ones issued by Paul Elder & Co., of San Francisco. They are in the form of folders with the poem or verse printed on the outer sheet. The paper is of Japan vellum or Japan plate, while the illuminated decorations around the poems are charming in design and exquisite in coloring. They are ten and fifteen cents, according to the size, the smaller size being 5 x 7 inches. They can be used easily for a passepartout, with a binding of the same general tone as the paper. Those who saw the "Calendar of Nature Songs" and "Ye Children's Calendar of Gentle Rhyme " for 1906, published by the same firm, need no other guarantee of the beauty of the work. Invitations to Arbor Day Date, time, and place should be substituted on invitations to suit the occasion. You are cordially invited to attend the Arbor Day Exercises to be held at Ray School, fon Triday, April 6, 1906 2 o'clock P.M. Spring has Come The melting snow says "drop, drop, drop," The little flower says "Spring has come."-Sel. Easter Device endar given in PRIMARY EDUCATION, April, 1905-an oblong On the first day of April I drew on the blackboard the calin which the calendar was placed, surrounded by ten rabbits. All during the month we talked and studied about the rabbit, until we learned to know it, and to believe it a wonderful little animal. While carrying on this study at school I was busy at home. I first went to my landlady, and asked her to save me some eggshells. But I wanted whole shells, so she agreed to break only a little hole in one end of the shell, and to shake the white and yolk out through this. She then rinsed the shells and gave them to me. I took them and on each one I drew, with water colors, a face. On some I used cotton for hair, beard, and mustache. These faces are not hard to make. Next I bought one or two pounds of little candy eggs at ten cents a pound, and filled the empty shells with these; then pasted a tiny piece of muslin over the hole in the shell, and my eggs were ready for the children. On Friday before Easter I went to school early, taking with me my eggs. A pretty basket filled with leaves furnished a nest for the eggs, which nest I hid behind some books on my table. During the last half hour of the day we reviewed all the facts we had learned about the rabbit, and I told them the legend which says that Easter eggs are rabbit eggs. I then asked them if they did not think our rabbits on the board had laid us some eggs, and suggested a search. Of course they readily agreed to this, and when they were found, a more surprised and delighted roomful of children I never saw. I gave to each child an egg, and they went home thinking they had for their very own a "really, truly rabbit egg." Some of these have long ago been broken and the contents eaten, while others are still treasured as too precious to be destroyed. TEACHER 9.15 Writing. 9.30 Phonics 9.40 Rhythmic exercises (with piano). 9.45 A and B silent reading (review lesson). 9.50 B reading. A seat work connected with 2.10 A reading. A seat work connected with literature or nature study. B seat work connected with literature or nature study. An Aid to Writing in First Primary Are there not always a few first graders with whom you experience great difficulty in teaching the muscular movement in writing, or in fact in guiding the little hands to anything like the correct formation of letters? Try making little blackboards from the boards used in dry goods stores for winding laces and trimmings. Half a dozen will be given you for the asking, as they are thrown away by dozens. These are very smooth, and just the right size to be used on the little desks. A coat or two of black paint, and they are finished. Give one of these, with a crayon, to the little would-be writer, and see if he doesn't begin to experiment boldly, where with pencil and paper he was lame and halting. This has been tried and not found wanting with several little folks in first grade, who seemed to show amazing powers of resistance toward all the usual methods. Program J. H. P. After several years' experience with programs for special days, I have found this way of preparing them so satisfactory that I should like to tell of it. After making out my program, I copy it neatly on a sheet of paper; then copy every recitation given out on a separate sheet, adding at the end the magazine and date, or the book, from which I have taken it. If I have a clipping on good paper, I simply paste it on a sheet by itself. We receive our music mimeographed on separate sheets. I select from these what I shall use. Then, taking my program as the first sheet, I put the sheets containing the songs and recitations in order as they come on the program, and fasten them together at the top with paper fasteners. It is such a comfort to have them all together and in order when the entertainment begins, with no trouble of holding three or four magazines. This may seem like a great deal of work, but "the longest way round is the shortest road home" sometimes, and a year hence you will be glad to have such a complete program, for the sheets can be slipped out, if wished, and used again and again. From a Mother METHODICAL I will not undertake to pass an opinion as to the pedagogical value of the "Little Half-chicken," but I think I trace an influence upon my children. Twice yesterday I heard "the least daughter" ask the older ones to do something for her, and was answered that "I am too busy," and the other older child said, "That's what the little half-chicken said, and he was dreadfully punished for not helping the wind." To my mind it appeals to a low motive. H. D. The Story of the Little Half-chicken There can be no doubt in the mind of anyone who has been associated intimately with little children, but that the "Story of the Little Half-chicken" holds the element of interest, at least. But it is well to consider in what way this interest is created. To what emotions are we appealing in the child's nature? At the very first the story appeals to the child's almost morbid interest in the abnormal. We are cultivating a feeling which may lead the child, if the feeling continue to be fostered, to look curiously upon all deformed things. There is associated with the story an element of humor. Could anything be further removed from the feeling which we wish children to associate with misfortune? Then, this little chicken was very bad-tempered. He was not at all helpful. So, children associate deformity of temper with deformity of body. The feeling of revenge enters largely into the story. Nor is it made a hateful thing. "Do unto others as they do to you," is made the righteous motto of all the elements of the air and earth. The appeal to interest, then, in this story, is of an unhealthy nature, because it appeals to the curiosity concerning deformity; because it associates humor with misfortune; because it associates deformity of temper with deformity of body. That Little Half-chicken E. C. E. You asked for opinions on the "Story of the Little Halfchicken." I do not like it. I fail to see wherein the ordinary child would be benefited by it. Let us look at it carefully. Would not the first emotion aroused in the child mind be pity for the little unfortunate? Is it wise to arouse pity when there is no active outlet for its expression? Isn't that where we get our sentimentalists? Take the attitude of the chicken starting out. Do we want any more of that sort of independence in our children? There is, to me, just one good point in the story; that is, the justness of the retribution. He would not help, therefore he was not helped. Children are quick to recognize fairness. Can it not be equally well taught in some other way, and do we not want them to see something higher? "Do unto me as I do to you" may be fair, may even be necessary sometimes, but those of us who reach a better standard will find life sweeter and more satisfying. The Half-chicken Again M. P. C. I think it should not be given to little ones. My chief reason for this statement is that it is a purposeless story. The ethics it presents are of low moral tone The chicken was disobedient to its mother. Later it was selfish and impudent to the fire and brook and wind. The worst part of all the story to me is, that which tells of putting the chicken in water to cook, and the conversation of the water and fire. The story goes on to deal with the retaliation by the water for the unkindness shown by the chicken. The children ought to be taught to return good for evil. They ought to have it held up before them that such a course brings far more happiness to them and to the world than to give evil for evil. The water, the fire, and the wind all retaliated, giving unkindness for unkindness. The only good point I can see in the story is that one might teach the children that unkindness is apt to reap unkindness, and the same with selfishness; so it is better to be kind and unselfish. The same points can be made in a more effective way in other stories. Alice in Wonderland C. N. L. With this number the discussion of the Half-chicken closes. One teacher writes: "Will the teachers tell me what they think of 'Alice in Wonderland' for third grade reading?" A good question. Ready now for opinions of this famous book for school or home readingforchildren.-THE EDITOR A Mysterious Perfume It was Lois who first noticed it. She began to sniff as soon as she came in from school. "What is it smells so good?" she asked. "What are you cooking?" "Nothing but potatoes," her mother answered. "I guess it's the wood in the oven. The kindlings seemed damp this morning, so I put some in to dry." "I never knew any wood to smell like that; it's delicious!" "Oh, what are we going to have for dinner?" cried Eliott, bursting into the kitchen with a clatter and a bang. "I should think it was sassafras soup by the smell!" "Sassafras soup! What a boy!" "Well, it would be good! What is it, anyhow?" "It isn't sassafras, for there isn't a tree on the farm," answered Lois. "I wish there were." "Who's eating wintergreen candy?" asked little Sophie. "Give me some do!" and the outer door opened and shut, letting in a whiff of fresh air. "I declare, I believe I smell something now! It must be the wood." Mrs. Alford sniffed at the oven door. "I don't know whether it's here or not," she concluded; "but I must broil the steak - I know that!" "Dinner smells good," said the father, coming in breezily. "What is it this time Banbury turnovers or orange shortcake?" The others laughed. "We've all been fooled," answered Lois. "It's just beefsteak and potatoes and apple pie. Somebody has been perfuming the wood, I think. It ought to be the first of April." After dinner Eliott inspected the oven. "I have it!" he exclaimed, triumphantly, inhaling the odor up and down the length of a small stick. "It's this birch!" The rest crowded around and the wood passed from hand to hand. "It smells just like wintergreen candy, anyway," insisted Sophie, "if you did laugh at me!" "I remember there was a small black birch in the corner of that swamp we've been cleaning up," said Mr. Alford, and this must be a piece of it." "And Sophie isn't so far out of the way, after all," put in Eliott; "for Mr. Thrall told me once that essence of wintergreen was often made from black birch." "Well, I'm not going to have a bit of that burned up!" declared Lois. "We'll keep it to perfume the house. We can put it in that little oven on top of the parlor stove, and make everybody wonder what it is smells so good. It will be fun! Come on out to the wood-shed, Eliott and Sophie, and let's pick out all we can find!" -Emma C. Dowden, in Morning Star A "Hello" Dog "I left my dog accidentally at a friend's house yesterday," said a young girl, as reported in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 66 My friend tried to get him to run after me, but he would not leave. He plainly held that I would soon return; that, since I had gone without him, I would come back inevitably for him, and he stuck to the room where I had parted from him, feeling that it was his duty to do so. Finally my friend called me up on the telephone. "Your dog won't go,' she said. He thinks you will be back, and we can't drive him out.' "Hold him up to the 'phone,' said I. "She held him up. "Peter,' I said, 'come home, I am waiting at home for you. Come straight home, Peter, good little dog.' "Peter wagged his tail, wriggled down and out of my friend's arms and set off homeward like a flash of lightning." -Our Fourfooted Friends |