SPRING NATURE STUDY. 575 



Waking up. Bead again or sing " < Wake/ Says the Sun- 

 shine " or " The Little Plant." Talk about how boys and 

 girls wake up, how they open their eyes, perhaps have a 

 "stretch," push out their feet and hands, push off the 

 "covers." Relate to bean. If children can be shown 

 soaked Lima beans, they can see more clearly the open- 

 ing (micropyle, meaning " little gate " ) in the skin 

 through which the "foot" is pushed. Months ago 

 Mother Nature or Mother Bean placed that opening or 

 thin place in the skin just where the tender "foot" 

 would begin to push out. Note how the foot bends or 

 doubles on itself, somewhat like a fishhook. Give name, 

 radicle (or, if preferred, "little root"). 



Have children describe bean and foot and coat, so that 

 teacher can draw it on blackboard as it looked when first 

 seen and also after it had grown a little. 



Blackboard summary. 



Our baby bean has waked up. 



We have seen it (or them) grow bigger. 



It has pushed out a little foot. 



The foot came out of a hole in the skin. 



Mother Bean made the hole just over the foot. 



The foot has a point like a pencil. 



It made the skin crack. 



We saw it grow longer and longer. 



We call the foot the radicle. 



Miss Grey made the foot point up. 



It soon turned down. 



It will not grow up. 



It always grows down. 



LESSON III. PUSHING OUT OF THE GROUND. 



Preparatory observations. Continue observations on 

 beans in glasses. Note how the root lengthens, and how 

 the branches form, lengthen, and perhaps branch again, 

 and how the stem, bearing two folded green leaves, pushes 



