Finding some free time on your hands and wanting to enlighten/entertain yourself? Come on into the State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library and thumb through an old handbook on educating young students in Kansas in the mid 1920s. This is a cool booklet for teachers issued by Jess W. Miley, Kansas State Superintendent of Public Instruction. It covers all the basic courses necessary for instruction in Kansas elementary and rural schools.
Assignment of Study for Rural and Elementary Schools, 1925-1926: Including Calendar, Approved Library Books, and Price List
The book is 40 pages chock full of information with lists of textbooks and children's literature promoted in the early 20th century.
From the Foreword of the book: "This publication contains the price list of elementary textbooks published by the state of Kansas. It contains the law requiring each school district to purchase at least five dollars' worth of library books, and also contains a graded and classified list of fifty books approved by the state superintendent of public instruction. It contains the school calendar. It contains the names of the texts used in each grade and indicates the assignments to be covered each month"
The book includes: School year calendar, Order of subjects, Books approved for school libraries, Textbooks by grades, Assignment of study, a list of classic literature for each grade level, Drawing assignments, Ethics, Geography, History, Language, Grammar, Music (includes a list of songs to learn by rote for different grades), Penmanship, Physiology, Reading, and Spelling.
An example from the book: A list of the classics recommended for fifth graders to read each month for the first four months of the school year:
First Month:
Rabbit Roads (Cottontails), p. 93.
A Little Girl's Visit to Longfellow, p. 122.
The Wind and the Moon, p. 233.
The Emperor's Nightingale, p. 56.
The Two Herd-Boys, p. 337.
Second Month:
The Cock and the Fox, p. 236.
How They Got Fire at Puget Sound, p. 270.
Robert Fulton, p. 148.
The Three Fishers, p. 90.
Makers of the Flag, p. 145.
The Little Post Boy, p. 292.
Third Month: The Sands of Dee, p. 91.
The Iron Casket, p. 278.
The Swan's Nest Among the Reeds, p. 331.
The First Grenadier of France, p .. 116.
How Rosalee Won the Game, p. 107.
The Grateful Foxes, p. 303.
Fourth Month:
The Bold Peddler and Robin Hood, p. 334.
The Brahman and the Rogue, p. 8.
Sir Cleges and the Cherries, p. 169.
The Sunken Treasure, p. 160.
The book is a delightful look at what school children were up to in the "olden days" when our parents grandparents or even great grandparents trudged off to school.
You can look over this book online here:
Assignment of Study for Rural and Elementary Schools
1925-1926
Including Calendar, Approved Library Books, and Price List.