USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Eastham > Town of Eastham Annual Report 1947-1951 > Part 13
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CURRICULUM
The modern textbook is a tool developed by experts to meet the needs of children. A great deal of research goes into the development of any new series of texts. Reading level, pupil interests, and aims of the course are all carefully studied. There are, of course, many textbook publishing companies which offer texts aimed at the same level. There- fore, each town has to choose the books that seem to meet the needs of its particular group. Whenever it becomes nec- essary to change a basic series, a committee of teachers is formed to study the various texts and make a recommenda- tion to the Superintendent and School Committee.
At the present time, we have committees composed of teachers from all the towns of Union No. 20 working on the development of courses of study. The elementary teachers are concentrating this year on a course of study for the lan- guage arts. At the high school level, teachers are working in their special fields in collaboration with teachers of the same subjects in the other towns. We have found the exchange of ideas most helpful, and as a result we shall develop courses
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which will be most valuable, especially to new teachers en- tering our system.
MISCELLANEOUS
1. I call your attention to the report of the Guidance Director. This report shows the progress which has been made during the year and an outline of our plans for the future.
2. The Rinehart system of handwriting is again being used in the towns of Union No. 20. I believe that most par- ents are convinced of the value of this program.
3. I call your attention to the reports of Mr. Nassi, Mr. Tileston, and Miss O'Toole. The towns of this union may well be proud of the musical opportunities given their children. The results of this program were very evident in the series of concerts held last spring. Miss O'Toole has been with us only a few months, but her art program is already showing excellent results.
4. Every elementary room should have books available at various levels of reading difficulty. I recommend that each year we continue to purchase a few books for our libraries.
CONCLUSION
It has always seemed to me that the parents of school children are too little acquainted with our teachers and with what they are trying to accomplish in our schools. The in- creasing number of parents attending our annual "Open House" is most gratifying, but it is not enough. Parents, through their own initiative, owe it to their children to be- come acquainted with the teachers. Most of the parent- teacher problems which come to my attention would never arise if the parents took the trouble to become personally acquainted with the teacher. It is only through these per- sonal contacts that parents and teachers come to realize that
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their aims and ideals are identical. Parents can help a great deal by speaking well of the teacher and of the school in the home. Too often the child hears only comments about what is wrong with the schools, never about what is right.
May I express to you, the Eastham School Committee, my gratitude for your wholehearted cooperation during the past year. I know the many hours which you have devoted to the problems which I have brought to you, and I know that each problem has received your careful consideration. I feel that the last year has been a period of advancement, and I look forward to the next year with confidence.
Respectfully submitted,
HERBERT E. HOYT, Superintendent of Schools.
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REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL
Otto E. Nickerson
A constantly forward look on the part of our school committee and superintendent assures us of some of the best school facilities. The new playground equipment is a source of never-ending pleasure for the children; the new typewriter and mimeograph in the office are proving of great value to the teachers.
The opening of the fourth room has relieved two teach- ers of their third grade, and divided our greatly increased membership into four nearly equal groups. Miss Plimpton has recently resigned her position as teacher of Grades III and IV. Mrs. Esther Handel has succeeded her and has fast achieved fine results with this class.
Our regular supervisors, the Nassis, Mr. Tileston and Mr. Lynch, still maintain their excellent service to us. Miss O'Toole, who replaced Miss Jarden in the art work, is proving very popular with everyone.
In spite of increased food costs, Mrs. Gertrude Moore is doing her best to give us well-balanced meals without raising the charge of one dollar per week. Our surplus government foods and subsidies also add much to keep down our ex- penses.
4H Club work is again resumed every other Friday after- noon. On the alternate Fridays an assembly is given by each of the grades in turn. We appreciate the visitors who have attended these assemblies and hope that more will avail themselves of the opportunity to visit our school as the year advances.
REPORT OF THE GUIDANCE DIRECTOR David O. Lynch
Your guidance service covers seven areas of student
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personnel work. This report will name those areas and list the activities carried on in each division.
INDIVIDUAL RECORD
This is a cumulative inventory of facts relating to the individual student. It starts with the student in the first grade and follows him through the years until he leaves school. Data is collected on school achievement, test results, health, family, behavior, interests, plans, work experience, and follow-up. This folder contains the information which helps each individual discover his potentialities so as to make the most of his life both in and out of school. It demonstrates clearly that the school's main function is to serve the indi- vidual, not to fit him into a standardized program.
TESTING
The efficient educational program of today needs the results of a scientific testing program in order to answer the question, "Are our schools accomplishing what they are supposed to accomplish?" Testing evaluates our efforts to reach educational goals, it uncovers aptitudes, interests, and personality aspects. This year all the students took achieve- ment tests and scholastic aptitude tests. The students in grades 11 and 12 took guidance tests to aid them in making their life plans. Test results are explained to each student and, whenever possible, to interested parents.
COUNSELLING
The guidance interview is an attempt to interpret the information in the individual record so the student will un- derstand the assembled data and be able to make intelligent plans based upon the true facts. Each student has at least one interview each year during which he talks about his educational progress and plans, his vocational aims, and any other problem that may concern him. The student is never told what to do. He is strongly urged to make wise plans and to act upon them.
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OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION
Accurate and usable information about jobs and occu- pations is made available to your students in the form of books, monographs, government reports, vocational film, field trips, and Career Day. Much of the work of filing this material has been carried on by students. A suitable display has been made by the pupils in the woodworking class. This area of guidance is continuous. Material must be constantly secured, filed, and properly used.
PLACEMENT
This activity helps place the student in the proper course in high school and aids him in the placement of the student in training beyond high school. It is concerned with part-time, summer time, and full time job placement. Stu- dents have been taken to Boston to help them make the con- tacts necessary for satisfactory placement. Interviews are arranged and the results checked. All of the guidance activi- ties are aimed at suitable placement for the individual. As the program grows in strength, so will this vital service grow in importance.
FOLLOW-UP
No modern manufacturer would think of neglecting the study of the service of his product. Education must study its product in order to know how well it is doing its job. Our students can tell us how we are succeeding or failing after they have used their education in real life. This year we are engaged in a comprehensive survey of recent graduates so we might gather the facts about the effectiveness of our training. The results of this study will indicate areas of needed revision in our program of education.
COORDINATION AND COOPERATION
There are many facilities in our community which could be brought together to serve the needs of our students. Serv- ice club members have much valuable information of an occupational nature which could be made available to inter- ested students. Cooperative work experiences could be ar-
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ranged for more students. Scholarships could be set up and maintained for worthy students. Field trips and occupa- tional surveys could be sponsored by interested groups. The transition from the classroom to a place in your community can be made a worthwhile experience instead of a struggle for recognition. Guidance is concerned with this problem and plans are being made to aid in its solution.
CONCLUSION
This year the secretary of School Union 20 asked the Commissioner of Education to approve its director and the guidance program. Approval has been made of the director. When a final report in each of the above mentioned areas of guidance has been made, it is expected that the program will earn highest possible rating and it will go far in helping to bring to your school a top rating for its program as a whole.
Without the active cooperation of your principal and teachers, the guidance program would be a poorly function- ing service. The growth this year is due to real interest on the part of the faculty and administration. The program will continue to grow as long as it can show its usefulness to everyone concerned with education.
REPORT OF THE ART SUPERVISOR
C. Aileen O'Toole
At the beginning of this school year, each student in the Junior and Senior High School art classes in the other schools of the Union was asked to give his "idea" of Art. . .. what he thought Art was. A few answered that it was or could be a career, others that it was recreational ; many did not have any idea at all of what art might or could be. This situation is just about the same in later life-only about two percent of the students leaving schools enter any phase of Art as a vocation. Many can realize that art is a way of life, and so results show in the furnishings of their homes, their clothes, in general, their tastes. These people turn to
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Art as an avocation-leisure hours are well spent in creating functional as well as aesthetically fine end results. This, then, is constantly a major objective of the Art program-the avocational aspect of Art-to foster art as a way of making our lives and surroundings better.
In the Eastham elementary school, the attitudes of the teachers toward art has been cooperative and constructive throughout the Fall term. It has been possible to carry out many ideas. These teachers are, on the whole, creative in their outlook, and foster a creative spirit in the children's work. The results, in general, do show the child's own feel- ing, rather than ideas implanted by another. Probably the greatest problem in teaching children is cultivating a feeling of security in each individual child-letting him know that his work is good, because it is his. This has been discussed with each group, the children deciding that copying another's work is unfair.
The Eastham school has one of the most enthusiastic groups of children as far as Art goes .... and is the most pleasant of schools to visit. All the teachers are helpful and the children's work is more than average. Their teachers find many opportunities for art activities in correlation with other school subjects.
The surroundings of the school provide excellent op- portunities for art activities-as, for example, sketching and painting. The children help themselves and others in know- ing their town through visualizing in color on paper.
On the whole, the various phases of art will constitute the work of the year, and will become the first steps in build- ing up a curriculum in the Arts for the elementary school. A knowledge of the town, the needs and interests of the stu- dents, are all necessary before this can be done. Only in this way can an effective and educational course of study be con- structed. In this way, the children themselves will be the authors and will gain and grow in many more and important ways than with a teacher-imposed program.
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REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
There is no school in the union which does as much for music and has as much the wholehearted approval and as- sistance of the Principal and teachers as in the Eastham School. Every pupil in school is helped and encouraged from the first grade on to take up some instrument. The pupils who cannot obtain an instrument otherwise can use one of the school instruments which have been purchased from proceeds of concerts or donated through the efforts of Mr. Nickerson.
Grades I and II are studying rhythm work with regular notation. By the end of the school year they become very efficient notation readers. Grade III studies the Symphonet which combines rhythm and tones. From the 4th Grade and on, all those who care to do so take up some regular orches- tral or band instrument. The preliminary work in the first three grades helps the pupil not only in his instrument, but in his vocal music as well.
The Eastham orchestra is a fine, well balanced organ- ization with a love for playing good music. The Eastham musicians are very much in evidence in the Junior Com- munity Band and Cape Cod School Symphony Orchestra.
It is with sincere regret that, due to health conditions, Mrs. Nassi and I will have to terminate our teaching.
We began instrumental music in Union 21 in September, 1928. This work began at first without remuneration from the towns. The pupils who could, were paying 25 cents per week. In January, 1930, the School Committee finally took over. Harwich did not vote funds until March, 1930, but the Teachers' Monomauset Club continued this work in that town. The instrumental music in our Union is a living memo- rial to Superintendent Sims, who with great enthusiasm and in spite of many discouragements and criticisms established instrumental music in Union 21.
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With the exception of a few piano students, there were no other instrumental players in the schools and the pupils had never heard the names of most instruments. Looking back through these 21 years, we have seen the tiny instru- mental groups develop into fine bands and orchestras that have served their communities and gained reputations not only at home but throughout the State and New England. They have participated with talented children all over New England in many great bands and have come home with never less than an excellent, and many times was rated the finest among 80 bands in New England. This shows that there is great talent on Cape Cod.
The greatest reward for us has been the devotion of the children and their willingness to meet the challenge that was before them, and in spite of many many handicaps to be able to do their utmost and win. We are also grateful to the parents who have made great sacrifices and met the handi- caps of transportation and other difficulties. We are cspe- cially grateful to those first families who have championed our cause.
Mrs. Nassi and I want to thank Superintendent Hoyt for the genuine interest and support that he has shown in our work.
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF VOCAL MUSIC Webster Whitney Tileston
It is with genuine pleasure that I submit my report for the school year ending December 31, 1948.
Interest and enthusiasm continue to rank "tops" in the field of musical endeavor and practically every boy and girl has shown his or her desire for participation in music acti- vity during the course of the year.
Progress in Vocal Music in the grades here in Eastham, as well as in the other towns of our Union, is exceptionally gratifying and too much praise cannot be given the respec-
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tive grade teachers as they conscientiously drill on the weekly problems relating to tone, time, and theory embodied in the assigned songs. As I make my weekly visits to each class I marvel and inwardly thrill at the spontaneous re- sponse and earnest endeavor of each young student to give me his best in musical results. Such early, whole-hearted participation in music cannot help but cement the finer qual- ities in a child that all tend toward concerted peace and hap- piness in the years to come.
Altogether, music work and results have been most suc- cessful in your town and the cooperation of you parents and friends with the students and myself has aided and helped tremendously in the pleasurable performance of my duties as musical director of your town and Union.
MEDICAL REPORT OF EASTHAM SCHOOL November 1948
W. E. WRIGHT, M.D.
Examination of 80 children at Eastham school has been completed and review of findings indicates no particular deviation from the relatively high status of student health heretofore reported. There are no apparent communicable diseases or disorders, general nutritional status is fairly good, student health interest is apparent especially among the grades two through five.
Particular comment is again made on the excellent fam- ily rapport developed by the school nurse and through that agency, health records and histories are indeed efficiently maintained.
The environs at Eastham school need little comment ex- cept to say that the unit approaches the ideal insofar as the many attentions to child health are concerned.
Dental health is exceptionally good among the students. There is no significant incidence of rheumatic fever signs or
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symptoms, remedial health defects are in the main attended in such fashion as to minimize interference with school progress.
Immunization records are replete with examples of com- pleted series. In connection with the pre-school clinics, these facts speak for themselves thus indicating cooperative ag- gressive effort on the part of all people and agencies respon- sible for student and child health.
REPORT OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE Mildred Wye, R. N.
During 1948 we made 755 visits in Eastham to carry out the public health program. This is an increase of 11 per cent. over the previous year and a marked increase over 1946.
Actually we have no problems because the Red Cross never fails us when we ask for help on transportation when children need to go to clinics to Hyannis, Pocasset or Provi- dence and the Town officials aid us in securing eye glasses and other health needs. As for the school, we believe that nowhere on earth could there be smoother working relations and cooperation than we get from Mr. Nickerson and his staff of efficient teachers.
The fact that we have had no major epidemic in East- ham may be luck to some degree but we believe it reflects upon the intelligence of parents who keep sick children home and in the alertness of teachers who recognize symptoms which might be disastrous. There was only one case of whooping cough in a school child and only four cases of measles among pre-school children to our knowledge. Since both these diseases are highly contagious the fact there was no spread is miraculous. Skin and parasitic diseases con- tinue to be non-existent. We have never had any pediculosis trouble in Eastham, and we feel that no school needs this disadvantage since 10 per cent. DDT powder safely elimi- nates these pests.
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Medical examinations conducted by the school physi- cian assisted by the school nurse discovered no major de- fects not under treatment by the family physician or clinics. There were some children who showed need of vitamins. While heredity plays an important part in weight, there should be a steady gain in weight even for the thin type child, and when palor, listlessness or nodes in the neck ap- pear, we can begin to question that child's nutrition. We are most fortunate in Eastham to have a school physician who is interested in the individual child and his health needs, physical, mental and emotional.
The dental clinic was again staffed by volunteers who assisted the dentist since so much time could not be given by the nurse in this project. With the steady increase of school population future needs may require at least five days for the dental clinic since only a small percentage are cared for by private dentists. Probably nothing makes a greater contribution to a child's health and self confidence than a mouth of well cared for and good looking teeth.
The Massachusetts Vision Test equipment was used for all grades, and children with defects have all been attended to either by their private physicians or eye clinics, ten hav- ing attended the latter during the year.
The audiometer was used for 40 children and included the third grade and other selected children on the teachers' recommendation. No defects were recorded. This test was given by Miss Juliet A. Whitteker, County Supervising Nurse, assisted by the school nurse. Later on in the year the audiometer is to be left with the first grade teacher who has b en instructed how to test her first and second graders.
Five children again attended Summer Health Camp at Pocasset following negative chest X-rays.
Immunization against diphtheria and small pox was given this fall by Dr. Fred Moore, County Health Officer, to all children attending these clinics. Certainly no parents should be so negligent as to fail to have their children pro-
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tected against these diseases. We feel only a tiny percentage of our Eastham children are still not immunized.
The annual Well Child Conference financed by the Town was attended by 38 children or over half of our infant-pre- school population. No major defects were found but some in need of tonsillectomies and having foot troubles were noted. We hope that in 1949 all children not under the care of a physician's regular supervision will be given this advantage of a yearly check-up by their parents at this conference since our own local pediatrician, Dr. Kemp, is examining physi- cian, and the sooner a child's problems are discovered, the greater his chance for health and happiness.
On Registration Day in June the nurse interviewed mothers of incoming first-graders. This gave us better first- hand knowledge of the individual child as well as helping our scholars-to-be in orientation.
Eastham is one town whose children have the advantage of a good school lunch program. When the year began, des- serts were not offered, and some children began bringing dessert in a bag. However, in some instances this was eaten at recess, thus dulling their appetite for a good lunch. It is hoped that parents will see to it that their children eat a good breakfast daily since some authorities feel this is the most important meal in the day, thereby assuring better nutrition and food habits, and that children will eat their good hot lunch, preventing the waste of food, learning an appreciation of the fact that unlike the half starved children of some European countries, we do not have to live on a sub- calorie diet.
Further statistics follow :
55 visits made to the Town, and 755 calls made as follows :
27 Antepartum
41 Postpartum
121 Infant
379 Pre-school
40 School children
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23 Orthopedic
14 Tuberculosis service
5 Communicable disease
40 To school
24 To officials and in promotion of service and in behalf of patients
41 Ineffective or not seen
755
In closing, I wish to thank everyone who has assisted me during the year, especially Mr. Nickerson, his teachers, and the Town officials.
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ENROLLMENT BY GRADES October 1, 1948
Grade
Boys
Girls
Total
1
5
10
15
2
5
1
6
3
9
7
16
4
6
5
11
5
5
3
8
6
3
4
7
7
5
5
10
8
9
5
14
47
40
87
TABULAR STATEMENT OF MEMBERSHIP BY GRADES 1938-1948
Grades
1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948
1
9
12
9
11
3
4
2
6
16
3
15
2
13
10
7
6
11
3
4
3
7
17
6
3
13
9
7
9
5
7
4
4
4
8
16
4
7
11
11
7
8
6
7
7
7
5
11
5
12
8
8
13
7
4
6
10
9
6
8
6
11
9
8
8
9
8
7
6
8
11
7
7
15
10
9
9
6
6
9
5
7
8
10
8
6
14
10
9
10
7
5
8
5
9
14
86
83
69
72
59
45
44
49
63
67
87
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EASTHAM PUPILS ATTENDING ORLEANS HIGH SCHOOL
Period September 8, 1948 to December 31, 1948
Name
Grade
Carole Anderson
9
Alice Cross
9
Elizabeth Doughty
9
Edith Emond
9
Janet Gould
9
Edward Macomber
9
Donald Ohmann
9
Nancy Schofield
9
George Whiting
9
George Moore
10
Thomas Nickerson
10
George Sibley
10
Lucy Tibbals
10
Beverly Anderson
11
Norma Clark
11
Constance Dill
11
Thomas Dill
11
Ruby Emond
11
Catherine Moore
11
Marie Tibbals
11
Jane Atwood
12
Carolyn Brownell
12
Nancy Burgess
12
Robert Burgess
12
Paula Schwind
12
Lois Steele
12
Barbara Walker
12
Carolyn Whelpley
12
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SCHOOL CENSUS
October 1, 1948
Boys
Girls
Five years or over and under seven
12
17
Seven years or over and under sixteen
49
36
61
53
Distribution of the above minors :
In public day school membership :
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