The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

January, 1943 old books, travel folders, and catalogs. We have a large wooden box in which the children keep this material. They go to the box and get material for use whenever they need it. There is nothing they enjoy more than looking through this material, selecting, and cutting pictures for use in their picture books. Most of the children are making these books. Some can group the pictures on the page. Some can write a word or words under the picture; as, Fruit to Eat, Things I Like, Toys, Flowers, Houses, Airplanes. Others paste the pictures on the page, paying little attention to the grouping. My pictures are classified and put in folders where they are readily accessible. Some are mounted and dis- played before the class. The children are permitted to suggest the words or sentences suitable to place under the pictures; as, Sit up for your dinner. Spot, and The children are swinging. Those pictures with words or sentences printed under them are placed on the bulletin board, or in some other conspicuous place in the room where the children can have access to them when they are needed. In the fall many of the little girls brought their dolls to school. After placing them around the room for several days, they decided to build a doll house. The doll house is a big room about five feet by eight and approximately six feet high. It is made of plyboard. The children decided to paint the house white and trim it in bright blue. The roof is painted bright blue to match the trimming, and it is blocked off in squares with crayolas to represent shingles. The children made the furniture for the house. It consists of a doll bed, two doll chairs, two tables, and a kitchen cabinet in which to keep their dishes. For their use they made two chairs out of apple crates and a settee from the same material to accommodate two children. Pictures for the house were either brought by the children or they were drawn by them. To frame the pictures, they pasted each one on a large sheet of draw- ing paper. Strips of construction paper were cut and pasted around the pictures. Each frame was painted a color chosen by the child who painted it. Two frames were yellow, two were brown, one was blue, and one was pink. A rug was made of brightly flowered cloth which was braided by the children and sewed in a circle. A set of cups and saucers was made of clay. The cups varied in shape, size, and color, according to the likes, dislikes and differences in ability of the children who modeled and painted them. The children enjoy dramatizing stories which they have learned. They also make their own stories and dramatize them. They plan and make their costumes. Often they bring long dresses, hats and shoes from home to use as costumes for the play. The costumes made this year consist of a suit for Little Red Riding Hood, a wolf's head, a hat for Jack in the story Jack and the Beanstalk, and three fairy costumes made of white crepe paper. The children have cabinets in which they keep their costumes when they are not in use. They draw scenery for use in plays and paint it accord- ing to their own plans. First, the children and I draw the outlines on the blackboard. Later, some of the children outline it on a piece of newsprint. With a piece of chalk the scene is transferred to a piece of beaver- board about five by seven feet. The group who made Page 11 the original design places it on the beaverboard. How- ever, if there is someone in the room who can draw a particular thing well, such as a rabbit or other animal, he is asked to help. The actual painting is done by about one-fourth of the children. The scenes are kept behind the doll house. When a certain type of scenery is needed, the children get it and place it against the wall to serve as a background for the stage. There are a number of stereoscopes in the school li- brary. These are often borrowed for the class to use. An effort is made to keep one or two stereoscopes on the reading table at all times. We have many pictures of birds and animals. One day a group of children was seated at a table looking at a bird picture. Salita Sue said, "This picture looks just like a bird that comes to our bird bath." Johnnie, who was standing behind her chair, said, "Let me see." She handed him the stereoscope and he looked at the picture about a minute. He handed it back to her, saying, "You haven't seen him there lately. It's too cold for him here now." And with a little laugh, he said, "That's just a red bird." Salita Sue said, "Oh, but it isn't. I know it isn't." Johnnie answered, "But I know it is." She said, "I know it is not a red bird because the name of this bird starts with a C and the name of a red bird starts with an R. Johnnie picked up the stereoscope again and looked at the picture. He then laid it back on the table. Not knowing the alphabet very well, he said, "I can't help what the name is, it's a red bird." I overheard the conversation and walked back to the table and sat down, asking to see the picture. I ex- plained to them that the real name of the bird is Cardi- nal, but that he is often called a Red Bird. I told them that the name under the picture was Cardinal. Johnnie laughed and said, "I sure didn't know that." The use of visual aids in the first grade does not re- quire the expenditure of large sums of money for materials. However, it does require careful planning on the part of the teacher and public. Without careful planning and preparation the times spent on visual aid might be a total loss. The visual material should grow out of the everyday life and experiences of the children and should be kept within the reach of their under- standing. Probably the greatest value received from these aids comes from the integration of this material in all the school activities. The visual material is the background for much of the language, reading, writing, spelling, and number work. No attempt is made to separate visual aids from other work in classroom activities. These aids are used naturally, freely, and without artificiality. A List of U. S. War Information Films —Office of War In- formation, Bureau of Motion Pictures, Washington, D. C. November, 1942. This listing replaces all previous ones. It can be dis- tinguished by its brown stiff cover. Government film pro- duction proceeds so rapidly that new listings are needed very often. This Hsting contains titles that are still avail- able only in theaters. However, we should have all the information for future program planning. Local distribu- tors have been included for each government division.