Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-09-18
EDUCATIONAL COLUMN.
THE KINDERGARTEN.

mated in the city of Prague some forty
five years ago, and now prevails to great
er or less extent all over Germany and
many adjacent provinces. The greatest
difficulty attending it, is the difficulty in
obtaining suitable teachers. In some if
not most of the larger cities of Germany,
are schools for the special training Of
! teachers for The hiRdefyalteR, and from
which they receive II diploma when the
required degree of efficiency is acquired.
In addition to the fitness requisite, which
one may obtain by study, the Kmdergdr-
ten teacher must po ssess positive love for
children, tact, a little dramatic talent, be
able to sing, and possess a great deal of
Imagination and inventive talent. The
object of The system is to deyevelop the
child's mind in the most delightful way
possible, TO cultivate and develop every
sense, without weariness to either mind
or body. | remember when attending the
Kindergarten (although at that time, but
five years of age) it consisted Of several
grades, but the lowest grade consisted OF
about thirty or forty bys and girls, from
three to eight years of age, illrstrTed
most thoroughly the peculiarity OF the
system. The KiRdergarteR is conducted
upon the same principle, that it was forty
five years ago, with great many improve
ments, and better facilities. The teacher
is regarded by the little ones as sort OF
a relative, and they set off for schoo. the
hrst time To see new Aunt" as the
teacherl called The morning session
Is from nine until twelve, the afternoon
from two until four. When practicable
the school is held in garten under the
/ trees. The children carry morning
lunch with them, and at half past ten it is
given to them by the teacher, they mean
time keeping their seats until it is eaten
1t is called breakfast, and Ten minutes, per-
haps, is devoted TO it, They are taught
neither To write, read nor spell, and the
programme of one day is quite unlike that
with back that turns both ways; the
desk in front of them Is marked off in.
squares, checkerboard fashion. Some of
the exercises of the morning consist in
house building. 4 small square box, con-
tanning oblong wooden blocks Is placed
in front of each child; the teacher takes
another, and with the blocks build house
which serves as a model When each
child has perfectly initiated it, the teacher
will arrange them in another way, and SO
on until she has given them half dozen
different models when she will put the
blocks back into the box, and each child
do the same with theirs; the boxes will
then be gathered and each one furnished
with set of sticks, three or four inches
long, and of the size of Il knitting needle
These the teacher will arrange in various
forms, sone SO ditfisalt that it will re-
qlire a nice discrimination on the part of
the children to initiate. Every quarter or
halt hour they silfc. usually something
like small opera, which they act The
songs are all descriptive, and the children
20 through in motion the work of the
kitchen, the farm yard. the grain fields,
the entertainments of the salon. etc. Now
and then one will take the place of the
teacher and direct the exercises, leaG in
the singing, or call for series OF move
ments of the fingers, hands or arms. 1t
is delightful to see a child of four or five
years filling the office of leader in a nat
ural unembarrassed way There is also
some plays in which little dancing is
introduced. when boys will be taught gal
laniry, and the girls graciousness of man
ner
They are also taught drawing by max
ing the outlines of things in paper by
pin holes When they have outlined a
flower or animal well, they trace it with
colored thread or worsted. They make
paper baskets, and cut out models from
paper. There are stuffed animals in glass
cases from which they are taught natural
history, the teacher, in "A simple, story
like way, telling them all about the habits
of the animals During the morning the
idirector of the school generally comes in
and has long talk with The children
about "a picture hanging on the wall and it
will astonish any one to see the quick
ness of observation that il displayed by
the little ones. for instance the picture
may be a colored harvest scene. withmen.
wagons, horses, trees full OF fruit, a Will
age with church spires in the distance,
etc. One thing in the picture suggests an
other; the wagon leads to wood and iron,
the fruit to seasons, the horses to animals,
SO that the children will learn something
each time ofthe common every day things
in Nature, which half the people in the
world meyer know, because they are never
taught to think, or to observe How
many people are there who can draw a
straight line, tell if a picture hangs
straight, draw the outline of table, tell
the bs.bits of a bear or horse know how