Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1895-04-18

/ carefully answered.
| What of music? The child in kinder
garten learns to sing as do the birds He
| says good morning to the Kindergarten
and his little friends. She then suggests
that the piano help them all to say good
morning to each other, and sings a
simple little song in which they soon
| Join; and so they sing to the sunshine
which floods the room to the rain which
falls, to the birds and flowers, all in
spontaneous manner, with no thought of
notes, or scale, or staff.
Some of the leading educators of this
country forty or fifty years ago dis
covered that children under seven were
quicker at comprehending lessons in
geometry than those Of fifteen. Rev. DR..
Thomas HILL former president OF Harvard
college, wrote his invaluable little First
Lessons in Geometry" in 1855 for his own
children at that age. This was before the
days Of kindergsrtens in this country, and
he was quick to recognize the advance
that was made when the same result was
reached by means OF the so-called "gifts"
Of the kindergarten.
These gifts" consist OF soft balls and
hard balls; cubes capable Of being divided
into many parts and forms; the cylinder
which forms the connecting link between
the ball and the cube; planes in the shape
OF squares, trisngles, circles and half
circles; rings, sticks etc, by means OF
which the child gains a knowledge OF
form, learns to make comparisons, to
Judge OF distances, etc.
Again, we may look for the beginnings
OF history and literature in the kinder
garten, for the different holidays are cele-
brated and their meaning explained.
What If the little ones do make the mis-
take Of supposing that Columbus sailed
! up the Penobscot and landed at the
steamboat W hart, that will be easily cor
rected later, and it is something il he
knows the name. Mother Goose-the
true beginning of iterature-fables, fairy
tales ETC., carefully adapted, delight the
little people, and the Kindergarten
CLEANS from the best writers OF our own
and other countries, thus early forming
a taste for the pure and the best.
might go on indefinitely, for l think
there is nothing in the whole school
course which will not be taken up to
better advantage after these first small
beginnings in the kindergarten.
We have now brought our child to the
age of six years. The next year may well
be spent in advanced kindergarten work
"a continuation of number work by
means of the blocks and other gifts.
part of each session should now be
given to reading by what is called the
word method, presenting the complete
word to the child, who will soon reeog-
nize it at a glance, and then taking its
component parts. Vocal drill and articu-
lation should make part Of every read
ing lesson. The hand work and drawing
should be continued. with the addition
Of writing and the use Of figures; that Is,
the making OF the symbols which stand
for the words and numbers, no longer
meaningless to him.
1t is now generally conceded that the
first seven years Of a child's life are the
most important, not for instruction, but
for education in its most literal sense.
II we have done the best up to this time,
the child is ready to instruct himself;
that is. we have put him into such con-
dition that he will know how to Finish
his knowledge" and his mind will be in
condition to receive it. l do not mean
that he is to be left to himself. We
should see that his surroundings are fav-
orable to further development, and we
should guide and encourage him in ''the
pursuit of knowledge for many years
to come, at the same time taking care to
make all school work as interesting as
possible.
At seven he is ready for what teachers
call systematic study" but he may still
gain much more from things than from
books. He must Of course, use books, but
every subject presented to him in printed
form should, as far as possible. be first
presented in an object lesson or talk in
which he can take part. Even the work.
ing out of mathematical problems may be
made more real in this way, and the work
will be much more intelligent il the
child realizes the necessity Of being able
to solve such problems. The trade games
referred to will help here.
We find children in the grammar
schools going through the common
school arithmetic, or perhaps, nowadays,
dispensing more with books and rules
and having the work presented to them
in more practical form, but We find no
mention Of geometry until we reach the
high school. This is well enough as far
as text books are concerned, but how can
we expect child OF even twelve or four
teen years OF age to grasp and apply the
rules of mensuration if he is not already
familiar with the different forms of planes
and solids, and has not some understand
ing Of angles, lines and curves? We
have seen how he receives this in kinder
garten.
am happy to say that nearly all the