mous and the other two were written by men whose names none of us knew, but with the help of Mr. Duncalf's notes we learned that two were churchmen and one a knight of some rank and independence. Also one of the accounts was written on the spot while the other two were written anywhere from five to fifteen years later. This information, noted down by the class, was referred to later when they discovered that the three accounts differed on certain points and it became necessary to draw conclusions as to their comparative accuracy.

When the class had read the letters they were given three problems to answer as their second week's work:

1. To show on a map of Jerusalem how the forces were placed about the city for the first

attack.

2. How they had to be rearranged for the final attack and why.

3. The answer to any one of a list of questions such as:

How were the armies fed? What weapons proved the most effective in storming the city and why? What weapons did the Turks use? What part did the Genoese sailors play? What causes of disagreement were there between the leaders of the Crusaders and how were these overcome?

This work involved accurate reading of the texts, gathering selections from different parts of the letters, realization that the accounts disagreed on certain points and judgments as to whose account to accept.

The discussion and correction of this second week's work occupied a good part of the third week. A mother brought in a book of Crusader's songs in Latin and old French. By putting the old French on the board the better French scholars were able to guess at the modern equivalents and succeeded in translating

for the rest of the class the sad plaint of a wife whose husband had marched to Jerusalem. We also translated a short Latin Hymn to "Jerusalem Mirabilis," but its musical notation we could not decipher.

During this time we tried to keep alive the point of view of besieged as well as besiegers by writing imaginative compositions about Turks within the city. We discussed also the amazing cruelty of the Crusaders, gleefully described by themselves as redounding to the Glory of God.

It has always been our custom to select something from any big piece of work we are doing and give it to the whole school at morning exercises, the school assembly. This is done sometimes very briefly and sometimes with very great care for detail, and is of inestimable value as an opportunity for sharing interests. The preparation of a morning exercise incidentally is a way of assuring possession of the material by the class working on it.

In this class it was decided to assemble the various incidents in the capture of Jerusalem and tell them as interestingly as we could. There is always difficulty in introducing a subject that is foreign to the rest of the school. A brief explanation of the causes and progress of the First Crusade seemed necessary. Then a map of Jerusalem was needed and it was decided to make a plasticene relief map showing the city walls and gates and the unevenness of the ground outside, which determined the placing of the troops. It was suggested by one child that some scaling ladders and moveable towers be made to go with the relief map, but the class objected that to fit the scale of the map they would have to be too small to be plainly seen. So it was decided to make larger wooden models of siege engines.

Some of the girls dressed a Roman soldier doll which we had as a crusader.

Now the songs must fit in somehow. One child offered to learn the old French one and to make a translation of it into English so that everyone could understand, and the class decided they would all learn the Latin one. We were to consult the music teacher about deciphering the notation and to practise singing it in

13. Tell why Blake speaks of Jerusalem in the song.

14. Whole upper school sing Blake's Jerusalem.

The making of the siege engines, relief map, Crusader's clothes, etc., was done in the shop and at home over the week end. On Monday those who had chosen the selections from the letters read them aloud and the class commented on their

to end by singing Blake's Jerusalem, as all the upper school could join in. There was some discussion of what modern people with Crusading spirit did instead of going on Crusades, and one of the class agreed to try to explain to the younger children in what sense we could still sing of building Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land. The order of events as finally determined by the class was as follows:

CRUSADE MORNING EXERCISE BY GRADE EIGHT

1. Introduction.

2. Sing Crusader's Hymn "Jerusalem Mirabilis."

3. Tell the purpose of the Crusades and the preparation for the start.

4. Show doll dressed as Crusader and explain

costumes.

5. Sing Crusader's Wife's Song, first in old French then translated into English.

6. Show on map the route of the first Crusade and tell briefly the main episodes up to the attack on Jerusalem.

7. Show relief map of the city. Explain posi

tion of forces for the first attack.

8. Describe first attack and its failure.

9. Describe the besiegers' difficulty in getting water. Read selections from letters. 10. Describe besiegers' difficulty in getting food. Read selections from letters.

11. Show model of siege engines.

12. Describe last attack and entry into the city. Read selections from letters.

as they seemed too long when read one after another. Finally by the end of the fourth week we put the whole thing together and as the material was by now so familiar, we were ready, without more going over, or memorizing, to give it to the school.

In conclusion, it is a familiar truth that lack of understanding between persons or peoples breeds a mutual distrust, which in turn develops an emphasis on selfjustification with an appalling shrinkage of any further desire to understand other points of view. But in most children the desire to understand seems still undiminished. Must we not seize this time in their lives to acquaint them so vividly with some other part of their world and its people that they can never afterward forget, even when most struck by the differences, the common inheritances of mankind?

This was the thought of a New Hampshire farmer, when he found a tuft of flowers spared by the scythe of the man before him, and for a flashing moment looked into his mind and shared with him the love of that beauty.

"Men work together," I told him from my heart, "Whether they work together or apart."

--Robert Frost: The Tuft of Flowers.

M

Y INCLINATION is to give you a quick definition of social studies and then fill up the remainder of this paper with pictures of the activities surrounding those subjects in the Beaver School. I must restrain myself, however, until we have a common understanding of the meaning and significance of the term. Now, as never before, users of educational terms are required to do more than give a simple dictionary definition. Each term. seems to carry a challenge with it, and the user must stand ready to answer the question, "What do you mean by it?" A dictionary type of definition is insufficient because it does not include the personal interpretation which makes it a living or active term.

Take for example the question "What are social studies?" You, as questioner, would remain unsatisfied if I should say merely that they are subjects dealing with the activities of people in all places and times. You would have little curiosity if I said they were history, geography, civics, school projects, social science, etc. What you really want is a particular interpretation of the term as conceived and acted upon by the school which I represent. Pictures of the activities carried on in the school under the head of social studies would be interesting, as all children's activities are, but they alone could not show you the real foundations on which our particular program is founded, and therefore our interpretation of it. To do that I must explain first our theories and aims in regard to it.

The school believes that these subjects are an outgrowth of discoveries made by the child before he enters school, and

therefore should be recognized as natural and vital parts of his social development. This belief does several things. It makes the child and his immediate needs the pivotal point for all activities connected with these subjects; it sends us back to a study of the child's own methods of discovering the world, and of making social contacts and it makes us slow to set up dividing lines between subjects which, in our adult minds, are definitely pigeonholed. At times it even breaks down the hard and fast wall which encloses the so called formal subjects, such as mathematics, and makes it natural to include them in the social studies.

Roughly speaking, the social program in the Beaver School works out in three waves, each one overlapping and carrying on from where the other left off, and each having as its keynote the development of the children during that period. The kindergarten is a continuation of the wave that is rolling in during the pre-school years. The first school wave covers the three primary years, the second covers the three intermediate years, and the third the Junior and Senior high school years. Let us go back then to the beginning on which we as a school base our activities.

The child comes into the world equipped to find his place as a physical, mental, moral and social being. He is by nature curious and self-active. His curiosity leads him through observation to experimentation. His method is play, including imagination, and a constant use of the senses. This simple program stimulated by curiosity quickens in him interest and effort, or in other words self-activity and results in knowledge and understanding. We must think of curiosity, observation