situations with which the children are in direct contact in order to prepare them to understand historical social situations. History course as adapted to children. Activities of home, community, and farm studied in kindergarten and first grade. The nature of the kindergarten study of social activities was brought out in the description of the playhouse and other projects given on page 126. For city children the first step away from the immediate social environment is taken in the first grade through a study of farm life. In addition to many other devices, in The University of Chicago Elementary School, the following methods are used: A miniature farm is set up on the sand-table. The various buildings are constructed from cardboard, fields of grain are sown, fences and trees made, toy animals provided, and the pictures made as complete as possible. The sand-table is a source of much imaginative play, and the children's initiative is encouraged in planning and in acting out their various farm experiences with the material available. Here they have an opportunity to retell the stories of farm life which have been told them and to invent new ones. Each child also plans and makes a Farm Book. The following materials are used: (1) pictures which the children collect from various magazines and farm journals; (2) illustrations which they have made; (3) paper cuttings; (4) explanatory sentences which they add whenever necessary. All this material is arranged by the children with the help of the teacher. The Farm Book is thus a constant help in organizing and using their knowledge of the subject. (8: 406) Indian life provides second step toward imagined, historical, social situations After completing the farm project, the second step in the study of remote or imagined social situations may be taken in the first grade by a study of Indian life. (See the pictures on pages 132, 134, 136.) The basis for the study of Indian life is found in Jenks's "The Childhood of Ji-Shib, the Ojibwa." This story, in which the life of an Indian is portrayed, gives most of the phases of Indian life INDIAN PLAY AS FINALLY PRESENTED ON STAGE TO SCHOOL ASSEMBLY BY FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN desirable for presentation to children. With this story as a basis the teacher is able to present the subject in a concrete way, contributing details wherever needed and rearranging parts to suit her needs. On the sand-table or in the individual sand-pans the children reproduce parts of the story of Ji-Shib and work out new adventures suggested by it. They make an Indian Book, in which are kept their drawings and paper cuttings. In addition to its being a much-treasured record, this serves as a means of organizing the work and giving motive to the reproduction of parts of the story. They carry out some of the activities of Indian life, such as the threshing and grinding of grain and the parching of corn. They dramatize many of the Indian activities : hunting, fishing, moving, feasting, dancing. They play many of the Indian games. (8: 408) Shepherd life and Viking tales further enrich social imagination. In the second grade the study of shepherd life introduces the children to activities and customs that will aid them in understanding many peoples, such as the Arabs and the dwellers in Palestine. In the third grade a strongly contrasting type of civilization is introduced by a study of Jennie Hall's "Viking Tales," supplemented by constructive activities. The sea life, adventures, and travels of the hardy Vikings are vividly presented. (See the picture on page 138.) Local history introduces chronological development. — At the end of the third grade or the beginning of the fourth, local history is studied. The growth of the local settlements gives the children concrete notions of actual chronological changes in social conditions, thus introducing them to a historical series of events in a concrete, close-to-home manner. For example, the study of the local history of Chicago traces the growth of the city from its settlement as Fort Dearborn, a trading and military post, down to the present time. The textbook is Jennie Hall's "Story of Chicago." The activities of the class during the study are suggested by the contents of the "Chicago Book" which each child makes and which contains written descriptions, |