1940s Textbook Collection: Math, Science, and Health

On to the last installment of the textbooks of the 1940s.

Something that used to be common in school curricula was 'health and safety'.  There's a ton of these health-and-safety readers dating to the 1920s/1930s and through about the 1950s or so.  This selection was published by the state of California in 1940.

Highlights include 'how to avoid injury on the playground', 'the history of bathing', and 'how boys and girls grow'. 

These science books were the last three books of a larger set from 1st-6th grade.  These are the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade books.  Science books for earlier grades focused on observing nature, categorizing objects, and the basics of how to study how the physical world works.

The later grades start focusing on details.  Part of that whole 'learn to read' vs 'read to learn' that happens around 3rd/4th grade.

The upper elementary books start going into ecology, and the basics of physics and chemistry.

Finally, one of those things that you don't get so often with doll accessories:  math books.  And for dolls that are supposed to be in 3rd/4th grade, advanced math books.  Because some girls get to skip grade levels in math, and that is a good thing that should be encouraged.

There's a lot more of a focus on mental math and word problems and far far less on 'how did you get this answer'.  The human has some concerns about modern elementary school math education (deriving answers is all well and good, but basic arithmetic is really just rote memorization.  And if you don't have it memorized, advanced stuff is going to be a pain.)

So that's it for the 1940s textbooks.  Coming soon:  the 1930s Alice-and-Jerry readers, a precursor to the Dick-and-Jane books.

1940s Textbook Collection: English and Social Studies

There were way too many books to show off in one post, so it's been split up over several.  This time, the english and social studies books.  The ones we have are slightly smaller than the textbook from Molly's collection, and from the the same series.

There are workbooks that come with the actual textbooks, but the human decided not to make any.  These are definitely different from modern textbooks, as there are sections on 'how to correctly pronounce words'.

On to social studies:  these were fun because these are actually the 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade textbooks, because the 5th grade textbook was all about American history...and the site with the textbook scans was Canadian.

The human actually enjoyed reading the snippets on different cultures in these books.  It's a nice little window on how Americans viewed other cultures (or were taught how to view other cultures) half a century ago.

Coming up next post:  the math, science, and health books.

1940s Textbook Collection

It's still winter.  The humans are up in VT (and finally found the burst pipes from the cold snap in late December...) and we're going through the massive stashes of vintage textbooks that we have somehow acquired.

This time it's an entire curriculum's worth of textbooks from the 1940s.  Also perfect for our eventual time-traveling classroom in the old schoolhouse, but that has to wait for the pipes to be fixed and the drywall and the dollhouse to be built.  So that might take a while.  But we hope to have the time-traveling classroom done by fall.

This set has english, science, social studies, health, and math books for grades 4-6.  The english books is the exact one found in the now-retired 'Molly's School Supplies' accessory set.  As always, the human complained about a lack of math and science books for dolls, and went about fixing it in her own way.

A 4th grade textbook collection

This set of 5 textbooks would probably be what Molly or Nanea would have used.  The english book was actually published in 1947, but since the Pleasant Company accessory set had it, the human decided to include it.  The rest of the books were published in the 1940-1943 timeframe, making them period appropriate for World War 2 era dolls in North America.  (Fun fact, these books were actually found on a Canadian site because they were used in the Alberta school system, despite all being published in the US.)

Interiors, in color

The insides are scans of the real textboooks, shrunk down to doll-size.  The human tried making them as readable as possible while still being actually doll-sized.

This textbook collection can be purchased on the etsy store here.

Lily at iGEM

Lily here.  I didn't go to Vermont last fall, but I got to have my own science adventure with the human.  You see, the human was a judge at the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition, better known as iGEM, and I came along as her mascot.  I did not have a biology themed dress, but no one minded.  Except the human.

Ready for judging, with all the resources and references

So what happens at iGEM?  Well, first off, schools (high schools, colleges, and universities from around the world) form teams of students.  Then each team gets a box of various bits of DNA and are told to make a critter (usually a bacteria or yeast, but sometimes algae) do something cool.  And if they don't have the right DNA in the kit for what they want to do, well, they can give a company like IDT (Integrated DNA Technologies) the sequence of DNA they want, and IDT gives them back the physical bit of DNA.

Someone had made bacteria eat crude oil.  They won best high school poster.

They have one summer to do this.  Then, in the fall, usually in late October/early November, all those teams meet up in Boston and have a Giant Jamboree.  Over 300 teams, thousands of students.
It was great fun.  Also pandemonium.  But great fun.

DIY microfluidics for bio experiments

So what counts as 'something cool'?  Well, anything really.  Biofilms that suck up nanoparticles.  Eating crude oil.  Checking antibiotic resistance.  Curing cancer.  Advancing the basic science behind genetic engineering.  It's really the best.  I can't wait to go back again this year.

Playing with a 3D printed hand held centrifuge

October Pumpkin Patch

By the brook behind the old schoolhouse

Samantha again.  I've been the one going to Vermont with the human last fall (probably because I'm the favorite, no matter what the other dolls say.), which means I've gotten to see some gorgeous scenery and get spoiled with new outfits each time.

(Fun fact:  the human managed to blow up her sewing machine making doll clothes last September.  Changing the light bulb in her machine, no less.  The sewing machine has been fixed.  No one was hurt.  She's still not going to live it down.)

It was raining horribly the weekend with the best foliage, so by the time we could go outside for a nice photoshoot, all the leaves had fallen.  The hills were still rather pretty.  But the final destination was actually the farm next door.

And their pumpkins.

All the pumpkins.

The human bought many.  

And told her friends to come buy many.  

And we will back this fall to buy more.

Samantha at the Tunbridge World's Fair

The pumpkin at the Eastern States Expo last year might have
been bigger.  Might.

Samantha here.  We were a little occupied last fall with a number of things, so there's a bit of a backlog of our adventures.  Suffice to say, there were a number of adventures in Vermont.  One of the biggest attractions in our neck of the woods in the fall is the World's Fair at Tunbridge.

Decorative gourds and vegetables

So of course I had to go.  

It was an awesome agricultural fair, with jam and jelly competitions and crafting competitions.  The human is planning to enter some of our clothing for the doll clothes competition.  Not sure what it's going to be yet, but I hope something spectacular.  And then I can be the model at the fair for the weekend.

That is an American Girl sewing machine

The best part of the fair was the antique/historical buildings.  There was the crafting building (with a working loom, and someone teaching lace making.  Outside there were the steam engines, someone making baskets, and some Civil War reenactors.  There was also a replica schoolhouse (ours is better) with a shelf full of old textbooks.  I think we'll need those same textbooks for our schoolroom when the human finally gets around to building it.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

The cookie and cake party spread

Lily frosting cakes with some unwanted help

Samantha and Nellie with books and cookies

A holiday cookie platter with milk

Cauth and Anora in a heated game of Set

Z and Shep at the dessert buffet

Kana and Lily enjoying the roll cake

and someone trying to steal a cookie or two