PREFACE vii 



necessary to have taken a course in Botany, Zoology, or 

 Geology. You can do the work if you have an earnest 

 desire to do it. The attention of the children should be 

 directed to the subject of the lesson some time before the 

 lesson is given. For this purpose teachers should consult 

 the footnotes and the paragraph on the subject under con- 

 sideration, and plan their work at least a few weeks in 

 advance. Procure as much of the suggested material as 

 possible, and procure other material if it seems helpful 

 for the purpose of the lesson. 



Whenever practicable, each pupil should have all or some 

 of the material on his desk ; when that is not practicable, 

 the material may be shown to the pupils, or it may be 

 passed around. The facts which you desire to teach should 

 be derived from previous observations and from the material 

 before the class. You may tell the pupils what you cannot 

 direct them to find out for themselves, but it is almost 

 always a bad plan to read to the pupils during Nature 

 Study lessons. Before you give a lesson on an animal or a 

 plant or a phenomenon, you should know just what you 

 want to teach about it ; therefore you should always have a 

 carefully prepared outline in your mind. 



At the close of the lesson, let one or more pupils sum up 

 in well-constructed sentences the results of the lesson. No 

 broken sentences should be allowed in this review. At the 

 close of a chapter, give a general review as outlined and 

 suggested in the book. A live teacher will find in Nature 

 Study work many good subjects for compositions and much 

 valuable material for drawing. 



