Rural School Leaflet 



803 



All teachers should read carefully pages 125-127 in the New York State 

 Syllabus before taking up the work in nature-study and agriculture. 



During the first six grades in school, the out-of-door study should 

 develop in the child the spirit of the naturalist — an all-round interest in 

 the out-of-doors. If properly taught, at the end of this period the child 

 interested in natural forces and objects will have acquired a spirit of patient 

 inquiry and accuracy in observation. He will begin to realize the kinship 

 of out-of-door objects and the possibilities of interest and resource in 

 them. 



Teachers in country schools will find, however, that many of the 

 boys and girls are not interested in nature-study from the viewpoint of 

 the naturalist. The pupils should not be forced into this interest, even 

 if they are in the lower grades, but should be allowed to turn their minds 

 to the more practical side of the subjects. We have found very young 

 children much interested in the commercial side of poultry raising, growing 

 potatoes, and the like. Let us encourage these boys and girls, and, if 

 the teacher will help, they will get the point of view of the naturalist. A 

 field of timothy is as beautiful as a field of violets. Who has not felt his 

 spirit quicken at the sight of a field of oats in the sunlight or in the early 



Measuring beans grown in a school garden 



'evening? Who has failed to see the beauty of pumpkins in the cornfield 

 in the " blue October weather "? 



The work for the seventh and eighth grades as outlined in the elementary 



