What They Learn and HowThey Learn It at River Avenue

fleedi of Individual Pupils Studied and Met as Far as PossibleDespite Large ClassesProjecle and Side Line Work i.v Which Children Learn Practical Purpoi-e,

of Instruction Mult* Work More Attractive*—Teachers ConferOften—Thoy Also are Students

¦t'HR annual River Avenue school re-1 port includes the activities of the

past two years, as summarized by theprincipal , Mrs, Madeline Hawkins Tor-roll , art follows:

Vp to the time of the build ing 's(•uriii nK- Filver Avenue school enjoyeda moht pleasant and profitahle year.This v/tt f probably due to severalcausei*. Willi one exception, the teach-ing staff lias been unchanged fortlini'i y nin, allowing greater possi-bilit ies tliai i ever before to study addsolve local problems. Then , too, un-¦isuul interest has been shown , by (heteachers , ia the Columbia extensioncourses. Aside from regular Tuesdayevening classes

^ at the high school ,

thirty-minute discussion groups wereheld every Tuesday . afternoon in thebuilding for the. purpose of applyingthe knowledge acquired to our partic-ular- program. Suggested methodswere put to practical tests in variousclasses, nnd , while it cannot be saidthey were invariable fruitful , the qual-ity of instruction has been greatl y im-proved, establishing higher slandc-rds.

Every teacher in. the River Avenuebuild ing at present has extension workto lier credit, Enrollment last yearwas one hundred per cent. This yearfive out of six attended regularly.

Another indication of professionalgrowth and a record of which teachersare justl y proud is the perfect mem-bership in the N. Y, S. Teachers'Association.

Changes in Education

MOT so long ago the common'idea*' prevailed that all children betaught the same subjects in the samemanner. The interests or capabilitiesof learning were not paramount. Massinstruction was outstanding. Whilewe vtu*e still farther from the idealBan " we would choose"- to* be, there issatisfaction in the progress which isevident at each step in the apparentgrowth of both teachers and pupils.Attitudes toward education have un-dergone a remarkable rejuvenation byconsidering every feasible means inwhich the school may meet the indi-vidual ' needs.

Project Method

The project-method introduced twoyears ago in River Avenue has beena "big contribution to modern methodsof teaching. At least one projecthas been worked out successfully ineach grade. ' , Second grade pupils con-structed furniture for a doll house,planned to teach children the housingiroblem of civics. At another 'timeanimals for a ,circus were preparedand arranged in a tent. In March , aHolland booklet -wjas made in connec-tion with the study of the customsof the Dutch people.

Third grade pupils enthusiast!-.""-Hywatched the departments of a genera!store grow through, their own efforts.A small closet with several shelves wa.;the building and each floor was a sec-tion of the store. *, Boys made sucharticles as coat hangers and furniture,while the millinery and clothing at-tracted the girls who offered many-donations.PICTURES * • illustrating industries

carried on in the states of theUnited States, were brought into thefourth grad e geography class for use•n a geography project on the UnitedStates. ¦

A rubber project , described lastyear under separate heading, was car-ried out in detail by sixth grade pu-pils, during the study of South Amer-icf- A sand table rubber plantationWith native houses, a river and smallboats, done entirely by pupils, at-tracted a-great deal of attention at thetime.. One of the insistent demands on ele-mentary training in English is for*e» written letters. ' Hfere again, mo-tivation has been supplied throughme project. At Christmas time invita-tions were sent to paronts by pupils,"est letters were awarded seals by thepf'ncipal and superintendent. Bus-">ess letters were composed by fifthgraders when ordering cataloguesfrom mail order houses to be studiedm making up budgets in civics work.

An0tiler form of project has cre-at«l enthusiasm this spring through-jW the entire school. After the fireIast April, River Avenue started agenera] fund with th"<! prize moneyreceived from banking. To enlarge">is> a day in April known as' RiverAvenue Day was designated for earn-">6 money. The total was turned iii•° the principal and an oral EnglishPeriod was devotej to telling how it

£»s carried. : This idea led to the

^'•ng of

compositions. The secondFf-ae put short sentences together to™»« their first written stories. Thirdf

ade produced same fine specimens,**M Htli and- sixth.

'T'lU'O sixth grade art class spent tho. month of December in -studying

interior decoration. Harmony of col-or and appropriateness of furniture ,combinations of material and finishingdetails wero first discussed. A periodwas used for planning and pupils wereallowed to group themselves to workout rooms, according to their ownideas, The result was un interestingdisplay of bedrooms, dining nnd livingrooms. Not only wns furniture design-ed nnd colored by children but alsorugs and curtains of paper, "chande-liers and fireplaces added to thehomelike miniatures. These lessonswere supervised , but tlie accomplish-ments were entirely the children 's.Planning and working in groupsproved very beneficial in developinginitiative , independence aiui original-ity. Each group, consisting of notmore than three, was responsible forcare and use of all material. Conductwas decided upon before the experi-ment was tried.

The desirability of a project lies notaltogether in the lesson itself but inthe many leads which carries the childinto a new variety of experiences. Af-ter finishing the rooms, the smallerdecorative furnishings were discussed ,such as laces, embroideries and rugs.The girls thet*. planned towels, scarfs,and centerpieces, suitable to theirhome. After transferring them tocloth , the embroidery was don*.-. 7hoboys made blotter covers for theirdesks. On some were draw n scenesfrom history, such as "The Constitu-tion " and "Pioneer- Days." Otherschose nature specimens or convention-al patterns.""THE springtime offers opportunity,. for becoming acquainted withtrees, flowers and birds. Naturestud j? and art' have proved an effec-tive combination. One of the moststriking is neatly covered with bark ,another is built in the shape of acuckoo clock, birch bark was used as aroof covering for a third que, whilemany are modeled from cigar boxesand simply painted. Preparations arebeing made to place some of these inthe grove at the rear of tlie school-house for the use of birds.

A collection of handwork done bysixth' grade girls occupies a promi-nent place in the room at present.

Spring landscapes in water colorwere completed for tree booklet cov-ers. ,

Dramatization

Dramatization is another vitalmethod of teaching and one that isencouraged by modern educatorsthroughout the country. It appeals tothe play instinct in the child andbrings- out the best by placing him ina natural setting. Reading, Englishand history are especially adapted todramatization.

In second grade, the pupils haveJons splendidly by this means in read-ing. All conversation and action in-volved has been furnished by them.Motivation was furnished through apresentation of the play "The ThreeBears" at the Christinas entertain-ment.

The fifth grade has dramatized sev-eral history stories and the fourthgraders have presented original playsas part of the reading course. In thcthird grade this method has been util-ized in English and reading.IN silent reading, tiie sixth graders¦* read . and acted out parts to testcomprehension.

The sixth grade oral English classhas obtained fine results throughdramatizing, rather than reproducingin the formal story-telling way. Pu-pils in this grade carry along a littlefarther and criticize in a liberal waythe expression and English of the par-ticipants. Dickens' "Christmas Car-ol," "Boy Hero of Holland" and "Mak-ing the First American Flag" aresome of' the best productions of theyear- -..„

Grade one presented "Two BillyGoats' Gruff." These' pupils havebrought the stage settings to arrangeas scenery. A waste basket is usedto hold a small pine tree, finely cutgreen tissue is the grass and it hasbeen decided that the front benchesform a most imaginative bridge overwhich Billy Gruff delights to tread.The story has been told by" the teach-er only once, but the little actors livetheir parts in a most real, interestingand helpful manner.

Rending

Reading has received special consid-eration in all grades for the past twoyears. Beginning in the first, childrenhave been divided into groups. Firstgrade has three—best, -medium andpoor. As progress is shown .pup ilsare advanced to upper groups. Ed-ucational work is provided for the

groups which are not reciting. Pro-vision hus also been made for thoseuf exception al abi l i ty through theRU| )pl«nrii ' i i lury books -which huv beenpliio'd in tin- room. Kuril grouji ha.sa sili'iil mid an oral l.-s.-iun daily. Thesame is true in id) gmd"*.VV/ 1IH.K iiuw-li of (lie iii.'clmnics of

iviuling must he taught in thefirst three grudi'S, sili 'iil reading Isstressed from tin- start. Ora l read-ing (ioi-rciixod from the fourth gradeup and silent rend I rig becomes n dom-inant feature .

Tlie silent Heading lessons in grad«ione take tlie form of printed tllroc-lions on the board or cards as "Hop,Skip, Jump and Run. " Children readsilently and do what "The chalkwrites," Yes and no questions areoften prin ted on the hoard to winchora l answers are given.

Inc ident a l reading is another phaseused in thi.-: niade. , Curds with illus-tration or pictures w ith titles are dis-tributed about tin: room.

Suitable tents for all grades havebeen made by the superintendent ,principals und groups of teachers. Forthe sake of comparison results havebeen tubulated. However the mainpurpose of these tests is to show whereemphasis is needed and what progressis made.

Especially fine silent reading hasbeen done in the sixth .grade. To ob-tain independent th inking -tha t wouldhelp in other subjects, reading hasboon taught by various methods anddifferent typos of stories have beenselected. An intelligence test wasgiven an<l many ' standardized tests,recommended by experts in this line,have been used. Comparisons withcorresponding grades in other schoolshas added zest to the reading classes.At present the f i f th and sixth gradesare competing.

ArithmeticTV/IIKN a child enters firs t grade,* ' his greatest need is to learn to

read and to this end all his work con-tributes. Nevertheless, it is possibleio correlate reading with arithmeticso that the two may go hand-in-hand.By the end of the first year, countingby l's, 2's, 5's anil 10's anil readingnumbers to one hundred have been ac-complished. Recognition , withoutcounting, of groups of objects aboutthe room is another achievement. Les-sons in incidental number work havebeen -taught by association.with.-mu-sic, paper folding, drawing, Englishand banking. A novel device forteaching writing of numbers was in-troduced last year. One inch squaredpaper was provided to guide pupils inmaking numbers of correct size. Aschildren become proficient , half inchspaces were used.

Individual progress records " havebeen found to create interest and toact as an incentive in arithmetic. Thefourth grade pupils have kept weeklyscore card for drill work. Space wasleft on the card for noting failings.The teacher has collected these cardsfrom time to time to check up, so th atindividual attention might be given.A high type of work done in fourthgrade is the making of original;.prob-lems, concerning purchase of schoolsupplies, food and clothing.

The grouping in fifth grade arith-metic classes has been helpful. Thograde has been divided into A and B.The aim here has been to give extraassistance to the slower pupils./~*RADE six emphasizes speed and^-* accuracy in handling, not onlytlie fundamental operations, but alsopractical problems in denominate num-bers, decimals and percentage. Likethe fourth, the sixth grade has foundit interesting to beat one's own rec-ord, so progress has been recorded ona graph. Each pupi l keeps his ownand the story told by this graph countsin the monthly average.

HealthThe physiology, hygiene aftd physi-

cal training marks are combined inone on the report cards, but propor-tionate time is given to each in thedaily schedule. Morning inspectionsare conducted by classroom teachers.All grades have health clubs wherepersonal cleanliness is emphasized.

Weights are noted on monthly re-ports by teachers, while the healthteacher places the normal weight onthe card , thereby keeping a closecheck on each child. Often times 'de-fects in hea lth are causes of inferiorscholarship. Here the health teacherenters in , visits the homes, explainsthe reasons and , wherever possible,aids in the correction.

By way of variety in health instruc-tion , a very fine play was producedby the fifth grade at a. recent meet-ing of the Parent-Teachers' Associa-tion. Pupils made their costumes,shields and helmets. A castle for thehealth knights was built by the boysand painted by a talented member ofthe class.

Physical Training

FOR five successive years, RiverAvenue has carried off the hon-

ors at the physical training meets.The basketball team has emerged fromthe league with one hundred per centrecord and enthusiasm is high now ina winning score for baseball.

Outlines were followed for Novem-ber and December. The months bfJanuary, February and March wereused by grades for practice on eventsfor the spring demonstration and forthe last months of the year, outdoor

events will be Hupcrvised by teachers,A competi t ive . score will lake theplnce of the nmiunl meet, this year.Iliver Avenue stood i -ecniul in thiiiform of competition.

MimicMusir t was iiiti 'o iliii ' i- ' l i n i o i.li" cur-

I'ietihiin this year. Musi c occupiestwenty minutes daily in grades oneto five niul thir ty minut es in gradesix. In beginning music it has beennecessary to start all grades at prac-tically tiie sami! place , uppnr gradesmoving faster.

On his inspection of the Patchogueschools Inst fall , Iiussell Carter , statesupervisor of music , complimentedgrade five very highly, und acclaimedit yet-ond to no other fifth grade inNew York Stale,

1'upils nre arranged according losiugirig ab i l i t y dur ing music periods ,best singers ul, the buck and the poor-i.'.'-il In front. A grout deal of atten-tion has been given lo tone work andsinging syllables in ul l grades. Prac-tice in matching lone lias played animportant part in the training.

Artr \RAWING' Is outlined and super-*** vision has consisted of inspectionof specimens ulul occasional ilemon-ntratiun lessoiiH. J'Yeedoin IUIH beengiven to teachers in the urt work nndoriginal projects have frei|iiently dis-placed oiuHn. 'B. Products froju draw-ing classes ale displayed altmctivelyon the bulletin hoards of all rooms.

O'le of these lessons was very ablypresented in January. A' poem abouta snow man wns studied by fourth

graders. Oral discussion followed.A suggestion from the pupils led tathe Illustrating of the poem. Snow-men were drawn on black paper withwhite i-linlh. The correlation of d ritW\Ing Willi English fumlshud groatpleasure as well as being profitable,'

GeographyStereoptie.on pictures serve their

purpose in geography mid history aswell as in nature study. Several in-formative talks were given iu 1D2IJ-

(Continued on Page 4, This Section.)

| GIRSHOFFS I¦{rt, ¦ r«

I Great December Sale f£f The shelves in our store are bending under the weight of the merchandise. We ;«.If are overstocked, therefore the surprise of the season. Prices are slashed and it is up ¦

%if to you, our friends and customers, to take advantage of this rare opportunity to sup- mH ply your needs at great savings. All our merchandise is guaranteed to be as represent- ||% ed* Here are a few of the sensational offerings: . ¦ ¦ Styiv , ';¦*¦_. -A ¦ _—— — -— ¦ •••• ¦ ¦ ~ " "*" ' ' ' ' r ' *** its*

i Men*s Wear Shoes Boys' and Jg Gray Flannel" Men's TVflMfMfc' MI SHIRTS WORK SHOES MM*** fW Value $1.98 Value $3.50 2!k ft VIZ-l 1**6*1 HI On Sale, $1.35 On Sale, $2.45 Apparel j§ Gray Flannel ~ ~ B°y*' ' M

& S&RTS nraim surrs I_$ Value $2.75 V I _7 50

At Radical Reductions %1 On Sale, $1.95 n ' ' c"i ie <se

' ' Chiidrens' §w- On Sale, $5.65 /»A A TC #§ Men's '— ' j GOATS : 11 - UNION SUITS Dress Fur Collars. As Low as %IU..,.;,: value $2.00 .... .. OXFORDS - - * f , _ $5,00--*'V-_ - v . ¦r-M

I Oa Sale, $1.50 Value ! $5.00

~ Boys' Ii ~~~

Men's On Sale, $4,25 OVER0)ATS f*

gjf OVERCOATS Boys' High Cut Value $10.00 #

I n ' Voii $4«J'iM SH0ES On Sale, $6.95 §& On Sale, $34.50 Value $5.00 — ;ttI ' aJ ^ ce ' On Sale, $3.45 B

™^DC Ii OVERCOATS — SWEATERS f| Value $25.00 . „J£^L- *m On Sale, $1.39 ll| On Sale, $17.50 DRESS SHOES — -_ _-T— §H . _ .. J

Value $3.00, $3.50 and $4.25 We Have^a Wonderful Variety of JI

Ss Men's / _ o 1 «. <PO AC tf"! -aC Boys'and Gnrls S§I SUITS On Sale a||2.45, $2.95 LUMBER JACKETS f» 20% Olf Regular Price *a<l j SAit At Reduced Price. fS Men's Wool Mixed Boys' aiid Misse." Beys' Sheeplined %I SHIRTS HOSE COATS §I On"sSr». S pairs-for $1.00 Oa Sale, $5.95 jS rr—; — Ladies' Silk We are Prepared With a Big Assort- M

I LUMBER'JACKETS HOSE DRESS fflRTS II IW MJ ' V,lue $6.50 °ty7 ,;fP WiSiS L -II On Sale at $4.95 On bale, II .69 a pair They .re AU Reduced for Thb Sale fW Men's Men's .Infants'Cashmere SI SOCKS WORK PANTS HOSE §jS Value 25c Pair. On Sale $1 50 Regular Prrce 50c j§H_F U-P A 9 CF # _f-K f *t _\

A '5*Zr *

J| 5 pair for 95c Regular Price $2^25 On Sale, 19c g_

jy? * ; " '¦ rr" ~ " ¦ v 'SkiI We Have a Big Variety of Misses* and Growing Girls' Coats, Boys' |f and Young Men's Suits and Coats, Men's and Boys' Hats and |§ Caps, Flasinel Gowns, Men's Pajamas and a Big Variety of g|L Sweaters. All Priced Reduced. 1I DO YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING HERE AND SAVE MONEY I\% r , 1,%

I Sale begins Saturday at 8:30 a. m. and 1| will last for 10 days §

I 70 West Main Street Patchogue, N. Y. I%. Do Not Make Any Mistake---Remember the Name and Number of Our Store ||f fe fe^^