The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1915-10-05
; MAKING THE SCHOOL ROOM !
; ATTRACTIVE. !
School News.


Southern School News
Make the school room attrac-
tive" How often do we hear this
admonit'on, especially to young
teachers. We give below a few sug-
gestions which may prove helpful:
AS with the attractive home, so
with the school room. cleanliness is
the first essential. Before school
opens the school room should be
thoroughly cleaned up. This is the
janitor's work, where there is one,
but if there is not some one should
be hired for the work. Windows
should be washed, the floors secured,
the blackboards washed and the
chalk throughs brushed we'll and
then washed. If the desks are very
old or much soiled they should be
washed. but if new and of highly
polished finish they should be we'll
busted and wiped off with a cloth
moistened with furniture polish or
even with kerosene. Such treatment
will help old desks wonderfully after
their washing
FINISHING TOUCHES.
After school opens there is gen
orally little time for the teacher to
spend i'm fixing up the room, at least
till the confusion of opening is over,
SO if the teacher can do some of this
before the session begins so much
a hnf lc nff hn
teacher has much to do with the
actual furnishing of the school room.
the purchasing of desks, their ar
rangement, or the arrangement of
blackboards. teachers desk or any
other permanent feature of the
school room. She must take things
as she finds them, but there is much
in the way of finishing touches that
may be added. and the wise teacher
will do so.
Curtains should be put up unless
the windows are above the level of
the children's heads when standing.
OF course. there should be window
shades. but the teacher is not often
expected to provide them. In
choosing curtains for a school room
be guided by sanitary sense Gin many
cases only common sense) and get
washable material, preferably white
Sash curtains are to be preferred to
full length ones
THE TEACHERS DESK
The teachers desk or table is an
object Of constant observation by
pupils and visitors. 1t should be
neatly kept at all times. Do not try
to keep everything in the school
house on the table. A large sheet OF
blotting paper will protect the desk
from inkspots, which even teacher
herself will make sometimes. If
table takes the place Of a desk an at |
trGctive addition is a cover or runner
of denim, crash, brown linen or bur
lap. The blotting paper may be plac-
ed on top of the cover. A waste
basket by the desk will be an aid to 7
neatness. If there is an open cabinet
or bookshelf a curtain for the front
made of material to match the table
cover is not only ornamental, but a /
protection to the contents of the
shelf.
PICTURES.
The pictures in d school room
should be educational as we'll as dec
Orative. This rule eliminates cheap,
highly-colOred unframed Autographs.
In this day and time when good pic
lures may be had for small cost there
is no excuse for having bad ones.
If you have but one picture let it be
one worth having. If it is worth
having it is worth preserving in
frame. Magazine covers and illus
trations, advertisement pictures and
the like have their place in the
school room, but that place is not
tackled up ON the wall as permanent
decoration
The Dlackboards may be made
ornamental as well as useful. Bor-
ders around the top will cover
space that can scarcely be reached
by pupils or teacher for work. Bor-
ders are pleasing features of school
room and have the advantage of be-
ing easily applied and easily remov-
ed before the class is weary of them
Blackboard decorations for special