PALMER CORNELL RURAL SCHOOL LEAFLET 209 



the children of the first two grades. These children, and others 

 if they wish, may cut out the swallow and place it on the land- 

 scape where it belongs in accordance with the directions accom- 

 panying the landscape. 



The children in the third and fourth years can do what the 

 children in the first two grades have done and in addition select 

 some one page in their nature study notebooks. On that page 

 they will keep a record through the year of birds seen feeding 

 in the air and in particular some one bird like the bam swallow 

 which they themselves have selected. This notebook will con- 

 tain the date when the birds were first seen, when and where 

 they nested, when the first young were first seen and when the 

 birds were last seen. It is not necessary that every school in 

 the State select the bam swallow for this study. Any bird of 

 the barn swallow type will do. The Leaflet has given help jn 

 the study of the bam swallow and chimney swift and it may be 

 easier for the teacher to use these examples but any other bird 

 of this type will be satisfactory. This gives greater opportunity 

 for you to teach from the material at hand and is bound to make 

 the work interesting. The "Fifty Interesting Things" section 

 may prove of assistance in guiding the observations of these chil- 

 dren. In a bird Iseson like the one under discussion the questions 

 dealing with birds may be considered. 



The children of the fifth and sixth grades should keep a note 

 book as did the younger students. After they have made all 

 the observations they can independently they may refer to the 

 Life History Chart section of the Leaflet and fill in the gaps in 

 their own record. They may incorporate their final conclu- 

 sions in a story about the bam swallow in which they emphasize 

 the things which they themselves have seen. They should be 

 able to appreciate the work that these birds do in keeping the 

 open air free from insects and should have some idea of how 

 the birds are particularly fitted for the work they do. The use 

 of the birds to nature and their relation to other living things 

 might well be understood. 



If the children of the seventh and eighth grade have had the 

 work, just outlined for the lower grades or if they have complet- 

 ed it more quickly than their younger schoolmates the\^ may 

 go beyond the work outlined and study the rclati(Mi of tlicsc 

 birds toman and to agriculture j^articularly. If desired, tlicy 



