HOME NATURE-STUDY COURSE 



LESSON I.— LEAF STUDY. 



Over the fields and in the swamps I wander. I smell the weedy odor of the 

 Indian summer. Yellow and fiery-red are the maples. Red and morocco-red are 

 the oaks. Nut-brown are the beeches. Straw-yellow are the grasses, and brown 

 and sere are the weeds. Each kind has its color. 



And yet there are colors on the maple in the meadow and other colors on the 

 maple on the hill. The oak on one side of my doorway is maroon-red and that 

 on the other side is veiny-yellow, and they have been the same in all the Octobers 

 in which I have loved them. Each plant has its color. 



Floating, sailing, turning, the autumn leaves drop one by one. Content I sit 

 in silence, and let the colors fill my soul. • 



L. H. Bailey. 



Leaves of trees offer a natural and almost inevitable subject for 

 nature-study during the months when they bedeck our New York 

 hills and valleys. Yet the subject is of such a general character that 

 it is too often taught in a purposeless and desultory way. In nature- 

 study it is well for the teacher to have some definite purpose in her 

 mind before she ventures to begin the teaching of a subject. If the 

 simile may be permitted, her purpose should be the string on which 

 the beads of her pupils' observation are to be strung. Mere hap- 

 hazard observations may be of little value to the child. Therefore, 

 let us consider for a moment some of the objects, pedagogically 

 speaking, which we should strive for in beginning the study of leaves. 



Leaf Study, in the Primary Grades. 



In primary grades, this study should be largely a question of color 

 and form. Let the pupils collect leaves and classify them first ac- 

 cording to colors. The autumnal tints offer a most excellent oppor- 

 tunity for training a child's eye to detect various shades in color. 

 Later, let the pupils classify the leaves on the basis of form. This is 

 of great value, for it teaches them that no two leaves are exactly 

 alike, and in beginning to observe, nothing could be of more value 

 than this idea of the infinite variety of Nature. This observation on 

 leaves by the primary children may also afford subjects for drawing 

 with colored crayons or water color, and also for paper-cutting dur- 

 ing busy-work periods. 



