Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-03-16
KINDERGARTEN AND FROBEL

friedrich Froebel was born in 1882. He
died in 1852. He lived when Napoleon was
changing the map Of Europe and the doc
trines ct nations He died after creating
quiet revolution in the intellectual world.
Ia his seventy years Of life, Froebel COM
pleteiy overturned the old theories and meth
DDS Of teaching children. Baroness Maren-
holtz Bulow, was Fr0ebels chief disciple,
and it was owing IN d great measure to her
influence that the principles OF child culture,
as practiced in the kjndereartens, were dis
semiGated. Indeed the baroness, by her in
fuence, made the Prussian government
ashamed of its absoluusm, Ia forbidding
Froebels system from beng taught. Mad
anne Bulov aided in procuring a repeal of
the arbitrary act of 1851, and the kindergar-
tens we're once more established in Prussia
in 1852.
Froebel was a kind, benevolent man, as
his utterance, come, let Us live for the chill
dren," well testi6es. Before the Baroness
Bulow became acquainted with Froebel, she
heard a rustic quantity describe the I'M
proven Of PestalCzzlanism las one queer
thing, a natural fool, who played about
among the children vino folleR ed him, and
were very much taken up with him"
In 1873 hudergaruens were first introduced
into st. LOUIS by Miss Susan Z. Blow To
show the progress made, we extract from Miss
Blows report: ''ln the Dss Peres kinder
garCen predestIned engineers have built
bridges as remarkable in conception as they
were clever IN execution. Little mathema-
ticiaus have discovered rather than learned
all the simple relation of numbers. Children
with more than ordinary spiritual insight
have intuitively seized the moral anaiogiss of
physical thoughts. Tiny fingers have guided
the pencil to trace beautiful decorative de-
signs, and soft clay has been fashioned into
flowers, fruits and animals by the dexterons
hands Of embryo sculptors." This statement
Is without any exaggeration. This has been
effected in five years. There are four thou
SAND children ii ST. Louis enjoying tne games
and plays in fifty schools. Glasses of little
children from SIX to nine go through sums
that would bewllder any ordinarily educated
child of thirteen or fourteen. Little children
of SIX know the principles of geometry that
the freshman classes IN a college often
stumble over. Nor Is this knowledge OF a
dollhouse growth. 1t is acquired by o0serva-
ton. The child learns it independently
of continual teaching There Is nothing
learned by rote. When a child enters the !
kindergarten, one of a series OF eight gifts
are placed in his hands. The first one is a box
of six soft balls for babies three months old
and upward. These balls are of the primary
and secondary cOlOrs which the child learns
by continual handling. The second gift is Il
cube, sphere and cylinder. The child plays
Will Gi46SC anu lCdllio ltlAit lE lClLll
filth and sixth gifts are large cubes, OF three
inches and over, made up Of smaller cubes,
blocks, prlsms, etc. Let rs enter g kinder
garten. The music Of the piano greets cur
ears on opening the door. Ranged around
the room little children are sitting at their
tables with the blocks of the fifth Gift be-
fore them. hey are going through the class
exercises. -Four clbes are in e line before
each child.
''Now, Children says the teacher, take
away two blocks, how many are left?'
''Two!" is the exclamation from all.
Good! Now, children, add one block; |
what is the resuit?' Three" they answer.
your line OF blocks in two equal parts; how |
many blocks on one side Row?" "One and |
one half blocks the children respond.
After the pupils have thus learned to add, |
subtract and divide In the concrete, l. e., with |
blocks, they are then imperceptibIy glided |
into, the abstract. We heard such |
combinations as the following solved by |
a little girl between six and seven |
years old; not any brighter, but more atten- |
tive than the others. SAID the teacher: |
. Multiply four 10y two, add two, subtract |
three times three, add SIX, one-half of the !
sum, subtract three, add two, multiply the |
sum By two, add one-half, subtract FIVE, |
and take one half Of the remainder" "The !
answer is e.tourth, said the little girl, |
when the last word dropped from the |
teachers lips.
Now, my little pupils, let us talk about
a cube; How many corners has it?''
light at, ..e they answer. How many !
One little girl guesses and says "seven." |
Count the faces of the cube before YOU" |
Thus experiment acts as a corrective.
Glass, says the teacher, what kind Of |
face has a cube?" "a square" is the re-
ply.
In the same manner the children learn the |
nature. OF triangular prison, a par
allelopiped, etc. What is the use of all |
this?" asks some doubling person.
What Is the use OF any mathematics? !
What Is the use OF acquiring it III the best /
and easiest way possible. In the kinder |
gartens the rudiments of mathematics are /
play; IN the primary schools they are d bore. /
After the eight gifts come the twelve oc-
cupatons. The second OF these Is to BRING |
out the latent powers of invention. /. !
is done by means of sheets OF |
dra wing paper, ruled into small !
squares, which serve as guide to /
geometrical drawing. We have seaa the lit.
tie children become 50 fond of |
this occupation that they begged Of
their teachers an extra supply Of
paper to diagram their inventions; lust as 7
the young ladies that became so enlhussd In |
their geometry under the tutorship Of Her !
bert Speacer's father, that they always ,
begged Of him good supply of problems 60 /
be solved during the holidays. /
The fifth occupation satisfies that universal /
desire OF all chlldhood-tO cut paper Instead /
OF heterogeneous shapes, the klnderg arten I
guides the hands, and brings forth order and /
decorative designs
Ike weaving OF paper mats in geometrjcal |
order, with shading, COloring, etc; making
skeletons OF simple objects. Ike tables, beds, |
and chairs, by means Of wires stuck through .
peas, and modelling IN clay, are in order the |
sixth, eleventh and twelfth occupations.
There is a morning and evening kindergar-
ten. The gifts generally occupy the classes !
about one hour; after them come the PLAYS or
circles. In these the children march to sim |
pie airs, around a circle painted on the hJor,
into their respective places; one child is ap.
pointed by the teacher to go il the center
hat shall we play?" says the teacher TO
little May, who stands in the center
well, I'll choose to play the butterf7y."
May, then, 10 the lead with her chosen
companions IN line behind her holding to
each others clothes. The line of children,
epresentlng caterpillar, wriggles around,
TO the sound OF slow waltz music, and finally
the bright bUbbing heads cluster around the
center pole OF the circle, after the manner of
the worm. This is the chrysalis Then lit
lie May Jumps up-breaks tine cOcoon-wav-
ng her hands, she lightly skips around the
room initiating a butterfly. Another child |
Little toddling things Of FIVE years laugh and
lance, and merry girls Of ten skip with
twinkliug feet These games su5ercede
me dancing school. The sexes lose their
Jaucherie, and learn to bear themselves
Onward each other rs becomes little men and
women Of the world. "a man to be COM
olete, says a winter, should be master Of
NEAR, and musical expression a. well as
ingual." The Kindergarten strives TO ac-
ompllsh this end. The continual hearing of
music, the essays at drawing and the correc-
ion OF grammar make we'll balanced mind.
dan is modified by his surroundings. Let a
hid grow up where only bare walls glare
pom him, uncouih tables and crooked door
ambs, nothing to relieve the monotony of .
ne room, and that child's mind grows up
arrow and cramped Let the same child
ear pleasing tunes every day; let his eyes I
sst on flowers and simply drawn designs, let :
0 aquarium occupy one corner of the roorI,