normal school at San Jose has been opened, and a private training school has been organized at Pasadena.

The Congress of Mothers in Illinois, encouraged by the California success, has begun activities leading to a similar kindergarten law in the State of Illinois. Efforts will be made to have similar bills passed in a number of other States.

EDUCATIONAL MEETINGS OF THE YEAR.

The programs presented at the three meetings of the two national organizations of kindergarten workers during the year 1914-the International Kindergarten Union, with the Department of Superintendence at Richmond, Va., February 23-28; the International Kindergarten Union annual meeting at Springfield, Mass., April 20-25; and the kindergarten section of the National Education Association at St. Paul, Minn., July 4-11-form an accurate index to those phases of kindergarten education in which current interest is most intense or in which steady progress is being made.

At the Richmond meeting the subject of “The kindergarten in relation to social work," was presented by Mrs. Frederic Schoff and Mrs. Margaret J. Stannard, who made a plea for a wider range of usefulness for the young woman trained in kindergarten methods. Dr. Dyer delivered an instructive address on "The kindergarten in relation to the primary school and the training of teachers."

The twenty-first annual meeting of the International Kindergarten Union, at Springfield, Mass., laid emphasis upon general culture and social responsibility rather than upon the technical aspects of kindergarten work. At the conference of training teachers and supervisors Miss Luella Palmer, of New York City, presented a paper on "Problems of the present; hopes and ideals for the future." The subject for the conference was "Standards for kindergarten training." At the conference of directors and assistants the subject for discussion was "The development of initiative," in which emphasis was laid upon the flexibility of organization, etc.

On delegates' day the new plan of reporting by States or by groups was undertaken, with satisfactory results. A most comprehensive State report was from Illinois, read by Mrs. Topping, of Chicago, who said that outside the two active areas, Peoria and Chicago and suburbs, there were only seven towns reporting public school kindergartens. She said:

In Chicago the kindergarten training schools, in addition to the standard kindergarten training, conduct classes in the following subjects:

1. Maternal efficiency, including infant welfare work, considering the child physically and mentally.

2. Home making and home management which has distinct reference to a high type of womanhood and homemaking.

3. Resident homes for the students, which exemplify the home-management department and demonstrate, through the life in the home, high spiritual and social ideals. 4. Hygiene, which considers such phases of the subject as the child in the schoolroom and the individual and society.

5. Elementary grade teaching and the importance of understanding it as the next step in the educational process.

6. Classes in handwork, games, and stories for trained nurses to use with convalescent children.

7. Social service, designed to show the kindergartner how her training may fit her to serve in other lines of work connected with child welfare, and the readjustment to the youth and maiden period.

Some schools of Chicago have introduced the study of eugenics; some have courses on the Montessori method, and have utilized the Montessori material in the practice schools, while others have gone into lines of child study based upon recent scientific elaborations of mental and physical tests.

The report of cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts, presented by Mrs. Susan Harriman, was illuminating. Ten cities and ten towns in that part of Massachusetts east of and including Worcester support 267 public kindergartens, registering 14,700 children, at an average yearly cost of $22.50 per capita. The entrance age varies from 3 to 5 years.

The closing session was characterized by addresses by Dr. John G. Hibben, president of Princeton University, who spoke on the subject of "The mechanical mind," and Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn, president of Amherst College, who discussed the question of "Liberal education."

Many new lines of thought were presented for consideration at the kindergarten department of the National Education Association, St. Paul, Minn. Dr. P. P. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education, opened the session, with an address on "The readjustment of the kindergarten and primary grades to conform to the same general principles," in which he advocated much out-of-door work in kindergartens. He thought that if sessions were held in the open air much of the equipment now used might be dispensed with, but he upheld the Gifts as giving the child experiences which assist him in interpreting the things of life. He believed that the kindergarten and high school have much to learn from each other. Rousseau, he said, discovered childhood, but knew nothing of infancy. Froebel discovered infancy.

Dr. M. P. E. Groszmann, of Plainfield, N. J., spoke on "Adaptation of the work of the kindergarten to the needs of individual children." An interesting paper prepared by Miss Luella A. Palmer discussed "Problems v. Subject matter as a basis for kindergarten curricula." Miss A. M. Winchester described the work of the United States Bureau of Education regarding kindergarten education, and Dr.

Margaret E. Schallenberger spoke of the difficulty experienced in California in establishing new kindergartens under the present tax laws of the State. Dr. Schallenberger dwelt on the fact that there is— a need of more knowledge on the part of kindergartners of the work of primary grades and more knowledge on the part of primary teachers of the work of the kindergarten, so in the coming year their training schools will have a combined course of kindergarten and primary work.

Mrs. Ware described a new feature in the training schools of Indiana, where kindergartners are required in the afternoon for one hour to work with children of other grades in stories, songs, games, and handwork.

The attention of the conventions of the year was given, in the main, therefore, to discussions of the following topics: (1) The relation between the kindergarten and the primary grades; (2) testing and measuring the kindergarten by its results; (3) the reorganization of kindergarten training courses.

KINDERGARTEN AND PRIMARY GRADES.

In particular the possibility of closer organic relation between the kindergarten and the primary grades is receiving serious attention at the present time. The tendency to pass over the chronological ages of children in favor of their mental ages, and to regard as one unit the period between 5 and 8 years, is bringing about changes in belief and practice. Reports from various parts of the country at the International Kindergarten Union meeting indicated clearly that an approach to the problem has already been made by means of the establishment of friendly and sympathetic relations between kindergarten and primary teachers, a necessary preliminary to the real integration of kindergarten work with primary work. The year's advance lies in earnest efforts to go a step beyond sympathetic understanding and to work out effective means of organizing the two phases of education. In general, there are three types of plans: (a) To arrange courses of study in elementary schools in such a way as to take cognizance of the subject matter of the kindergarten "program" and interrelate it with that of the rest of the school. For instance, the faculty of Speyer School, Teachers College, New York City, is making a careful scientific study of such interrelation. The children's handwork, number work, music, stories, etc., move forward in progressive development. The first grade does not duplicate what has been done in the kindergarten any more than the second grade duplicates the work of the first grade in the usual school program.

(b) To place the kindergartens and primary grades of a school system under the supervision of one person, and that person a trained kindergartner. One notable instance of a successful arrangement of this kind is to be found in Los Angeles, Cal. Miss Grace Fulmer, super

visor of kindergartens and primary grades, under whom the new plan is being worked out, declares:1

The child who comes from the home to the first grade does not differ much in his attitude toward things from the one who comes from home to the kindergarten. He has had only a little more experience, a few more interests, a little better control of himself and his world; but it is the same self it was the year before, and it is the same world with its horizon stretched a bit. * The child leaves no impulse, instinct, interest, behind him, but brings them all along, each more forceful than the year before, and therefore in greater need of wise guidance and directed exercise.

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these interests is added a new one, his by natural right as well as by tradition, and that is the book, and the reading of the book.

Surely here is an opportunity for continuity in the educative process, when we take what the child brings from home in the way of experience, give it more meaning and begin to organize it in the kindergarten; broaden, deepen, enrich, and expand it from grade to grade in such a way that every school day will mean life, more life, and yet more abundant life.

(c) To reorganize the training courses in normal schools so that the students shall be required to practice in primary grades as well as in the kindergarten. Of 123 kindergarten training schools reporting to the Bureau of Education, the third method is used in 59, the time spent in primary practice ranging from 6 to 20 weeks. This plan has proved fruitful and bids fair to become much more widely adopted. An interesting experiment in developing the connection between kindergarten and the grades is under way in Boston. The following statement is by a Boston teacher participating in the work:

In the spring of 1913, Dr. Franklin B. Dyer, superintendent of schools, called for volunteers from among the kindergartners to try the experiment of doing advanced kindergarten work with the children of the primary grades for two afternoons a week. The response was immediate and cordial; in September there were 49 kindergartners at work at this problem in 30 school districts, with the children of 60 primary classes. The organization varied somewhat, but the most common arrangement was for the kindergartner to take one division of the lowest primary grade for the first hour of the afternoon session, and the other division for the second hour of the session, reversing the order of the divisions on the second day. Occasionally her work was with only the lower divisions of two first grades, and again it extended into a second grade.

Great freedom was allowed in the choice of activities and arrangement of the program, though at Dr. Dyer's request all the teachers gave ample opportunity for the free conversations familiar in the kindergarten, but often lacking in the primary classes, with their larger numbers and more formal procedure. Advanced gift and handwork were used in most classes, the former for free construction and for number work, the latter for hand training and for free expression of experiences, drawing and paper cutting proving especially valuable in this work. Games were played, stories were told, and many delightful excursions were taken to woods and parks and farms and beaches, both stories and excursions furnishing rich supplies of material for conversations and expression through handwork.

At the close of the year the 60 primary teachers were asked for reports and frank comments on the experiment. All but one reported favorably, many with enthusiasm. The chance which it gave them to work with smaller groups was greatly appreciated, and several reported specifically that this had resulted in having a larger

Kindergarten Review, Sept.-Oct., 1913, "Suggestive course of study for the kindergarten and first grade.”

number of children than usual ready to promote. That the experiment had awakened intelligent interest among the teachers is shown by their questions: Could we arrange for conferences between kindergarten and grade teachers? Could primary teachers be given time for home visiting? Is there any way of furnishing instruction in kindergarten work as a whole to primary teachers in active service? Can the ideals of the kindergarten be made the ideals of the school? Can the grades be given a more flexible program? Can there be more time for this extension work another year? It is hoped that some of these questions may be answered by degrees through the new three-year kindergarten primary course to be established in the Boston Normal School in the fall of 1915, which is to give special training for teaching in the kindergarten and first three grades, a step which ought to do much toward bridging the gulf that so often exists between the kindergarten and school.

The following extracts from letters written by kindergartners who carried on the experiment last year will give a more vivid idea of its significance than can be conveyed by general statements.

1. (From a kindergartner in a crowded suburban district where very few children come from even comfortably well-to-do homes.)

As the spring began I took the children out whenever I could to see the awakening of nature. We noticed the grass and leaf buds and early flowers as they came-snowdrops, tulips, and hyacinths. Previous to this the children were interested in the growing plants that I had in the kindergarten; I had a pan of daffodils, two pots of hyacinths and two pans of paper white narcissus at different times, and the children enjoyed noticing each week how they had developed. We had drawing lessons based on these observations and on the flowers I took to the kindergarten from week to week, such as pussy willows, anemones, mayflowers, dandelions, violets, lady's slippers, columbine, etc.

One week we went to a friend's house and saw in her yard ducks, hens, and two turkeys, one a very fine gobbler. The day being windy, we noticed the clouds and weather vanes. One vane we studied, and the children noticed the different letters on it, and with a little careful looking and some explanation we found that the wind was southwest. On each walk we usually had a few minutes for free play in one of our two parks, and on this same windy day we stood under a group of pine trees and heard the song of the wind through them. * * We went to the Aquarium-a visit thoroughly enjoyed. Out of a class of 40 children, only 7 or 8 had ever been there before. We also had a half hour's fun on the beach each day, and for some of the children the car trip was an unusual treat. They were well-behaved, and we had a good time all around.

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2. (From a kindergartner in a suburban district, close to the country, where many of the people own their own homes.)

After much groping about among the many alluring possibilities, I decided that, first and foremost, I would take those primary children out of doors into the woods and fields each week, and that I would also train them to careful and accurate use of scissors and paint brush. This latter work was carried on for several months and resulted in marked improvement in the quality of their handwork throughout the first-grade year.

The children loved the excursions. We climbed out upon Sally's Rock and reveled in the far-reaching view; we wandered in the woods listening together to the music of the wind in the tree tops, or watching red and gold leaves drift silently down against a background of dark evergreens; we were blown about the open fields by the "wild west wind," who swayed the tall grasses like ocean billows around us and sent masses of great fleecy clouds flying over our heads. Back in kindergarten again, we talked our excursions over together, occasionally weaving our experiences into a simple story, which I often wrote down bit by bit as the children gave it to me. Dearest of all to the children's hearts was the trip to the Zoo, and nothing could be more spirited and graphic than the set of drawings in which next day they immortalized every slightest detail of that experience.

As the weather became too severe for excursions, story-telling and games were substituted. The children were always delighted and eager to cut or draw their version of the story given them, and some of these versions proved most entertaining. The best drawings were those illustrating the stories of David and Goliath and How Cedric became a Knight. The class gained perceptibly, too, in power to retell the stories in response to a few leading questions.