Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-05-25
OGRAPH TALK.
INTERESTING PAPER BY MISS
MARY PLUMADO.
An Ell Dorado school Teachers
Excellent Method of
Teaching.

At the late meeting Of the Ell Dorado
County Teachers Institute, Miss Mary
Plumado read a paper on the method Of
teaching geography which possesses I'M
usual merit. 1t will be read with pleas
ure, not only by teachers and parents, but
all who are interested in the education of
children. II contains many excellent sug-
gestions which ought to be adopted by
teachers as far as possible. Following is
the full text:
In order to obtain profitable results in
our geography classes, we must, as in all
other matters of education, pay strict at
tention to the processes by which the mind
gains knowledge. Hewitt says, no other
study, except reading, can be made more
interesting to the child, or can be made to
lead out the thoughts in all directions,
more successfully than geography"
"To lead out the thoughts in all direc-
tions" means more getting-ready work by
primaries, more thinking by the real
geography classes, and consequently not
nearly so much examining by two-thirds of
the school Of those non-essentials SWEET
labels Things Worth Forgetting"
THE GETTING-READY WORK.
We are directed by popular educators
TO teach, as elementary preparation, alb
solue direction, absolute distance and alb
soluie size, as well as lessons on form and
surface; our object being to lead the child
to gain knowledge needed in scientific
geography, and to train him to observe, to
think and to express himself well. l
found walking a help in teaching direc-
ton. After my pupils had observed at
noon their shadows and those Of posts,
trees, fences and houses, and were able to
point to the north end of the school-house.
to tell in what direction Minnie lived
from Grace and Grace from Harry, we
made excursions to a number of points in
each Of the four principal directions. As
some interesting bit of scenery, or some
particular leaf. fern, wood, rock or flower
was a second object of the walk, they en-
joyed ii very much. The spoils we
brought back were used for object lessons.
In school we made a schoolroom out of
thin boards, found and marked north,
east, south and west on the tiny floor, and
then, after taking the room apart, we hung
the floor on first one and then another of
the schoolroom walls. They found cor
rectly directions on the maps when they
came to study them.
IN REGARD TO ABSOLUTE DISTANCE.
Pupils soon learn a foot in their draw
ing exercises. Here they place dots a foot
apart and then compare the distance
between the dots with their t~welve-inch
rulers. Very soon they draw freehanded
standing VI, falling down and lying down,
lines each a foot in length, with which
they make figures. We may give special
lessons for accuracy in measurement. Ny
little ones were delighted TO cut off sticks
of willow. and TO buy and sell a foot of
colored cord, of colored thread and OF
paper and cloth prepared in strips. They
also had special lessons for learning a yard,
and, as an incentive to correct measure
ment here, they were allowed to use toy
money. They become very eager to get
just as much as they paid for. How
pleased they were too, to measure desks.
benches, walls, floor, doors and windows
Greatly in school," A rod was somewhat
difficult for them, but a mile was o
learned. Conversational lessons about the
farm two miles away, the river four miles
away and the town eight miles off devel-
0DCo WV tAA4tc, iOui ILLUS, GU. w Hlusl
not. mistake the object of this work. After
they have learned their distances, we must
teach them to use an inch or half an inch
for a foot, yard, rod and mile, thus prepar-
ing them for the measuring scales they
must learn about in geography.
ABSOLUTE SIZE.
This is entirely an out-of-door exercise.
An acre, a half acre, and a square mile can
be mastered. In the country greater areas
are readily learned.
All form lessons are attractive. Balls,
yeast powder cans, any object of conical
shape, cubes and leaves, out of which grow
circles, ellipses, triangles and squares, can
he made living pictures of the child's
mind. From these are developed curved
and plane surfaces and straight and curved
lines. Beside the object lessons in school
there are natures object lessons outside,
where observation is especially trained.
While my little ones climbed a hill
with me, we talked about Johnny and
Johnny's father, both of whose pictures l |
had with US. They compared the two as |
to height, and told me when Johnny grew
up he would be a man. / said, "Then
Johnny's father is a grown up boy. Now,
that we have climbed this hill, who can
find some grown up hills?" They knew
the word mountain, and told me hat the
mountains are taller and larger than the
hills. After leading them to tell me that
the hills and mountains are standing up,
some one found some lazy land lying down
between the hills which we named a val |
ley. In school they drew pictures of hills,
mountains and valleys with colored chalk,
and learned to spell and write the name
of each. We can usually follow a stream
draining a valley. To show that some
valleys are more elevated than others, use
a picture, a mold, or a drawing. When
it is impossible to illustrate with natural
objects, use pictures.
THE SIMPLEST ILLUSTRATIONS
We're most attractive and significant to
us; so they are to our pupils. When mine
were ready for it | showed them a picture
of some elevated land which was fiat like |
the table, so we named it a table-land.
Out of clay | formed a volcano, placed fire
in it, and they saw at least smoke pro-
ceeding from the crater.
In preparation for the shape of the earth
let them form spheres Of different sizes.
The larger the sphere, the less curved the
lines. The maps or pictures they draw Of
the school-house and OF the school-ground
and hill are smooth so also is the globe
which is the picture of the earth. In
order to lead the children from the curved
maps on the globe to the fiat maps on the
walls, We may outline North America on
an orange and cut the map out. The map
is curved when removed from the orange, |
but il is fiat when stretched out on the
wall. BY placing it by the side of a large
map of North America, pupils see that the
maps are made fat for convenience.
Pupils should get their ideas of the size
Of countries from the globe, because there
the maps are arranged according to their
relative sizes. From the globe, too, they |
should study the form and position of con-
finents and oceans.
ONES.
Many pupils have an idea that the
farther south We 20 the warmer il grows. [