Tree Study 



73 i 





Acorns of the red and the scarlet oaks. 

 Photo by O. L Foster. 



HOW TO BEGIN TREE STUDY 



Teacher's Story 



URING autumn the attention of the children should be 

 attracted to the leaves by their gorgeous colors. It is 

 well to use this interest to cultivate their knowledge of 

 the forms of leaves of trees ; but the teaching of the tree 

 species to the young child should be done quite incidentally 

 and guardedly. If the teacher says to the child bringing 

 a leaf, "This is a white oak leaf," the child will soon quite 

 unconsciously learn that leaf by name. Thus, tree study 

 may be begun in the kindergarten or the primary grades: 



1 . Let the pupils use their leaves as a color lesson by classifying them 

 according to color, and thus train the eye to discriminate tints and color 

 values. 



2. Let them classify the leaves according to form, selecting those which 

 resemble each other. 



3. Let each child select a leaf of his own choosing and draw it. This 

 may be done by placing the leaf flat on paper and outlining it with pencil 

 or with colored crayon. 



4. Let the pupils select paper of a color similar to the chosen leaf and 

 cut a paper leaf like it. 



5 . Let each pupil select four leaves which are similar and arrange them 

 on a card in a symmetrical design. This may be done while the leaves 

 are fresh, and the card with leaves may be pressed and thus preserved. 



In the fourth grade, begin with the study of a tree which grows near the 

 schoolhouse. In selecting this tree and in speaking of it, impress upon the 

 children that it is a living being, with a life and with needs of its own. I 

 believe so much in making this tree seem an individual, that I would if 

 necessary name it Pocahontas or Martha Washington. First, try to ascer- 

 tain the age of the tree. Tell an interesting story of who planted it and 

 who were children and attended school in the schoolhouse when the tree 

 was planted. To begin the pupils' work, let each have a little note-book in 

 which shall be written, sketched or described all that happens to this parti- 

 cular tree for a year. The following words with their meaning should be 

 given in the reading and spelling lessons: Head, bole, trunk, branches, 

 twigs, spray, roots, bark, leaf, petiole, foliage, sap. 



