The Means And Ways of Occupation In The Kindergarten

Portrait of Friedrich Froebel.

       Before entering into a description of the various means of occupation in the Kindergarten, it will be proper to state that Friedrich Froebel, the inventor of this system of education, calls all occupations in the Kindergarten "plays" and the materials for occupation "gifts." In these systematically-arranged plays, Froebel starts from the fundamental idea that all education should begin with a development of the desire for activity in mite in the child: and he has been, and is universally acknowledged, eminently successful in this part of his important work. Each step in the course of training is a logical sequence of the preceding one; and the various means of occupation are developed, one from another, in a perfectly natural order, beginning with the simplest and concluding with the most difficult features in all the varieties of occupation. Together they satisfy all the demands of the child's nature in respect both to mental and physical culture, and lay the surest foundation for all subsequent education in school and in life.

       The time of occupation in the Kindergarten is three or four hours on each week day, usually from 1) to 12 or 1 o'clock; and the time allotted to each separate occupation, including the changes from one to another, is from twenty to thirty minutes. Movement plays, so called, in which the children imitate the flying of birds, swimming of fish, the motions of sowing, mowing, threshing, etc., in connection with light gymnastics and vocal exercises, alternate with the plays performed in a sitting posture. All occupations that can be engaged in out of doors, are carried on in the garden whenever the season and weather permit.

       For the reason that the various occupations, as previously stated, are so intimately connected, glowing, as it were, out of each other, they are introduced very gradually, so as to afford each child ample time to become sufficiently prepared for the next step, without interfering, however, with the rapid progress of such as are of a more advanced age, or endowed with stronger or better developed faculties.

       The following is a list of the gifts or material and means of occupation in the Kindergarten, each of which will be specified and described separately hereafter.

       There are altogether twenty gifts, according to Froebel's general definition of the term, although the first six only are usually designated by this name. We choose to follow the classification and nomenclature of the great inventor of the system.

LIST OF FROEBEL'S 20 GIFTS:

1. Six rubber balls, covered with a net work of twine or worsted of various colors.
2. Sphere, cube and cylinder, made of wood.
3. Large cube, consisting of eight small cubes.
4. Large cube, consisting of eight oblong parts.
5. Large cube, consisting of whole, half, and quarter cubes.
6. Large cube consisting of doubly divided oblongs.
7. Square and triangular tablets for laying of figures.
8. Sticks for laying of figures.
9. Whole and half rings for laying of figures.
10. Material for drawing.
11. Material for perforating.
12. Material for embroidering.
13. Material for cutting of paper and combining pieces.
14. Material for braiding.
15. Slats for interlacing.
16. The slat with many links.
17. Material for intertwining.
18. Material for paper folding.
19. Material for peas-work.
20. Material for modeling.

Dolch Word Lists

       The Dolch word list is a list of frequently used English words compiled by Edward William Dolch, a major proponent of the "whole-word" method of beginning reading instruction. The list was prepared in 1936 and was originally published in his book Problems in Reading in 1948.

       Dolch compiled the list based on children's books of his era, which is why nouns such as "kitty" and "Santa Claus" appear on the list instead of more high-frequency words. The list contains 220 "service words" that have to be easily recognized in order to achieve reading fluency in the English language. The compilation excludes nouns, which comprise a separate 95-word list. Between 50% and 75% of all words used in schoolbooks, library books, newspapers, and magazines are a part of the Dolch basic sight word vocabulary.

       These lists of words are still assigned for memorization in American elementary schools. Although most of the 220 Dolch words are phonetic, children are sometimes told that they can't be "sounded out" using common sound-to-letter implicit phonics patterns and have to be learned by sight; hence the alternative term, "sight word". The list is divided according to the grades in which it was intended that children would memorize these words.

Pre-primer: (40 words) a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you

Primer: (52 words) all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes

1st Grade: (41 words) after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, giving, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when

2nd Grade: (46 words) always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don't, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your

3rd Grade: (41 words) about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, never, nine, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together, try, warm

Dolch Listing of Nouns: (95 words) apple, baby, back, ball, bear, bed, bell, bird, birthday, boat, box, boy, bread, brother, cake, car, cat, chair, chicken, children, Christmas, coat, corn, cow, day, dog, doll, door, duck, egg, eye, farm, farmer, father, feet, fire, fish, floor, flower, game, garden, girl, good-bye, grass, ground, hand, head, hill, home, horse, house, kitty, leg, letter, man, men, milk, money, morning, mother, name, nest, night, paper, party, picture, pig, rabbit, rain, ring, robin, Santa Claus, school, seed, sheep, shoe, sister, snow, song, squirrel, stick, street, sun, table, thing, time, top, toy, tree, watch, water, way, wind, window, wood

The Country Round, The Country Faith

THE COUNTRY ROUND

THE COUNTRY FAITH

Here in the country's heart,

Where the grass is green,

Life is the same sweet life

As it e'er hath been.

Trust in God still lives,

And the bell at morn 

Floats with a thought of God

O'er the rising corn.

God comes down in the rain,

And the crop grows tall-

This is the country faith,

And the best of all!

The Cow

THE COW

The friendly cow all red and white,

I love with all my heart:

She gives me cream with all her might,

To eat with apple-tart.

She wanders lowing here and there.

And yet she cannot stray,

All in the pleasant open air,

The pleasant light of day;

And blown by all the winds that pass

And wet with all the showers,

She walk among the meadow grass

And eats the meadow flowers.

Jingle by G. G. Wiederseim

Jingle.

by G. G. Wiederseim.

Papa's a-riding away to town

To buy my mama a beautiful

gown

With laces and ruffles and rib-

bons of red,

And a dear little bonnet to put 

on her head.

Singing

SINGING

Of speckled eggs the birdie sings

And nests among the trees;

The sailor sings of ropes and things

In ships upon the seas.

The children in far Japan,

The children sing in Spain;

The organ with the organ man

Is singing in the rain.

The Cradle That Walked On Two Feet

THE CRADLE THAT 

WALKED ON TWO FEET

The Japanese sister jumps rope all the

day,

And skips 'round the yard in her Japa-

nese play.

While tied on her back is her brother,

dear me!

His head is as wobbly as wobbly can be!

Little Miss Crewe...

Little Miss Crewe

Has lost her shoe,

And can't tell where to find it.

Move out the chest,

And cease the quest,

For doggy 

and she

are 

behind it.

Down the path...

"Down the path and up the lane,

And through the neighbor's gate,

Oh people going out to dine

Should never start too late..."

The pudding-bag string...

Sing, sing! what shall we sing?

The cat's run away with the pudding-bag string...

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!

My Dame has lost her shoe,

Master broke his fiddling-stick

And don't know what to do."

Days of the week...

Days of the week...

Sunday, sixpence in the plate;

Monday, makes the scholars late;

Tuesday, work is well begun;

Wednesday, leaves the lazy one;

Thursday, full as full can be;

Friday, friends come in for tea;

Saturday, the kitchen clean;-

Sunday comes for rest between!