SYLVESTER] NATURE-STUDYLVCITYDISTRICTS 2 Op 



(7) Lay more stress on actual contact with natural objects. 

 Give less attention to supplementary nature readers. 



(8) Fourth year needs revision. 



(9) A number of teachers earnestly request information on 

 points like the following; (a) How shall I proceed to add to my 

 personal knowledge, so that my work in nature-study may be 

 productive of better results? (b) How can I learn to care 

 properly for terraria and aquaria? (Lack of proper conditions in 

 school — temperature changes, dust, etc.) (c) Instructions as to 

 planting seeds, care for seedlings, what to plant, (d) A simple 

 study — not scientific — of the common wild flowers and where to 

 find them, (e) A good list of reference books. 



Further suggestions included references to visits to parks, 

 museums, etc. One paper suggested that the work in the sylla- 

 bus might be more explicit as to method, mode of treatment, etc. 

 Another says — "Would it be possible to secure greater coopera- 

 tion between the Park Department and the schools? The prun- 

 ings and cuttings from the parks would be invaluable to the 

 schools in certain sections. The same is true of nests, cocoons, 

 etc. "The fields in the parks might be cultivated, and the prod- 

 ucts sent to the public schools," writes one teacher. Such 

 cooperation might tend eventually to check the ruthless destruc- 

 tion of shrubs, trees and especially of wild flowers in the parks. 



Above all, let us not even attempt to teach nature-study as so 

 many books tell us to do. In this subject more then in any other, 

 it is individuality that counts. As stated before, the measure of 

 our success is not the amount of knowledge we impart, but the 

 purpose we develop in our pupils to see and learn and love for 

 themselves. 



We must imbue our work with interest, with enthusiasm, with 

 life, and this we can only do when "we feel the glow in our own 

 hearts." 



Committee: Margaret Knox; Ellen M. Phillips; Carrie W. 

 Kearns; Elise W. Kornman ; Helena A. Hulskamp; Lena Kemp; 

 Loretto M. Rochester; Anna Short; Lydia Miller; Amelia 

 Schaller; Martha Bayles; Nina M. Loper; E. J. Bellamy; M. E. 

 Castle; Ida Nulle; Lucy A.Sheehan; B.B. Lenkawski; Nathaniel 

 Fleisher; L. M. Caroly; Agnes Burgess; Olga Marx; Myrtle 

 Spaulding, — all of the public schools of Manhattan and Brooklyn, 

 New York City. 



