T

Making the Lunch Hour Count

Jennie L. Hendricks

Principal of Training School, State Normal School, Worcester, Mass.

HE lunch hour in the rural school is not always
made of value to the child; more often it is a
time when bad habits of hygiene and community
life are developed.

In one rural school in New England which I visited, the children were not allowed inside the schoolroom during the noon hour. They were made to eat their cold lunches in the untidy anterooms. With dirty hands the lunches were "gulped down," some finishing their meal in less than five minutes. No doubt this teacher was emphasizing conscientiously during the year the necessity for proper mastication and cleanliness in her hygiene lessons - but alas! the golden opportunity for actually putting this theory into practice was sadly overlooked.

In other schools, where the children are allowed to eat at their own desks, I have seen the food taken out of the lunch boxes and placed on the desks-desks which, in many cases, have been used for many years where all kinds of dirt and filth have been allowed to collect.

Aside from neglecting to make use of the opportunity for training in habits of proper hygiene, a splendid opportunity for training children in habits of helpfulness and thoughtfulness for others is not made use of.

In many rural schools to-day hot cocoa, soups, etc., prepared by the children, are being served at noon. In such schools more is being done along this line, but even there the most is not being made of that valuable situation. In such schools with which I am acquainted, care is not taken to have those who prepare the food work with clean hands. Very little is being done to train the children in the art of living with others.

Following is an account of how the lunch hour is being utilized in training for citizenship in a school where the greater part of the children are obliged to carry their lunches. In this particular school the children's parents provide them with thermos bottles, so there is no necessity for making hot drinks at the school.

During the first fifteen minutes the children have a recess, when they are encouraged to romp and play, getting plenty of exercise and fresh air. While the greater part of the school is thus engaged, four children prepare the room for lunch. Chairs are placed around one large table and two smaller tables. The desks and chairs are the movable kind. These are arranged in the form of a threesided square, the fourth side being left open. At each place is spread a fresh paper towel- a clean place for the hands or for any food which the child wishes.

As soon as these preparations are completed, the other children are called in from recess. By this time they are usually very hungry, and for the first few weeks of the school year are reluctant to go and wash their hands before eating. But no one escapes and it soon becomes such a habit that it is seldom that a child forgets. It is understood by all the children that they are to remain in the lunch-room for half an hour, when all leave together. When children are allowed to go out as soon as they have eaten, they usually eat as rapidly as possible, in order that they may continue their play. When they are never excused until the half hour is up, the tendency is to eat more slowly.

No child is allowed to leave his place during the half hour without the permission of the teacher. This is precisely what is expected of children at a dinner table in the right kind of a home. Should any child be allowed to form the impolite habit of leaving the table any time he chooses?

Each child has been given a copy of "Food Rules for

School Children," by A. W. Sandwall, published by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. These cards have printed on them such rules as:

1 Begin the day by drinking a glass of water and drink at least six glasses during the day.

4 Eat slowly and chew all food well.

8 Eat bread and butter every meal; dark breads are best.

11 Do not drink tea or coffee: it does the body no good but does it harm.

12 Do not eat or touch any food without first washing the hands.

15 Do not drink from a glass or cup which has been used by another person without washing it.

These rules were read and discussed for about five minutes for several days. The children enjoyed this. They could be heard discussing with their neighbors which of these rules they already followed and which they were going to try to follow in the future. Finally they were allowed to take these cards home, where it is hoped they will be read and used by the parents.

One day early in the year the teacher told the children of an acquaintance who lived to be ninety years old. When asked if he knew why he had always been so well and lived to be so old, he said, "I always put my teeth through my food thirty-two times." At once the children. began to try it. From all parts of the room one could hear, "I put mine through thirty-five times that time." "I put mine through thirty-eight times."

Several times during the year the children (sometimes at some suggestion of the teacher's) have taken up this "exercise" again.

Since a happy, cheerful atmosphere during eating aids greatly in the proper digestion, this half hour is made a most happy one. The children are encouraged to bring in anecdotes, conundrums, and puzzles to be put on the board. Each of these must be told to the teacher before the children hear it, in order that no possible coarseness or vulgarity may creep in.

The types of things they bring in are:

"A little Indian and a big Indian were walking down the street. The little Indian was the son of the big Indian, but the big Indian was not the father of the little Indian. What relation was the big Indian to the little Indian?" Answer - Mother

Read this sentence:

"If the

(If the more coal

be empty, put more :"

grate be empty, put on.)

"Arrange the numbers 1-9 in three rows with three in a row, so that when any three of the numbers in a row are added, the sum will be fifteen."

81

6

357

492

"Add five lines to six lines and make nine.'

| | |

ININE

This is all done in a most informal way and serves two purposes. The children are eating in a pleasant atmosphere, and as they are thinking about these things, they eat more slowly than they would otherwise.

The majority of the children finish their lunches in twenty-five minutes. The last five minutes of the half hour are usually utilized in working out with the children the organization of the lunch-room. At this time the teacher appoints the helpers, usually for a week at a time. The seating of the pupils is also arranged at this time. For the first two weeks of the school year the children are permitted each day to sit in any place they wish. Naturally they choose to sit near their most intimate friends. In order that the children may receive the training of getting better acquainted with other children in the school, the teacher assigns the places for the next two weeks. She takes great care in making these assignments. Often a shy girl is assigned to the seat next to a boy or girl who is lively and talkative; a rough, uncouth boy put in a group of refined boys and girls that he may learn from them; and so on. Sometimes all the girls sit together and all the boys.

Occasionally the teacher draws a diagram of the seating on the board. The children, one at a time, are allowed to step to the board and write their names in the places where they wish to sit.

Again for two weeks they are allowed, as they come into

the room, to take any vacant seat. In this way the children are able to become well acquainted with all their schoolmates. It gives the teacher a splendid opportunity to teach democracy, for the rich and the poor, the shy and the bold, the good scholars and the poor ones are continually being made near neighbors. They find out unconsciously that from all kinds of people there is something to learn.

On days when there is no work of this kind to be done, the five minutes are spent in listening to Victrola records, in community singing, or in playing together in the "Lunch Box Band." This last they enjoy immensely. Some drum with their hands on their lunch boxes or their desks. Some of the boys play on their pocket combs, while others whistle.

When the half hour is up, the children get drinks and go out for a recess during the remainder of the hour. The after-lunch helpers now clean up the room; throw away the used paper towels, brush the crumbs from the desks and sweep the floor. There are always two sets of helpers, one before lunch, the other after, in order that no children need be deprived of both the noon recesses.

The teacher who guides such a lunch hour finds that during no other time of the day has she so good a chance to discover the individuality of her pupils. No other time during the day does she find a better time to teach the necessity of each individual contributing his best to society. A helper is careless in preparing the room, so all are inconvenienced. This is discussed by the group and the offender has actually seen the results of his careless work. Examples of this kind are constantly arising. Each time the subject is talked over by the group. If laws or punishments are decided upon, these, too, are made and carried out by the pupils.

Some Ways of Teaching Spelling

Mary Schwarberg

The Caswell Training School, Kingston, N. C.

It is a trite saying that the more interesting a study, the better the results that are gained. Illumine, illumine is the beginning, all along the way, and the goal of a teacher's best work.

There are a variety of ways of presenting spelling. Let us take the subject of a bird and its life these beginning spring days. Present the picture of a blue bird in color. Tell of its instinct in migrating and staying in North Carolina and Georgia for the winter and of its being the first harbinger of spring in the North land. Give all the facts of its makeup, spell these words, then let each child draw the bird and color it and then write all the words possible about the bird. Such words as eggs, nest, feathers, sheath, wings, fly, etc.

The same way could the pussy willow be used as a lesson and a fence or tree drawn and the pussy willow buds cut in two and half pasted on a sheet of paper and the tail and head of the pussy attached as below.

The words connected with the different trades or professions could be taught in the same manner. Pictures of the carpenter, blacksmith, with the actual tools shown, would be effective.

A house with the articles used in
the kitchen, the furniture in the
dining-room, bed-room, living-room

would vary the lessons.
The subject of another lesson could be the things we
eat and buy at the grocery store, the fruit store, etc.
Then another day the articles we wear and where they
come from, and how they are prepared for us, would make
for variety in our lessons.

An excursion could be taken to these different places

with the end in view of seeing all the different articles of interest to us. Taking the subject of the trees of the forest, the trees in the orchards, the domestic animals and the wild ones all suggest a multiplicity of subjects where interesting matter could be obtained for lessons.

Then occasionally give the class five minutes to write promiscuously any words they please and it is instructive to notice the results secured. Some will use works helterskelter, while others will use a logical sequence growing out of subjects.

Once a month divide the class into two sides and take the subject of vegetables as a lesson. Let one side spell and suggest the name of a vegetable and then the other. A memory test could follow by one starting and saying, "In my vegetable garden grow beans," then the next repeats that and adds another: so on all along the line, and there is fun in it and concentration and thought. Taking the names of all the animals that begin with the different letters of the alphabet can be followed in the same manner; for the memory test, saying, "In my zoological garden are found apes, etc.

The interest in the late great war is voluminous with words for the most delightful lessons. The new war words could all be learned by following the soldier from enlistment, to the camp, from thence, to Europe. All the activities and work and play along the line, pictures telling of all this would make a never-ending source of joy to all pupils. Then the aviation and the engineering, the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., the Red Cross and all the rest could keep the interest red hot for an indefinite time.

The subjects are endless and one can see by these suggestions that the whole realm of knowledge can be used to increase one's vocabulary in a manner that is not dry nor uninteresting.

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ORANGES

AND LEMONS

SAY THE BELLS

OF SAINT CLEMENTS

Poster No. 1

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Seasonal Problems for Grade IV I

Bertha M. Toelle

OUD OTH

Lettering for 1 B and A― Squares, 2", 3", 4". Fold into 16 small squares. Cut, freehand, from pattern drawn on the board. Apply to illustrated alphabet or words.

PIBIN SAK

Lettering for 2B and A-3B and A-If folded papers are used, cut off one row of squares, using the remaining oblong, three spaces in width and four spaces in length. Allow the children to rule the squares, using measurements learned in the supervised manual training lessons. Apply to illustrated alphabet, word or booklets.