44 The Nature-Study Exhibition 



*' Walks are taken in the country, and a lesson is sometimes given in 

 the open air on a certain subject agreed upon before the children set out 

 for their walk, e.g. a lesson on autumn leaves — an ivy leaf — cowslips — a 

 violet, and so forth. When the children return to school they repro- 

 duce in their own words an account of the lesson. 



" I make a rule once every month for them to write an essay entitled 

 the aspect of the country in June or March or August as the case may be. 

 I take them for a walk before they write the essay, and it is most 

 interesting, on reading the accounts, to notice how observant some of 

 the pupils are." 



C. Records. — This section may be subdivided as fol- 

 lows : — 



(i) Nature Note-books and Diaries. 



(2) Nature Calendars. 



(3) Nature Survey Maps. 



(4) Collections. 



(5) Weather Records. 



(i) Nature Note-books and Diaries. — In some cases 

 pupils kept books or diaries in which observations were 

 noted down, and these compare favourably with those of 

 secondary schools. Almost invariably, note-books were used 

 where there were school gardens. At Swanton Morley National 

 School, Nature Notes in previous years were written in the 

 ordinary exercise - books. A suggestion of one of H.M. 

 Inspectors (Mr. Harrison), that they should be entered in a 

 special book and a space left for next year's entries for com- 

 parison^ had recently been adopted; the books used were 

 not, however, found to be large enough. In this last con- 

 nection see Harrowden School, page 66. The Nature-study 

 Note-books of Edith Knight showed in diary form the ob- 

 servations she had made in and out of school, and illustrate 

 the scheme of Nature-study teaching at Orlestone Board 

 School. 



(2) Nature Calendars. — Selections from the children's 

 observations were in some cases made by the teachers for 



