Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-23
SCHOOL CURRICULUM
The Course of Study in the District
of Columbia.
REPORT BY SUPERVISING PRINCIPALS
What the Authorities Require of
the Teachers.
AN AMBITIOUS PROGRAM
AN AMBITIOUS PROGRAM

One of the most Interesting chapters in an
| extremely interesting and instructive local
| document is the report of supervising prin-
| Cipals in the annual report of the board of
| school trustees.
| 1t is customary for the corps of super
| vising principals of the white schools to
| annually elect one of their number to frame
| a statement for publication: a statement
| approved by all the members of the corps
| and, finally. by the superintendent himself.
/ The latest of these reports has just been
! made public. 1t shows, in detail, and con-
[ clusively. the immense mental which
| the course of instruction covers.
The first topic discussed is language, of
which it was said. The teaching of this
subject was pre-eminently the work of the
schools at all times and under all circum-
stances. it being the main line of work 10
which all others contributed and to which
| all others were subordinate
First Grade.
Says the report: In beginning language the
| subject was taught in the first grade always
| in the objective way, as we'll in the ex-
| perimental and anecdotal. The teachers
| tons and example are more forceful than
her words: the chld's own experiences are
| more permanent still; he not only sees the
object but he handles it and talks of it:
his thought. gagged by the accuracy of his
oral expression, is developed by the skill
| full questioning of the teacher, who fire.
qusntly and repeatedly supplies the correct
and more elegant idiom.
Much attention was given during the first
eight weeks of his first year to conversa-
ton on nature work, intended largely 20
make him free. unconstrained and happy.
Here he began his systematic study of in
sects, birds and quadrupeds. flowers and
plants. His seeing first trained; he
mn - S4.A
in plants-where and how they grow, eat
ard drink. and their uses; in seeds-noting
their covering. receptaclcs, etc: about in
seCts-collecting for school room study cat
erpllars, tomato and ailantus worms, bring
ing with each its peculiar food. and SO
maintaining its natural conditions of sub
sistCnce nearly possible that it may
continue its normal routine in the process
OF transformation.
In this grade began the training of eye
and hand by attractive and instructive seat
work.
About the third month of school the con-
versations We're supplemented by the devel-
opment lessons preparatory for 'reading.
The child received clear impressions of a
number of words and idioms which ware re-
produced again and again at the board,
then used in original sentences during the
lesson period, and finally employed imme-
diately afterWard in his seat work. When
quite vocabulary had been built up he
able to write connected and sequential
compositions. many of which Were repro
duced on the board.
Along with the work in dioms went that
in pho"icS In pronouncing selected words
the child separated the initial cOnsonant
from the rest of the word. AS seat work
he wrote lists of words beginning with, end
ing with or containing a certain couSouant:
he selected all the words containing given
conSonant in his reader. and he built new
words containing a given syllable. so that
by the end of the year he was familiar with
the form and sound of each consonant.
A a further aid in language building
much was made of the morning talk.
which included a great variety of subjects.
sometimes about the material. sucn as
l.aVes, flowers. fruits, the apple, peach.
pear. plum. cranberry, banana, olive and
orange. which the children bring to the
school room in such profusion or of time,
the change of the seasons, insects, birds,
the months, with their various holidays;
the weather vane and winds. heat, natural
and artificial: the thermometer, clouds,
rain. snow. hail, ice. light. markets. rail-
ways. gardens and farms; the parks in the
city. why they there their own school
building and something of its management,
and many other topics
When the child had been taught in script
perhaps a hundred and fifty words by this
objective method the print was presented
The transition from script to print was di-
rect: a word which had been taught, but
which was unfamiliar in its new dress,
shown in the script and was Immediately
recognized. The childs vocabulary was en-
| Iarged also by the work in synonyms. Be
sides the primer two first readers were read
through by him and several of the easier
of the second grade Aesop's fables. From
800 800 words were taught a first-grade
child.
Literature was taught in connection with
the nature work. such poems The Stolen
Leaves Stop. Stop, Pretty Water, Thanks
giving Day, Hiawatha, Little Boy Blue, The
First Snowfall. The Violet and Working
and Sinking being memorized after the
thought of the selection had been thorough
ly and repeatedly talked over.
Second Grade.
In the second grade the work with the