CHAPTER VII
SAND TABLES AND WHAT TO DO WITH THEM
A sand table should be considered one of the indispensable furnishings of every schoolroom. Its possibilities are many and varied. It may be used merely as a means of recreation and the children allowed to play in the sand, digging and building as fancy suggests. Or it may be used as the foundation for elaborate representations, carefully planned by the teacher, laboriously worked out by the children, and extravagantly admired by the parents on visitors' day. While both of these uses may serve worthy ends on certain occasions, the most valuable function of the sand table strikes a happy medium between the two, as means of illustrating and emphasizing various features of the daily lessons. In this capacity the laborious efforts of the show problem on the one hand and purposeless play of the other are both avoided. In this capacity the work on the sand table goes along hand in hand with the regular work in geography, history, language, or any subject in which it is possible through an illustration to teach more effectively.
The purpose of this work is not so much to produce fine representations as to help the children to clarify and strengthen their ideas through the effort to express them in concrete form. The value lies in the development which comes to the children while they work. The technique of processes of construction is of secondary importance, though careless work ought never to be permitted. The completed project has little value after it has served its purpose as an illustration and may be quickly destroyed to make way for the next project. For this reason emphasis is laid on the general effect rather than the detail of construction. The work should be done well enough to serve the purpose, but time should not be spent on unnecessary details which do not add to the value as an illustration. In most cases speed is an important element. The project should be completed while the subject it illustrates is under discussion, if it is to be of most service. The first essential is that the work shall be done wholly by the children. The teacher may by skillful questions help them to build up in imagination the project they intend to work out, so that they may work with a definite purpose. She may sometimes suggest improved methods of working out various features when the improvements will add to the value of the illustration, but she should seldom, if ever, plan a project definitely or dictate the method of procedure.
Not least among the possible benefits to be derived from work of this kind is the development of resourcefulness. The necessity for expressing an idea in concrete form with whatever materials are at hand often calls for considerable ingenuity. Ability of this sort will show itself only when the children are expressing their ideas with utmost freedom and feel the responsibility for the success of their work. The more earnestly the children try to express their ideas, the greater will be their development. The teacher should feel that she is hindering the growth of the children and defrauding them of their legitimate opportunity for development when she allows an over-anxiety for tangible and showy results to make her take the responsibility upon herself.
The details of method are best presented through a detailed description of typical illustrations actually worked out in the classroom.
A SAND-TABLE FARM—HOME LIFE IN THE COUNTRY
The study of home life as a general subject will include "our home" and the homes of other people who live under different conditions. To the town child the country will often be somewhat familiar and hold the second place in his interest. In the country school the farm may often be the best place to begin.
Various questions will arise as soon as it is decided to make a sand-table farm, the answers to which will be governed by the habits of the locality. What sort of farm shall we have? Shall we raise stock, fruit, corn, wheat, vegetables, or a little of everything? What shall we need to plant in each case, and in what proportion? How much pasture land shall we need? What buildings? What machinery?
Fig. 38.—A sand-table farm. First grade. Columbia, Missouri.
Fig. 39.—A sand-table farm. Second grade. Columbia, Missouri.
Fences.—As soon as the question of crops and the division of the table into fields is settled, the problem of fencing presents itself. What sort of fence is needed, wire, boards, pickets, rails, or hedge? How far apart shall the posts be set, how tall should they be, and how many will be needed? How many boards? How wide? How long? How many wires?
Fig. 40.—
Detail of chicken fence.
The making of the fencing will supply material for one or more number lessons. Various materials may be used.
Twigs may be cut to given lengths and set in concrete (clay) posts.
For wire fence, cut posts from small wooden sticks. Drive small tacks in each post—one for each wire. Use fine spool wire or wire raveled from fly screen. Twist wires once around each tack, or drive the tacks in firmly so that the wire is held by the head of the tack. This is not an easy fence for very little children to make.
To make board fence. Cut posts required length, and decide upon distance between posts. Make boards of thin strips of wood or of pasteboard. Nail boards to posts with tacks or small brads. This is a very easy fence to make and gives some good exercise in measuring.
Rail fences may be made from toothpicks or burnt matches.
Picket fence for the dooryard may be made on wooden foundation with cardboard pickets.
Hedge fence should be made from some fine-leafed plant. Cedar twigs serve well.
Chicken fence may be cut from paper as per illustration. Fold paper several times, lengthwise. Cut across the fold as indicated by arrows. Stretch lengthwise as shown in [Fig. 40], a and b.
Buildings.—The class should decide on the buildings needed. Each building should be assigned to a group of two or three workers. Each group should be held responsible for its contribution and should work out its problem with as little help as possible. If the children are able to plan a barn and make it, even though it is a very crude affair, more has been accomplished than if a very cunning structure had been made after plans, dictated and closely supervised by the teacher.
Wood is the best building material for general use.
Pasteboard serves well, but it is less substantial. It is also harder to cut and paste heavy cardboard than it is to saw and nail thin wood.
Clay may be used for all buildings which are commonly made of concrete.
Stock.—The different kinds of animals needed on the farm and the number of each will furnish profitable subject matter for class discussion. The animals may be modeled from clay. While the animals will of necessity be very large in proportion to the acreage of the farm, attention should be directed to the relative proportions between horses and hogs, cattle and sheep. Differences of this sort do not trouble little people, as their work is sure to show. The point should be stressed only sufficiently to help them to see a little more clearly and express their ideas a little more adequately each time they try. The accuracy of the result is important only as an index that the children are steadily developing in power to see and do, and gaining self-reliance.
The Modeling Process.—The best method seems to be simply to begin, and, for example, model as good a horse as possible; then discuss the results, note a few serious defects, and try again, endeavoring to correct them. Encourage rapid work which gives the general proportions of the animal in the rough. Beginners are apt to waste time in a purposeless smoothing of the clay, in mere tactual enjoyment. Discourage the tendency to finish the details of a horse's head, for example, before the body has been modeled. Repeat the process as often as time and the interest of the children warrant, but be satisfied if the children are doing the best they can, even though the results are crude and not so good as some other class has produced. The children should always feel that the work is their own. For this reason the teacher's help in clay modeling should be through demonstration rather than by finishing touches to the child's work. Imitation is a strong instinct in little children, and watching the teacher model a better horse than he can make will help a child to improve his own. One thing to be especially avoided is the attempt to bring every class to a uniform degree of excellence according to adult standards. Such an ideal encourages the giving of help in a way which hinders real development though it may produce immediate results.
Fig. 41.—
Detail of paper tree.
Trees.—This topic will call out a discussion of the uses of trees; which trees are shade trees, which are cultivated for their fruit, the distinguishing characteristics of the different varieties, and the ones best suited to this particular farm.
Twigs from the real tree should be used wherever possible. In other cases the trees may be cut from paper. If a good green paper is not at hand, use drawing paper and color with crayons. A realistic effect is gained by cutting the tree from folded paper. (See [Fig. 41].) Cut three pieces for each tree and paste together at the fold, then open out. Make the trunk long enough to be driven an inch or more into the sand.
The making of the trees will furnish material for both art and nature study lessons. As far as circumstances permit the real trees should be studied, giving the children first-hand experience whether it be much or little. They should test the trees they cut by comparing them with real trees of the same variety. If this is impossible, the best pictures available should be used. (See notes on paper cutting.)
Crops.—When the various parts of the farm are about ready, the fields may be sown. The sand should be made very wet before the seed is put in and sprinkled frequently (twice a day), as the top dries off very quickly. After the seeds have germinated little sprinkling need be done, as the roots will find enough moisture in the wet sand underneath, and it is desirable to retard rather than hasten growth. If carefully managed, a table can be kept green for several weeks.
For corn, check holes well into the sand and drop one grain into each hole. See that rows are straight and holes evenly spaced.
Sow wheat, oats, barley, etc., very thickly, cover lightly with dry sand, and sprinkle.
Timothy serves well for meadow and lawn, as it puts up a fine blade. Blue grass sends up a fine blade, but is very slow in germination. Clover does not make a velvety lawn, but a little in the pasture will make an interesting contrast.
Vegetables may be planted in the garden. They will not develop to any great extent, but will serve to emphasize different habits in germination; as, for example, the contrast between beans and corn.
Correlation.—The opportunity for nature study afforded by the farm problem will prove one of its most interesting and valuable features as the progress in plant growth is noted from day to day. The farm problem combines well with both language and art work in supplying vital material for both. In addition to the interesting discussions which naturally arise concerning the building and planting, a diary may be kept by each child.
Keeping a Diary.—The date of planting may be noted and the date when each variety of seed first appears above ground. With the larger seeds, as corn and beans, a seed may be dug up each day and examined, so that the children may appreciate what is going on below ground. Drawings may be made of the seeds, showing the changes in appearance from day to day. After the seed leaves appear the daily growth may be measured and noted in the diary. After a few days seeds may be dug up again that the roots may be examined. At various stages of growth different varieties of seeds may be dug up, laid upon a paper, and sketched by the children. The facts they note may be stated in simple, well-formed sentences, either oral or written or both.
Fig. 42.—An Eskimo village and The Overall Boys' Farm. First grade. Columbia, Missouri.
Art.—The sketching will serve well as the day's art lesson, though its chief value is in helping the children to see clearly. Their efforts will be crude but the teacher should constantly keep in mind that the chief aim is not to obtain fine sketches. Its purpose is to help the children to a better appreciation of the plant through the effort put forth in making the sketch. The technique of the drawing should be emphasized only so far as it will help them express better what they see, and not to the point where they attempt to copy the teacher's strokes. The teacher should be satisfied if every child is doing his best and making steady progress, even though that best may be crude and not up to the standard reached by the teacher who struggles for fine results.
Fig. 43.—An apple orchard. First grade. Columbia, Missouri.
English.—For children who are able to write the diary offers a natural means of gaining experience in the use of common forms of punctuation; as, for example, the writing of dates and the use of a comma in a series, as well as the punctuation of simple statements, in such entries as the following:
April 15, 1912.
We planted the seeds on our farm to-day.
We planted corn, wheat, oats, and beans.
In all work of this sort it is difficult to overestimate the advantage of separate sheets of paper over a notebook with sewed leaves, in the hands of the children. With the fresh sheet always comes an inspiration, no matter what failures have gone before. Poor pages can be done over when necessary, but do not haunt the workers with their discouraging suggestions, as in the use of a notebook. The leaves may be gathered together into a binding of some sort. Even covers of plain brown wrapping paper can be made artistic with a simple border line well placed or a design cut from a paper of a different tone. Written work which culminates in an attractive booklet, however simple, seems more worth while than exercises written into a commonplace notebook or on scratch paper which goes to the wastebasket soon after the mistakes have been commented on.
Number.—The farm problem also supplies abundant opportunity for gaining experience with number. In addition to the actual measurement of the materials used for fences and buildings, the scope may be widened, where conditions warrant, to include estimates and calculations of the amount of the material used.
For example, how many inches or feet of wire will be needed to make a three-wire fence of given length? How large a piece of cardboard will be needed to cut boards one fourth or one half inch wide for a four-board fence fifteen inches long?
These estimates may be translated, as far as the children are able to appreciate the connection, into quantities and values of the same material in real problems connected with real farms. It is important, however, to be careful not to carry work of this sort so far beyond the experience of the children that it becomes wholly foreign and abstract to them. We are too apt to forget that it is experience and not objects, which is the vital factor in concreteness.
Fig. 44.—Robinson Crusoe. Third grade. Columbia, Missouri.
In connection with the nature study a variety of number exercises grow out of the questions which the situation prompts. As, for example, in connection with the corn crop: How many seeds were planted? In how many rows? How many seeds in a row? How many came up? How many failed to germinate? How many more came up than failed? If each good seed should produce two ears of corn, how many would we have? What would they be worth at a given price? etc.
Fig. 45.—Pueblo Indian village. Second grade. Columbia, Missouri.
In an ungraded school, while the younger children might confine their efforts to counting as above, the older children might answer the same questions in terms of percentage and in the probable quantities on a real farm. The stock farm may be treated in the same way. How many cows? How much milk will they give? What will it be worth? How much butter would it make? What will it cost to keep the cows? What is the farmer's profit? These and many other questions will suggest themselves to both teacher and pupils, once the subject is opened up. They will be practical questions in so far as they touch the experience of the children in such a way as to appeal to them as real questions. Each individual teacher must decide how far and into what field it is worth while to lead any particular class.
The Sand Table.—The various types of sand tables range all the way from the hardwood, zinc-lined article, provided with a drainpipe, down to the homemade structure evolved from a goods box.
The quality of the table does not greatly affect the quality of the work to be done on it, but there are several points which affect the convenience of the workers. The height of the table should allow the children to work comfortably when standing beside it. A long, narrow table is seldom as satisfactory as one more nearly square, but it should never be too wide for the children to reach the center easily. Any table with tight joints in the top and four- or five-inch boards fitted tightly around the edge will serve the purpose. The inside of the box should be painted to prevent warping and leaking. An "ocean blue" is a good color, as it makes a good background for islands.
If no table is available, a goods box may be turned on its side, the top covered with oilcloth, and a frame, made from the cover of the box, fitted around the edge. The inside of the box may be used as a closet in which to store tools and materials, and a neat appearance given to the whole by a curtain of denim or other plain, heavy material.
ILLUSTRATIVE PROBLEMS
One of the most valuable uses of the sand table is in making illustrations for stories, historical events, and similar topics in which the relations between people and places is important. No definite rules can be laid down for working out such illustrations. The conditions under which they are made, the time to be devoted to the work, the importance of the subject, all affect both the nature and the quality of the work. Any material which lends itself to the purpose should be called into service.
The method of procedure is best set forth by describing several problems as actually worked out by children.
Fig. 46.—A home in Switzerland. Second grade. Columbia, Missouri.
(1) Story of Columbus—First Grade.
Materials Used.—Paper for cutting and folding, twigs for forests, acorns for tents, large piece of glass for ocean.
Details of Illustration.—The piece of glass was imbedded in sand in the middle of the table; one end of the table represented Spain, the other, America. The representation of Spain included:
"Castles in Spain" being large houses with many windows in which the king and queen lived. They were cut from paper.
Many people, cut from paper, including kings and queens and the friends of Mr. Columbus who came to tell him "good-by." The kings and queens were distinguished by royal purple robes and golden crowns and necklaces, produced by the use of colored crayon.
The three ships made from folded paper. In one of them sat Mr. Columbus.
Fishes, of paper, inhabited the hollow space underneath the glass.
The forest primeval was shown on the American side by green twigs of trees set very close together. On pulling apart the leaves and peering into the depths of this forest, one found it inhabited by bears and other wild beasts, also cut from paper.
The Indians lived in a village of acorn tents set up in a little clearing on the shore.
Flags.—The Spanish region was identified by a Spanish flag, while the stars and stripes waved above the Indian village.
Values.—The project being on the level of the children's experience, they worked freely and with intense interest. The characters in the story were all very real to them. They literally swarmed about the table whenever opportunity was given, moving the figures about as they told the story over and over again. Mr. Columbus sailed across the sea many times. Many boats were made and named for one of the three, according to the preference of the maker. They peeped into the forest and shuddered in delightful fear "lest a bear get me." They made and remade the scene as new ideas suggested themselves during several days of Columbus week.
Fig. 47.—Two little knights of Kentucky. Fourth grade. Columbia, Missouri.
Fig. 48.—How Cedric became a knight. Fourth grade. Columbia, Missouri.
Fig. 49.—A sugar camp. Built late in the spring by a third-grade class.
They enjoyed the green grass, though it suggests an overlate season.
Several discrepancies existed which are mentioned here because they troubled some overconscientious visitors. The stars and stripes did not come into existence until centuries after Columbus died and therefore never waved over the Indian village which he found. But chronology does not trouble the first grader very much, while "my country" and "my flag" are ideas which are developing together. And when he is singing, "Columbus sailed across the sea, To find a land for you and me," the red, white, and blue forms the most fitting symbol in his representation of that land. The wild animals which infested the sand-table forest are not all mentioned in the histories as found on San Salvador, but they did exist in the child's idea of the wild country which the white men found on this side of the Atlantic. The children having truthfully expressed their ideas, the teacher had a basis from which to develop, correct, and emphasize such points as were of real importance, while the unimportant features would fade out for lack of emphasis.
Fig. 50.—A western cattle ranch.
On the occasion of the supervisor's visit the members of the class vied with each other in telling the story and explaining the significance of the various illustrations. The supervisor expressed a wish to own some of the cuttings, whereupon, at a hint from the teacher, the class which had gathered about the sand table scampered joyfully (but quietly) back to their seats. Scissors and paper were quickly distributed, and in about five minutes an empty shoe box was required to hold the collection of "Mr. Columbuses," kings and queens in royal purple, gold crowns, and necklaces, ships, fishes, etc., that were showered upon the guest. Needless to say many scraps of paper had fallen to the floor. The teacher remarked that it was time for the brownies to come. Down went all the heads for a sleepy time. The teacher slipped about, tapping here and there a child, who quickly began gathering up the scraps as joyously as he had helped to make them.
The supervisor bade them good-by, with a wish that all children might begin their school life under such happy and wholesome influences.
(2) Story of Jack Horner[3]—First Grade.—As the story was read the different characters were subjects for free paper-cutting exercises. An abundance of paper (scratch paper and newspaper) was supplied, and each child allowed to cut each figure many times, very quickly.
The story was also dramatized and acted out over and over again. Figure [1] shows the result of an hour's work in assembling the various characters and telling the whole story on the sand table and in a poster. The different figures to be cut were assigned to or chosen by the different children, the teacher taking care that no characters were omitted. Having cut figures of the various characters as they were met in the story, all were eager to reproduce the part called for, and in a few minutes more than enough cuttings were made to supply both sand table and poster with ample material. Two groups of children, one for the poster and one for the sand table, were assigned the work of placing the figures. The teacher superintended both projects, giving a few suggestions as needed, but throwing the responsibility upon the children as much as possible.
This problem was worked out by the same class which made the Columbus illustration just described. The Jack Horner story was illustrated in the spring, after much work of this sort had been done. The quality of the cuttings showed an interesting improvement over the cuttings made for the Columbus story, which came during the third week of the school year.
(3) Story of Three Little Pigs.—This is a long story, and three weeks were occupied in reading it and dramatizing it. During this time there were frequent discussions about how it was to be worked out on the sand table. Contributions in great variety were brought in: straw for the straw house, twigs for the house of sticks, bags of brick dust to make a roadway different from the sand, rose hips to be tied to a small branch to represent the apple tree, and various other articles.
Fig. 51.—The story of Three Little Pigs. First grade. Columbia, Missouri.
Fig. 52.—A Japanese tea garden. Third grade. Columbia, Missouri.
Fig. 53.—A coal mine. Fourth grade. Columbia, Missouri.
The houses were built as suggested by the pictures in the reader. The pig and wolf were modeled in clay, each being shown in the several different positions described in the story. Over and over a little clay pig rolled down the hill in a paper churn and frightened a clay wolf. One group, not having wherewithal to build a brick house, used a wooden one made by another group. Another class made the brick house out of blocks, and built in a fireplace with its kettle ready to hold the hot water whenever the wolf should start for the chimney. (See [Fig. 51].)
(4) Japanese Tea Garden.—A third-grade class used the sand table to illustrate what they had gleaned from reading several stories and descriptions of life in Japan, in connection with elementary geography. The sand-table representation included a tiny bridge across a small stream of "real" water. The "real river" was secured by ingenious use of a leaking tin can which was hidden behind a clump of trees (twigs). A thin layer of cement in the bed of the river kept the water from sinking into the sand. A shallow pan imbedded in the sand formed a lake into which the river poured its waters. (See [Fig. 52].)
(5) A Coal Mine.—The sand table shown in [Fig. 53] was worked out by a fourth-grade class in connection with the geography of the western states. Descriptions and pictures were studied with great earnestness to find out how to fix it, and the children made it as they thought it ought to be. The actual making occupied very little time, the various parts being contributed by different pupils.
Problems of this sort develop leadership. There is usually one whose ideas take definite shape promptly and whose suggestions are willingly followed by his group. If there is one pupil in the class whose ability to lead is so strong that the others are overshadowed, it is sometimes well to let the work be done by small groups who use the table turn about. This plan stimulates a wholesome rivalry and discourages dawdling.
(6) Stories.—Illustrations for two stories are shown on page 94. In the first ([Fig. 47]) part of the class made a representation on the sand table while the rest prepared a poster from paper cuttings. In the second ([Fig. 48]) empty shoe boxes were used in making the castle. Very little time was spent on either project.
Fig. 54.—A chariot race. Second grade. Pasadena, California.