LESSONS ON THE ROBIN FOR THE UPPER GRADES 



By Prof T. L HANKINSON, State Normal School, Charleston, 111. 



Lesson I. The Living Robin 



Preparation: Pupils to make trips about home or school 

 grounds individually or in small companies, without teacher, for 

 the purpose o>f learning facts at first hand regarding the robin. 

 The teacher should not instruct pupils as to what to see, but 

 should give them directions preliminary to this field work as to 

 how to see the birds. Special attention, in such instructions, 

 should be given to the manner of approaching robins, method 

 of recording facts observed, and places where birds are found. 



Recitation: Oral accounts of observations made on trips, to 

 be given by pupils. The teacher should not give information, 

 but simply direct the discussion. 



Lesson II. The Living Robin, Continued 

 Preparation: Pupils to make further field observations af- 

 ter hearing each other's accounts in recitation of first lesson. 



Recitation: The teacher should question pupils. The fol- 

 lowing outline may be used as a basis for the recitation: 



A. Habitat of the Robin. 



B. Locomotion. 



i. On the ground: 



a. Does it walk or hop? 



b. What parts of the body are involved in locomotion? 



c. Does it ever run? 



2. In a tree: 



a. How does it move from one limb to another? 



b. How does it move from one point on its perch to 



another? 



3. In the air: 



a. Is its flight direct or undulating? 



b. What positions do the wings take during flight? 



c. Compare the robin's flight with that of other famil- 



iar birds — crows, hawks, swallows, sparrows, etc. 



C. Feeding. 



1. From what kinds of places does the robin get its food? 



2. How does it get food? 



3. What things was the robin seen to eat? (A list of things 

 fed upon by robins should be kept by the class). 



