Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, (May 16, 1804-January 3, 1894) educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. She was born in Billerica, Massachusetts. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic developmental and educational value. May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A kindergarten in Afghanistan. ... Billerica is a town located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. ...

Peabody was a teacher, writer, and prominent figure in the Transcendental movement, editing The Dial, the chief literary publication of the movement, for two years. During 1834-1835, she worked as assistant teacher to Bronson Alcott at his famous experimental Temple School in Boston. Transcendentalism was the name of a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture and philosophy which emerged in New England in the early- to mid-nineteenth century. ... The January 1920 issue of the Dial. ... Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29, 1799–March 4, 1888) was an American teacher and writer. ... Boston is a town and small port c. ...

After the school closed, Peabody published Record of a School, outlining the plan of the school and Alcott's philosophy of early childhood education, which had drawn on German models. When she opened her kindergarten in 1860, the concept of providing formal schooling for children younger than six was largely confined to German practice. 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ...

Through her own kindergarten, and as editor of the Kindergarten Messenger (1873-77), Peabody helped establish kindergarten as an accepted institution in U.S. education. She also wrote numerous books in support of the cause.

The extent of her influence is apparent in a statement submitted to Congress on February 12, 1897, in support of free kindergartens: Congress in Joint Session. ... February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

The advantage to the community in utilizing the age from 4 to 6 in training the hand and eye; in developing the habits of cleanliness, politeness, self-control, urbanity, industry; in training the mind to understand numbers and geometric forms, to invent combinations of figures and shapes, and to represent them with the pencil—these and other valuable lessons… will, I think, ultimately prevail in securing to us the establishment of this beneficent institution in all the city school systems of our country.

(Source: Library of Congress Today in History: May 16)

Diverse activities

With grounding in history and literature and a reading knowledge of ten languages, in 1840 she also opened a bookstore, which held Margaret Fuller's "Conservations" and published books from Fuller and Nathaniel Hawthorne in addition to the periodicals The Dial and Aesthetic Papers. She was an advocate of antislavery and of Spiritualism. Morever, she also led decades of efforts for the Paiute Indians. 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), Marchioness Ossoli. ... Nathaniel Hawthorne in the 1860s Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. ... The January 1920 issue of the Dial. ... This French poster depicting the horrific conditions on slave ships was influential in mobilizing public opinion against slavery. ... Spiritualism is a religious movement, prominent from the 1840s to the 1920s, found primarily in English-speaking countries. ... Paiute (sometimes written as Piute) refers to two related groups — Northern Paiute and Southern Paiute — of Native Americans speaking languages belonging to the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan family of Native American languages. ...