xiv INTRODUCTION 



Suggestions for the Teacher 



As the stories which form these lessons deal with 

 scientific facts, where accuracy is essential, the 

 teacher is advised to read them to the class. But it 

 is important to prepare for the reading as earnestly 

 as if the story were to be told in the teacher's own 

 language. The word pictures which the stories con- 

 tain should be given in as vivid a manner as possible, 

 that they may call up in the mind of the child a 

 correspondingly vivid picture. It is by these mental 

 images that interest will best be aroused. 



The questions in the lesson story should be asked 

 as spontaneously as if they had just occurred to the 

 teacher. Where they relate to some familiar fact, 

 answers may be secured from the class before pro- 

 ceeding with the reading if desired. Sometimes the 

 purpose of a question is to focus attention on the new 

 fact or truth which is to be stated, to which the read- 

 ing should proceed without pause, so that the 

 teacher answers the question in the words of the 

 lesson story. 



It would be well before attempting to teach any of 

 these lessons, to read all the stories in this manual so 

 as to be cognizant of its scope. One should at least be 

 familiar with all the stories in each part before 

 attempting to teach the first lesson in that part. 

 Especially is this true of the section that deals with 

 Geology (Lessons 18 to 29) ; for the teacher who has 

 not grasped the picture of the changing world as a 

 whole cannot well teach it in part. 



Many of the illustrations in Part I are drawn from 



