PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE

FIFTH GRADE

Ages 10-12: Characteristics of this period in the child's development:

This is the most important period in elementary education so far as details of school work and the formation of habits are concerned. The body is not growing so rapidly, the brain has practically ceased growing, and there is not the great functional advance which is to accompany the advent of puberty in the period following. There is a lull in the demands upon the system-it is a time of storing up energy. There is less liability to disease. The heart is gaining in proportionate size and strength as compared to the arteries, and there is less liability to fatigue than in the previous period. The child is at the height of physical activity. More games are played now than at any other age.

In the nervous system while the brain has practically ceased growing in weight it is changing rapidly in structural development. According to Clouston, the special import of this period in the nervous system is the co-ordination of muscular action and the senses. The co-ordination begun in the previous period, but not developed to the fine point of adjustments, are now given depth and scope. This is the time when there must be laid the foundation of any future great skill. Skill in games, in manipulation, in the use of tools, in the playing of musical instruments, correctness and facility in the pronunciation of foreign languages cannot be so surely acquired if delayed beyond this period. It is therefore the period for drill and the forming of neuro-muscular habits.

Reasoning remains comparatively weak throughout this period, but is slowly strengthening. A tendency to critical judgment is appearing. The perceptive powers continue active. and the child is capable of close observation. It is still an eye and ear period. Memory is likewise strengthening, particularly memory for objects and their names. Imagination is active, suggesting here the value of objects and pictures for illustration. The animistic tendency is disappearing and superstitions are decreasing. The child is quite susceptible to suggestions, but he is influenced more by companions than by adults. He is never so removed from grown-ups as at this period. He is still selfish and self-assertive, yet gaining in social interest. He begins to form societies or clubs largely for games, athletics, and predatory expeditions, but he unites with others rather for his own profit. In the co-operative games the individualistic element still remains prominent. There is an increased regard for rule and law.

In the matter of games, interest in running games is culminating. Interest in collections is at its height. The methods of collecting are by finding and, in this period increasingly, by trading and buying. In nature interest in pets, particularly in dogs and in the training of dogs, is rapidly increasing, reaching culmination in the next period. Interest in nature collections is high. Great interest in dolls is continuing. In construction interest increases

in the details and skill of workmanship. In literature the dormant interest of the boy is shown in preference for action and adventure. There is added interest in history, in historical biography, and in general literature. The general puzzle interest culminates in mechanical puzzles at eleven years of age, in geometrical puzzles at from twelve to thirteen.

The games and plays of this period will be of great number and variety, involving great activity, considerable skill, often some co-operation, and will tend to further the development of the finer motor adjustments and the co-ordination of muscular action with sense judgments which it is the special office of this period to develop. They will also involve all the developing powers of the child, each peculiar need of the boy and girl being met by the emphasis upon this or that feature of the activity which the awakening interest will determine.—Johnson: Education by Plays and Games.

Certainly as Dr. Johnson outlines, in the large, the physical and mental nature of the fifth and sixth grade child, we are in a position to say that the following course of study offers a splendid opportunity to direct the daily regimen of the fifth grade child from the time he rises in the morning until, and after, he goes to bed at night.

It is to be hoped that the teacher will take advantage of the Boy Scouts', the Girl Scouts' and the Campfire Girls' movements, if her pupils belong to any of these organizations, by allowing the pupils to give talks describing the activities that go on in the camps.

Each teacher should make a daily inspection of the hygienic conditions in the class room if habits of cleanliness are to be fixed and if she values the hygienic and sanitary conditions that affect the life of her pupils. The inspection will take note of the following conditions:

1. Personal cleanliness of the pupils: hair, teeth, nails, nose, clothes.

2. Ventilation of the room; fresh air; the best temperature for energy in work; experiment for this.

3. Physical exercises at intervals during the day.

4. Blackboard-writing for eye strain.

5. Posture for correct muscle and bone habits.

6. Size of school desks in relation to size of pupils.

7. Breathing habits; [watch for mouth breathers, and, for them, if possible, consult a physician].

8. Speech habits.

9. Lunch inspection, care, and suggestions for eating, with opportunities provided for wholesome conversation while lunch is being eaten.

NOTE: For information on nutritious food for the pupils of this grade see "Food for School Boys and Girls," by Mary Swartz Rose, price ten cents; published by Teachers College, Columbia University.

I. Subject-Matter:

1. Air:

What pure air is; man's need for it; how to get fresh air; drafts; ventilation of the building you are in; the lungs and breathing.

2. Sleep:

Why and how we need sleep; some rules for sleeping; habits of sleeping.

3. Cleanliness:

Dirt and cleanliness; microbes and keeping clean.

4. Care of the body:

Hair, skin, nails, teeth, ears, eyes.

The common towel, its dangers.

5. Eating:

What to eat; when to eat; how much to eat; how to eat.

The common drinking cup, its dangers.

6. First aid to the injured:

Firearms and air rifles; how to hold a gun correctly; how to carry the injured; sprains.

7. Punctured wounds:

From fish hooks, rusty nails, needles, splinters.

8. Cuts and bruises:

Cuts from open knives and scissors; bruises.

9. Burns:

How cared for.

10. Fires.

11. Accidents to the nose.

12. Poison:

Treatment and antidotes.

13. Dog bites.

14. What the city does in case of accident.

15. Correlate the work with the civics, the physical education, and the industrial arts courses for the grade, and the war relief work made so necessary by the present world-crisis.

II. First Aid to the Injured:

The following outline is adapted from Johnson: First Aid Manual, [Johnson and Johnson Co., New Brunswick, N. J.] and is published here as a supplement to the work found in the text for the grade. In connection with this work of emergencies every school should be provided with a Johnson and Johnson's "First Aid Case." No. 18

case costs about $6 and is well worth the expenditure. If school funds are not available for this, Case No. 11, called the "Household Accident Case," costs only $1.25; certainly this is within the possibility of every school.

1. First things to do:

Be calm.

Send for physician at once.

EMERGENCIES

Move the patient to a quiet, airy place.

Keep people away.

Handle patiently, gently and quietly.

Place in comfortable position, lying down, head level with body (unless the head is injured).

If patient is vomiting, place on side with head low.

If bleeding, stop at once.

Cover and dress all wounds at once.

2. Fainting:

Lay patient flat with feet raised to send blood back to the brain.

Loosen clothing.

Give plenty of fresh air.

Cold water dashed over face.

3. Bleeding:

a. Slight wounds:

Cover with surgically clean cotton or gauze.

Bandage firmly.

b. Veins-blood dark red.

Lay patient down.

Loosen tight clothing, garters, etc.

Elevate wounded part.

Press on wound with hard pad of clean gauze or cotton.

Apply tight bandage near wound, on side farthest from the heart.

c. Arteries-bright red color-spurts.

Great danger.

Lay patient down-remove clothing from wound.

Elevate wound.

Press thumb or finger covered with surgically covered gauze or clean towel on or into wound.

Replace this by crowding gauze into wounds and hold with tight bandage.
Compress with tight bandage between wound and heart.

When bleeding is stopped give hot tea, coffee, or milk.

Cover wound at once with surgically clean gauze or cotton and bandage.
Release slightly the tight bandage.

Do not use soiled covering-it may cause blood poisoning.
Keep absolutely quiet.

BLEEDING DONT'S

Don't use lukewarm water-it increases bleeding. Use ice, ice-cold water or water as hot as can be borne.

Don't use cobwebs, tobacco, mud, or other like things to stop bleeding.
Don't give stimulants.

Don't put bare fingers in or on wounds.

Don't keep tight bandage applied longer than necessary.

Don't use any material but surgically clean.

4. Burns and Scalds:

Remove clothing from burns.

Let out water from blister by piercing low on side with sterilized needle.
Cover burn to exclude air.

Never hold a burn to heat.

a. Slight burns:

Apply common baking soda.

Cover with clean gauze.

b. Severe burns:

Cut away clothing. If clothing sticks use warm water or oil to loosen.
Apply:

sweet oil,

lard,

olive oil,

carron oil (linseed oil and lime water)

vaseline,

white of egg.

In absence of oils dust with starch and flour.
Burns must be covered as quickly as possible.

c. Burns from Caustic Lye or Strong Ammonia.

Flood with water, then with vinegar and then treat as for burns by fire. d. Burns from Acid.

Flood with water, then wash with solution of baking soda.

e. Lime in Eye.

Flood with water, bathe with diluted vinegar or lemon juice. f. Frost Bite.

Rub frozen part with snow, bits of ice, or put in cold bath. g. Sun Burns.

5. Cuts:

Baking soda, vaseline, or oil.

Wash thoroughly with absorbent cotton and cold or very hot water, (which will cleanse and arrest bleeding), then with antiseptic solution.

Place over the wound a compress of clean muslin wet with solution and bind

not too tightly.

5. Tear or Lacerated Wound:

Caused by nail or brick, etc.

Danger of scar if large-physician necessary.

Cleanse carefully with lukewarm water, followed by antiseptic solution.

Bring edges together as well as possible, and cover the wound with wet compress and bandage loosely.