El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-30

schools from the kinde-GHrten to the
high .choOl are we'll W ,rth che stten-
ton of any one Interested In hu nan
beings ard tt cir progress, and psrtl :
cularly of Ell Pasoaos " 40 are int rest
ed ia their city and OF p sreLts who are
ln,ere-ted in their children.
Is will surprise manyto see now oe
Ijghtful and uptodste are some OF the
everyday methods in cur schools, ano
1t will interest ID any who hsvs not Tor
gotten their own struggles with the
CRY Alb abs and the tedious multi
plica ton tables, to see how Interesting
and ike story book the rule OF three
is mado for the children OF todsy
Any sensible child would like to
learn to suostract when be illustrates
his examples with colored chalk pier
lures as Ell Paso little folk do. F'ot
example, in Miss Fitzpatrick cxhthi-
of first grade work, there are ever SO
many little sheets of "zani q alton pa
pers,' each with its example I'd
out in fRurss and then pictured out
with . sentence or two Of story to ex.
plain the pictures.
The teacher gives the child ten marks
and tells him to take one sway and sec
how many are left, take two and count
the rest, take three, and SO on. After
the ten are exhausted and the child un-
derstapds something of the 1ne art OF
6uOGF1otlnR, uO - allO"S gu W q 20
any ono of the processes he has been
through with.
SO Q boy chooses to say that farmer
had ten horses, but two of them died
and that left him only eight. He draws
ten horses. eight standing up and two
lying down very dead, and anyone must
see that the farmer had ht left after
the painful death the boy has proroun-
sed on the two. Another yOungstsr
illustrates the ideas of division by hA-
wing ten Hstls woolly chicks and two
coops and it is plain q, day that i've
chickens will have to 60 into each coop
st night. Another multiplication exam
pile to clinch the argument that three
times two Is six, has flight OF but
teraies, two yellow, two red, and two
blue, going across the page underasath
the fxures, aud q story written in big
round childish script explains that
three times two muss be six because
two red butterflies and two yellow but
tsrflies and two blue butterflies all
flying together, make elk butterflies.
1t Is method calculated to make
the children enjoy learning enjoy
even the multiplication to BILE, and TO |
apply instantly what they learn to |
something outside of books. 1t IL q |
fact tb at children rarely realizs what |
msthemt tics is for. Not che girl or |
boy in ten will he able to give any |
reason for algebra except the tyranny |
OF teachers and of the world &C large. |
But these first gr ade youngsters know
where to apply their knowledge of
addition, subtraction, division, and |
multiplication,
Another interesting feature OF this
first grade children's study Is the Ian
guaRe work, which includes little dip |
into science, literature, and history.
The HiAw aths work Ia particularly |
charming and wonderful. The child
rem have listened to the readings from |
Hlawatha, they hsve discussed the |
poem, have talked ABOUT Hiawatha's
lodge, his canoe, the great wafer, and
the deer and birds of the forest, and |
have been shown pictures of Indians, |
deer, wig wams, aud pines. So while |
one class is reciting it's regular lesson., |
the others are set at what they call |
their BUSY work" They are allowed |
They are given scissors aud paper or |
colored chalks or lead pencils and they |
cut and draw and color tenLs, deer, and |
Indians and write their ideas about |
Hiawatha.
In the exhibit a. the chamber OF |
commerce is the little account of Hia- |
w2ths surrounded by the illustrations |
for is snd one who has not seen cannot |
believe how really clever the illustra-
1
out of the paper and pine trees with the |
proper melancholy droop TO the branch
es, Indians running With very lively |
legs, and Indians standing wrapped to
th cir chins in their blankets. There
are the pointed prows of canoes rock
ing in the water and there are tree
branches where birdie sit and sing. All
Of these cut out of the paper, in the
cleverest of silhouettes. There are
colored drawings representing Hiawa-
th as lodge among the pines on the
edge of the great sea water, and pinee,
atsr, canoe, and lodge are all well
done. One panel is made up of this
work, tho work of many eager, clever
little fingers. The children seem to
have got the poise of everything, Of
trees and Indians, deer andbirds, very
They do not copy any pictures in
making these ailhouettes, they simply
remember how the deer look and how
Indians look. Other examples of this
work show COlumbus's
ship, high prows and full sail, all cut
from paper and ,recog nizable as Co
lumbus's boat from the first glance;
there is q email girl rolling hoop,
and her pose ia perfect, though she
first grader; and there are boys
swinging on trapezes.
The story of the coal Is another
exhibit of how children
sre taught many things in enc. There
ls short, naive essay on coal which
reads:
Coal IL very useful.
They get some OF the coal from Penn
sylvania.
A long II ne ago, before any people
lived on the earth, why there was some
trees and the water covered the trees
With water, and the trees rotted. And
l.. L. 1t IL