Newark post., 1911-03-15

Mdster=iand a!ternateS the days OF
rain and the days of SUM-" those when
the wind RACES and those when it is
calm the work goes quietly and stead
lily on. Alter time a warm rain will
come The clouds will pass. the sun
shines forth in unusual splendor and
reveal nature in her loveliest mood
clothed i'll the beautiful and dainty
freshness of spring.
The weeks leading up to the change,
which at last SENS to come suddenly,
are filed with interest to the oD-
server. The teacher will find this the
easiest season to arouse an interest
among her children in the life that
surrounds one in the out-of-doors.
In response to our request, one tea
cher shares her experience and tells us
of things she has accomplished in her
work in our rural schools
1t is great pleasure to write about
Nature Study. | am afraid that you
will find my methods and explanations
crude, but | hope | have helped some
children and | know that | have been
greatly helped.
When school opens in Sentember I
have the children read and recite Helen
Hunt Jackson's September We
take each line and talk about the mean
ing. Before week has passed. the
majority have seen every object
which the poem mentions. | have a
brother living in Colorado Springs who
has sent me pictures of the author,
home and of her grave. OF course |
show these and explain why the grave
is so situated.
arouse an interest in seeds by
bringing pods to school and asking
the children to see how many kinds of
seed pods they can find. | explain
that the seeds are children of plants
just as they are the children of their
parents. We then find the different
ways in which seeds are scattered.
We talk of the dispersion Of child
rem rom their parents homes, when
they have grown, and see how each
| must be ready to take his own place in
the world.
Of course we find the Autumn flow
ers, name them and have them in the
schoolroom to draw and for decora-
ton. Can uncared for school property
has its compensations. We found fif-
teen varieties OF wild flowers in one
| school yard).
capture the first worm" which the
| bad boy tries to put on the girls and
tell them perhaps he is sleepy enough
| to spin himself cradle When | first
take him in my hand there are some
| excsmations. but in short time that
fear passes away. An empty chalk box
and a piece of window glass are
| hrA ,,.A
| from the tree or bush upon which the
worm was found, are put into the box.
Sometimes he refuses to spin and we
try again. We had the pleasure, ore
| Autumn, OF seeing the cocoon spun.
We kept it all winter. and i'll the spring
a Cicropa Moth came forth.
| have no more trouble with girls
being frightened. A great interest is
| aroused and we have a collection OF
cocoons at school while many OF the
| children have one or more at home
! We draw the worm, cocoon and moth
or butterfly. The Ccropia is most
| common, but at Claymont, we haC
three beautiful Luna Moths Some OF
the children are really afraid of them,
bit after | allow them TO alight upon
my hand and remain for some minutes
nobody is afraid. After few days we
allow them to fly away.
We talk about the Migration OF
Birds" and the children see many
more hocks of birds than | do. AT
this time we have the story Coming
and Going"
In reply to the questions of How
does the worm know when tc spin!
"How do the birds know which way is
South" How does the worm change
to a butterfly or moth?" | tell of our
Heavenly Fathers care and that we
cannot know some things.
From the expression on many faces
while | give that lesson, | feel tha
they have beeu impressed as, perhaps
never before.
While the corn is being cut and
husked I'VE study Whittier's Corr
Song and sing parts OF it to the tune
of "Auld Lang Syne.''
They love this and it leads to fur
ther study OF the Quaker Poet and his
works. We study the uses of Corn
and its value to the Pilgrims.
When the leaves begin to change
color | call the attention OF the child.
rem to the beauties of the woods which
we can see from the schoolroom win
dows ! suggest that we make a col
lection of leaves We draw some o.
them.
Ct have the smaller children outline
leaves and cut them from paper dur
ing Autumn and SPRING.
We press few of each kind ant
,asten them to the wall upon darl
green background either Of chintz OF
of wall paper.
When nutting time comes, we go tc
the wood for an afternoon. We tall
of how the frost opens the husks ant
about the squirrels gathering thei
winter stores. AS we walk through the
fallen leaves | tell OF the protection
they give to the plants which bear tn
earliest spring flowers; of the molt
thev make, when decayed, 10 nourisl
the roots, and that is why the hepatica
| - ~ n GILL