silcox] JVX TURE-STCD Y IN PRIMA R Y GRADES 1 2 5 



Subject of Lesson — The Crow. 



Class — Boys and girls about 8 years of age. 



Material used — Crow's nest, picture of crow, Thompson-Seton's Silier- 

 spot. 



Class was asked for show of hands of owners of pet crows; then of those 

 who knew the pet crow of any other boy or girl. Those who had had pet 

 crow's were asked to tell about them. By questioning, the boys told 

 where they got the crows, when, where they kept them, what they ate and 

 did. The teacher added his own experience with pet crows. The boys who 

 knew about other pet crows told what they knew. As we were not in 

 search of facts, very few facts were placed on the blackboard. The food 

 of the crow was stated, — worms, bread (soaked), soft corn, grapes, grass- 

 hoppers. The class was asked to find out from their parents or from 

 books anything else the crow eats and to report next day and on following 

 days. 



Xow, the pupils were reminded of wild crows, and their knowledge of 

 them was revived by asking such questions as, When did you see crows 

 last? Where? How many were there? What were they doing? What do 

 farmers put up to scare crows? Where do they put it ? Why do they not 

 catch the crows or shoot them? This leads to the way the crow protects 

 itself. They go in flocks, they see well, and, apparently smell a gun at 

 some distance. A drawing of the scare-crow was made on the board and 

 its value touched on. After all this discussion, we summed up: The 

 crow takes care of itself by watching for enemies, by placing sentinels to 

 watch and by flying away as soon as danger is near. Asked how the 

 sentinel warns the others of danger, the pupils said by 'cawing.' Do thev 

 caw in different ways? 



The pupils were told that Thompson-Seton wrote a story about a flock of 

 crows and their leader, "Silverspot." The teacher showed the picture of 

 Silverspot and read the description of how "Silverspot" warned the band. 

 The musical notes were written on the board and the pupils tried saving 

 them as old "Silverspot" said them. The story was left to be finished 

 later during the hour for supplementary reading. We read how "Silver- 

 spot" trained the young crows of his flock, and this served to introduce the 

 home of the young crows before they fly. The pupils were shown the nest 

 and asked to observe what it was made of — sticks, bark, grass. A picture 

 of crows in a nest was shown; and we discussed where the nest was built, 

 how. what is put into it by the mother-bird (eggs), how she sits on the eggs 

 to make the little ones grow inside the shells. 



There is no need of teaching the number of eggs laid, the color 

 of them, the exact time of incubation, etc. Nor should the 

 number of toes that the crow has. its eyes, nose, ears, be partic- 

 ularly emphasized. When talking about the crows eating corn 

 in the cornfield, the question of how it gets the corn out may come 

 up. Then the bill and the feet may be examined to see what 

 could be done with them. When talking about sentinels, the 



