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, VIKING ACTIVITIES, SHIPS, AND HOMES BEING REPRESENTED BY THIRD-GRADE CHILDREN See story on opposite page, and course of study on page 137 original stories, bits of dramatization, sketches which are made in the art period, and pictures which he has collected as illustrations. The following table of contents is copied from such a book, together with explanatory notes. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Lake Michigan (a picture). 2. Before White People Came (written description). 3. Early Chicago (a map which was first made on the sand-table). 4. Making the Portage (a sketch). 5. Trading Posts (written composition). 6. The Indian Council (mimeographed record of dramatization). 7. Fort Dearborn (picture). 8. Building Fort Dearborn (written composition). 9. Why People Thought Chicago would be a Big City (written composition). 10. Pack Horse (a sketch). II. How Pioneers Travelled (written composition). 12. Prairie Schooner (a sketch). 13. How People Travel To-day (written composition). 14. Pictures of Street Cars, Trains, and Automobiles. 15. People whom Chicago Honors (mimeographed papers). 16. Chicago Harbor (map). 17. The Pioneer (verse). The ships, weapons, Story of the picture on opposite page. homes, occupations, dress, and pastimes of the Vikings, as well as their adventures and explorations, are being studied by the thirdgrade children shown in this picture. In the large sand-pan the children have constructed a Viking feast hall and other buildings with thatched roofs. On the wall are hung drawings of Viking boats made during the art periods. Models of the boats are made and placed in the harbor in the sand-pan. The children at their desks are modeling the rugged physical features of Norway with the fiords and mountains. 18. Pioneer Times: the Country Store; Lighting; Heating and Cooking; the Mail; the Water Supply (compositions). 19. The Tunnel and Crib System (compositions and diagrams). 20. Purifying Water (written record of experiments). 21. Things which Helped to Make Chicago a Big City (written composition). 22. Beautiful Chicago (pictures). 23. Plan of the City. (8: 426) The knowledge of the growth of their home city prepares the children for an understanding of the growth of historical cities such as Athens and Rome. Greek and Roman adventures. In the fourth and fifth grades the lives of the Greeks and Romans furnish materials for further enrichment of the pupil's mental storehouse of historical pictures and personages, Homeric adventures, thrilling battles at Thermopyla and Marathon, Greek fleets, Greek buildings, Alexander's conquests, simple Roman beginnings, Horatius at the bridge, Cæsar, etc. Chronological connections begin to receive emphasis. From this point the chronological connections may receive more and more emphasis, but it should always be kept in mind that appreciation of long periods of time is a difficult achievement even for adults, to whom such expressions as the fifteenth century and the Renaissance often carry little meaning. Even to give a coherent, connected, lasting impression of the succession and relation of events in a single -century requires special art on the part of the teacher. From chronological to psychological organization in history. - The preceding paragraphs present a contrast of the chronological order of topics and what we may call the psychological order. Notice the word "logical" appears in both these terms. Chrono-logical" means time organization. "Psycho-logical" means what? It means organization according to the mental progress of the learner. It means the |