Survey of the kindergartens of Richmond, Indiana

Front matter

SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS

Published in conjunction with

THE SCHOOL REVIEW and THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JOURNAL

Table Of Contents

PAGE

Prefatory Statement v

CHAPTER

Chapter I The Kindergartens

History of the kindergarten in Richmond. — Richmond may well be proud of the way in which it has for so many years provided for its children of kindergarten age. Prior to 1880 St, Louis was the only city in the United States having kindergartens maintained at public expense. Between 1880 and 1890 the kindergarten was adopted by twenty-five other cities. Richmond was one of these.

Of the cities in the state Richmond was the second to give public support to the kindergarten. Laporte was the first. The example of these two progressive cities has made an impression on the state, as is shown by the fact that in 19 14 there were twenty-three cities in Indiana supporting public kindergartens.^ Nine of the eighteen cities having a population of from 10,000 to 25,000 and all of the cities with a population of over 25,000, except Indianapolis, have incorporated the kindergarten as a part of the public-school system. Doubtless the failure of Indianapolis to adopt the kindergarten is due to the fact that there are in that city thirty-two free kindergartens supported by the Indianapolis Free Kindergarten and Children's Aid Society.^

Compared to the neighboring states — Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa — Indiana is superior in the number of cities having a population of 10,000 or more which give public support to the kindergarten. Compared to Michigan and Wisconsin, the showing is not so favorable. The last-named states are two of the five states in the country having the largest number of cities in which public kindergartens have been adopted. New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts are the other three. Table I gives the figures for the West Central states.

The kindergarten has become a part of the public-school system of Richmond, as it has of most other cities, through the efforts of

' Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1914. = U.S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 19 14, No. 6.

I private philanthropy. The first kindergarten was established by the Richmond Kindergarten Association in 1887.' Two years later its support was assumed by the Board of School Trustees, and since 1905 there has been a kindergarten in each of the district schools having primary grades, with the exception of the recently opened Joseph Moore School. This is a small school of four grades. There are not enough children of kindergarten age in the district to warrant the opening of a kindergarten. The few who are eligible for the kindergarten are admitted to the Baxter School in an adjoining district.

TABLE I

Six West Central States with the Total NtnasER of Cities in Each Having a

Population of 10,000 or More, Together with the Number of Such

Cities Having Public Kindergartens

Cities of 25,000 and Over

States

Total Number

Number with Kindergartens

Total Number

Number with Kindergartens

Indiana

18 23 19 9 13 10

5 14 12

4 7 3

5 7 8

Ohio

Illinois

Iowa

Michigan

Wisconsin

Enrolment. — ^The total enrolment in the Richmond kindergartens January i, 1917, was 285. This is 80 per cent of the estimated number of pupils entering school each year. The enrolment in a single school varies from 27 to 58. The Starr School being omitted, the largest number of children in any school is 37. This is as large a number of children as one teacher can handle and do good work. The problem of taking care of the much larger number of children attending the Starr School is solved by holding an afternoon session for those who are not admitted to the morning session.

Age of admission and promotion. — ^The children are received in the kindergarten between the ages of four and one-half and six years. They have from four to fourteen months of kindergarten training, depending upon the age at which they enter. The major-

' Report of the Public Schools of the City of Richmond, Indiana, 191 2.

THE KINDERGARTENS 3

ity have ten months, or one school year. The children are generally promoted into the first grade on the first promotion date after they have reached the sixth birthday. According to the Indiana state law, children under six years of age may not enter the first grade, but, since the compulsory school age is seven, children may be retained in the kindergarten beyond the age of six, if they are sufficiently immature to make a longer period of kindergarten training desirable. The law is thus favorable to the slow children, but it may do injustice to the bright ones, as will be indicated below.

Nationalities represented in the kindergartens. — Table II shows the distribution of the children in the different schools and the number and percentage of nationalities represented.

Nearly 70 per cent of the children are of American parentage. Of the other 30 per cent, 6 per cent are half-American and 4 per cent Negro. In the remaining 20 per cent eight different nationalities are represented, the largest being German, about 8 per cent, and the next largest Italian, 5 per cent. An examination of the table shows that most of the Italians are in one school — the Whitewater. It is also true that 15 of the 35 children in this school have foreignborn parents. It is evident, therefore, that the teaching of English speech is one of the major problems in the Whitewater kindergarten. Furthermore, there is in this kindergarten, according to estimates supplied by the teachers, a larger percentage of children who are in poor health, whose parents are unintelligent, and who come from homes of poverty than in any other. It is probable, therefore, that a large proportion of the children in this school would profit by an extra year or half-year of kindergarten training.

In contrast to the conditions in the Whitewater district are those which prevail in the Vaile district. Here the foreign element is very slight, the parents of the children are intelligent, and only 2 of the 34 kindergarten children are regarded as below average in intelligence. There can be no doubt that some of the children in this kindergarten are ready for first-grade work much earlier than those in the kindergarten of the Whitewater school. If a number of them are thus ready before they reach the sixth birthday, some provision should be made in the kindergarten itself to give them the

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THE KINDERGARTENS 5

advanced work needed, since promotion is impossible with the present state law.

Methods of control. — The social atmosphere in the kindergartens is very wholesome. The children are obedient, orderly, courteous, and very considerate of one another for children so young. The teachers have won the confidence and affection of the children through a sympathetic and respectful attitude toward them and through their own sincerity and earnestness.

The children are unusually independent in distributing and putting away material, in getting on their out-of-door wraps, in passing through the halls quietly, etc. In all of these ways most desirable schoolroom habits are being established. The primary teachers testify in every case to the superiority in this respect of the children coming to them from the kindergarten over those who come directly from the home.

Certain other modes of behavior which are being set up are not so good. For example, in some classes the children have learned to respond automatically to a series of four or five piano signals which direct them, in turn, to (i) stand, (2) lift their chairs, (3) march to ring, (4) place their chairs, and (5) sit. This is an example of routinized activity which makes the children too dependent upon specific directions. The method used in others of the kindergartens, in which a degree of self-control has been developed which makes it possible for the children to bring their chairs from the tables to the ring in quiet, orderly fashion in response to a single direction, is far better. This form of self-control can be developed in the kindergarten with no more effort than that necessary in training the children to the automatic response described above and will be a much more useful habit for the children to take with them to the first grade.

Other somewhat artificial devices for securing quiet and order, which make for too great dependence upon the teacher, are not infrequently used. One of these is a play in which the children imitate movements of the hands made by the teacher to the accompaniment of a descriptive rhyme. It is used just after a change of the class from the circle to the tables, or vice versa, for the manifest purpose of getting attention before beginning the real work or play at hand. The teacher begins with the movement and words of the play, and by the time it is over all the children, attracted by the song or movement, have joined her. When the last word has been sung, the teacher at once begins the exercise for the period. This method of securing attention should not be necessary. By the time children have been in school four months, as all of these children have been, it should be an easy matter to center their interest at once upon the next thing to be done. They should anticipate it with pleasure because of previous experiences.

These are examples of methods which, if persisted in, will form habits of automatic response to specific directions or suggestions. The more desirable thing is to lead children gradually to recognize the necessity of certain requirements and regulations of the school and to secure their willing conformity to such requirements. The former procedure reduces the child's responsibility to a minimum, making him slavishly dependent upon guidance at every step, while the latter, because it secures his co-operation by appeal to his intelligence, develops in him independence and self-control, so that he is able to adjust himself easily to new situations.

Summary. — i. Richmond was one among the first twenty-six cities in the United States to adopt the kindergarten. For twelve years it has provided for all of its children of kindergarten age.

2. Of twenty-three cities having a population of 10,000 or more, Indiana has thirteen cities which support public kindergartens. In this respect it is superior to the West Central states, Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa, but not equal to Michigan and Indiana.

3. The method of promotion into the first grade is not altogether satisfactory. According to state laws, children may be retained in the kindergarten beyond the age of six years, if necessary, which is a good provision for immature children, but they may not be promoted under six years of age. Injustice may thus be done to the unusually bright children unless the kindergarten itself provides advanced work for them.

4. There are eleven nationalities represented in the kindergartens. About 70 per cent of the children are of American parentage. The only other nationalities represented in appreciable numbers are the German, Italian, and American Negro. Each of

THE KINDERGARTENS 7

these is confined largely to one or at most two schools; hence modification of methods to suit their needs is a simple matter.

5. The social atmosphere in the kindergartens is very wholesome, and the relation between children and teachers is all that could be desired.

6. The children have, in general, excellent school habits. There is some danger, however, that they may be made dependent upon particular forms of guidance rather than trained to habits of intelligent self-control.

Chapter II Room Equipment

Furniture. — The tables which are now in use are of the older type, 6 feet long or more and 2^ or 3 feet wide. They are made to accommodate children seated at all four sides. Narrow tables 18 inches wide lend themselves to a much more satisfactory arrangement of the children with reference to the light and to the teacher, but more of them are needed for the same number of children. It is convenient to have some of these narrow tables of the six-foot length and others of the three-foot length. They may then be used singly by small groups of children or combined in various ways, according to the number of children in the group or the type of material with which they are working. When the entire class is to do the same work, directed by the teacher, an arrangement by which all face the teacher is usually best. When the class is divided into groups of different sizes for different kinds of work, other arrangements are more satisfactory. Furthermore, in a room equipped with small tables as well as with larger ones the problem of seating the children at tables of the right height for them is very much simpUfied. One or more of the small tables may be made lower to accommodate the smaller children by cutting off an inch or two of the legs. Chair legs may be cut to correspond.

The tables described are folding tables, which may be easily disposed of when the entire floor space is needed for games or other physical activities or when the room is needed for assembly purposes. Three tables 6 feet by 18 inches and six tables 3 feet by 18 inches would be adequate for a group of 30 children. Twelve of the tables 3 feet by 18 inches would serve the same purpose. The smaller tables are more easily handled, but they are relatively more expensive. An itemized list, with costs, will be found at the end of this chapter. It is desirable that new tables be secured. If this is impossible, the kindergartners should so arrange their work that no children need be seated directly facing the light. In a number

ROOM EQUIPMENT g

of rooms fully one-third of the children were so seated, even when the class was small enough for all to sit on one side of the tables. When the number is too large for this, work should be planned for part of the class which may be done on the floor, such as papercutting, building, clay-modeling, or at the blackboard, such as drawing. This would mean that for part of the time the children would have to work more independently than they do at present. This is very much to be desired, as will be shown in a later chapter.

Decorations. — Some of the pictures on the walls are entirely suitable from the standpoint of subject, drawing, color, etc., and were evidently selected with the interests and tastes of the children in mind. Among them are illustrations of Mother Goose, by Lucy Fitch Perkins. Other pictures are decidedly inappropriate. Some of them are photographs of paintings the subjects of which can have little meaning for small children. Pictures of this type might well be replaced with some bright but harmoniously colored pictures of subjects that would be especially interesting to the children at certain times of the year and in connection with the special interests of the program. A few at a time might be put up and then give place to others. There are always quantities of pictures of this sort to be found in current magazines, which may be secured at little or no expense, attractively mounted on heavy paper of a neutral tint, and used as suggested above. Pictures of this kind were seen in one or two of the rooms.

Musical instruments. — Each room has its own piano and the kindergartner has the use of the school victrola a large part of the time. This is especially advantageous when there is but one teacher in the room, for it leaves the teacher free to direct the skipping and other rhythmical activities or to take part in them when desirable.

Plants and animals. — Some of the rooms are unusually well supplied with growing plants, while others have none. There were no pet animals in any of the rooms, either kindergarten or first primary, when they were visited in January and February. Gardening, both indoors and out, and the care of animals that are interesting in their habits furnish the very best means of encouraging the interest of little children in plant and animal life and should be made the basis of nature-study, therefore, in the first school lo THE KINDERGARTENS OF RICHMOND, INDIANA

years. Indoor gardening is especially important in schools which have no out-of-door gardens. Such bulbous plants as the paper white narcissus, hyacinth, tulip, etc., are easily grown indoors in the winter. There are many easily grown garden flowers and some quickly maturing vegetables which may be raised in the out-of-door gardens in the spring. Goldfish, turtles, white mice, canary birds, and, in the spring, rabbits and chickens are examples of animals that are easily cared for in the schoolroom. If each kindergarten owned one such pet animal, and arrangements were made between the schools to exchange with one another from time to time, the expense would be slight in comparison with the value to the children of intimate acquaintance with a number of living creatures of this kind.

Materials for play and handwork. — The kindergartens are supplied with the traditional materials, the so-called gifts and occupations. These include two-inch balls, each covered with zephyr of one of the six spectrum colors; boxes of building blocks, the cubes of which are one inch in diameter; "tablets," which are flat bits of polished wood of various geometrical forms, cut to the scale of one inch; small sticks ranging in length from one to five inches; steel rings, one, two, and three inches in diameter; colored papers, cut in four- or six-inch squares for folding; paper mats for weaving; colored one-inch circles and squares for design, etc.

Experience has shown that of all these materials the building blocks are the most valuable. The several sets taken together contain a sufficient number and variety of forms to make of them satisfactory means of construction and expression. The blocks themselves are too small, however. The structures made of them are not substantial enough to be played with when completed, and the careful placing of the blocks, which is necessary in building, calls for a degree of hand control which should not be required of children under six years of age.

The Richmond kindergartens are being supplied gradually with sets of these building blocks in enlarged form, the cubes being two inches in diameter. Blocks on a still larger scale, with cubes six inches in diameter and other forms in proportion, and boards of different lengths, with which the children can make buildings large

3- The Grocery Store

4. The Toy Store

5. Community Buildings

ROOM EQUIPMENT ii

enough to get into and furniture big enough to use themselves, have proved most valuable in making structures like those shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Blocks and boards of this kind, if cut in the school shops, can be provided for the mere cost of the wood. Following is a list giving the sizes and numbers of such blocks which have been found to serve the needs of a class of 30 children.

Blocks

150 blocks 3X6X12 inches 100 blocks 3 X6X 6 inches

50 blocks 3X3X12 inches

25 blocks 6X6X 6 inches

25 blocks 6X6X 6 inches, divided in half diagonally

Boards

40 boards 3 X i X 18 inches 40 boards 3X1X24 inches 20 boards 3X1X30 inches 20 boards 3X1X36 inches 12 boards 72X1X10 inches

Most of the other materials indicated above are, like the blocks, too small for children to use without unduly taxing the eyes or nerves. Furthermore, some of them, especially the tablets, steel rings, and small colored circles and squares, are materials which have so few uses that they need not be included in a kindergarten equipment.

It is true that the kindergartner of an earlier day regarded the whole series of gifts and occupations as essential, because each was supposed to have an intrinsic value peculiar to itself and to afford the children a type of experience on no account to be missed. On the other hand, and according to present-day theory, the various materials are now valued primarily as means by which the children may give expression to their ideas and carry out their play purposes. This means that any of the traditional materials may be discarded and that the teacher may go to any source to find other materials which serve more adequately the purposes of the kindergarten.

Thus free to experiment, teachers have found that much better results may be obtained, measured in terms of the interest which children manifest, the thought and effort which they exercise, and the actual products which they turn out, when some of these newer materials are substituted for the orthodox materials. Among these materials are papers of a much larger size and heavier weight, to be used for constructing toys and other objects; soft wood cut in blocks and small boards of various proportions, with hammers and nails, also to be used for construction; easily handled textile materials, such as roving, jute, and even rags for weaving, instead of the paper mats formerly used ; and materials with which children may make simple and crude clothing for dolls. It has been learned also that drawing and clay-modeling are forms of occupation which deserve a larger share of attention than they have been given in the past. Methods of using the materials are fully as important considerations as the materials themselves. This phase of the problem will be discussed in a later section under the heading "Manual Activities."

As part of the permanent equipment a ''kinderhaus" is an invaluable adjunct to the kindergarten. It is similar to any fivepart screen, except that in each of four of the sections there is a window and in the fifth a little door on hinges. This screen house serves to inclose a space which may be a house, store, or shop, the blocks referred to above being used to make the needed furniture or equipment. A photograph of such a playhouse is shown in Fig. i (frontispiece). Four parts of this one are 5 feet in height and 32^ inches in width. The part containing the door is 5I feet high, but the same width as the others. This particular playhouse was bought years ago and the cost cannot be ascertained. The frame for one of these screens, however, could be made in the school shop. It could then be covered with burlap or some cheaper material, such as cambric or even very heavy wall paper. Some of the teachers in Richmond are already planning to convert ordinary screens into playhouses of this kind.

Other play materials commonly used in the kindergartens of today are large dolls which may be dressed and undressed; some doll furniture for these dolls; large rubber balls, six inches in diameter; and small toy animals, small dolls, toy utensils, and dishes to use in connection with building plays. Musical instruments, such

ROOM EQUIPMENT 13

as toy drums, bells, tambourines, etc., for training in rhythm, are other valuable materials. Each of the Richmond kindergartens has a large doll, with a bed or cradle, and one or two have smaller dolls. More of these and the other toys mentioned above are needed.

Of the consumable materials there is probably needed a more generous supply of larger paper for drawing and construction, plasticene for modeling, wood, hammers, and nails for the simplest kind of woodworking. Doubtless the money now spent for colored papers cut in small squares, weaving mats, parquetry papers, the laundering of tablecloths, etc., would pay for these other materials. As indicated above, the particular materials last mentioned have little value and might easily be dispensed with, while the expense of laundering the long tablecloths could be saved by using paper napkins as table doilies.

The present budget appropriation of $250, if carefully expended, should be enough to keep the kindergartens adequately supplied with consumable materials, such as paper, clay, wood, crayons, textile materials, etc., and after the first supply such relatively permanent equipment as needs renewing occasionally, as rubber balls and other toys which wear out.

Following is an estimate of the furniture and play materials which are needed now to equip a kindergarten of 30 children, together with the probable cost of the several items and the names of the firms from which they may be secured. The average enrohnent in the Richmond kindergartens is 35. This estimate is made on the basis of an average attendance of 30.

, U unUned, 6X1^ feet $7 .00— $21 .00I Milton Bradley

\6 unlined, 3X1I feet 5 00— 1500 |Co., Springfield,

5 rubber balls, 6 inches in diameter o . 60 — 3 . 00 J Mass.

iTo be made in Floor blocks and boards, as listed on pp. 17-18. . . . 3° • 00 1 manual-training

J mond schools

Toys, to be selected according to needs of particular 1^ ^

kindergarten j

Musical instruments, to be selected according to needs K ^^^g-^ g^^^g

of particular kindergarten 1 1 ■ 00 J

An expenditure of $136 a year for five consecutive years would secure this equipment for the eight kindergartens. The Starr School would naturally need a larger proportion and the Warner a smaller proportion of the whole than the others.

Summary. — i. The tables in the kindergarten rooms are generally large and heavy. Smaller folding tables are needed in order to seat the children more advantageously with reference to the light and to make it possible to put the tables out of the way when the floor space is needed.

2. The pictures on the walls are not uniformly well selected. Those not interesting to little children should be removed.

3. More growing plants and some form of animal life are needed as a basis in experience for nature-study.

4. The materials for play and occupation are inadequate. New materials, as listed on page 13, are needed.

Chapter III The Teachers Training And Experience Of Kindergarten And First-grade Teachers

The eight teachers in the Richmond kindergartens are graduates of the Richmond High School and of a professional school for the training of teachers. Three of them have had one year of college work plus two years of professional training; one has had two years of college and three years of professional training; and four have had three years of professional training.

Table III shows the number of years of preparation and expe-

TABLE III

Preparation and Experience of Kindergarten and Teachers of Grade I B IN the Richmond Schools

Schools

Years in High School

Years in

Professional

School

Years in College

Years of

Teaching

Experience

Years of

Teaching in

Richmond

Kdg.

IB

Kdg.

I B

Kdg.

I B

Kdg.

I B

Kdg.

I B

Baxter

Finley

Hibberd...

Sevastopol .

Starr

Vaile

Warner ....

Whitewater

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

4 4 4

3 3 3

2 2 3

I

o o

1-5

o

o o I

2-5

o o

I I o

2 O O O 2 i6

I i6

36 43 40 46 36

9 16

I

9 16

43 40 46 32

Average

2.6

0.68

0.68 i.o6

12.12

31.6

29 -37 rience of the kindergarten teachers as compared with teachers of Grade I B. The items were supplied by the teachers themselves and by the superintendent's office.

In total number of years of preparation, including high school, normal school, and college, the teachers of the kindergarten average 7 .24 as against an average of 4.62 years for the teachers of Grade IB. On the other hand, the table shows that the teachers of

IS

Grade I B have had an average of over two and one-half times as many years of teaching experience as the kindergartners have had. These differences may be explained by reference to the table. It will be seen that six of the first-grade teachers began teaching twenty-eight or more years ago. At that time preparation for prospective elementary teachers, beyond that which the high school offered, was a much less general requirement than it was even eleven years later, when the kindergartner who has been teaching longest in the Richmond schools began her work. Furthermore, the kindergarten, which was introduced into this country as a unique and highly organized system of education for little children, has of necessity required especially trained teachers from the beginning.

The reconstruction of kindergarten practice makes summer study necessary. — While all the kindergartners of Richmond have had at least three years of professional training, they finished that training, with one exception, from nine to seventeen years ago. During the last ten to fifteen years the reconstructive movement within the kindergarten has made rapid progress. This movement, due largely to the influence of criticism of the kindergarten made by experts in the broader fields of education, is naturally most evident in the kindergarten departments of the progressive normal schools and universities, in which these departments have the benefit of association with other departments for the training of teachers, including graduate departments of education. Many kindergartners, therefore, who had their training several years ago have felt the need of further study at one of these institutions in order to keep pace with the best developments in kindergarten practice. The Richmond kindergartners would doubtless be glad of the opportunity to pursue such study during a summer session. It can hardly be asked of them under the present salary schedule, however, although the latter is good as compared with that of neighboring states, as is shown in Table IV. It would pay the Board of Education to make it possible for one or more of the teachers to spend part of the summer in study, as suggested above. There are a number of school systems which make it a practice to send some of their teachers to school each summer, the board paying part or all of their expenses.