DEMONSTRATION AT MATAURA SCHOOL

Southland Times, Issue 25746, 9 August 1945, Page 7

DEMONSTRATION AT MATAURA SCHOOL

PARENTS SEE CLASSES AT WORK

A demonstration of the work carried out at the Mataura school attracted a big attendance of parents to the school yesterday afternoon. The headmaster explained that no attempt was being made at a striking display of picked school subjects. The aim was to allow the parents to see the pupils working, as nearly as possible, under normal conditions. In the tiny tots’ room, the children were seen at work with manipulative toys for developing the senses and laying the foundations for the teaching of reading and numbers by the new play systems. In the middle-infants’ room, the parents were given an insight into the early steps in the teaching of reading by word-building, word-matching and other cards prepared by the teacher. Some striking work in paper cut-outs by tire upper infants was displayed,’ while the pupils were busy in groups, some of them shopping, and others measuring or working out a number of jigsaw puzzles.

In Standard I the pupils were heard choral-speaking, reciting and singing. A drill display was given by the junior standard classes, the teacher also conducting lessons in composition. Poster-work, map-drawing, printing, singing, class-lessons and physical education were being taught in the middlestandards. The main attraction was in the senior class-room, where the Childborough experiment is being conducted. Pupils were seen in charge of the various departments—furnishings, groceries, electric power, the borough council, the post office, insurance, the railway station and tlie hand printing press. The pupils answered questions and gave explanations of their work. The remainder of the class was engaged in project work.