Table 1.-Double-session kindergartens-Hours, attendance, teachers............. dren.... Page. 4 6 7 10 11 16 17 21 21 22 22 23 24 24 25 25 26 28 32 www 3 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, SIR: There are now in the United States nine thousand kindergartens, in which more than four hundred thousand children, mostly between the ages of 4 and 6, are taught according to the methods of the Froebel kindergarten, more or less modified to correspond to accepted principles of education and to American life and American forms of school organization. Most of the kindergartens are included in the public-school systems of cities and towns, and most of the kindergarten children later attend the public schools. One of the most persistent questions of the kindergarten is how to bring about a better adjustment between the kindergarten and the first grade of the school. This question has interest alike for kindergartners and teachers of primary grades in the schools, as well as for school officers responsible for the making of courses of study. To assist in answering this question, the accompanying manuscript has been prepared by Miss Luella A. Palmer, assistant director of kindergartens in the public schools of New York City. I recommend that it be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of Education for distribution among teachers, supervisors, and directors of kindergartens and primary schools and students of education. Respectfully submitted. P. P. CLAXTON, Commissioner. The honorable the SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. (4) ADJUSTMENT BETWEEN KINDERGARTEN AND FIRST GRADE. After years of trial and through alternate opposition and encouragement, the kindergarten has arrived at a point where it is considered an integral part of a complete educational system. It is felt to be a necessary gradual step in a child's development as he goes from the home into the institution which acquaints him with the larger social group. The home and the kindergarten are sometimes felt to be more closely united than the kindergarten and the next grade of the school where the child begins the use of formal signs for language and number work. It is at about 6 years of age that most children appear to waken suddenly to the idea that a written sign has a meaning, a value in conveying thought. The rest of the mental life of the child at this time seems to be a gradual reorganization of widening experiences through the kindergarten and first-grade years. There should be no break between these two grades. Each should lead the child a step further along the path of education. As one step determines the starting point and generai direction of the next and the second step advances from the point where the first left off, so the kindergarten should, by taking the general direction of education, advance the child to a point where the first grade can take him still further. If the aim of the school, including the kindergarten, is in accordance with the best educational ideals, the kindergarten will definitely prepare for the first grade, because it will help the child to develop to the fullest at his present stage, and the next grade will continue to aid this developing individual. If the two grades are perfectly adjusted to the progress of the developing child, there need be no adoption of the usual first-grade language and number signs in the kindergarten, nor need there be an adoption in the first grade of the particular handwork materials which children desire for expression at the kindergarten age. That there is not this perfect adjustment between the kindergarten and the first grade is evident in many cases. It may be due to a misunderstanding of educational aims and methods or to the lack of ability to put ideals into practice. These two variants in the two grades would give a number of combinations which would account for the vastly different opinions that are expressed about the kindergarten. The burden of the criticism has fallen more heavily upon the kindergarten, partly because it is one of the later additions to the educational plan. It is only in the process of formulating its own ideals and practice; furthermore, it stands as a single grade in the school. The first grade, on the other hand, represents the ideas of the whole school, and its aims and practices have been quite definitely outlined for many years. The question of the relation of the two grades must be one of adjustment-adjustment not to the particular ideas of kindergartners and primary teachers, but adjustment to the best growth of the developing child. It was with the purpose of bringing the kindergarten and first grade into closer relationship that the Commissioner of Education sent to superintendents of various cities two letters, one to be answered by primary teachers, the other by kindergartners. The following is the letter for primary teachers: DEAR MADAM: I desire especially to know what advantage children in the primary grades of the public schools who have had kindergarten training have over those who have not; also, what adjustments, if any, need to be made between the kindergarten and the lowest primary grades. Your experience and observation should enable you to speak with some degree of authority on this subject. May I, therefore, ask you to write me fully in regard to both points? Your letter will be greatly appreciated, and may be the means of much good to the children in the country. Yours, sincerely, P. P. CLAXTON, Commissioner. The answers to these general questions could not be made the basis for a scientific statistical study, but any consensus of opinion would show wherein the ideals of the kindergarten and the first grade were in accord and what values the primary teacher appreciates in the kindergarten training. These answers would also show wherein the practice of the two classes might be changed to further the mutual ideals. The following figures merely point the direction for thorough investigation and further experiment in the matter of adjustment between these grades. It must not be forgotten that certain factors would influence the replies given, such as the ideals and practice of particular kindergartners and the ideals and practice of particular grade teachers or principals. There are good, medium, and poor kindergartners, teachers, and principals. The probability would be that in the cases where all were intelligent and progressive, conserving the best growth of the child, there would be little call for adjustment; where, in a very few cases, all were inefficient, the teachers of both classes would desire a radical adjustment on the part of others; and where, as in the majority of cases, the good and poor were mingled, there would be an acknowledged ground for adjustment on both sides. We can judge from the following opinions whether this probability is proved a truth. |