By Karen Canon
This is the third in a series of reflections on Marion Berry's I Buy A School, in which she tells of her experiences as headmistress of a PNEU school.
‘Brush End was a small utopian school in the New Forest…’ So starts a chapter in Marion Berry’s memoir, I Buy a School. It was the beginning of a chapter in her life as well, as she joined a former schoolmate to run this idyllic school in southern England. Enrolling elementary-age students, she joyously remarked, “It was an eye-opener for me to see what can be achieved with a group of young children with no pre-conceived ideas about school.” Soon, a ‘Nursery Class’ was added as well for children ages four to six.
The time-table for this inaugural Nursery Class was thus.
Essentially, an hour outdoors followed by Bible stories and hymns, a half-hour of ‘academic’ work suited to their age and abilities, snack, more time outdoors, more stories, and singing games. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? And lest we assume that the outdoor hour was some form of direct teaching such as a unit study on rabbits or ponies or such, they were not. The class enjoyed the privilege and the responsibility for the care of these creatures and animal ‘chores’ as well as other outdoor work such as the raking of leaves or the gathering of fallen apples constituted this morning hour. A very natural consequence was abundant opportunity for the making of out-of-doors observations. These observations were deliberately encouraged, as we will see.
Tucked amidst nuggets of useful practical advice for the teaching of preschoolers is a simple working-out of an early nature notebook, appropriate for this age and ability level: a weather chart.
- 8:50-9:50 Rabbits, pony, leaves, apples, fir cones, sand heap, cabbages, ducks on pond
- 9:50-10:00 Bible stories. A Child’s Life of Christ p. 1-154, Hymns. Away in a Manger. Once in Royal. All Things Bright.
- 10:00-10:30 Boxes of Letters. Dominoes, Chalks, Blackboards, woolly balls and cutting out.
- 10:30-11:15 Milk and biscuits . Play in garden. Weather chart conference. Come in. Do chart. Clear up room. Stories. Fairy tales. The Magic Fishbone, Alice in Wonderland.
- 11:15-11:30 Singing Games.
- 11:30 Rest or go home.
Essentially, an hour outdoors followed by Bible stories and hymns, a half-hour of ‘academic’ work suited to their age and abilities, snack, more time outdoors, more stories, and singing games. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? And lest we assume that the outdoor hour was some form of direct teaching such as a unit study on rabbits or ponies or such, they were not. The class enjoyed the privilege and the responsibility for the care of these creatures and animal ‘chores’ as well as other outdoor work such as the raking of leaves or the gathering of fallen apples constituted this morning hour. A very natural consequence was abundant opportunity for the making of out-of-doors observations. These observations were deliberately encouraged, as we will see.
Tucked amidst nuggets of useful practical advice for the teaching of preschoolers is a simple working-out of an early nature notebook, appropriate for this age and ability level: a weather chart.
At a quarter to eleven…playtime was considered over. They evidently enjoyed the important feeling that they too had affairs to tend to, so they always saw to their Weather Chart at this point. This meant watching trees and Bill’s hair for the wind, gazing at the clouds and hunting for acorns and such like to chalk. Sylvia [a teacher], who was good at drawing, prepared a pile of squares of paper bearing open umbrellas with dripping rain, shut umbrellas, suns, trees blown half over, houses with the smoke going straight up and skies with large white clouds or grey clouds or no clouds. The appropriate sets for each day had to be chosen and pasted on to a large brown paper chart pinned to the wall. This chart also had five other squares which were filled in by each child chalking a personal find, e.g. the aforementioned acorns, the whole idea being a rudimentary nature notebook. [p. 55]
What a gentle way to build habits of observing and looking for patterns in the world around them.
I hope the takeaway is that there are many ways a creative and wise mama, who knows her children, can devise, as Miss Berry does, practical applications of the principles of education which hold true for all children and then scaffold the children into the knowledge and habits that fullness of life demand.
I hope the takeaway is that there are many ways a creative and wise mama, who knows her children, can devise, as Miss Berry does, practical applications of the principles of education which hold true for all children and then scaffold the children into the knowledge and habits that fullness of life demand.
Here are a few links to support a weather chart observations.
- Images of clouds that could be cut out and pasted on a calendar square.
- The Beaufort Scale matches wind speeds to observable phenomena such as 'trees blown over' or 'houses with smoke going straight up'. If you live near water, there is a version suited for your locale, too.