Chapter I: Our School

1

What is the name of our school?

Where have you seen this name?

Why was this name given to our school?

On what street or road does our school stand?

How long have you been attending this school?

See how much you have noticed as you came here each day. Tell what you can remember of the different parts of the building which can be seen from the street or road. Describe each of these parts:

Walls Roof
Windows Chimneys
Doors Fire-escape

2

As you look at the school from the outside what materials do you see that the builders have used? Where have they needed stone, slate, glass, tin, iron, steel, wood?

Now let us think of the garden and playground. Tell about the different parts and the materials that have been used in making them.

What great numbers of workmen were needed before a school like ours could be built! Who procured the stone and the slate? Whose work was needed to obtain the iron, the steel and the tin? Who made the glass? Which workmen shall we thank for the wood?

Can you think how the bare lot looked before the school was built? Many men with shovels and pick-axes dug out the foundation, and numbers of horses and wagons were needed to carry out the earth. Then came the builders. How were so many materials brought here?

3

1. We will go outdoors together and look at the school building.

2. We will stand north of the school, south, east and west of it. Notice the position of the parts, their number, shape, size and color.

3. As we stand at each side, see whether there are any parts which you never noticed before or any parts which we forgot to mention yesterday.

4

Look at this drawing of a school building and grounds. It is called a plan. Before any school or church or home is built a plan must be drawn. This is to show the workmen what to do. See how much of the ground is used for the building. Find the garden. What are in the garden? Which is larger, the garden or the playground? What shape is the playground? How many doors are there to the building? In how many ways can you get into the playground?

Try to draw a plan of your school building and yard, showing the gates, the flagpole, the drinking fountain or pump, and any other parts you think of. Show which door you use most.

_Note to the Teacher._--The pupils should draw the plan upon paper
while the teacher draws it upon the blackboard. Infinite care should
be exercised to invest every line with its full meaning. Upon the
proper interpretation of this first plan will depend much of the
pupil's future ability to correctly read a map as the representation
of a reality.

5

THE INSIDE OF THE SCHOOL

As you walk from the school door to your room what do you see? Tell all that you have noticed in the corridors, on the staircases, in the cloak-rooms and the class-rooms.

6

We will go on a little excursion through the school today, walking along all of the corridors and upon all of the staircases. Look especially to see anything that you never saw before, and notice anything that you forgot to mention in yesterday's description.

7

Answer the following questions:

1. How many stories high is our school?

2. How many class-rooms are on each floor?

3. How many other rooms are on each floor?

4. How many staircases does our school have?

5. What materials have been used in building the staircases?

6. What can be seen in the corridor nearest your room?

7. By how many doorways can the children leave the building?

8. How is your school heated and ventilated?

8

Describe everything that you can see in your class-room.

9

Look at this plan of a school-room. See if you can draw a plan of _your_ school-room.

10

Make a list of all the materials that have been used in building the inside of your school. Remember all of the following parts:

Floors Windows Corridor furnishings
Ceilings Doors Class-room furnishings
Walls Staircases

Now write a list of the kinds of workmen who gathered together these materials. Name as many of the kinds of workmen as you can think of who were engaged on the inside work of the building.

11

Write a letter to anyone whom you know who has never seen our school. Tell all about our building and the good workmen by whom it was planned and built.