GENERAL AIMS 135 



that has come through the three terms' work, the children 

 are eager for number work. 



" Without seeking to exhaust the ' how ' of the incidental 

 period, which is as varied as are the individualities of the 

 teachers and the needs of the classes, the following are 

 among the lines of work taken up during its last two 

 years : 



" As number deals with the relations of quantity, eye and 

 mind are trained in seeing relations, even during the inci- 

 dental period. By means of objects in the 

 Comparisons 



schoolroom, of lines drawn on the board, 



of surfaces, many indefinite comparisons are made. As the 

 child's number sense develops, and he demands more defi- 

 nite terms than ' longer,' ' shorter,' * higher/ ' lower/ the 

 common measuring units are introduced. 



" All pupils are supplied with rulers, one foot long, with 

 sticks of various lengths, with cardboard squares, one inch 



square, with shoe pegs, etc. In the work 

 Measure- , . , r f , 



ments in drawing the use of the ruler is soon 



mastered. The half, the fourth, and other 

 simple fractional relations are as easily seen and mastered 

 as are integral relations. The following exercises, selected 

 at random, will give an idea of the work during the latter 

 part of the first year and the first part of the second : 



" i. Measure sticks and draw lines as long, beginning 

 with one inch. 



"2. Measure a one-inch cardboard square. Draw it. 

 Place two squares side by side. Measure and draw. 



" 3. Place sticks so as to form a square, a triangle, an 

 oblong. Measure and draw. 



