NATURE PLA Y IN LOS ANGELES CITY SCHOOLS 379 



In giving model lessons in the class rooms, specimens are taken 

 to make the lesson more alive and helpful. A pleasing incident 

 occurred when I entered a second grad^e with a pigeon in a cage. 

 A boy ran out of the room, soon returning with his pet pigeon 

 sitting on his hand. It is a great pleasure to be recognized by the 

 childxejn as the lady with the abolones, the strawberry finch, the 

 pretty autumn leaves, etc. When a newsboy runs up to tell of the 

 oak-galls he found in the park, Sunday, I know that his eyes are 

 open to the wonders of Mother Nature, and that he is getting a 

 foundation of knowledge which will make life a pleasure. 



Watching a Bird 



This subject is a big one — the most important in our school 

 curriculum. We are only awakening to it, and we are learning 

 with the child — the only true method of teaching, because it results 

 in true comradeship. When Charles S. Coons of the Gary Schools 

 says the sciences should be for the grades, I believe he is right. 

 Give the child a chance in the scientific world, while his interest is 

 keen; bet ore he becomes callous to the marvels of it ; and, I believe 

 we will not have so many coming out of school without having }'et 

 found themselves or their life-work. While returning from the 

 hills one day, an eighth errade lad announced that he was going to 

 "Poly High" next year and take U]) "this work." A k^tlcr Ironi 

 this boy tells of how he has watched the king snake lose lils skin, 

 of the manv bird nesls he has lound and of the wild flowers he has 



