lum as a whole. In the later surveys there is an even greater demand for those activities which will aid children in establishing good health habits, good language habits, and good citizenship habits, as well as good thinking habits. The surveys which discuss these topics also emphasize the fact that successful attainment of these goals depends not only upon the kind of curriculum used but also upon the ability of the teacher, the kind and amount of equipment available, and the guidance given teachers by the supervisor.

While the amount of preparation that kindergarten teachers in charge of classes have received is equal to or greater than that received by the other teachers in the primary schools, it is often criticized as being narrow. A number of surveys definitely state that kindergarten teachers should receive their training in an institution which recognizes kindergarten-primary teaching as a single problem. To do her best work, a teacher must continue her professional studies after leaving the normal or training school. So certain school systems are criticized for not providing opportunities for advanced study or other means for professional growth.

Adequate supervision is considered necessary for professional growth and for continued successful teaching. This supervision should be given by one who has had broad educational advantages and a thorough kindergarten-primary training. It is recommended that wherever possible one supervisor be put in charge of both kindergarten and primary grades, so as to help develop a unified type of education for children between 4 and 8 years of age.

Kindergarten objectives, curriculum, and equipment have been greatly modified within recent years to give children a better preparation for participating in the activities of a good primary school. In turn, the kindergarten has greatly modified the spirit and organization of the primary grades.

While kindergarten principles are widely accepted in theory, not all school authorities have been interested enough in prèfirst-grade education to establish a sufficient number of kindergartens to accommodate all the children of proper age for this type of education. The surveys often recommend that principals, supervisors, and teachers should make greater effort to have all children begin their school life in the kindergarten.

Chapter I

HOUSING, EQUIPMENT, AND SUPPLIES

At all times kindergarten teachers have believed that the surroundings in which a child works and plays are of vital importance in determining his attitude toward the thing he is doing. In their

desire to have the rooms cheerful they often produced an overstimulating environment. Recently, considerable attention has been given to the effect of environment upon emotional reactions, and kindergarten teachers have changed their opinion as to what constitutes a suitable work and play place for young children. In the new plans for kindergarten rooms the main considerations are ample space, simplicity of arrangement, restful atmosphere, proper hygienic conditions, and adequate storage provisions for the great variety of materials and toys considered necessary for the education of young children.

Surveyors have consciously held these requirements in mind in setting their standards for judging kindergarten rooms, furniture, equipment, toys, and construction materials. They have directed attention not only toward the undesirable features of rooms and equipment for small children, but have given standards for planning and equipping kindergarten rooms in new buildings.

PRESENT TYPES OF KINDERGARTEN ROOMS

Usually "kidergarten rooms are very well kept, and pictures and growing plants give them a delightfully homelike atmosphere." (Brookline.) Often they are the most attractive rooms in the school building, being "beautifully and tastefully decorated and furnished, well lighted and ventilated." (St. Louis.)

Kindergarten rooms are of three types." Those of the first type are "large, well lighted, with ample closet room for supplies," and have "modern juvenile toilet equipment." Rooms of the second type are large, fairly well lighted, and supplied with closet space and proper toilet equipment to a limited degree. The third type "is found in the older buildings where the kindergartens have been placed for the most part in rooms which were least desirable for other purposes." (Philadelphia.) It is possible that the reason for putting the youngest children in the last type of room is that in many places the kindergarten has "been considered a luxury" (Philadelphia), and so must in no way hamper the comfort or convenience of the other grades.

LOCATION OF KINDERGARTEN ROOMS

Wherever school buildings have been planned to include kindergartens the architects have considered not only the size and arrangement but also the relationship of the room to other rooms in the building, to exits, sunlight, and playgrounds. (Springfield.) "Rooms built especially for kindergartens in the future should have eastern or southern exposure." (Baltimore.) They should also be of easy access to entrances and playground, and their arrangement whenever possible should include " one large room with one or more smaller rooms." (Springfield.)

Where the kindergartens are housed in the older buildings and—

until an adequate building program can be put through it is recommended that wherever possible classes be removed from cramped, dark rooms. (Baltimore.)

SIZE OF ROOMS

The rooms should be large, because

*

in no other class is adequate size of rooms so necessary as in the kindergarten. The age of the kindergarten child and the activities in which he should be engaged demand sufficient floor space. Limited area per child forces a formality in classroom procedure that defeats the very purpose of kindergarten teaching. (Stamford.)

HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS

As health is of chief importance, the rooms should be large, well ventilated, sunny, and simply furnished, with very few decorations and no hangings. The walls and ceilings should be hard, so that they may be periodically disinfected and the woodwork painted. * * * It is imperative that the floors be perfectly joined and thoroughly cleaned, as young children are very susceptible to germ diseases. (Philadelphia.)

Another reason for having the right kind of kindergarten rooms is that teachers also need the best possible environment in which to work.

Depression and discouragement on the part of teachers are caused by extremely unattractive, discolored, and neglected walls and woodwork. (Baltimore.)

New rooms should have special hygienic provisions. These should include toilets "with juvenile equipment." (Baltimore.) Failure to have satisfactory accommodations of this kind makes it "difficult to start the right sanitary habits" so essential to the children's health. (Philadelphia.)

There should also be a sufficient number of

low closets for storing materials and individual lockers for children's incomplete work. (Baltimore.)

The accessibility to supplies for the children is an important matter. Children should be able to select and put away materials. With this arrangement the teacher can more readily train the children in habits of self-reliance, orderliness, and purposeful selection of material. (Philadelphia.)

From the standpoint of the teacher, also, it is unfortunate that often cupboards "are so arranged as to be practically inaccessible to the children." (Philadelphia.) This arrangement "makes the teacher's work more difficult." (Baltimore.)

Even with the urgent demand for all necessary facilities for proper housing

the tendency in planning rooms for children of kindergarten age is toward extreme simplicity. (Philadelphia.)

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This very simplicity may be enhanced by the development of openair or semi-open-air rooms in such places as have a moderate enough climate. Any school carrying out such a plan would set

high standards for promoting health opportunities for kindergarten children in our American public schools. (Baltimore.)

makes

Whether the kindergarten rooms are new or old they need to be kept even more immaculate than the rooms for the older children because of the greater susceptibility of the younger children to germ diseases and because their physical height brings them nearer to the floor. In the older rooms the "age of the building necessary extreme care in cleaning." (Philadelphia.) The standard set is that the floors shall be mopped or scrubbed once a week or more frequently, and swept daily, so that the children will not be endangered while working on the floor." (Philadelphia.)

FURNITURE

The changed attitude toward children's activities in kindergarten has greatly modified the type of furniture and equipment needed. Small, smooth-topped tables for individual work have replaced the large tables with their unhygienic network of lines. (Radnor.)

All the surveys which mention the size of tables recommend small tables at which children can work alone. Two sizes of tops are recommended-20 by 36 inches (Winchester) and 42 by 18 inches (Baltimore). Either size should be furnished in three heights-18, 19, and 20 inches.

In some of the reports the criticism of the furniture is not directed toward the people who are responsible for supplying it, but toward those who use it. Even when teachers have three sizes of tables and of chairs at their disposal, sometimes

very little effort is made to adapt the height of the chairs to the height of the table. (Philadelphia.)

In certain schools the tables are

massed in solid or hollow squares placed often without regard to possible eye strain. (Watertown.)

PLAY APPARATUS

Modern equipment for kindergartens includes slides, swings, seesaws, climbing bars, and rope. Such material must be carefully planned for the needs of the children of this age. Where playgrounds can not be secured, semi-open-air rooms, built on the roof of the school buildings, are made practicable for outdoor work or play. (Philadelphia.)

In many places play apparatus is so inadequate as to make it almost impossible for kindergarten children to receive the benefit of this kind of education. Many teachers, however, make especial efforts to have their children play out of doors. A suggestion for obtaining apparatus for kindergarten children is given in the

Springfield report, which says that "playground equipment is entirely lacking," but "provision for apparatus is being made through funds appropriated by mothers' clubs." (Springfield.)

The attitude of the children in Winchester, Mass., during their outdoor play is criticized because with many it--

tended to become aimless or boisterous. This was natural because organized ring games are usually artificial out of doors, and children need apparatus for vigorous play.

Many modern kindergartens have some playground apparatus in the kindergarten room.

The advantage of having

apparatus in the kindergarten room is that children may find relief from the finer type of work by exercising the larger muscles through vigorous activity. It is more valuable to carry on such exercise out of doors, but the advantage of having some play apparatus indoors is that it is always accessible to the children. In the right type of school building there should be a well-equipped playroom for the use of the kindergarten and also for the first and second grades. (Winchester.)

PLAY MATERIALS

Several reports suggest that a child's

choice of activities depends on the ideas he has to express, the materials in the environment for his use, and the opportunity the teacher gives for such expression. (Springfield.)

"There have been radical changes in the last 15 years in the nature of materials deemed desirable" (Baltimore) for kindergartens. These changes have been due in part to the changes made in the curriculum. They are also due in part to changes in the methods for teaching young children.

The kindergartners of an earlier day regarded the whole series of gifts and occupations as essential, because each was supposed to have an intrinsic value peculiar to itself and to afford the children a type of experience on no account to be missed. On the other hand, and according to present-day theory, the various materials are now valued primarily as a means by which the children may give expression to their ideas and carry out their play purposes. This means that any of the traditional material may be discarded and that the teacher may go to any source to find other materials which serve more adequately the purposes of the kindergarten. (Richmond.)

The development of any social project demands the addition of toys and odds and ends of many kinds of materials to the regular equipment of blocks and construction materials. (Radnor.)

Dolls, doll furniture, toy utensils, and toy animals

provide for the type of work where the children (1) work in small groups, (2) initiate their own projects, (3) reproduce the life of society through their plays of family or community life. (Winchester.)

It should be the duty of the teacher to see that the supply of this kind of material is continually replenished. There should always be a sufficient