226 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [10:6— Sept., 1914 



We hold to our plan for the moment till something better can be 

 worked out. We do not insist on eating dried prunes when fresh 

 strawberries are offered and the "finds" of the children often lead 

 us into new paths. 



The first morning of school usually brings to each class room a 

 "bunch" of Fall Wild Flowers. So we plan for our first lesson by 

 saying in the General Assembly period, "I wonder which room can 

 have by Thursday the most interesting bouquet of Fall Wild 

 Flowers, not many of the same kind, you understand, but all the 

 different kinds." This is a problem in identification, a chance to 

 coUect, a lesson in discriminative gathering, a problem suited to 

 any group of children anywhere. The purples and gold of the 

 autumn flowers, softened by the white of aster and clematis so 

 blend that there is no danger of a discordant note. The teacher's 

 part in this collecting may be the bringing in of some flower 

 unfamiliar to the children. The first lesson in the first grade may 

 be the grouping of- the flowers into "known" and "unknown" and 

 the teaching of one or two new names. Some form of Flower 

 Calendar helps to impress new names. For the first grade a large 

 sheet of ordinary school water-color paper showing a picture of the 

 flower in color, its name and that of the discoverer printed beneath 

 fills at least one small heart with joy. With each addition it is 

 of course necessary to follow the catalogue round the room to "see 

 how many have brought flowers." For older children a large card 

 decorated with a half dozen of the children's best drawings of 

 golden-rod, the words, Fall Wild Flowers printed beneath, and 

 below the title space for the following data, name of flower, date, 

 where found, and seed time, may be used. The School Arts Book 

 will furnish many suggestions as to the spacing, decoration and 

 printing for these calendars. The end of the first lesson may leave 

 the first grade with this question, "Can we make our bouquet any 

 larger by finding any pretty stranger flower whose name you would 

 like to know?" With the second or third grade, the question, "Is 

 there more than one kind of golden-rod?" may start a "golden- 

 rod" bouquet or a similar question in regard to the Wild Aster will 

 increase the pleasure in that flower because of increased sensitive- 

 ness to its variations in form and color. Another lesson may be 

 given to the study of the Golden-Rod as an illustration of a "village 

 of blossoms"as Mrs. Comstock calls it in her "Handbook of Nature 

 Study." These first lessons are largely the startings of interests. 

 The Flower Calendar, once begun, flourishes late into October. 



