968 Rural School Leaflet. 



have a "Corn Day" in your school and give Friday afternoon to a 

 celebration in honor of this important agricultural product? Without 

 taking much time from the regular school work it will provide a means 

 of bringing to the school the good people of the district, will mean fun 

 for you and your boys and girls, and will provide a means of teaching 

 a few important agricultural lessons, 'in which it is likely most boys and 

 girls will be so enthusiastically interested that they will not realize 

 they are studying. It is suggested that "Corn Day" be made a com- 

 munity affair. Let the president of the club, with your help, appoint 

 committees to do the various kinds of work. Let one committee see 

 that the fathers and mothers and big brothers and sisters, the school 

 commissioner, the doctor, the postmaster, and the blacksmith are invited. 

 The invitation may be neatly written by the children themselves, and 

 decorated, perhaps with some appropriate drawing such as a corn stalk 

 or a pumpkin. Could not the big feature of "Corn Day" be made a 

 "Corn Show" in which each boy and girl will enter an exhibit of the best 

 ten ears of corn that they can find in the home granar}^ ? Let a committee 

 attend to this show, making plans for each exhibitor to place his ten 

 ears so that they will show off to the best advantage, the ears piled in a 

 pyramid, tied around with a string to hold them in place, and all the 

 tips pointing the same way. It would be a ven^ good plan to let the 

 committee invite three farmers to judge all the exhibits and tell the boys 

 and girls what ears they consider the best, and why. A program should 

 be arranged and perhaps placed in charge of another committee. This 

 might well include essays written by the children themselves on some 

 subject which concerns corn, such as "What corn is good for," "Fun I 

 have had in a corn field," "What a good ear of corn is," "The Pilgrims," 

 "The Indians and corn," How to pop corn," "How I made something 

 good to eat from corn." 



There is much good prose and poetry concerning corn which will give 

 material for recitations. Some of this poetry is mentioned elsewhere 

 in the Leaflet. 



Some of the visitors might be asked to speak to the children. Many 

 of the residents should be able to tell interesting stories about the old 

 time husking bees. The teacher should make clear to the visitors what 

 "Corn Day" stands for. 



The teacher might suggest that the children decorate the 

 schoolroom, using corn-stalks and pumpkins perhaps, and having 

 drawings and verses which concern the farm and the out-of-doors upon 

 the blackboard. The afternoon would be well rounded out if some of 

 the girls should serve something of their 0W4i cooking made from corn 

 or corn products. 



