(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.