ONE ROOM SCHOOLS: A DAY AT SCHOOL
As the children were seated the teacher took attendance and then often began the day by reading to the students. In the nineteenth century the text read was almost always of a religious character, usually from the Bible. However, over time the morning reading evolved, first to "moral tales," and subsequently to significant works of fiction. For example, during the 1940's at the Frost School near Stanton teacher Veda Flinn began her school day by reading from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prarie. Mrs. Flinn paced her reading of the volume so that the book was always completed on the last day of school. In some schools a song or two might also be sung before the day's studies began.
Class would then begin. As the day progressed each class was called to the "recitation" bench. There the teacher worked exclusively with those children for a period, while the other students busied themselves studying or doing an assigned lesson. Normally there was a brief morning recess of about fifteen minutes, followed by more classes, and then an hour for lunch. The afternoon was spent much like the morning with classes and a short recess. At the hour of afternoon recess, the younger students, including the third graders, would be dismissed for the day. The last hours of the school day was spent by the teacher working with the more advanced fourth through eighth graders.
Students sometimes put the mixed age of their schoolmates to ingenious uses. One teacher recalls a student from the World War II era that she first believed had extraordinary reading skills. Each day she would write new words on the blackboard and each day, by the time "Doug's" opportunity to read came around, he had already learned the new vocabulary. Eventually she discovered that Doug was ingenious, but in a somewhat different way. Rather than industriously studying the board, each day he would quietly borrow the book from which the day's reading would be taken, look in the back where the new words were listed, and then ask one of the older students to help him with the day's new vocabulary.
"Unit" teaching was very popular technique well adopted to the one-room school. The teacher would select a topic, or unit, to study, such as pioneer days, trees, safety, or some other broad topic that each student could address at an appropriate level. Over time units evolved. For example in many one-room schools agriculture slowly gave way to science, physiology was replaced with health and hygiene. Students also would be united for various school events such as pageants or plays. Virtually every one-room school put on a Christmas pageant that was well attended by parents. The school was decorated with objects made by the children. The program often featured short poems or songs performed by the younger children and short plays enacted by the older students. The event would end with a holiday party in which gifts were often exchanged.
The fortunate teacher went home with her students, however many teachers also performed the janitorial duties in the school. Thus, after the day's classes had ended, the floor was swept, the room was straightened, the teacher brought in fuel for the next day's fire. At least once a week the teacher was expected to scrub the floor. The teacher's janitorial responsibilities were, however, often lightened by student helpers.
At the end of the year, teacher's would distribute "tokens" to their charges, along with their report cards and, for a lucky few, their diplomas. The tokens, usually small, inexpensively printed pieces of paper, were often among the most cherished possessions of students and a surprising number survive in the personal papers of those who attended one-room schools.
excerpt from http://clarke.cmich.edu/schoolhouse/schoolsday.htm
AND ANOTHER SCHOOL
The school day often began with a reading from the Bible, then prayers, demonstrations, readings, and recitations. In some schools, the students were to sit in respectful silence during opening exercises, their feet together on
the floor and their hands folded on their desks...
Lessons to be Learned
The older children spent much of their time doing math problems, learning how to keep a set of accounts, studying plane geometry, and doing recitations about
what they had read. Younger children learned to read and write and do simple arithmetic...
Children also studied geography and history...
Children used slates to draw pictures of things they saw around them. In addition, there was instruction in colors, the collecting of minerals and other things, daily
activity planning, and recitation. At recitation, children were to speak clearly and show the teacher how well they had learned their lessons. All students received instruction in moral habits...
Moral habits were taught in the classroom through the use of phrases that contained a moral, or in readings that provided moral lessons. Moral lessons dealt with knowing right from wrong and often included lessons on lying, cheating, stealing, honesty; respect for authority and elders; respect for the nation, the state, the community, the law; and love of the truth and of God...
Teachers rarely instructed the entire class together. Work was assigned to groups to be done at the desks. Each group would be called on to recite the work it was
supposed to have done at the desks. The front benches were the recitation benches, to which one group would be brought forward to do the reciting. While that group was
reciting, the other groups were expected to be working on their own assignments. Each recitation could last for 15 to 20 minutes, followed by a brief recess. Then more assignments were given, and another group was brought up to recite.
Recess
Following the morning session, students usually had up to two hours for lunch. Some students lived close enough to go home for lunch. Many students, however, brought their lunches to school...
At recess, children played seasonal games and sports. Few playgrounds were furnished with exercise and game equipment at this time. Children might have played hide-
and-seek, snap-the-whip, follow-the- leader, tag games, or London Bridge. Boys
carried jackknives, with which they carved and whittled any wood in sight...
Children also enjoyed playing word games like tongue twisters, reciting rhymes, or
telling stories.
Closing Exercises
At the end of the school day, closing exercises often consisted of a moral lesson, a
hymn, and a closing prayer. Students rarely took their books home. Teachers did not
often assign homework because most students had chores at home and because lighting would have been a problem in the evenings during this time period – especially during the winter. Following a full day at school, students often had to walk long distances to get home and then had to do their daily chores.
(taken from yorker.org)
RECOLLECTIONS OF ANOTHER SCHOOL
In front of the students' desks and facing the teacher's desk were two long, wood benches with wood backs. We called them recitation benches. For instance, the teacher would call, "Third grade reading class, rise, pass," and the children in that class marched, with their reading books, to the recitation benches where the teacher had the students read individually from their assigned lessons. The classes, being small, were composed of from one to six pupils. Generally only one recitation bench was utilized; however, sometimes the teacher would have another class come forward and sit on the second bench. We referred to this bench as the preparatory bench...
An average of twenty-five students were taught arithmetic, grammar, history, physiology (hygiene), penmanship, reading, spelling, geography, music and drawing. In addition children were graded in deportment, industry and, on the nine marking periods, days attended were noted along with days missed. Fern E. Bickford, Branch County Commissioner, listed six rules for students on the front of the Coldwater-Batavia Township Public School Report Cards:
1. Be clean in person, dress, habits, thoughts and speech.
2. Be dutiful, polite and respectful to parents, teachers and all whom you may meet.
3. Strive to build up a good character, and your reputation will take care of itself.
4. Be earnest in play in the time for play, and equally earnest in work in the time for work.
5. Cultivate promptness, energy and patient industry. They are worth more to you than money or influence in securing success in life.
6. Finally be courteous, obedient, thoughtful, earnest, attentive, studious and industrious if you would win the highest esteem of your teachers, schoolmates, parents and the general public.
In the grading system of A through E, A was 95 to 100 and E was below 60...
While a good deal of time was spent learning the four R's and celebrating holidays, good health habits were also stressed when I attended grade school...
I enjoyed attending the one-room school, just as I enjoyed living a simple and comfortable country life. I considered myself rich, even though I lacked modern comforts. Perhaps the best lesson I learned, during my childhood, was that money and possessions were not important as long as I had a happy heart and a contented mind.
(taken from grunerheritage.com)
AND ANOTHER
Eighteen desks, small tables, and chairs were there. There was never a Johnny Who Couldn't Read [sic] as an older child would always be available to help the younger ones. The schedule could be very difficult if the teacher couldn't rely on this help.
There were always opening exercises when a few songs would be sung. The teacher would read from Kipling, Tom Sawyer, or Rules of Baseball. Games such as "Teakettle" and other spelling games were popular. The so-called approved instruments were tonettes, the piano, and the radio. The forty-minute math period included competition in knowing the necessary basics. There was a course in Hygiene and then lunch. There was a good school time program on the radio.
History followed in the afternoon. The younger ones would be excused about 2:30. The older children continued with Geography, Science, and Penmanship. There was an afternoon recess. They had
The Weekly Reader.
(taken from pioneersholesschool.com)
ANOTHER SCHOOL ALSO
Today, it would be unthinkable to assign 40 students, representing grades 1 through 8, to one teacher. In 1930 that was commonly done, quite often with great success.
As I look back now, I am convinced that the single feature of the one-room country school that influenced me the most was that recitation bench at the front of the room. In my early school years, I could always listen to the older students as they read new stories in reading class, often tales I had not heard before. They used new words that I didn't know or understand. Their history and geography classes opened my eyes to more new worlds. I was often fascinated by the poems my older schoolmates had memorized to recite in class. Time after time, those upper grade classes caught and held my attention. Again and again, they stretched my young imagination.
(taken from proudpapapoet.blogspot.com)
AND A DESCRIPTION OF A SCHOOL MARM:
A real opportunity for student success in this one-room situation was the physical fact that you sat within earshot of classes above and below yours. If you didn’t learn something the first time, you always had a discreet chance to listen in a second, third, or fourth time! Conversely, when your seatwork was done, you could always challenge yourself with the more advanced work going on before your eyes.
First thing every morning, after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, we sang songs together. She taught us how to read notes, stay on pitch and harmonize...
Then, the daily routine of the classroom began, like a steady metronome, predictable as the Regulator clock on the wall between portraits of Lincoln and Washington. We worked quietly at our desks, while each class in turn went up in front with the teacher, to recite and be instructed. The rest of us concentrated on learning our lessons, either because she wanted us to, or because we didn’t know what might happen at home if we didn’t. Our parents respected Mrs. Morgan, and we knew it. But mostly, she made us want to. She encouraged and praised hard work. She nodded affirmation of every attempt, with that smile. Oh, she scolded any shirking, and would keep you in from recess if she thought you weren’t trying hard enough. Recess was the only social time there was for isolated farm kids, so it was a real incentive. Yet even this wasn’t done in a harsh punishing way, but as “a chance to talk alone together over what was the problem.” She really believed and acted on “the spoonful of sugar.”
Everyday, several times a day, Mrs. Morgan would fill all the blackboards with lesson assignments, questions, and problems for the different grades to do at their seats. Her writing was almost too perfect to erase later.
excerpts from pioneersholesschool.org
WHAT'S A SLATE?
Slates were like small, portable blackboards for students to write on. They were widely used in the United States when paper was scarce and expensive. Even though paper had become commonplace by the late 1800s, it was still considered too expensive for the demands of children in rural schools.Until 1900, many children in rural schools still used slates for writing their assignments.
What were slates made from?
Slates were named after the stone that was used to make them. Slate is a kind of stone that can be separated into flat sheets. These flat sheets were typically cut down to pieces roughly 8" x 11". Early slates were made without any frames. Later, wooden frames were constructed around the edges of slates to provide support. Sometimes, a piece of felt or perhaps a ribbon of string was run around the edge of the frame to protect small hands from slivers. Slate is still commonly used today for roofing, flagstones, in buildings, and for the tops of pool tables.
How did people use slates?
Slates were ideal for work that didn't need to be saved like math homework or penmanship. Students might practice a lesson in class and take it up to the teacher to check. The lesson could then be erased and the student would work on the next assignment. Slates were easily cleaned and, unlike paper, nothing was thrown away or wasted.
There were special pencils made for writing on slates. These pencils were themselves made from slate and were sold in boxes of six or twelve. Often, the pencils had a paper wrapping on them like crayons do today. If the slate pencil broke, the pieces could still be used.
How old are slates?
Slates have been in use in the United States for a long time. They were advertised in newspapers as early as 1737. Slates with wooden frames were advertised in 1749.
It's often hard to tell how old a particular slate might be. They are still manufactured today and have been a popular toy off and on over the years. Perhaps the best way to determine the age of a slate is from the frame. The frames of older slates were often handmade from better wood and had fitted dovetail corners. Newer slates typically are framed in pine and are held together with small nails.
Do all slates look pretty much the same?
Most slates looked like any other slate. However, there were some interesting varieties that appeared. The Blackwell has examples of "double slates." These were created when two slates were tied together so that they could be opened and closed like a book. We also have books that were called "book slates." These weren't really made out of slate, though. They were made of thick paper that had been painted black to look like slates. The pages in these books could be used just like slates. One company even created a set of map drawing cards. These later "slates" were made in the 1860s.
(excerpt from http://www.cedu.niu.edu/blackwell/aboutus/artifacts.shtml)
