Newark post., 1911-03-15
What One Teacher Does Along
The Line OF Nature Sfudv

Plahl lneili' III mower beds. We find
the shells OF nuts which have been
gnawed by the squirrels. and talk about
| the kind of teeth the squirrels and
other gnawing animals have and OF
how they carry the nuts in their
mouths.
When Thanksgiving draws near,
| talk OF people storing food lor the win
ter. We read the story Of The Ant
and Grasshopper', and gain some idea
OF the difference between thrifty and
shlftless people.
During the first snow storm of the
season we read Lowelfs, The First
Snow Fall Many commit the poem
to memory. Il always give a Perry
picture for the memorizing OF poem).
Prof. Bigelow's lecture, few years
ago, at Institute, was a great hlep to
| me in the study of snow. We find pic
lures OF the different forms OF flakes.
There are usually lew old Physical
| Biographies in the closet which have
these cuts. | have never been able to
do anything with catching flakes on a
slate or black cloth.
In February | have branches of fruit
trees and of the horse chestnut. in
| water, in the school room. The child
rem follow suit and have them at home
| We draw the twigs when first brought
to the schoolroom, and at intervals,
| unit. the buds open. find the horse
| chestnut arOuses the greatest inter-
| est
The children who find dsndelions
during each winter month, are very
| proud. One little girl at Claymont,
| wrote to superintendent Spaid about
IT, and his answer made her supremely
| happy. The boys find skunk cabbage
usually, in February. During this
| month place on the wall large piece
J OF heavy paper divided into spaces,
headed as follows: Name of animal
or plant found" Where
found'-By whom. This brings de-
| lightful results and | learn many new
and wonderful facts every year.
| The child who sees the first robin.
or the one who finds the first blood
root. hepatica, anemone, etc, is per-
son OF consequence. At one school a
poor, silly boy who could learn moth
ing from books, excelled i'll finding
flowers. learned many things from
him that spring, At another school,
my dullest boy ,ound the first hepatica,
March 24th.
We take, at least. two afternoons
for the woods and come back great
good friends. There is little poem
about Jack-in-t -thePulpit being Only
a bunch of red berries in the fall
tell them to look out for him and
find they do.
| recall that robbing nests and
throwing stones at birds were among
the chief diversions of the boys, when
began attending school. Now the
whole idea is to see that each nest dis
-cOvered is protected until the young
birds are gone.
The boy who finds the nest, proudly
conducts us all to view it and then we
make daily visits.
Last spring my toughest boy found
ark's nest in field and was its pro-
.tector until the nest was empty
Early in the spring, we have wood
anemone and rue anemone-the entire
plants-drawn upon the board. Then a
diligent search begins. In this section,
the rue is easily found, but we could
not find the wood for some time. At
last it was found in abundance in a
thicket bordering a small stream In
Brandywine hundred the wood is
more easily found than the rue
| have found snowy orchis in two
groves near Newark and in Vernon's
Grove at Claymont
A daintily arranged table in the
average farm house, is too many To-
calities, rare. This spring while on an
outing we found many ferns. | sug-
gested to the children that small fern
in glass dish and well supplied with
water made a table look nice. The
| 11y r,,1e II,
| have found Mrs. Dana's "How to
Know the Wild Flowers" great help
in this, to me, not work, but pastime.
The explanation OF the fertilization
of plants is solution to one of the
most difficult problems that confront
teacher.
do not allow flowers brought to
the schoolroom and thrown upon the
desk, to wither but try to make it plain
that they have right to live. crd
must be put in water.
In early spring we plant corn in a
glass of water, with cotton, to study
Termination of Seeds" Sometimes
the experiment at school is failure
! but the children who make success
ful experiment at home bring the
sprouted seed to school and we talk
about it.
Clover seed scattered over a sponge
kept damp, yields interesting results
The planting of trees and making OF
flower beds call for strenuous work
but | have persevered in two schools
AS | did not return to either, | cannot
Judge of results, but l do know that
after we had done the work of cleaning
} the school grounds and planting the
flowers and trees. some of the front
yards in the district improved in ap-
: pearance, mainly through the efforts ol
the children.
| The walks the teachers have taken
, under the guidance and instruction OF
Superintendent A. R. Spaid have open
ed new world to me.
E. Frances Medill
! I lillian Mendenha11