Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-07
An Experiment Being Made in South
east Washington.
ENTERTAINMENT And INSTRUCTION
Possibly Permanent Feature Of
Public School System.
THE METHODS EMPLOYED

in progress at the Mccormick School build
ing Sd street between M and n southeast.
A summer term was inaugurated June %,
the day following the close of the graded
schools and will continue until July 81. If
the results are satisfactory an effort will
be made to have a summer course in most,
if not all, of the school buildings of the city.
Present indications point to undoubted sue
cess.
The object of the summer course is to
employ advantageously the time of those
of the city children who cannot go away
during the heated term. The course Of
study is entirely different from the arduous
work of the winter. The school room is
made an attractive and interesting place,
where the pupils are entertained and in
structed at the same time. Attendance is
not compulsory. In the system now pre-
vailing at the Mccormick School, which is
considered a model, to be followed here
after on larger scale, perhaps, the chill
dren are placed almost entirely on their
own responsibility. There is an effort at
culture and refinement in the school room
with elevating surroundings. Far from be-
ing tedious, the school hours are made so
very pleasant that the attendance is ever
increasing, the absentees and tardy ones
being very few indeed.
Evidence of Popularity.
An evidence of the popularity of the sum-
mer school is the presence of the children
at the school building hour or more
earlier than the time for the days work to
begin The school hours are from to II
o'clock In the afternoon the building is
open to the pupils and they gather there
daily to indulge in instructive games. Many
are surrounded with an environment SUI
perior to their humble homes, and the good
accomplished in this way is far-reaching in
its influence
The summer school at the Mccormick
budding is in charge of Mr.. X X R1ordon,
a young man who has heart interest in
children and who has a happy knack of
catering to their enjoyment He Is assist
ed at various times by Miss Webb Glenn
ents Miss Webster, Mr.. Au of the Worces-
ter Polytechnic Institute, Miss Callahan,
DR.. Johnson of the Eastern High School,
Miss Scanned Miss Stutz and Miss Stark
weather.
Text books are banishci and the educa-
ton impaired is entirely practical The
pupils range from those who have never
attended school to those who will next
year enter the high schools. Naturally, a
curriculum to interest children of such
wide variance of knowledge must be elastic
and peculiar. The lessons must interest
alike the pupil of no school training and the
one with a very good primary education
At the Mccormick School the 9S pupils are
divided into two grades, the lower being
composed of the children who have had no
education, up to and including those who
=
mar schools. The higher grade includes
those public school pupils who have passed
the fourth grade.
Course of Instruction.
The course is made up mostly of instruc
tive talks and trips into the country and
points of interest about Washington under
the guidance of the teachers; painting and
drawing, and the reading of books from
supplementary library of the school. Twice
a week there are lessons in painting, with
singing lessons in like number. The singing
is entirely by ear, and consists chiefly of the
familiar songs of the home and patriotic
hymns and anthems of the nation. Once a
children make an eX-
cursion. 1t is known as a field trip, and
covers the study of local geography and
nature. To best illustrate the plan of the
school, the trip to Cleveland Park last
Tuesday may be cited.
The day following the trip the children
were called upon to tell of it. First they
told of taking the electric cars as a means
of transportation. This brought out a study
of electricity. A battery was made in the
presence of the pupils, and they were told
1t was not electricity that propelled the
cars, but magnetism produced by cleo
tricity. A piece of iron was magnetized
from the battery. AS result of this talk
the children will tomorrow erect two tele-
phones, connecting the wires and ineasur-
ing the distance to be traversed In meas
uring for the construction. mathematics
Will have an interesting inning. The value
and Importance of the telephone will be
demonstrated.
Their Personal Experiences.
The boys and girls told of their trips
along the brooks and to the springs Their
teacher explained the origin of these fea-
lures of nature. Teegraphy will be ex-
planned when the telephone work is COM
pieted
Trips have been planned through the
mall. from the botanical gardens to the
monument, including the buildings, and an
other trip will be made to the zoo. The
possibilities of these excursions are mani
fold and apparent. Nature is depended
upon largely 1t is ever interesting to the
young and old alike.
The painting is from flowers and ami
mails The school rooms are decorated
with plants and growing flowers of all
weather, who has charge of the drawing,
has produced number of pretty pictures
in chalk. AS a result of the recent field
trip there is new bed of ferns flourishing
and happy family of terrapins being
cared for
In hygiene. which many of the scholars
have already studied, practical talks and
stories are resorted to, that an old theme
may have new interest, the talks being
planned, at the same time, for those who
know practically nothing of the human
body or organs. A recent example of this
style of work was an explanation of the
heart by Mr.. Riordon. He compared the
flow of the blood in and out to the en-
trance of the children into the school
room, with many other details as to the
publication process and the corpuscle for
nation. Deep interest was taken in the
explanation, which was not mystified in
any way by high-sounding names.
Photography, Also.
The practical experiments with electric
ity will be followed by an explanation and
demonstration of photography. The pic
ture will be taken, the plate developed and
the prints made all within sight Of the
children. Book publishing will also be ex-
planned, opportunity being given to
bring in history of the first printing
press. The history study is brought about
principally in this way, and through stories
and the study of historical paintings. For
Instance, copies of the painting of Perry
on Lake Erie were recently distributed
among the pupils, they afterward talking
on the subject or writing compositions. A
history of the school is written occasional
ly by all of those attending.
In opposition to the system employed In
the regular schools of distributing supplies
only when needed. the pupils of the Nc
Cormick Summer School were given equip
ment sufficient to last the entire term. They