Palmer] REACHING AND TRAINING TEACHERS 85 



has been outlined and study the relation of these birds to man and 

 to agriculture particularly. If desired, they may construct martin 

 or other bird houses and should do all they can to encourage useful 

 birds to lighten the labors and increase the profits of the farmers 

 and gardeners of the community. Any laws dealing with these 

 particular birds might well be known and assistance may be given 

 the authorities in making these laws effective. Any impression 

 that the laws are imperialistic should be dispelled by an apprecia- 

 tion of the common sense back of them. It will not be difficult to 

 see the common sense side, if the program outlined above has been 

 followed. 



At the beginning of this section it was suggested that the topic 

 for study come from some child who had seen something interest- 

 ing. It may come with equal appropriateness from a child whose 

 garden is being attacked by insects. The outline shows appropriate 

 work for the younger children while the older child is being helped 

 with his problem. 



All of this work may be taught at one time to a group of children 

 of varied degrees of preparation. But for the fact that all of the 

 material necessary to teach such a lesson is available in every rural 

 school in the state it would be folly to expect that a program of this 

 sort could be put into practice. As it is it ought not be an exceed- 

 ingly difficult ideal to realize. 



So much for this type lesson on birds found feeding in the air. 

 Lessons on other nature-study subjects are outlined in a similar 

 manner and should be understood without great difficulty. 



The Work of Different Years 

 It should be obvious that if we divide the children into groups of 

 two grades each and follow the system already outlined that there 

 will be needless repetition the second year if no effort is made to 

 prevent this. For example, a child who enters school this year and 

 studies a bam swallow this year would next year be in the same 

 group and study the bam swallow again in the same manner. To 

 prevent this, the outline suggests two groups of birds found feeding 

 in the air and suggests that one of these groups be considered one 

 year and the other the next year. In either case, the chapter in 

 Volimie XIV, No. 4 of the Leaflet would be an appropriate intro- 

 duction. One year you would consider birds like barn swallows 

 and chimney swifts that are seen for the most part on the wing. 

 The next year it might be well to study the other group which 



