The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-04-12


useful In their homes. One OF the great
needs in the homes of many of our poorer
city families is for a closer sympathy be
tween parents and children, and FULLER
recognition that they have many interests
IN common. Any influence which VIII help
work and an interest i'm il will help TO de-
Velop the home life. For this reason We
were very anxious to establish a kitchen
garden in the school, but We're unable to do
SO for lack of funds
Drawing and Clay Modeling-Every child
spent one period each day in one or the
other of these departments. In drawing the
work consisted very largely of representing
In color and in black and white the places
| seen on the excursions. and the branches
| and fruits and flowers and vegetables
| brought home. In modelling. the same ma
| terial was used. the forms being copied In
| low relief and in the round. At first IL was
almost impossible to get the children 10 put
any feeling for nature into a drawing or a
| sion the objects brought home from the
| excursions We're often reproduced with Won
derful fidelity by the same children who
| had failed i'm this work at the start The
| increased power of observation and the
| added power of expression that could be
| traced from day 10 day in the work of the
J of wonder to everybody who followed this
work closely
Music-The teacher of music had marked
success in relating her work to that done
| In the other departments. The "Carpen-
| ters Song" appealed to the boys very
| strongly. Songs about flowers and seeds
| and the wind Whispering through the oak
| trees and the waves dancing up along the
shore seemed TO recall to the children the
pleasure they felt when they saw all of
| those things i'm the country and this vivid
| recollection added a quality TO the singing
that made up for many of the purely tech
| her pupils about the story contained in each
| song helped them to catch the spirit of il,
| and then measured her success by observ-
| ing how far they modulated their voices
| SO as to be in harmony with the spirit of
| the song: This work appealed so strongly
| 10 the children that in a short tire the
| songs spread through the neighborhood.
| and each Wednesday when the pupils
started on their weekly excursion the chill
| dren who gathered at the school door to see
| them off were able to join with them in a
| parting song.
Gymnastics-There were other phases of
the school work which also became
marked feature of the neighborhood life
| during the summer. For example, the work
in gymnastics through which the instructor
made a strong effort to teach her pupils to
| play better games on the streets, was very
| successful, and often in the afternoon
| friends of the school observed our children
| at a considerable distance from the build
| ing teaching the new games to their play
| mates who had not been able to secure ad-
mission to the school.
THE STUDY OF NATURE.
Nature Study-The study of nature was
! the center around which all the other parts
| of the school work were grouped. At the
beginning the principal desired to find out
what the children knew about nature and
in one of the rooms he wrote on the board
a number o4questions: Have you ever been
| to the country? Have you ever seen Lake
| Michigan? Have you ever picked a flower?
Have you ever seen a COW? Have you ever
| climbed tree? etc. Over half of the chill
| dren answered most of these questions in
| the negative. One little girl burst into
| tears, and when asked by the teacher what
| was the matter, finally confessed that she
| had to answer mo" TO all of the questions,
| and she was afraid she would not pass the
examination and could not so on the excur-
When the children reached the country
| the first time they were nearly wild with
| delight. They picked all of the bright flow
| ers in sight and made marvellous collections
| OF flowers and ferns, snakes and frogs,
| butterflies. fruits, etc. On the first and
| which were abnormal or unusual in some
| way that attracted their attention. bright
| red or yellow flower huge toadstool, a
| crooked branch, the gnarled trunk Of an
| oak tree. a large bowlder or a deep ravine-
| things that We're misshapen or grotesque.
| But toward the end Of the school term
| many of them had learned to see the beauty
| of delicate ferns and flowers, the tracery
| on a leaf, the difference of texture in the
bark of certain trees. the distinction be-
| tween stones that were rough in form and
| those that were worn smooth by the action
of water They had learned to recognize
| a pig and a. COW and other domestic ami
mails that they had never seen before.
| They had enjoyed sliding down a haystack
| and scrambling over running brook and
| skipping stones over the surface of the
| lake and eating lunch under the trees
| They had gathered wonderful fund of in
| formation about things that had never en-
| tered into their lives in the dirty streets
| and cramped tenement houses where they
| lived. A new world had opened before
them. and it was revelation to them.
| But they had also learned that there was
| very intimate relation between this new
| world and their own city world. One little
boy said: Teacher you don't have to go
find
l found two yesterday in our back yard"
| Another said: Teacher, you don't have TO
| Robinson CrusOes island. My mamma said
| could use little closet to have an island
| by my house. We live away up under the
roof but L carried up some sand from
| where they are building house and have
| made an island and am making a raft for
| Robinson now" His eyes had been opened
to some of the possibilities that lay within
reach in the yard, in the sandpile, I'm the
| sticks of kindling in the home, and il need
| ed very little effort for him to leave the
| crowded tenement and fancy himself alone
| with Robinson Crusoe on his wonderful
| island.
One afternoon the mothers were invited
and see some of the results of the pupiIs'
work over half or them came and ii was
really f9 l pathetic to see what strong hold
children had taken home from the country
flowers. fruits and other spoiIs. and from
made in the workshop. By means of these
the mothers had become so much inn
| pressed with what this school was doing
| Tor their children that they let nothing in
| terfere with the regular attendance some
| times even sending the children to school
| at the usual time and bringing their break
fast to them later. This proved a strong
contrast TO the condition existing during
| the closing weeks of the regular school
| term when the teachers in this neighbour
| bood found IL almost impossible to keen
| up "a good attendance even with the aid of
| truant officers. 1t really pathetic to
4 In H0x q III. I.
| dren admitted to the school. One woman
| appeared during the first week with a la be
III arms and seven other children. She said
] Il have seven children of my own and two
| That l. have adopted. You have one of my
boys IN the school and L want TO nut all
OF them here. except the baby. Nv how
OH the streets and gives him something IN
DO: ! hope this school will be open every
There is member OF the Chicago
Board of Education who is especially in
terested I'm the Medii school. and lives
only a short distance from the building
AT the end of the summer when he re-
turned from his vacation. one of the first
| Things he heard from his neighbors was the
account OF how much the vacation schooI
mad done for their children. The renorts
OF THIS work that reached him from ali
sides have made him a firm believer in
the vacation school plan.
EXTRACTS FROM A REPORT
When the president of the Board of Ed
ucation retired from office in September
he devoted n part of his farewell address
to the discussion of vacation schools He
said. in part: Recent experiments have
/