378 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



thing besides children grows started a talk about animals, in wbicb 

 were given the statements " Animals grow," " Animals eat/' " Ani- 

 mals sleep," " Animals play." In like manner similar statements 

 about plants were obtained. The children were easily led from 

 thinking of a particular child, animal, or plant, to the general con- 

 ception and the use of the general term. This was the first lesson 

 in natural science. 



Recalling the first general conception reached in the science 

 lesson a child was asked, " Nina, what did you say children do ? '' 

 " Children grow," she replied. I said, " I will put upon the 

 blackboard something that means what Nina said," and wrote in 

 Spencerian script, " Children grow." In response to invitation the 

 children eagerly gave the general statements gained in the science 

 lesson. Each was written upon the board and read by the child 

 who gave it. They were told that what they had said and I 

 had written were sentences. Each child read his own sentence 

 again. This was the first reading lesson. 



One by one each child stood by me at the board, repeated his 

 sentence, and watched while it was written. He was then taught 

 to hold a crayon, and left to write his sentence beneath the model. 

 When a first attempt was finished, the sentence was written in a 

 new place, and the child repeated his effort at copying. In this 

 manner each made from one to four efforts, each time telling what 

 his copy meant and what he wished his effort to mean. None of 

 this work was erased before the children had gone. This was the 

 first writing lesson. 



The children were led to count their classmates, their sentences 

 on the blackboards, the tables, chairs, and other objects in the 

 school-room. It was found that all could use accurately the 

 terms one, two, three, and four, and the symbols 1, 2, 3, 4 were put 

 on the board as meaning what they said, and their power to 

 connect these symbols with the ideas that they represent was 

 tested in various ways. This was the first number lesson. 



The children were shown a magnetic needle and led to note the 

 direction of its points when at rest, and the terms north and 

 south were given. This was the first geography lesson. 



After recess each child read his sentence, wrote it once, and 

 then the subject of the science lesson was pursued further. After 

 special answers to the question, " What do children eat ? " the 

 general statement was obtained, " Children eat plants and ani- 

 mals." Similarly, the children were led to give "Animals eat 

 plants and animals," Then came the question, " What do plants 

 eat ? " One suggested the sunshine, another the rain, another the 

 air, others the ground or dirt, for which the term soil was given. 

 It was concluded that rain, air, and sunshine help plants to grow, 

 and that some of their food must come from the soil ; and the 



