Correlation.—While the building of a store is in progress the study of the sources and processes of manufacture of the various articles of merchandise will supply valuable subject matter in several fields.
English.—Books containing information on the subject will be read with a definite purpose and more than ordinary interest. Especially if the group method is used, will the members of a group be proud to bring to the class interesting items concerning their particular part of the work. These narratives and descriptions may be made excellent practice in either oral or written English and will be of the sort Dewey characterizes as "having something to say rather than having to say something."
Geography.—This study may also enter as deeply into the field of geography as the development of the class warrants. It will be geography of a vital sort. How these things are brought to us touches the field of transportation, creating an interest in ships and railroad trains, pack mules and express wagons.
History.—The study of the process of manufacture opens up the field of industrial history, and in this, as in the geography, the study is limited only by the capacity of the class.
Number.—In the field of number the possibilities are also unlimited, in studying the weights and measures used for different commodities, the actual prices paid for these things, and the usual quantities purchased.
Playing store will involve the making of bills, the changing of money, and the measuring of merchandise. Different pupils may take turns acting as salesmen or cashier. The common practices of business life should be followed as closely as possible, only in this case each purchaser should make out his own bills. Actual purchase slips may be brought from home and used in number lessons.
An inventory of the stock may be taken and will supply excellent practice in addition and multiplication. After the example of real stores, a stock-taking sale at reduced rates may be advertised. The writer answered such an advertisement by a third grade and asked how much could be purchased for one dollar. Pencils were busy at once, and a variety of combinations suggested. One pupil was quickly called to account by his mates for offering only ninety-five cents' worth of merchandise for the dollar. By these and numerous other exercises which will suggest themselves to lively children and wide-awake teachers a vast amount of vital subject matter may be dealt with in a natural way, quite on the level of the child's experience and interest.
Fig. 34.—A grocery. Third grade. Columbia, Missouri.