Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-27
Didn't Know Why.

"And / always remembered that lick
ing" said Mr.. Stuart today. talking about
geography. 1T struck me in after years
that naming all those rivers without
knowing thing about them was fool
ish thing l didn't understand what the
rivers meant. or how they affected COM
merce and agriculture. l didn't know
why cities were built at their mouths.
all l knew was that long list of names
So the underlying thought in all this
modern idea, as far as l have had any
thing to do with ii. is to get away from
such arbitrary methods of teaching chill
dren about the world on which they live
And so we can begin to teach very
little children about geography. We
don't have to present them with a vari-
colored array of maps and drill them and
drill them and drill them with the one
ambition of having them name all the
boundaries of New South Wales and
other localities. We take a child and
show him road. or a street. and the
teacher tells a story, endeavoring to tell
why the road is built, and what difficult
ties there would be without the road.
They learn what a hill is, and brook.
and get an idea of the relation of these
forms with the neighboring landscape.
We teach them north and south by the
position of the school We start more
serious 1rk in the third grade under the
general topic, Child Life in Other
thing human to them. In that way we
can present foreign countries SO that
they mean more than a different colored
blotch on wall map.
Teachers Under instruction.
Miss Z. V. Brown. director of primary
instruction, following the general plan
worked out last year, is instructing the
teachers of the first four grades along
certain of the new features of the work
She explained today that the newest fea-
ture of the course is the attempt to show
by homely. practical examples what the
business and commerce of the world is:
I'VE take little first grade child said
she, and perhaps the first geography
lesson he gets will be something akin to
the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The
teacher will tell the story and draw pic
ture map on the blackboard:
And this says the teacher, is the
road to her grandmother's house.
Then she will draw lines representing a
road: and later on a cave, perhaps, and a
house, so that the child gets an idea dim
is an idea. These first two years are
STORYTELLING years. but every time the
teacher tells a story it has some practical
connection with the beginnings of this
new geography.
..Then in the third grade we give them
the stories of children of other lands.
MANY of the children in this city have
been in other lands. or their parents have
lived outside Of the United States in
places such as the Philippines. and they
show a lively interest in the stories of
child life in other lands At holiday
time there IS good chance to Introduce
stories of holiday customs. and give an
idea of the folk lore, or what APP
proaches II.
On Another Line.
but going on into the third B grade
we begin to show them something actual
I'm relation to the world they live in
First We start with their homes and the
blocks they live in, and teach them why
cities are built. and start to teach them
these practical things by showing them
the reasons for things they live with
And. of course, there Is always the crav-
ing for mystery, for knowledge OF some
thing away of. That craving Is satisfied
by the stories of people in other lands,
We have them make maps OF their
own schoolyards, and have them walk
q quarter of mile or half mile and
time themselves, they will know just
what they are talking about when 1t
comes to distances.
But what is new and fascinating to
many OF the children comes in the fourth