In the library corner children become acquainted with appropriate, timely books

early. The playground, which was not large, was overrun with active, shouting, energetic children of all ages.

The student council representatives became concerned. Children from the lower grades reported that the big boys and girls were interfering with their play. The older pupils complained about the young ones.

The student council was made up of the usual elected officers and two representatives from each room. One teacher served as consultant. Because the council felt it was important for all pupils in the school to know how business was conducted, they held some of their meetings in the various classrooms, or invited several grades to the cafeteria where group meetings could be held.

The latter plan was followed for the discussions on ways to approach the noon-hour problem. All first-, third-, and fifth-grade children attended the first session; second, fourth, and sixth graders, the second. The council presented the problem and discussion was at first limited to council members. Then discussion from the floor was invited.

It soon became evident that everyone wanted some freedom of choice during the noon hour, but that complete freedom of activity was not possible. The children agreed to appoint a noon-hour committee to study the problem. The committee knew it could not work without the help of the teachers. They asked the principal to appoint two classroom teachers, one to represent the primary grades and one to represent the upper grades. They also asked

Quiet games in the classroom are popular with children during
the lunch hour and on rainy days.

to have the physical education teacher help them. After thinking through the various problems, they came up with this plan: Sixth-grade children would be asked to volunteer for one month of lunch-hour duty. These children would work with the teacher committee in planning in- and out-of-door activities. Throughout the school the children would plan with their teachers at the beginning of the week what activity each preferred for the week. The teachers would help the sixth-grade volunteers to learn how to conduct a variety of activities.

When the plan was presented to the student council as a whole, one change was made: Each child would be permitted to take part in two different kinds of activities during the week.

As the plan was carried on children had a chance to choose from a wide variety of activities listening to music, storytelling, working in different art mediums, playing quiet games indoors or active and quiet games outdoors, resting, talking together in small groups, and others.

Children and Teacher Work Together-On Extending Activities Outside the Classroom

One high spot in the lives of the sixth-grade boys and girls of the Greenhill School is the week spent at the Boy Scout Camp. The teacher, a registered nurse, the shop teacher, and several parents go with them. In this particular instance, the school district takes care of all expenses except food. Some of the children earn money throughout the year to take care of their expenses; some save it out of their allowance. Several service clubs have a Campers' Fund, which pays for those children who could not go otherwise.

A visitor who happened to be in the sixth-grade room immediately after the camping period asked the children if they enjoyed the experience. An enthusiastic "yes" was the answer. "Why did you like it?" she asked.

Because we liked our teacher.

Because we learned to work together. We were not very good at first but we learned how.

What I got out of it was that I was always sort of rowdy and pushed people and caused lots of trouble and I learned how to live with people. (Both teacher and pupils supported this. Such things can happen when the situation is right.)

I liked the hikes, too, and I learned a lot of science.

We went on a hike to an old house, an "old settler's" house. The lady talked to us about how people came to live here.

We took hikes and got flowers. We pressed them and made blueprints.

We put on skits, the leaders and all of us. We lived together under the open sky. We all had sleeping bags. We bought them or borrowed them. We each took one small bag with us.

We chose captains and they picked their teams. The girls had two teams. One went on a bird hike and one had a cook-out.

We had games like horseshoes and volleyball.

We had duties, too. We took turns washing dishes.

After the visitor left the school she wrote: "The attitude of these children toward each other and toward the teacher was one of friendship and happiness in being together. Each seemed to feel himself an integral part of a social group, and each seemed supported by this feeling. There were

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no outsiders, no fringe-everyone was a part of a 'whole society.' I have rarely experienced such open-spirited, outgoing, spontaneous personal relations as were evident here in this sixth-grade classroom—which in itself contained little of a material nature that one could call beautiful."

Miss Norris' fifth grade felt cheated. Mrs. Jones, the other fifth-grade teacher, had taken her children on a field trip. Miss Norris told the children she was skeptical about having the whole class set forth to do the things the children wanted to do-collect fungi and moss from the woods located about 15 miles from the school. The children assured Miss Norris they wouldn't cause any trouble and made all sorts of promises.

Finally, Jim said, "My Dad would help us out. Why can't we select a small committee to go on the trip? My dad will take us."

The entire group decided what they wanted the committee to look for. This is the report of the trip, written by one of the children:

Mr. Gilbert took five of us on a field trip. We went to woods, fields, rivers, lakes, parks, and roadsides. Before we got there we stopped at a tree on the side of the road and got some fungi and different kinds of mosses. Then we went on to the woods and got more different kinds of fungi and mosses. We found puff balls, mushrooms, shelf fungi, and other different kinds.

Next we went to the river and found some shells and saw animals' holes. Then we went to the park and saw lakes. We found some cattails and got some sand. When we got back to school we reported to our room. When the children began to ask us questions, we committee members found out we didn't know all we thought we did about the things we brought back. The whole class planned ways to find out more about the things that interested us most.

The sixth grade planned a picnic. They figured out how much the food they wanted would cost. They earned the money to pay for the supplies by selling old newspapers and junk. For one reason or other, the picnic had to be postponed for several months.

At last good weather and favorable conditions prevailed. Then came the blow! Food costs had risen so much that money which was once adequate would no longer buy the kind and amount of food the children thought they had to have.

They talked about raising more money or bringing additional food from home. Then the teacher suggested that they explore the possibility of substituting less costly foods. After much investigating, figuring, and evaluating, the children decided to keep within the budget. From all reports, they had a good time, felt satisfied with the food they finally purchased, and were pleased to keep within the original budget.

In Conclusion

Running through the foregoing illustrations is an element of intimate and understanding guidance exercised by the teacher as she works with a child or group of children. Learning to plan, work, play, and live together is, like all things, an individual matter. It comes more easily to some children and teachers than to others.

In the process of working together, the teacher comes to know which children are able to plan and work with relative thoroughness, to recognize those who plan enthusiastically but fail to carry through, to give special consideration to those who feel "lost" or overwhelmed when placed in a position where they are expected to contribute ideas, make decisions, and carry through responsibility.

As the teacher and children work together, the "wordy" ones learn how to organize their thinking so that they can make pertinent remarks; the "shy" develop confidence; the overambitious, the aggressive, and the overconfident become more cooperative; the "lazy" are challenged. All learn the importance of using foresight in planning, the need for finding information from