Sunset Hill High School - Sundial Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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HA - HM , , ,, , , . N ,. f , - ' 6 ' K J , -- - K-,..----..... gmag gg ' - sm-I L15 5-Y? ' ' ' 'L ' ' Q '- ' - - - - - . .,, ,vqq gg n d Y, rg , 4 ' -qv-11:-rl-.1 h 1-1-q'L .,' l - MJ af-QZ'.R3R?:?E'Il1l'5g -silt.-.ru--.rf'9.-TE-2 -' -in nses :heir ina nem- lirec- 1011's ?P0f' type. hour Lcher, s and s and Jrces. thmic zerses 1 and given :y ob- stand- of the taken ' com- stories eacher hymes Iilliarm to the e what f-door- ground In addition to the other usual kindergarten interests it seems desirable to give children some training in the French language which serves as valuable ear-training. This is given chiefly in the rhymes and phrases of old French games and songs. In addition, a few expressions of greeting and farewell and names of objects are learned. No especial effort is made to have the children gain a definite, quantitive fund of information of a formal kind as the entire emphasis is upon the fundamental purposes, pi. e., developing the child's interests and bodily co-ordination and his training for group life. However, a sense of numbers is gained through the constant counting of materials needed and in games, and the sequence of numbers learned. In some cases when the children are interested in making signs or placards in their play, the words or numbers are printed for them and thus learned. Some children wish to read the rhymes and titles of stories or pictures and are aided and en- couraged to do so. Wlieeneiver a group or individuals show this interest they are given the opportunity to learn to read, write or make numbers. It is not necessary or expected that all the chil- dren acquire this interest. ...za-W ' . ' :Luge-5-:-

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The use of all these varieties of material quicl-tens the senses and gives scope for full play of the children's imagination and their desire to construct, permitting them to project their ideas in a concrete manner. The kindergarten Doll is a very present and considered mem- ber of the group. Those children whose interests lie in the direc- tion of doll-play have opportunity for the care of the doll, doll's house and its furnishings. The kindergarten session is so planned that there is oppor- tunity for group and individual projects of the self-initiated type. It is with those that the morning usually begins, the first hour being given over to them. Parallel to these interests are those initiated by the teacher, story-telling, presenting informational material from pictures and the personal experiences of the children of human interests and occupations, special day and festival commemorations. . Rhythm supplies one of the greatest co-ordinating forces. Through a variety of carefully selected and tested music rhythmic discriminations are increased. Singing of simple folk-melodies and children's singing-verses gives another means oi development in the sense of rhythm and also gives the necessary ear-training. Careful attention is given to the children and note intervals emphasized. The songs selected are those of the best musical quality ob- tainable and of a thought content Within the childrerfs understand- ing and experience, such as Mother-Goose rhymes, songs of the school, home, nature and songs for special days. In the selection of literature and poetry great care is taken that it shall be simple, true and line, not over-exciting or com- monplace. A few beautiful and worthy folk' tales, fairy stories and hero-legends are told and read over and over by the teacher and re-told or dramatized by the children. Mother-Goose rhymes and poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, William Blake, Susan Coolige, Franlr Dempster Sherman are read to the children and many of the poems memorized by them. Each day has its excursion and Walk out-of-doors to see what the world is doing, and to discover nature's secrets. Out-of-doon games and supervised play on the apparatus of the playground follow the daily luncheon and rest period. ...22...

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.1 - -.4--..:r'-,',.,,-g. 't . -- t' 4141 'el Summaries of the Subjects of Study in the Lower School In selecting material for a course of study from the infinite amount and range of knowledge which modern civilization has gathered together and made available, schools must select those subjects and activities for study which experience has taught the race its youth should know and which provide that abundance of interest and experience that make for breadth of view and the development of keen perceptions. The test applied everywhere by the school to each subject and activity, of our particular course of study, has been whether it had possibilities for stimulating the children to the best educative action, whether it was of intrinsic value-capable of arousing vivid images, possessing po-wer for infinite growth-and would tend di- rectly to good habits, and good taste and was in all ways adapted to comprehension on the child's plane. The actual school subjects diner very little from those of the old type of -school, being concerned chiefly with the story of man and nature which forconvenience has been classified under the divisions of History, Geography, Science, etc. The fundamental difference, however, lies in the governing ideal of modern school procedure. The subjects are studied not for a quantitive acquisi- tion of knowledge or the memorizing of a group of more or less meaningless facts to be repeated to the teacher, but the knowledge is sought through a motive which has significance to the child, as a necessity in carrying forward some self-actuated project. This makes the child a seeker after knowledge which he appreciates as having value and importance to himself, and thus the teacher, be- cause of superior experience becomes his guide in opening the way to the treasure houses of the world. Our belief that without enlist- ing the child's whole interest, good thinking or purposeful effort is not put forth, requires that subjects and activities be such as make a vital appeal to the child's interests and comprehension. In the summaries which follow an attempt is made to present the objectives sought in the study of the various 'subjects of the curriculum and the progression from grade to grade. It is obvi- ously impossible to give this in detail. A more complete idea of the work in each subject may be gained from the grade outlines ......24...