USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1945 > Part 15
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take those responsibilities; and they have discharged the responsibilities with credit to themselves and with profit to the pupils. The town owes these men and women a debt of gratitude. The school-pupils, faculty, and ad- ministration-is proud of having had the privilege of working with them.
EDGAR J. MONGAN, Principal.
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REPORT OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
In June 160 pupils were graduated, and in September the school opened with 559 enrollees. On January 2, 1946 the enrollment was:
Boys
Girls
Total
Grade 9
94
79
173
Grade 8
84
109
193
Grade 7
100
71
171
J.P.A.
20
7
27
Total
298
266
564
Of these, thirteen are from Carver and twenty-one from Plympton.
The Junior Practical Arts Division for slow learners has grown in numbers this year because of the transfer of more over-age pupils from the elementary schools and the entrance of others who moved to Plymouth after school opened in September. It will be necessay again to divide it into two groups for academic work as was done two years ago. This, together with the broadening of the remedial reading and guidance programs will re- quire another teacher.
This year for the first time, the school has had on its staff a teacher specially trained in reading. As time goes on her work should result in a reduction in the number of failures among those children assigned to her for special help.
The expansion of the guidance program is progressing satisfactorily. There are now a part-time counsellor for the boys and one for the girls. They are in charge of group guidance, confer with pupils privately, consult with teachers in the interest of pupils who have problems, arrange for conferences with parents when advisable, and correlate their work with that done in the senior high school. A third teacher is in charge of the homeroom
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guidance program. The co-operation of the homeroom teachers has contributed much to the success of this essential work. Development of the testing program is being considered. Conference rooms for guidance pur- poses are being installed on the first floor, making good use of the hitherto waste corridor space and allowing classrooms where individual conferences have heretofore been held to be used more profitably.
A major objective this year in the field of music is the reorganization of the School Band. During the war it was impossible to replace worn instruments with either rebuilt or new ones. A fund is being accumulated to repair those we have and to make purchases when instru- ments appear on the market again. Our director, who has been serving in the United States Army Band at the West Point Military Academy, is about to return to his position and progress should be made under his leader- ship. Two rehearsals a week will be scheduled and work with the various sections in both band and orchestra will be resumed. A spring concert with a Drum Major Corps performance is planned. The instrumental groups should soon be ready for further participation in civic programs.
Two student teachers from the State Teachers' College at Bridgewater trained in this school during the last year.
Five teachers have attended summer school and week- day classes at Boston University during the year 1945.
MARY M. DOLAN,
Principal.
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REPORT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
The elementary school staff has the responsibility of carrying on a continuous survey of the program and methods in the first six grades of our school system. The purpose of this survey is to decide what changes should be made, and to recommend that they be adopted, so that we can provide for the best possible educational growth of each pupil. At the present time, a committee of teachers is studying the social science program and has recom- mended that changes be made. Another group is study- ing the phonetic program in reading to see wherein we can systematize and reinforce what is now being done.
A summary of the service activities in which the pupils and teachers have participated this past year are as follows:
1. Contributions to the Junior Red Cross
2. Contributions of clothing for needy children of America and overseas
3. Purchasing of Bonds and Stamps
4. Purchasing of Christmas Seals
5. Collection of canned goods for the Salvation Army
The Cornish School Lunch Project, which functions primarily for bus pupils, pupils who have long distances to walk, and pupils whose parents are working, is now operating at capacity. Last year the average number of pupils fed per day was 147. This year, due mostly to an increase in the number of bus children, 163 pupils per day have a hot lunch.
The war years taught us the necessity for stressing that individuals and nations must live together in harmony. The elementary school is doing more and more to in- tensify this teaching so that it will be shouldering its share of the responsibility of building a body of citizens prepared to keep the peace.
Respectfully submitted, ELOUISE E. CASHIN, HELEN S. MANCHESTER, FRANKLYN O. WHITE,
Principals.
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REPORTS OF SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS
Music-Eleanor Anifantis, Supervisor
Music, the international language, is one of the chan- nels through which the schools hope to facilitate post- war rehabilitation. Isolationism is gone; brotherhood and harmony, patriotism, and tolerance must be developed. A fine way to develop international understanding is by studying and singing the folk songs of other countries- songs which express the true emotions of their people.
Music plays an important role not only in fostering internationalism, but in enriching the life of the com- munity. In other words, it should go beyond the singing class and function in the lives of boys and girls outside of school. A good illustration of this is when the school provides good singers for the local church choirs. It is very gratifying to know that many of the boys and girls in the Plymouth schools are serving in this capacity. Another example of this is the participation of choral groups in community activities. On December 5, the Senior High Girls' Octet entertained the Women's Club with a musical program. On December 19 and 21, the Senior High Girls' Glee Club and a mixed group includ- ing both boys and girls added much to the Christmas spirit by broadcasting from the Methodist Church a series of half-hour programs of carols for the benefit of holiday shoppers. At a Christmas sale held in Miss Bates art room and open to the public, a section from the Junior High Girls' Glee Club entertained with a program of Christmas music.
The urge to sing in small children is almost as instinc- tive as the urge to talk. That is why in the first grade, the music consists mainly of rote songs and rhythm work. Note reading is developed in the second and third grades. In the fourth grade, two-part music is introduced with the singing of rounds. Two-part music is further devel- oped in the fifth grade and preparation is made for three- part music in the sixth grade.
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This year, I am happy to report that in addition to glee clubs which are again active at the Manomet and Cornish schools, a new glee club has been formed at the Hedge School. Plans are being made for an operetta in the spring to raise money for the purchase of instruments.
The activities of the Junior and Senior High Girls' Glee Clubs are also continuing. So far, these groups have sung at various school assemblies, including those of Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We are hoping this year, if time can be found, to organize a boys' glee club.
Now that the war is over, it is to be hoped, that over- emphasis on technical subjects will lessen and that the fine arts will again come into their own. Music has always been an important factor in the cultural and spiritual life of our people. It is a known fact that one of the causes of this war was the failure of spiritual de- velopment to keep pace with scientific progress. Music is no longer a "fad" or "frill," and a better knowledge of this universal language is needed if we are going to win the peace. We sincerely hope that in Plymouth music can soon find a place in the High School curriculum as it already has in the elementary and Junior High School.
Instrumental Music-Mrs. Bernice E. Kelly, Supervisor
The instrumental music program has shown steady progress in the number of pupils interested. This is particulary true in the elementary grades-a fact that promises well for future orchestras and bands on the upper grade levels.
Piano classes were started in October at the Mt. Pleas- ant, Hedge, Cornish, and Manomet Schools. These pupils are learning the fundamentals of music, and at the same time are watching and enjoying the progress made by each individual at the piano keyboard. Every child in
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these several groups receives individual attention and is showing gratifying results.
Orchestras also are being developed in the several elementary schools. Some of the pupils who are mem- bers of these organizations have had lessons on their instruments only since September. At present, there are eight members in the Mt. Pleasant orchestra, fifteen members in the Hedge, six members in the Cornish, and eight members in the Manomet. In the spring a joint concert is anticipated.
The Junior High Orchestra has thirty members meet- ing every Wednesday, and the Junior Band has twenty- three members meeting Thursdays.
The Senior High Band is composed of eighteen mem- bers meeting Thursdays.
Due to the fact that a majority of the music students, in High School are employed afternoons, it has been found impossible to organize an orchestra. Only eight students out of the possible twenty are able to remain for after-school rehearsals.
The following recommendations are suggested for con- sideration:
1. Incorporating band and orchestra into the regu- lar school programs in Junior - Senior High Schools with definite classes and credits estab- lished for these classes. Recognition of these activities as part of the school curriculum would encourage musically inclined students. If this is not advisable, school time should be allocated if possible on a rotating basis.
2. If Senior and Junior High band and orchestra rehearsals must be held after school, it seems most desirable to free pupils from claims on their time by other departments during re- hearsal periods.
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Art
A. Junior and Senior High-Mrs. Margaret E. Brown, Supervisor.
The Art Department of both Senior and Junior Schools completed the usual courses in lettering, design, color, life drawing, and outdoor sketching. In addition much finished work was produced for the school and com- munity. Numerous requests for such assistance come to the art classes and we pride ourselves on being able to turn out work which can be used both for advertising and decorative purposes.
Scenery and posters for "Garden Gayeties," the prin- cipal High School entertainment in the year, were de- signed and painted by the art students. A Motion Picture Poster Contest sponsored by the Plymouth Woman's Club and exhibited at the High School, Old Colony Theater, and Woman's Club created much interest.
Large murals of the historic "Planting of the United States Flag on Iwo Jima," one of our own Court House and Roll of Honor, and two portraits of Lincoln, illus- trated the High School graduation theme. Six members of the class of 1945 chose art schools in their fields of higher education, one entering the Rhode Island School of Design, two the Vesper George School of Art, and three the Massachusetts School of Art. Two of these pupils received the Avery Award for special talent.
Outdoor classes in the early fall resulted in interesting sketches of typical New England houses with graceful spreading elms such as are found on our own Plymouth Green. A special exhibition of these was presented at the Plymouth Woman's Club during Art Week.
Our final community project for the year was shared by both senior and junior high pupils. Two hundred Christmas transparencies were made for the windows of the General Hospital at Camp Edwards. Also three murals telling the Christmas story were contributed. The Plymouth Junior Red Cross was our sponsor.
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The Junior High pupils submitted posters for the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- mals Contest in the spring and received several awards. Ninth grade classes decorated articles in the Christmas sale and seventh grade students made decorations for the Christmas dance. These accomplishments were typi- cal of many pieces of finished art work completed by pupils of the Junior High School during 1945.
B. Elementary and Junior High - Miss Hazel Bates, Supervisor.
Some of the most interesting units of work accom- plished by the elementary school children during the past year have been:
1. Large bulletin board illustrations depicting the different activities of the various seasons and holidays.
2. Large colored chalk blackboard illustrations of historical events.
3. Three-dimensional units depicting life in other countries.
4. Colored shadow puppet shows for the entertain- ment of friends and relatives.
5. Original water color designs using bird, flower, and fruit motifs.
6. Posters on Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
7. The designing and coloring of tray mats and paper napkins for Camp Edwards.
8. Flower shows, at which flower arrangement and color harmony have been stressed.
The work at Junior High School has been centered about:
1. Work for Camp Edwards.
2. Appreciation of the culture of China, Russia, India, and South America.
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In developing these units the students have:
I. Gained power to:
A. Work in groups with:
a. Every child working on his own special assign- ment but as an integral part of the whole.
b. A student leader for each group responsible for the amount and quality of work done.
B. Apply knowledge learned to the solving of new problems.
II. Gained in ability to:
A. Do effective research work.
B. Make illustrative maps.
C. Construct models.
D. Plan illustrations for bulletin boards and posters and complete them.
E. Make original designs for place mats and paper napkins.
F. Concentrate on a problem until it is completed in a given time.
III. Gained knowledge of:
A. Costumes of the different countries and their in- fluence on our costumes.
B. How to make stuffed cloth costume dolls.
C. The different types of architecture typical of the countries studied.
D. How to make favors and place cards for holiday festivities.
Physical Education
A. Junior-Senior High School Girls-Mrs. Beatrice Gar- vin, Supervisor.
In the years since the new gymnasium was built and a physical education program was made a part of the experience of the junior and senior high girls, great progress has been made. The many hours of practise necessary to bring skills toward a perfection level have been utilized. The children in the elementary grades
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are again receiving instruction. There is a cooperative interest in the program, which brings true enjoyment to both the instructor and the participants.
Conditioning exercises, many of them fitted to a musi- cal routine, need little instruction time and are given as a preliminary part of most lessons. Marching tactic com- mands are so well known to the classes that the group response is accomplished in a third of the time that was necessary several years ago. Squad skills and relay races, used as a basis for team sports, require a very minimum amount of instruction time and allow the teacher an opportunity to help all groups in the gym- nasium.
There has been a new interest in dancing this year, a part of the program of much value in developing person- ality. Some class periods have served as rehearsals for boys and girls immediately before their junior high dances, so that they might feel a pride in grand marches and mixers cerditably done. The senior high girls no more say "Do we have to dance?" The department sponsors dances used in school programs, girls become familiar with routines, and the selected group carries them on to perfection.
This was the first year when a student from the physi- cal education department of a state teachers' college has trained with the classes, and it was a very satisfying situation to all concerned.
Now that it is possible to travel in larger groups for athletic sports and there are many more girls interested in the seasonal programs, it is again necessary to arrange for more varsity competition as well as intra-mural and inter-class games. Inter-school softball has come back into use to supplement the usual sports of field hockey and basketball.
B. Junior-Senior High School Boys-Mr. Louis Rudolph, Supervisor.
One prime objective of the work in physical education on the high school level is conditioning for military
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service. The boys gym class activity has consisted of; marching, group games, calesthenics, relays, tumbling, apparatus work, boxing, wrestling, and indoor commando- course time trials. Both junior and senior high school boys have been somewhat handicapped from a shortage of gym suits. This has been felt most keenly in the more strenuous activities.
During the past three years athletic teams have had a difficult struggle to secure transportation to out-of-town games. Last fall this situation was alleviated by the lifting of the travel ban. Once again we can conduct our athletic contests in normal fashion.
Football and basketball teams have participated in full schedules the past year. The baseball team was able to complete a modified schedule, playing four schools on a "home and home" basis.
In June the junior high pupils held a field day at Stephens Field. Much enthusiasm was shown both by participants and spectators. The events included: dashes, potato race relays, and baseball throw for distance. Entries were determined from trials conducted in pre- ceding gym classes.
The boys of grades seven, eight, and nine have had some practice in the grand march and a few circle dances as a help in preparation for their class dances.
Intra-mural basketball leagues were conducted for the eighth and ninth grades, and a modified league for the seventh grade. Seventy boys were given an opportunity through these intra-murals to play organized basketball.
An intra-mural baseball league was conducted in the spring and was brought to a close with a game between the eighth and ninth grades.
C. Elementary Program-Carolyn Parren, Supervisor
The program looking toward sound health in the ele- mentary schools this year has included formal gymnas- tics, special posture work, mimetics, folk dancing, sing- ing games, ball games, and quiet recreative activities.
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The advancement has been a progression from the simple to the more complex phase of each branch of the work.
Now the pupils follow directions quickly. Hence, to stimulate and maintain interest, the material presented has been and will continue to be more complicated and exacting. Folk dances have more difficult steps. Games have more advanced rules. Exercises require more thought and action.
The recent introduction of a simple dance step has met with popular acclaim and has proved to be another medium whereby good posture and acceptable social habits may be taught. The teaching of square dances is planned for the coming year.
Summer School-Mrs. Helen Manchester, Principal 1
The summer session for pupils needing work in the fundamentals was held from July 19 through August 17. There were 86 pupils enrolled in grades four to eight. Of this number, 50 pupils were required to attend sum- mer school in order to qualify for promotion to the next higher grade, and 36 came voluntarily on advice of their teachers. Seventy pupils were given a mark of "excel- lent" or "good" in their attitude toward school work. Thirteen were marked "fair," and only one was con- sidered "poor" in this regard. Standardized tests given at the close of the term showed a gain of one"half-year or more in one or more subjects on the part of 52 of the pupils. These results indicate that the relatively small cost of the summer session is a well-warranted invest- ment both from the standpoint of town finances and from the standpoint of the help it brings to individual pupils in sustaining their interest as they go on to higher grades.
Adult Civic Education-Helen Perrier, Director
Classes in English and Citizenship are held at the Cordage-Harris Hall from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On the same days from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m.
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at the Cornish School, there are classes in Beginners and Intermediate English and Citizenship. In addition there are several "Home Study" students having assignments that are checked by mail or when they are able to attend class. At present the total enrollment is 36.
The Citizenship classes prepare the non-citizen for naturalization, and the citizen is given further study in community, national, and world affairs.
The English groups are taught Basic English. This system has a controlled vocabulary of 850 words which, with certain additions for special purposes, will do the work of many thousand words. This system has three chief uses:
1. It was designed to give all nationalities the ability to use a second or international language.
2. It is a quick and smooth first step in the learning of normal English by non-English speaking persons.
3. For anyone whose native language is English, Basic English may be used as a means of training.
Pottery Vocational School-Katharine Alden, Instructor
Handicraft Classes-Mrs. Louise Chrimes, Instructor
The classes at the Plymouth Pottery during 1945 had the best attendance in proportion to registration in the history of the school. There is now a waiting list of those who cannot be accommodated until vacancies arise.
The products of the kiln are constantly improving. At exhibits and sales held in Fitchburg and Worcester in cooperation with the Massachusetts Association of Handi- craft Groups, everything sent from the Plymouth Pot- tery was sold. Our pottery's kiln has been used also to fire pieces made by servicemen at Camp Edwards.
Extension courses in handicrafts begun in 1944 were
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repeated in 1945. Two classes in stitchery, a beginner's class of about twelve members and an advance class of about eight members, have been meeting on alternate Fridays under the guidance of Mrs. Louise Chrimes of Boston. The class in fundamentals of design under the direction of Mr. Frank L. Allen of the State Department of Education has also been resumed during the past fall and is attended by about fifteen women.
Each of these handicraft classes is financed from the George Deen funds distributed by the State Department of Education. Ten lessons are provided to each group without cost except for materials.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Scarlet fever cases which were definitely on the in- crease during the first part of the year gradually lessened. A few cases were reported through the summer. When school opened in September there was not the sudden rise in cases that there has been in the past few years.
Up to January 10, 1945, there were fourteen cases of scarlet fever, there having been twenty-eight in Decem- ber. The Plymouth Board of Health met first with the School Committee. Then at a special meeting, the Board ordered the schools, churches, and places of public gath- ering and amusement closed to children under nineteen years of age until January 27th. On that date it was felt that this should be extended a few more days and the schools were re-opened the thirty-first of January. The number of cases during January was twenty-one. During February only eight cases appeared. After that there was a secondary peak during the month of April when the number of cases reached twenty-six. From January through December 1944 there were 106 cases.
Our experience with scarlet fever in 1944 and 1945 was much more critical than that in preceding years, when the cases were as follows: 1940-22, 1941-30, 1942-23, and 1943-11. The rapid increase in 1944 and 1945 sug- gests the possibility of a repetition without warning.
As stated in other reports I believe the primary cause of our scarlet fever in Plymouth is carriers, but as yet no method is available to weed out these children or to identify them. Until such time as some method of identifying them is devised, the disease will continue to occur in this town in varying numbers. Any suggestions to the school physician or the Board of Health in com- bating this problem will be greatly appreciated.
The Dick tests were repeated as in past years and the percentage of positives remained the same. Several who had the disease still remain positive, a fact which cannot
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be explained at this time. This is the first year that the Board of Health has taken over the complete work of diphtheria immunization. It was felt ,by the Board of Health that this is a problem of the health department and that in order to teach the general public their re- sponsibility in the health programs of the community it should be handled by the Board of Health. There were 92 children immunized ranging from under one year to eight years of age. In years to come the number immun- ized should incresae considerably. For the first year this number is very good considering the fact that in years past when immunization was done in the school and at the clinic the number was somewhat over 100.
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