BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 365 



fountain, gold-fish pond, and conservatory. All of this should 

 be so that it could be screened from the pupils entirely if the 

 instructor so desired. However, the screening would defeat 

 many purposes of the course. Then, in one corner of the room 

 would be a piano. The walls of the room would want a ntimber 

 of good prints of pictures which were of greatest interest in the 

 study. There should also be much in the way of framed portraits 

 of the great dreamers whom the class studies. I think it a good 

 plan to have an easel in front of the room where a frame is always 

 ready to retain a picture as long as needed for study by the class. 

 Authors may be celebrated on their birthdays by appearing 

 in this constantly changing easel frame. This celebration of 

 birthdays will work in especially well in the Biography project 

 of the fifth grade. 



The program suggested for the twelve school years follows: 



Grade One 



Show the child in this grade the relation of the out-of-doors to 

 himself. That is, teach simple stories about the naming of the 

 flowers and birds. The story of the Robin's red breast, the 

 old woman being turned into a red-headed woodpecker, etc. 

 All of these simple tales will fascinate the children. Always 

 have many pictures of birds and beasts which are studied, around 

 the room. Make use of Mother Goose rhymes of such stories 

 as that one about the old woman who lost her sixpence. Bring 

 in nonsense jingles and lullabies. Few writers will be found 

 more valuable to the children of this age than Eugene Field and 

 Robert Louis Stevenson. The former in his "Love Songs of 

 Childhood," and many another book of verse will be found to 

 suit this age. The latter in his "Child's Garden of Verse" has 

 constructed a child's world which can not be equalled in my 

 estimation by any other sort of teaching material which can be 

 found in the whole realm of literature. The human rclationsliip 

 of the boy to his nurse as shown in the dedication, and then the 

 freedom and joy which comes from swinging so high that tlie 

 boy gets a glimpse beyond the garden wall, seeing "rivers and 

 trees and cattle and all," this is a thing which most cliildren 

 have experienced and which they can inten)rct. 



