The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-05-17

nOOU, namely, the WOTlu WHICH he has
created and in which he has manifest
ed his divine thought
Bring the children face to face with
plants, animals, insects, objects, etc.,
and cause them to exhaust their
powers of description upon them. Let
the knowledge taught be gained by
personal observation AMI experiment.
The first years work must be al
most entirely conversational. Begin
by requiring the children to perform
simple acts and tell what they are do
ing. Let the performance always ac-
company the words, thus will the
idea which is to be conveyed by
means of the act and the words be-
come ineligible.
These exercises may be varied by
motion, songs and simple games, viz:
Let your feet 60 tramp, tramp, tramp,
etc.
Can you tell, little playmate, who has
gone?
A few minutes each day throughout
the whole school course would be
profitably spent in teaching correct
expression, by requiring accurate des-
criptions of actions performed by the
teacher or pupils. At first they must
be simple, Q. g.: Walk to the door
or look out of the window. Let the
pupils ask questions of each other
about what was done. 1t will be sur
prising how many different express
sions will be given for a simple act.
Gradually let the actions become more
complicated, e. g.: The teacher goes
to the blackboard, takes the crayon in
one hand, the eraser in the other,
writes a word, erases it, puts the
crayOn down and walks to her seat.
These exercises should be so ar
TO ofraf TO II of ha
ent uses of the pronouns, verbs and
adiectives.
Let the children describe through
the use of each sense the qualities of
objects and things. Send a child out
for a minute and require him to des-
cribe the sounds which he heard or
tell him to describe something he
saw, while the rest try to think what
it is from the description given.
This will suggest similar exercises
for description of actions, qualities
and uses of things.
We must not forget that accurate
description is the highest point of
composition.
I will now briefly outline study in
plant and animal life which may be
adapted to the work of any grade in
school.
In making a selection of animals
l. Let us take those which are
available.
2. Those which have marked char
acteristics and desirable traits.
3. Those typical OF a large class.
The cat or dog are good subjects for
beginning.
One. Observations and description
of the form, size and color of the body
as q whole.
Two. Covering of the body.
Three. Name and description of
parts.
Four. Uses of parts.
Five. What the animal can do.
Six. What it likes to eat.
Seven. Where it lives.
Eight. The care and protection of its
young.
Nine. Use of animal to man.
Ten. Other animals with similar
characteristics.
Eleven. Stories, pictures and poems
on the animal.
Each division of the subject will be
studied in conversational lessons, after
which q complete description will be
required. After making a thorough
study of one animal, those which fol-
low can be compared with it. There
is nothing like comparison for devel-
Oping the child's powers of Observa-
ton and language. If you wish to
make a. systematic study of plants,
would suggest beginning with seeds.
Send or take the children out in search
for seeds, or require them each to
bring several kinds so that q variety
can be studied. Arouse the interest
of the children by telling story of
the seed, which personifies the life
within.
Sort the seeds and require descrip-
tions of different ones as regards size,
shape and color.
Describe position and use of scar or
hilum which is seen on some seeds.
Present some which have been soaked
in water, children compare with the
hard ones. Observe and describe parts
of the seeds, as seed coats and kernel.
In the kernel notice the embryo and
albumen. Compare different seeds az
regards the parts, children notice that
some are divided into two parts and
some are single.
Next take up conditions for growth.
These may be illustrated by planting
seeds in moist cotton, or by putting
some over a glass of water on a net
ting. Others may be placed in dry
soil, and by watching the termination
they will be led to see that the seed
requires warmth, moisture and air in
order to grow. Next study the uses of
seeds. With sufficient variety for
examination, the pupils will be led to
give some Of the following uses To
produce new plants, for medicine, for
food, for making starch, for making
oil, for distilling, for fuel.
The children should plant some
seeds and keep a record of their
growth. This will lead them 20 the
next step III plant lessOns-the root.
1 have tried briefly to outline some
ways in which language may be Gull
tivated. Those who wish an outline
of work for all grades will find "Sys-
tematic Science Teaching" by Ed
ward @. Howe are excellent help.
By all means, whatever the subject
matter taught, let each lesson be an
outgrowth Of the preceding one, so
that the children will see the relation
which one study or thing bears 10 an
other.