ARITHMETIC
The children are to count: 1 nose; 1 mouth; 1, 2 hands; 1, 2 feet; 1, 2, 3, 4 points in the insets; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 soldiers on the plane. How many blocks did they use in the building? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Thus for the elementary steps in counting.
COMPUTATION
Computation should be taught practically in the store from the very beginning. The shopkeeper sells 1 cherry for 1c. The children have 2c and get two cherries. Next they get two nuts for 1c. Place 1c on the counter and place 2 nuts beside it. Then count all the nuts and there are 2 for 1c, etc. The child must give him 1c in change (2 + 2 = 4; 2 - 1 = 1). In money changing it will be observed that at first some children recognize the coins more easily by touch than by sight (motor types).
WRITTEN NUMBERS
Charts with the nine numbers: one for each number. Each chart has picture representing quantities of the most varied objects arranged around the number, which is indicated by a large design on the chart. For instance: on the 1 card there is one cherry, one dog, one ball, etc. Yesterday the shopkeeper sold one cherry for 1c. Is the cherry here? Yes, there is the cherry! And what is this? One church! And this? One cent! etc. What is this figure here? It is the number one. Now bring out the wooden figure: What is this? Number one! Put it on the figure on the chart! It is one.
Now take the charts to the store. Who has 1c? Who has 2c? etc. Let us look for the number among the charts. The shopkeeper is selling three peas for 1c. Let us look for number 3 among the charts! Numbers should be taught in the afternoon lesson in the store. The designs representing the figures should be shown the following morning. Next time the charts with the figures previously taught should be taken to the shop to be recognized again. Other numbers are brought out in the new computations. The figures for the new numbers then taught in the store should be shown the following day, etc. To make the store interesting, the topic lesson on the objects offered for sale should be frequently repeated. The child should be taught to buy only perfect objects, so that on receiving them he may examine them carefully, observing them in all their parts. He should give them back if they are not perfect or if mistakes are made by the shopkeeper in giving them out. For instance: A spoiled apple should not be accepted. "I refuse to buy it!" Beans should not be accepted for peas. Again the child refuses to buy them. He must pay only when he is sure he has been served properly (exercise in practical life).
The storekeeper will make mistakes: first, in kinds of objects, to sharpen the observation of qualities by the children who purchase; second, in the number of objects given, to accustom the child to purchasing proper quantities.
ODD AND EVEN NUMBERS
Even numbers are red. Odd numbers are blue. There are: movable figures in wood; red and blue cubes in numbers corresponding to the figures on them; finally, charts with numbers drawn in color. Under each design are small red and blue squares arranged in such a way as to emphasize the divisibility of even numbers by 2 and similarly the indivisibility by 2 of odd numbers. In the latter case one square is always left by itself in the center.
1 2 3 4 5 6 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The child places the movable numbers and the cubes on the figures on the charts. The teacher then makes two equal rows of cubes to correspond to the even numbers (red). The division is easy! But try to separate the odd numbers (blue). It is not possible! A block is always left in the middle! The child takes the figures and the blocks and arranges them on his table, imitating the design on the chart. He tries to make two equal rows of cubes for the even numbers. He succeeds. He does not succeed in doing so with the odd numbers. The numbers which can be divided thus are even; those which cannot be so divided are odd.
Number boxes: On these boxes are designed red and blue figures identical with those on the charts. The child puts into each box the number of cubes called for by the figure on the box. This exercise follows immediately the work on odd and even numbers described above. As the child transfers each series of cubes from his table to the boxes, he pronounces the number and adds odd or even.
Exercises in attention and memory: A chart of odd and even numbers in colors is placed on the teacher's desk in view of all the children. The red and blue cubes are piled on the teacher's desk. The teacher passes the wooden figures to the children and tells them to examine them. Immediately afterwards the children leave their seats, go to the teacher's desk, and get the numbers which correspond to their own figures. On going back to their places they fit the cubes under the corresponding figure in the arrangement just learned. The teacher is to observe
1. Whether the child has remembered the color of his figure (frequently a child with a red number takes the blue cubes).
2. Whether he has remembered his number.
3. Whether he remembers the proper arrangement.
4. Whether the child remembers that the chart from which he can copy is before him on the stand and whether he thinks of looking at it.
When mistakes are made, the teacher has the child correct himself by calling his attention to the chart.
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