NELLIE E. COOK

This story, in the children's own words, of the way in wkick they planned and carriedthroxgh a project, not only makes very interesting readling, bat is also an excellent exampleof the importance of encouraging youngsters in the elementary level to work together onreal problems towards individual and group improvement. Nellie E. Cook, coordinator ofprimary grades. Bethesda elenentary schools, in Maryland, has fnrnisked us with tkis

account of the class work at the Lynnbrook School which was urder her guidance last year.

"WORK EXPERIENCE" is a familiarterm to students of secondary educa-tion, but in the realm of literature deal-ing with elementary education, onelooks long and hard for accounts, oreven evidences of the development ofsuch programs. Proof that young chil-dren can participate in such programsif they are related to child needs andproblems real to them, is found theprogram of work experience at Lynn-brook School, Montgomery Countv.Maryland.

Utilizing the school grounds was aconcern of all the children. Initial plan-ning, therefore, was a total school enter-prise. In order to carry through thisenterprise each grade was delegatedcertain responsibilities. The secondgrade's share was developing an areafor an outside theatre.

A concept of how these seven- andeight-year-olds shared in the experiencecan be gained from excerpts of the diarywhich they kept during the period ofwork.

Monday, March i8.Today we took another walk around

our school grounds to make a surveyof things that need to be done. Leaveshave piled up by the bicycle racks.Weeds are growing by our doors. Theprimary playground has many stonesand sticks on it. When we came back

December 1946

to our room, we decided there wasplenty of work to be done.

(This story of our walk was addedto our scrapbook record. The class alsodrew pictures of what they had seen.We organized our drawings into theseheadings.

By the Bicycle RackBy the SwingsNear our DoorThe Terrace

These drawings were dated.)

Tuesday, March /9.We have listed the outside work we

were to do. Here it is.

Raking LeavesPulling WeedsPicking Up Paper and StonesRaking the Terrace.

We chose the committee on whichwe would like to work.

Wednesday, March 20.

We need tools to do our jobs. Someof the boys will bring rakes and shovels.Helen, George, John and Larry willbring wagons. Nancy thought that wewould need gloves to protect our hands.The boys will bring overalls and thegirls may bring aprons.

Thursday, March 21.

When we brought our tools in to-day, we discussed how to use them.

169

Larry showed us how to carry a rakeand Bobb showed us how to carry ashovel and a hoe. We will put themin a special place when we get throughwith them. The tools will be shared byall of us.

We check off our jobs as we do them.Each day we plan what we have to do.We mneet as a class and then meet our

chairmen of jobs. We take turns work-ing outside and working inside.

We are making charts showing whatwe have done and telling our plans.Visitors to our room can see what ourplans are.

Tuesday, March 26.

Most of us are now working on theterrace. We are planning to have anoutside theatre there. All of the classesmay share the theatre with us.

The fourth grade teacher, MissSouder, gave us a plan that she andMrs. Reid, a high school teacher (whois a landscape gardener,) had workedout for our playground that will help us.

This will take us a long time. Thisyear we are just getting the theatrestarted.

Friday, March 29.A committee made pictures of the

terrace as it is now, as we want it tobe in June, and as we want it to be inthe future.

We are planning to give the play ofDrakesbill in the theatre in June.

A group of children have read thestory of Drakesbill, a duck who hadmany adventures. It is a good one toplay. Many children are trying outfor parts before we choose the final cast.

Tuesday, April 2.

There are many big bushes in theway on the terrace. We are going toask the fourth grade to help us withthe hard work of clearing them away.

Wednesday, April 3.The fourth grade sent a committee

to say they would be very glad to helpus.

Friday, April y.The fourth grade will bring their

own tools. They will have their workperiod the same time as we do.

Wednesday, April to.Todav we had an assembly with the

fourth grade. It was decided that theywould take the stage part of the theatreand we would work on the terrace partwhere the audience would sit. Charlesand Carolyn had charge of our part ofthe assembly.

Thursday, April i.

We are working on the second muralof our playground, the spring one.(The first one was Winter on OurPlayground, in connection with ourstudy of weather.) There are threescenes showing us raking, weeding andgetting soil from the woods.

Our Work Committees.

Jobs to do

i. Rake the Terrace2. Pull Weeds3. Picking up Paper4. Picking up Sticks and StonesS. Carrying Things Away

170

Tools ComnnnitteeChairmen

rakes Bobbgloves Billbaskets Larrybaskets Mary Louisewagons H elen

Educational Leadership

Friday, fToday we made small scer

mural. These scenes were swe chose the best one forwill sketch in the picture wchalk. Four children will wotscene. We will use paint.

Monday, ANancy and Shirley mixed

for our mural. Mike thoughtput newspaper down to pifloor. Fred read to us ourabout the care of brushes. l:aread the chart that tells abouwant to do when we make

We want our picture

1. to tell a storyz. to be alive3. to be large4. to be colorful5. to use all the space

WVednesday, /On both ends of the terrac

December 1946

Piki up paper a7d sto-es

shown and Bill and John brought us some plantseach. We from home.ith yellow Here is a chart about transplanting.

First we dig a hole large enough sopril 15. as not to cut the roots of the plant.

the paint XVe lift it out carefully. Some soil is

ry Louise soil around it. We press the soil do; n

t what e firmly.

r - --- -Li

a picture. Thursday, April 2,As there is little sun on the terrace

s we have had to sow shade grass seed.We sow it in wide sweeps with ourright hands. John showed us, as he hadhelped his father. Bobb's committee hadraked the terrace many times so thatthere were no large lumps in the soil.

epril 24. We won't walk on this ground whilee w e have the seeds are growing.

171

:::·

.�

.'-- . ..;j.l� .-ui",t· "

c:i..--;·

Jobs to doTransplanting plants

Putting up string

Making signs

Loosening soil

Sowing grass seed

Terrace Committees

Toolsspadestrowelswatering cans

stringpegshammers

woodpaints

spadesrakesshovels

baghands

Monday, April 29.

Working on the playground showedus that inside jobs had to be done too.We chose these committees.

Jobs to doCleaning closetsCleaning window seatsWashing and waxing

window sillsWashing and waxing

tables

ChairmenCarolynCharles, Donna

Alice

Larry

Tuesday, April 3o.We need these tools to do our inside

jobs.clothsa pancleansing powderwax

Our mothers will share with us these

things that we need.

Thursday, May 2.

Today we had another assembly withthe fourth grade to discuss the problemsof what to do about poison ivy andticks.

172

Before the assemblyand posters on

we made charts

i. How to Get Rid of Poison Ivyz. What to Do if We Became Infected3. What to Do if We Got a Tick on

Us While Working.

Monday, May 6.

Other boys and girls in our building

have been working outside too. We

invited them to our room to share with

them what we have found out aboutpoison ivy and ticks. Nancy's father

had helped Nancy with her chart as he

is a doctor.Tuesday, May 7.

Carolyn's father is chairman of our

PTA Building and Grounds Commit-

tee. He met with a committee whichtook him to see our work. He and some

of the fathers have helped get rid of

the poison ivy. They came on Saturday.

Friday, May to.

Another assembly today will discussthe exits and entrances we will need on

the stage. This part of the theatre is

Educational Leadership

ChairmenHelen

ArthurDonnie

PaulRaymond

Bobb

JohnMike

worked on by the fourth grade, but weare all planning together. If we havemore children to plan, we will havemore ideas.

Monday, May 13.The whole class went out today to

see how far we are on our work andwhat needs to be done. We decided thatwe needed more plants at each end ofthe terrace. Some plants are not grow-ing. Bill said it was because we hadn'tplanted them deep enough. The rain hadwashed away some of the soil. John andMike rolled a log to the top of the ter-ace to hold back the soil.

Tuesday, May 14.We wrote this note to our parents:

Dear Mothers,We would like to have some

more plants for our terrace. Doyou have any that you could sharefrom your garden?

Your child,

Wednesday, May 15.Bruce told us of a place in the woods

where we could get ferns for our ter-race. We took wagons and shovels. Wefound some lovely ferns on a place thatwe named Fern HIill.

Thursday, May 16.The ferns we found yesterday made

us very interested in plants. We havemade a chart of the things we wouldlike to find out about them.

Friday, May a 7.H:re is our chart on plants.

i. How do plants grow?z. What parts do plants have?3. What uses are plants?4. How do we care for them?

December 1946

A committee is looking among ourlibrary and science books to get help toanswer these questions. The sixth gradeteacher, Miss Robertson, was in ourroom today and said her boys and girlshad books to share with us about plants.We dug up some plants and broughtthem in to study.

Monday, May 20.We are bringing our playground

record up to date. In it we have keptour record of all the things that hap-pened on our playground, games weplay, walks we have taken, work we did,our new playground equipment, ourassemblies, and many other things.

Tuesday, May 21.

We are still working on our play ofDrakesbill. We are choosing the finalcharacters. We've had lots of fun. Allof the class has some part in it., Someof us w-ill be a chorus. We have dividedinto four groups to make scenes ofDrakesbill for the hall.

One scene will be in paint, one incrayon, one in cut paper, and one incolored chalk.

Wednesday, May 22.

We have read our scrapbook of play-ground happenings. This book we havekept all year. It needs more pictures.It also needs some poems that we canmake up of our very own.

Friday, May 24.

All of the primary classes have beento our room to see our charts, pictures,and the mural about our work on theplayground. We have had a discussionof what we have done and have askedthe other classes to share in this.

Wednesday, June 12.

The weather has not been very good

173

Getting soil for hei te rrac

GettirC soil for t~Lc trmrcac

for working out of doors. The play ofDrakesbill which we planned to givein the theatre may have to be givenindoors because of the cold weather.Next year when we are in the thirdgrade we will continue our work onthe theatre. We hope many classes willuse it for outdoor activities. (The classfelt satisfied that they had accom-plished their aim, that of making a be-ginning on a study that will last overa period of time. They realized toothat extenuating circumstances such asweather may cause replanning.)

Values of This Type of ProgramThis part of the year's program deal-

ing with the care and use of the schoolgrounds was worth while, and a realwork experience for the children whoparticipated in it, It gave opportunitiesfor sharing and working together ofdifferent age groups, of organizationand committee work, and of taking and

174

sharing responsibilities. The communityalso participated in the planning.

The program provided not only forlearnings in group living and workingtogether, but also for growth in knowl-edges and skills in many areas. Lettersinviting other classes to attend assem-blies and keeping records providedexperience in the communication arts.Keeping records also helped in under-standing time and weather changes.Drawing, painting, and the making ofsigns furnished opportunities for art.Health and safety were emphasizedthrough care of tools and hands, remov-ing dangerous stones and sticks, and pre-cautions about ticks and poison ivy.

Planning and working together in avery real way furthered the develop-mental growth of the individual and ofthe group. To that end all school ex-periences are directed. And in this sense.work experience has. a place in themodern elermentary school.

Educational [lecdership

Copyright © 1946 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved.