Rosenwald Schools
Between 1917 and 1932, nearly 5,000 rural community schoolhouses, modest one-two-and three-teacher buildings known as Rosenwald Schools, came to exclusively serve more than 700,000 black children over four decades. It was through the shared ideals and a partnership between Booker T. Washington, an educator, intellectual and prominent African American thought leader, and Julius Rosenwald, a German-Jewish immigrant who accumulated his wealth as head of the behemoth retailer, Sears, Roebuck & Company, that Rosenwald Schools would come to comprise more than one in five Black schools operating throughout the South by 1928. Smithsonian Magazine

Arthurdale Community School

The New Deal Era Arthurdale Community School stressed education for real-life situations. Arithmetic was taught by showing children how lumber was measured to build a house. The revival of traditional Appalachian music encouraged students to strengthen their reading and writing skills by making up calls for community square dances. Fiddles and guitars were built in shop classes.

Chicago Handwork Classrooms

Industrial Arts/Correlated Handwork Classrooms In Chicago Public Schools 1910-1930’s.

The School In Rose Valley

The School In Rose Valley
was established in 1929 by families from the local Pennsylvania Arts and Crafts community who sought a creative, student-centered alternative to traditional education. 

Cambridge Nursery School

Cambridge Nursery School was founded in 1923 by noted educator Abigail Eliot who believed in “children’s imagination, and in giving children a chance to do the things which they naturally do and to grow at their own pace.” Abigail Eliot was guided by the belief that young children learn much of what they need to know through play.

Water Work

Pouring, scooping, splashing, floating, buoyancy, flowing, filling, measuring, estimating, manipulating, lifting, observing, talking, problem-solving, communicating, enjoying and sharing the wet watery space. Detergent squeeze bottles, old plastic medicine jars, perforated berry baskets, funnels, flexible, plastic tubing of varying length and diameter, plastic medicine droppers, poultry basters, bulb ear syringe/aspirators, corks, plastic measuring cups, plastic water jugs pint, quart, gallon, mini bike pump, battery-operated fan, clear plastic eye dropper, salt shaker, wide variety of sponges.

More Please!

More Please! What a fun image. Their leader is learning how to dish out what looks like a great
big serving of safely warmed mashed potatoes. Now imagine that The Adult Kitchen Cook has told our hostess that there are 6 to be fed and each scoop is 8 ounces or one cup per girl. Nothing more needs to be said. The Math is left to sink in and percolate.

Bathe The Baby

Bathe The Baby Math-Health-Science Center
Includes:
Sponges, infant soap, shampoo, oil, washcloths, hooded towels, diapers, powder, wipes, baby scale, bulb ear and nose aspirator, thermometer and an oral medicine syringe.

Each item has a name with a vast universe of language and experience attached to it. Over time and with practiced usage, children will acquire a very sophisticated vocabulary & understanding.

Big Motor Work


Core strength, motor planning, and coordination. Tons of Fun. Shifting their weight and stabilizing their movements.  Focus, spatial awareness + muscle control. Center of Body Mass. Center of Body Gravity. One Big Rocking Good Time For All!