The Second Jungle Book. Columbus, Joaquin MiUer, Golden Numbers, Wiggin and Smith. The Charge of the Light Brigade, Tennyson, Poems Every Child Should Know, Burt. The Birds of Killingworth, Longfellow. The Bell of Atri, Longfellow. Santa Filomena, Longfellow. The Barefoot Boy, Whittier. The Three Bells, Whittier. The Pipes of Lucknow, Whittier. The Pumpkin, Whittier. 128 Citizenship In School and Out The Corn Song, Whittier. The Gray Swan, Alice Cary. The Wise Fairy, Alice Cary. Short Stories Columbus and the Egg, Good, Stories for Great Holidays, Frances J. Olcott. Hofus, the Stone Cutter, Good Stories for Great Holidays, Frances J. Olcott. The Mother Murre, Good Stories for Great Holidays, Frances J. Olcott. Ann Mary, Thanksgiving, Robert Haven Schauffler. The Greatest of These, Children's Book of Christmas Stories, Dickin- son and Skinner. The TeU-Tale Tile, Children's Booh of Christmas Stories, Dickinson and Skinner. Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh, Dramatic Readings, Lansing. A Boy's Friendship, Dramatic Readings, Lansing. The Just Judge, Dramatic Readings, Lansing. Longer Stories Jackanapes, Juliana H. Ewing. The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain. The Swiss Family Robinson, Johann Rudolph Wyss. The Little Lame Prince, Dinah Mulock Craik. Little Men, Louisa May Alcott. Eight Cousins, Louisa May Alcott. The Bird's Christmas Carol, Kate Douglas Wiggin. Finding a Home, Kate Douglas Wiggin. Half-a-Dozen Housekeepers, Kate Douglas Wiggin. What Katy Did, Susan Coolidge. Little Pussy Willow, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett. Captain January, Laura E. Richards. Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers, John Burroughs. The Second Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling. Citizenship m Work /. Working Together and for Others Industrial work of the character described on pages 93- 95 is continued in this grade with the same purposes in view. Suggestions for Lessons in the Sixth Grade 129 II. A Study of Several Inventions This study is correlated with the study of the connections of the home with the outside world which is described on page 124. The inventions considered are those which make possible the modes of travel and transportation dwelt upon in the other study. The work is taken up in a simple and concrete way by first finding out what the children have noticed about the steam engine or the gas engine, for example; next examining the nearest convenient one at work; then having the story of how the inventor conceived the idea and made it workable; and last by discovering more fully than had been realized what the invention means to us to-day. The following outline may be suggestive. A . Communication : 1. The Printing Press: a. At the office of the local paper. b. Caxton's printing press. 2. The telegraph: a. The Western Union Office. b. The work of Samuel Morse and of Cyrus Field. 3. The telephone: a. At home and at the central office. b. Alexander Graham Bell's telephone. c. The telephone message from New York to San Francisco in 1915. B. Travel and Transportation: 1. The locomotive engine at the station or gas engine of an automobile. 2. The nearest stationary engine at work. 3. James Watt and his invention. 4. Robert Fulton and his steamboat. 5. George Stevenson and his locomotive. 6. The work of modern steam engines in transportation. 130 Citizenship In School and Out 7. Also their work in manufactures (touched upon). 8. The convenience and utility of the gas engine. Teachers' Aids American Inventions and Inventors, Mowry, Silver, Burdett & Co. Stories of Useful Inventions, Forman, The Century Co. Four American Inventors, Perry, American Book Co. Stories of Invention, Hale, Little, Brown & Co. The Boy's Own Book of Great Inventions, F. L. Darrow, The Mac- miUan Co. ///. A Study of Services to the Community The children of this grade have not yet, in most cases, eithei the necessity or the desire to consider seriously the choice of a vocation; hence a systematic study of vocations would be premature. However, in the course of the preceding study on page 124, there is inevitably some mention of the work- men employed in the occupations being discussed, and often much interest is manifested in this part of the discussion because of the personal acquaintance which some of the chil- dren have with individual workmen. Here is a good opening for an informal study of a subject which will be increasingly interesting to these young people from now until the time when they have made their choice among wa3rs to earn a Hving. And they are not too young to have their ej^es opened to some aspects of "a job" in its relation to the individual worker and to the community, — aspects which are often overlooked when the problem of choice becomes a personal one; for instance, that the extent of the worker's general education helps to determine wages and other rewards; that no matter what the work, health is the worker's greatest advantage; and that the value of the service to the com- munity is worth considering. Some parts of the following outline may come close enough to the children's interest to be profitable for study. Suggestions for Lessons in the Sixth Grade 131 Services to the community rendered by: 1. Printers, publishers, editors. 2. Telegraph operators and line men. 3. Telephone operators and line men. 4. Postmasters and clerks. 5. Engineers, conductors, brakemen. 6. The Coast Guard, etc. a. Work required of each of the above. h. What their qualifications and education must be. Citizenship in Social Inteecouese I. Practice of the Social Virtues Considerations urged concerning social intercourse among the children of the fifth grade have equal force in this grade. See pages 117-iig. II. Stories from European History That Americans of different origin shall understand and respect each other is a, matter of grave importance and one that directly concerns our schools. We whose families have been long American desire that those who have come to us lately from foreign countries shall not only acquire our language, learn to transact business as we do, and become familiar with the machinery of our politics; but that they shall also understand our national characteristics and in- stitutions, and share our national memories and aspirations. In a variety of ways many of our schools are beginning to make provision to accomplish this more satisfactorily than in the past. They are not only giving special instruction in English and much attention to practical matters, but also they are teaching a civics which deals especially with the meaning and spirit of our democratic forms, and through American history and biography are attempting to bring the 132 Citizenship In School and Out children into contact with men and deeds that reveal dis- tinctively American ideals. This is indeed a movement of immense significance to the welfare of our republic. There is a parallel movement in education whose need has been, perhaps, as yet, less widely recognized. If newcomers from any foreign land and Americans ^f longer standing are to understand and respect each other, this means that each group of people shall acquire knowledge of the institutions and appreciation of the ideals which have shaped the lives of the other; at least to such an extent as will enable both to discover that there is some common ground upon which they already stand, to look with friendly interest at the customs in which they differ, and to accord generous admira- tion to the qualities in which one or the other nationality excels. The same mutual knowledge and sympathy must come to exist among the various groups of new-comers, each with a different origin, but all now traveling the same way. This broadening of an intelligent sympathy among our own people, older Americans and newer ones, this harmonizing of civic aims among ourselves, will result, it may be hoped, not only in our having a more unified national life, but also in our bearing a more useful part in that new international Ufe which lies before us. The schools can no doubt work toward this end in many and various ways. One way is being attempted by those schools which introduce something of European history into one of the intermediate grades, most often the sixth. When this study of Europe takes the form of tracing the sources of civilization and noting the contributions of each race or nationality to its ever widening stream, it is a formidable undertaking for any child of elementary school age. From material of European history, however, tliere doubtless can be chosen certain stories suited to the comprehension and interest of young children and at the same time calculated Suggestions for Lessons in the Sixth Grade 133 to broaden their national sympathies. The ideal story for this purpose is one that is in some degree typical of the nationaUty represented, but especially it is one that illus- trates fundamental human feelings and traits such as the children can sympathize with, or worthy actions and achieve- ments such as they can admire. The discussion of this study is placed here in the field of Social Intercourse, instead of in the field of Organized Com- munity Life, where it may seem more logically to belong, for the reason that at the children's present stage of thinking probably the greatest effect of the study is produced upon their attitude in social matters. At the same time it is hoped that this attitude may later determine effects in the field of poUtical thought and life. In making up the following list the attempt has been to select a few suitable stories and to indicate, in each case, the reason for the choice; that is, so far as the reason exists in the story itself. The reason must be completed by the discovery of some corresponding interest in the particular children for whom the story is selected. The teacher must of course discard freely from this list and add freely to it. Differences in antecedents and in associations make different teachers and different groups of children care for quite dif- ferent stories among the great variety that the Old World has bequeathed to us. And as history and literature more fully record particular incidents in the four years' struggle of Democracy against Autocracy in arms, there will be presented for choice unnumbered stories of present day heroism and devotion at the front of battle and at home in nearly every country of Europe. A Tentative List of Stories I. Concerning two Greek cities . a. How an Athenian boy was educated (Physical excellence, love of beauty and of his city) 134 Citizenship In School and Out b. How the Athenians saved their city at the Battle of Marathon (Courage, resourcefulness, cooperation) c. How a Spartan boy was educated (Physical strength, fortitude, love of city) d. How the Spartans fought at Thermopylae (Courage, endurance, obedience to law) e. How Athens was burned and how it was rebuilt (Civic devotion and pride) 2. Concerning one whom the Irish honor Incidents in the life of St. Patrick (Devotion to Christian belief, desire to help others, self- sacrifice) 3. Stories of Alfred the Great a. Learning to read b. Ih a cow-herd's hut c. In the Danish camp d. Meeting the Danes in battle e. Making a treaty with Guthrum /. What he did for his people in peace (Patience, wisdom, energy, unselfishness) 4. Richard the Lion-Hearted and Saladin (Courage and chivalry) 5. The French Heroine, Joan of Arc (Courage and self-forgetfulness) 6. Columbus, the Italian who found America (Imagination, courage, and perseverance) 7. Magellan, the Portuguese explorer The first voyage around the world (Imagination, courage, and perseverance) 8. Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth a. How he gained her favor b. How he served her and England (Courtesy and enterprise) 9. William Shakespeare, England's greatest poet a. Holding horses at the door of a London theater b. Acting in others' plays c. Writing plays of his own d. One of the plays he wrote, A Midsummer Night's Dream: the songs of the fairies in Arts H, TTT and TV, with the thread of the story needed to connect the songs (The power of imagination) Suggestions for Lessons in the Sixth Grade 135 10. Peter the Great of Russia (Common sense and practical activity) 11. Mozart, the poor German- Austrian boy who became one of the world's greatest musicians (Love of beautiful music) 12. Canova, an Italian sculptor (Love of beauty, ingenuity, interest in animals) 13. Lafayette, the French friend of Americans (Love of liberty and order) 14. Elias Lbnnrot, the modern minstrel of Finland (Love of country and of poetry) 15. Ole Bull, the Norwegian boy who became one of the world's greatest violinists (Love of beautiful music) 16. The story of Queen Victoria's life (Womanliness and the desire to make England a land of good homes and peaceful prosperity) 17. Florence Nightingale, the pioneer nurse (Capability and service) 18. The work of the Scotch missionary, David Livingstone (Courage, perseverance, and service) ig. The sfearch for Livingstone by the Welshman, Henry Morton Stanley (Courage, perseverance, and service) 20. The story of a Belgian hero, Father Damien (Service and self-sacrifice) 21. Typical child Kfe in several countries of modern Europe in war and in peace 22. Heroes and heroines of the War for Democracy and Peace. For example : Edith Cavell Cardinal Mercier Marshal Ferdinand Foch Capt. Albert Ball, V.C. John Travers Comwell, First-Class Boy, H. M. S. Chester The Seventy-five Chasseurs at GerbeviUer Teachers' Aids Ten Boys on the Road from Long Ago to Noiv, Jane Andrews, Ginn & Co. Great Deeds of Great Men, Corney and Dorland, D. C. Heath & Co. 136 Citizenship In School and Out The Story oj the Greeks, H. A. Guerber, American Book Co. European History Stories, Eva March Tappan, Houghton MifHin Co. Stories from English History, Henry P. Warren, D. C. Heath & Co. Introductory American History, Bourne and Benton, D. C. Heath & Co. American Beginnings in Europe, Wilbur F. Gordy, Charles Scribner's Sons. An Introduction to American History, Alice M. Atkinson, Giim & Co. Pioneers on Land and Sea, Charles A. McMurry, The MacmiUan Co. Historical Stories, English and French, Morris, J. B. Lippincott Co. Joan oj Arc Saved France, W. S. S. Poster, Haskell Coffin. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Mark Twain, Harper & Brothers. A New Statue of Jeanne d'Arc, Grace Humphrey, St. Nicholas, March, 1916. Famous Men of the Middle Ages, Haaren and Poland, American Book Co. Christopher Columbus, Justin Winsor, Houghton M ifflin Co. Life of Columbus, Washington Irving, R. F. Fenno & Co. Christopher Columbus, MUdred Stapley, The MacmiUan Co. Heroes Every Child Should Know (King Alfred, King Richard, Father Damien), Hamilton W. Mabie, Doubleday, Page & Co. The Talisman (Richard and Saladin), Sir Walter Scott. Kenilworth (Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth), Sir Walter Scott. William Shakespeare, Hamilton W. Mabie, The Outlook, Vols. 64-66. Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare. Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb. The Life of Peter the Great, Jacob Abbott, Harper & Bros. Moore's Encyclopedia of Music, Oliver Ditson Co. A Score of Famous Composers, Nathan H. Dole, T. Y. Crowell & Co. Short History of France, Kirkland, A. C. McClurg Co. The True Story of Lafayette, E. S. Brooks, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. Hero Stories from American History, Blaisdell and BaU, Gmn & Co. The Friday Afternoon Story Hour (Lafayette), Alice E. Allen, Primary Education, October, 1918. Address on Lafayette 'Day, Robert Bacon, OuUook, Sept. 20, 1916. Finland and Finns, Arthur Reade, Dodd, Mead & Co. Stories from Life (Ole Bull), 0. S. Harden, American Book Co. In the Days of Queen Victoria, Eva March Tappan, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. Florence Nightingale, Laura E. Richards, Appleton & Co. Boy's Book of Explorations (Stanley), Tudor Jenks, Doubleday Page &Co. Suggestions for Lessons in the Sixth Grade 137 The French Twins, Lucy Fitch Perkins, Houghton Mifflin Co. The Belgian Twins, Lucy Fitch Perkins, Houghton Mifflin Co. The Irish Twins, Lucy Fitch Perkins, Houghton Mifflin Co. The Liberty Reader, Bernard M. Sheridan, Benj. H. Sanborn Co. War Readings, National Board for Historical Service, Charles Scrib- ner's Sons. American Patriotic Prose, Long, D. C. Heatb & Co. The Red Cross Magazine (Files from 19x5 . . . ), Published at Gar- den City, N. Y. by The American National Red Cross. Citizenship m Organized Community Life /. The Organization and Conduct of a School Club The organization and conduct of a school club is an ac- tivity from which sixth year pupils may learn many lessons in civics. The expressed purpose of this club may be to earn the money for some addition to the convenience or beauty of the school room, to supply some need in the community, or to contribute to any good cause which appeals to the children. The teacher, however, while working with the children for this object, keeps in mind, as of chief im- portance, another set of purposes; viz., that the children shall learn from experience at least the following elementary principles of sound democracy: 1. The justice of each member having a voice in affairs. 2. The necessity of a fair and thoughtful selection of ofl&cers. 3. The satisfaction of cooperating eflSciently. 4. The benefit to all of managing public funds (club money) carefully. //. A Study of the School Community In the glow of successful accomplishment at the close of some cooperative enterprise whose outcome is especially gratifjdng to the children, there is the chance to start the inquiry into the secret of this success, and gradually to un- 138 Citizenship In School and Out fold the following outline. The general prindples of civic life shown here are of course appUcable as well to the com- munity outside the school-room, and the children may partly understand this. These lessons are not effective or helpful unless built upon the children's own observations, inquiries, and experiences. The outline must state their real conclusions or its purpose is not attained; hence the teacher asks questions about concrete instances in school- life, and makes the outline from the children's answers. Outline The success of work and recreation in school is dependent on: 1. Cooperation: a. Elements involved: responsibility, effort, helpfulness, etc. 6. Persons involved: pupils, teachers, superintendent, janitor, school-board or committee, parents, taxpayers, and voters. 2. Government : a. School law Made by town or city authorities, superintendent, teacher alone, teacher and pupils together. h. Obedience to law Required of school-board, superintendent, teacher, and pupils. Enforced by respect for each others' rights, by public opinion, and by officials. III. A Study of Concrete Instances of Beneficial- Community Action Some concrete instance of a necessity, convenience, or pleasure secured by the action of the local community may be brought to the children's attention, and a simple study of it may be made on such Unes as the following: Our street lights. To whom useful? How supplied? Why not by individuals? How paid for? Poles located by whose permission? etc. Suggestions for Lessons in the Sixth Grade 139 This study leads to the gaining of some infornaation on the subject of local government, and better still, if the specific instance of benefit conferred by community action is one which really interests the children, it leads also to a desire to find out how this government works, and what sort of services it performs for us. Such topics as "The Quaran- tine," for example, extend this study beyond the local gov- errmaent to that of the State, and such conveniences as the money we are handling or the mail we are receiving may be examined until they show glimpses of the National Govern- ment in action. In time of war the national life is felt to be close to each one of us, surrounding us with its protection, defending our very lives, and standing for all that makes life worth living. In time of peace this national life is just as near to our in- dividual lives; the protection which it affords us and the opportunities which it offers us are, of course, not less, but greater; the closeness of contact is, however, less vividly felt. Here arises a wonderful chance for teachers to do a truly patriotic service by pointing out, from time to time, with steady purpose, this relationship. For this purpose we can use all those current events in national affairs which do actually touch the children's inter- ests. By interpreting the real significance of such, we can make even quite young children feel that it is still through our National Government that we "provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. " We can go further, and show them our hope that in the new era which is dawning we shall continue, as we have already begun, to do this not only for "ourselves and our posterity," but also, in fellowship with other nations, for all the peoples of the world. I40 Citizenship In School and Out Teachers' Aids The Community and the Citizen, Arthur W. Duirn, D. C. Heath & Co. Community Civics and Rural Life, Arthur W. Dunn, D. C. Heath & Co. The New American Citizen, Charles F. Dole, D. C. Heath & Co. How to Teach the Fundamental Subjects, Chapter IV, Kendall and Mirick, Houghton MifBin Co. Democracy and Education, especially Chapter II, John Dewey, The Macmillan Co. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE Books referred to in the preceding pages as containing the stories and poems recommended for reading in the several grades are here listed. They are ar- ranged according to titles. The literature selected can in most cases be found in other books than those given here, often in equally desirable editions. The editions Usted, however, are all suitable ones for a school Ubrary. Msop's Fables, A Child's Version, J. H. Stickney, Ginn & Co. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, The Macmillan Co. Andersen's Fairy Tales, First Series, J. H. Stickney, editor, Ginn & Co. Art-Literature Readers, Books Three and Four, Frances Elizabeth Chutter, Atkinson, Mentzer & Co. Beautiful Joe, Marshal Saunders, American Baptist Publishing Society Birds' Christmas Carol, The, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Houghton Mifflin Co. Black Beauty, Anna SeweU, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. Book of Fables and Folk Stories, The, Horace E. Scudder, Houghton Miffin Co. Bryant, WiUiam CuUen, Poetical Works, Household Edition, Apple- ton & Co. Captain January, Laura E. Richards, Dana Estes & Co. Cary, Alice and Phoebe, Poetical Works, Household Edition, Hough- ton Mifflin Co. Chicken World, The, Pictures drawn by E. Boyd Smith, G. P. Put- nam's Sons. Children's Book of Christmas Stories, Asa Don Dickinson and Ada M. Skinner, editors, Doubleday, Page & Co. Children's Hour, The, Vol. I,/, Eva March Tappan, editor, Houghton Mifflin Co. Child's Garden of Verses, The, Robert Louis Stevenson, Chas. Scrib- ner's Sons. Child Life, John Greenleaf Whittier, editor, Houghton Mifflin Co. Child Life Readers, Vol. HI, MacDonald and BlaisdeU, The Mac- millan Co. Dramatic Readings, Marion Florence Lansing, The Macmillan Co. Edson-Laing Readers, Book Four, Benj. H. Sanborn & Co. 141 142 Citizenship In School and Out Eight Cousins, Louisa May Alcott, Little, Brown & Co. Favorite Greek Myths, Lilian S. Hyde, D. C. Heath & Co. Finding a Home, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Houghton Miffin Co. Fifty Famous Stones Retold, James Baldwin, American Book Co. For the Children's Hour, Carolyn S. Bailey and Clara M. Lewis, editors, Milton Bradley Co. Golden Door, The, The Golden Ladder, The Golden Path, Sneath, Hodges and Stevens, editors, The MacmiEan Co. Golden Numbers, Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith, editors, Doubleday, Page & Co. Golden Windows, Laura E. Richards, Little, Brown & Co. Good Stories Jor Great Holidays, Frances J. Olcott, editor, Houghton Mifflin Co. Goops and How to be Them, Gelett Burgess, F. A. Stokes Co. Great Deeds of Great Men, Comey and Dorland, D. C. Heath & Co. Half-a^Dozen Housekeepers, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Henry Altemus Co. Heart of Oak Books, Vol. I, Charles Eliot Norton, editor, D. C. Heath &Co. Heath Fourth Reader, The The Heath Third Reader, D . C. Heath & Co. Heidi, Johanna Spyri, H. B. Dole, translator, Ginn & Co. Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Poetical Works, Household or Cambridge Edition, Houghton Mifflin Co. In Storyland, Elizabeth Harrison, Central Publishing Co. In the Child's World, Emilie Poulsson, editor, Milton Bradley Co. Jackanapes, Juliana H. Ewing, D. C. Heath & Co. Jolly Good Times, Jolly Good Times at School, Mary P. Wells Smith, Little, Brown & Co. Jungle Book, The, The Second Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling, The Century Co. Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling, Doubleday, Page & Co. King of the Golden River, The, John Ruskin, D. C. Heath & Co. Kingley's Greek Heroes, Tetlow, editor, Ginn & Co. Land of Song, The, Book 11, Katharine H. Shute, compiler. Silver, Burdett & Co. Larcom, Lucy, Poetical Works, Household Edition, Houghton Mifflin Co. Legends of King Arthur and His Court, Frances N. Greene, Ginn & Co. Little Knights and Ladies, Margaret Sangster, Harper & Bros. Little J.amc Prince, Dinah Mulock Craik, D. C. Heath & Co. Little Men, Louisa May Alcott, Little, Brown & Co. Little Pussy Willow, Harriet Beecher Slowe. Houghton Mifflin Co. Bibliography 143 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, Poetical Works, Household or Cam- bridge Edition, Houghton Mifflin Co. Mother Stories, More Mother Stories, Maud Lindsay, Milton Bradley Co. Mother Goose, Eulalie Osgood Grover, editor, Frederick Richardson, illustrator, P. F. VoUand & Co. My Lady Sleeps, Katherine S. Page, editor, L. C. Page & Co. Nature in Verse, Mary I. Lovejoy, editor. Silver, Burdett & Co. Nature Myths, Flora J. Cooke, A. Flanagan Co. Nixie Bunny in Manners Land, Joseph C. Sindelar, Beckley-Cardy Co. Old Greek Stories, Old Stories of the East, James Baldwin, American Book Co. Peterkin Papers, The, Lucretia P. Plale, Houghton Mifflin Co. Pinocchio, C. Collodi, E. P. Button & Co. Play Days, Sarah Orne Jewett, Houghton Mifflin Co. Playtime and Seedtime, Francis W. Parker and Nellie Lathrop Helm, Appleton & Co. Poems Every Child Should Know, Mary E. Burt, editor, Doubleday, Page & Co. Poetry for Children, Samuel Eliot, editor, Houghton Mifflin Co. Posy Ring, The, Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith, editors, Doubleday, Page & Co. Prince and the Paiiper, The, Mark Twain, Harper & Bros. Racketty Packetty House, Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Century Co. Red Cross Magazine, The, The American National Red Cross, Garden City, N. Y. Rhythmic Action Plays and Dances, Irene E. Phillips Moses, Milton Bradley Co. Sarah Crewe, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Charles Scribner's Sons. Secret Garden, The, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Grossett & Dunlap. Seven Little Sisters, Jane Andrews, Ginn & Co. Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers, John Burroughs, Houghton Mifflin Co. St. Nicholas, The Century Co. Stepping Stones to Literature, Second Reader, Sarah Louise Arnold and Charles B. Gilbert, Silver Burdett & Co. Stories and Poems for Children, Celia Thaxter, Houghton Mifflin Co. Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children, The, Jane Andrews, Ginn &Co. Stories to Tell, Sara Cone Bryant, Houghton Mifflin Co. Story Hour, The, Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, editors, Houghton Mifflin Co. 144 Citizenship In School and Out Story Hour Readers, Book Two, Ida Coe and Alice J. Christie, Ameri- can Book Co. Story of Patsy, The, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Houghton MifiBin Co. Svdss Family Robinson, The, Johann Rudolph Wyss, J. H. Stickney, editor, Ginn & Co. Tanglewood Tales, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Riverside Literature Series, Houghton Mifflin Co. Thanksgiving, Robert Haven Schauffler, Moffat, Yard & Co. Through the Farmyard Gate, Emilie Poidsson, editor, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. Under the Lilacs, Louisa May Alcott, Little, Brown & Co. What Katy Did, Susan Coolidge, Little, Brown & Co. When Life is Young, Mary Mapes Dodge, The Century Co. Whittier, John Greenleaf, Poetical Works, Household or Cambridge Edition, Houghton Mifflin Co. Wilderness Babies, Julia Augusta Schwartz, Little, Brown & Co. Wonder Book, The, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Riverside Literature Series, Houghton Mifflin Co. Young and Field Literary Readers, The, Books Four and Five, EUa Flag Young and Walter Taylor Field, Ginn & Co-