This book, published in 1941, is a collection of articles that emphasize the value of teaching the "tool" or basic skills: reading, elementary mathematics, language arts, "and their subdivisions." The book emphasizes the value of using the environment and experiences of rural children in teaching these subjects. Chapter 1 describes the importance of educational basics, as described by contemporary research. Examples of programs and classroom methods are offered. Chapter 2 contrasts the principles justified by modern psychology against some of the guesswork opinions of child development and tool-subject education with examples of application of these principles to learning situations. Chapter 3 focuses on 5-year-old children in small schools, examining the characteristics and the needs of the group and suggests how these needs can be met by small schools. Chapter 4 examines reading in the small school and discusses reading readiness, motivation, early reading activities, drills, and trends in reading instruction. Chapter 5 focuses on teaching language arts in small schools, discussing the advantages of rural children in this area. Also examined are language-arts development, the role of language arts in integrated learning, and language arts in the daily school program. Chapter 6 discusses children's development of understanding of numbers, offering examples of numeracy exercises and drills. The document includes a bibliography of approximately 100 items. (TES)