HOME NATURE=STUDY COURSE 



TEACHERS' LEAFLET 



Based on the work for first and second year pupils as outlined in 

 THE Syllabus of Nature- Study and Agriculture, issued by the 

 New York State Education Department. 



When the teacher is preparing herself for giving a nature-study 

 lesson, even though it be to the youngest pupils, she should learn all she 

 can about the subject. Not that she will need to use all the material 

 which she will naturally gather for her own edification, but she should 

 have it well assimilated in her own mind as a background against which 

 she can bring into high light those points of interest which she chooses 

 for her pupils. This is the only way she can be sure of herself or her 

 work ; and it is with this fact in view that the editors have written 

 this leaflet. 



The editors are under obligations to Miss Ada Georgia for her very 

 practical assistance in preparing this leaflet. 



THE CANARY AND THE GOLDFINCH. 



Preliminar)! Work. — As a rule teachers have not reah'zed what a valuable help 

 the canary affords for beginning bird study. A canary rightly observed will give 

 the proper methods for observation of birds out-of-doors. The work on the canary 

 should be related from first to last to the story of our common goldfinch, with which 

 all children in the country are familiar. It is necessary for the study of the canary 

 that at least one l)ird, and better still a pair, should be in a cage in the school- 

 room. If this is impossible, the observations may be made upon canaries kept by 

 the pupils at home. The questions in the succeeding lesson should be given, one 

 or two at a time, and a day or two apart, so that the pupils will have opportunity 

 to think and observe; above all they should never realize that they are having a 

 nature-study lesson. 



LESSON XCVI. 

 observations on the canary. 



Purpose. — To make the pupils relate what the canary is with what 

 it does. 



Begin with the obvious adaptations for procuring food. What does 

 the canary eat? Seeds, crackers, hard-boiled eggs, dry bread and cuttle- 

 fish bone. What kind of plants are the seeds borne on which we buy 

 for the canary? The goldfinch feeds upon seeds of thistle, wild grass, 



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