CALDWELL] P R A C T I C A L NA TU R E-STUD Y IN G RA D ES 177 



initiative and keep it. Seize the spade or hoe and work until 

 your back aches and your hands are blistered, and your pupils 

 will quarrel for their turn, as mine did when we were short of tools 

 As the spirit of the teacher, such will be the spirit of the school. 



"To briefly sum up the results of bringing into our school these 

 various interests: First, it brought about a decided interest in 

 regular school work, as is shown by our pupils successfully 

 passing the county eighth grade examinations. The school 

 board last year provided for district eighth grade graduating 

 exercises. Second, after becoming interested in this work we 

 had very few cases of absence or tardiness. Third, the older boys 

 endeavored to get into school as early as possible in the fall and 

 left in the spring with reluctance. Fourth, all pupils studied at 

 home. Fifth, the school board showed their appreciation in a 

 substantial way by giving their teacher an increase of $10 per 

 month in salary for the following year. 



"For two years. District No. 20 was the only school in Pawnee 

 county to take an interest in this work. Last fall Pawnee county 

 held its first corn contest, and 43 of the 79 school districts in the 

 county brought exhibits, showing how rapidly the interest is 

 spreading. Corn contests are being held all over the State, and 

 we find just as much enthusiasm and success among the sparsely 

 settled regions as we do in the more thickly settled portions of the 

 state. 



"Ours is an agricultural State, and by instructing the children 

 along agricultural and domestic science lines we are not only 

 educating them for the making of better homes, but we are la^ang 

 a foundation for better higher education and for the making of 

 happy, contented, intelligent citizenship." 



PRACTICAL NATURE-STUDY IN THE GRADES 



By ANNA E. CALDWELL 

 Director of the Kindergarten Department, State Normal School, Kearney, Nebr. 



Nature-study, as you all know, is one of the newer fads in 

 education. In fact, all the world seems to have suddenly gone 

 nature-study mad, and we ha\e books and books. We read 

 Thompson-Seton with delight. We are aroused at the startling 

 intelligence of animals. We weep over Loba and laugh over 

 Little Johnnie ; and then. Presto! John Burroughs comes along 



