XATURE-STUDY IN THE RURAL SCHOOLS 347 



will not get interest, and that in this way the very object of this 

 work, to encourage love of the out-of-doors, will be defeated. 



We have a few minutes a day on our program for nature-study, 

 but we are a very busy school and do not find it possible to have 

 this every day. We have two kinds of nature-study lessons, 

 the ones that come at the regular time with the specimens prev- 

 iously brought to the classroom, and those that come when we 

 interrupt our program to learn about something of present interest. 



One day just as we finished an English class, one of the boys 

 saw several birds in the school yard. According to our custom 

 the boy told me about the birds, and all the pupils passed quietly 

 to the windows. There on the ground outside were eighteen 

 slate-colored juncos. Many of my smaller pupils had never seen a 

 junco so we had a splendid lesson. This spring four or five blue- 

 birds came to the young trees near the school windows, and we 

 took this occasion for a study of the bluebird, for we had been 

 watching for the bluebird for two weeks. Among the things of 

 interest in our schoolroom just now are several branches of trees 

 having egg clusters of the apple-tree tent caterpillar and several 

 strange kinds of cocoons, all of which we are watching develop. 



We have enjoyed all our school work very much, finding so 

 much interest in all our nature work that it is not easy to tell 

 what thing in nature had been most interesting. I wish to say for 

 the benefit of teachers who may find this letter too optimistic 

 that we have had the same hard work and routine and discourage- 

 ments that come to other schools. I believe that a little well done 

 will be an inspiration to both teacher and pupils. Any teacher 

 who is not much interested in this work will find new interest 

 and a new depth of vision to her own life if she will make ever so 

 small a gift of whole-hearted time to it." 



"I have found that through the study of nature we become 

 acquainted with the real child and at the same time form a bond of 

 friendship between pupil, teacher, and parents, which is very 

 essential. 



On the way to school and when we reach school, the children 

 and I talk about the topics that they themselves have given me. 

 I often direct them to books and ways of finding more about the 

 topic under discussion; then we sometimes wait a couple of days 

 so that they may look up facts before we take up the topic more 



