Teachers Corner 



The Editor believes that the following letter from a teacher — as to work 

 accomplished — will be of very practical help. It is from Miss Rose Salchli 

 of the McKinley School of Erie, Pa. : 



In this day and age, the school curriculum does not confine one to the 

 four walls of the school room nor to books dealing with the three R's. It 

 allows one to enjoy the open, and delve into the Book of Nature which is 

 surely one of the most interesting and instructive of books. 



The boys and girls of a third and fourth grade class in McKinley School 

 have started out upon their bird trips as early as six o'clock in the morning. 

 These trips have been taken to a woods within pleasant walking distance 

 of the school. Some of the children came with their breakfasts in their 

 pockets, while others evidently had been eating a hasty bite on the way. 

 Some looked as though they needed a little more sleep, but all signs of sleepi- 

 ness disappeared when they began to look for birds. It was altogether 

 amusing to watch them. Returning to the school by eight o'clock, the class 

 had an abundance of material for nature study, language, and geography 

 lessons for several days. 



On several occasions this class has spent an afternoon — usually Friday — 

 at Waldemeer, a beautiful lake shore resort several miles from the school. 

 This park is a veritable birds' paradise in the early spring. ..The children 

 make good use of bird glasses, and are usually careful about keeping quiet, 

 though one must expect a few explosions of delight on such a trip. The wood- 

 peckers with their hammerings are particularly fascinating to the boys and 

 girls. Some of the birds they have seen and become familiar with are the 

 brown thrush, red-headed woodpecker, goldfinch, blue-bird, song sparrow, 

 red-winged blackbird, ruby-crowned kinglet, and downy woodpecker. One 

 of the children always carries a note book in which to record the names of all 

 birds seen on the trip. 



In the class room in the spring, this class lias made a further study of the 

 most common birds of the neighborhood, and discussed bird houses. Just 

 now they have a bird calendar and a flower calendar each in embryo, and they 

 are becoming very enthusiastic over them. The bird calendar is to be in 

 the shape of a bird house with birds flying about it. The flower calendar will 

 be in the shape < >f a favorite flower. The calendar records will show the names 

 of birds or flowers, when seen, where seen, name of pupil who first saw. 



Last fall the children made a study of the leaves of trees and shrubs growing 

 in the vicinity of the school. They also learned to recognize and name 

 such wild flowers as Pearly Everlasting, New York Aster, Heart-leaved Aster, 

 Butter and Eggs, Trillium, Wood Anemone, Queen Anne's Lace, Common 

 Plantain, Showy Goldenrod, Early Goldenrod, New England Aster, Many- 

 flowered Aster, Small White Aster, and Yarrow. 



During this past winter these boys and girls made a study of the habits 

 and environments of a number of different animals, and a detailed study of 

 the raccoon. 



They also learned about the four constellations: The Seven Sisters, The 

 Bull, ( )rion, and The Lion. Myths connected with these star groups furnished 



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