actdal work of the school. One of the authors has personally 

 presented most of these lessons to classes of children in the 

 schools ; and has observed the whole of this course as given by 

 many teachers. At a time when there is so little of precedent in 

 the way of nature study and so much that is still only in the form 

 of proposal, anything which comes from actual experience must 

 be of value from that very fact. 



The authors are under the greatest obligation to Miss E. B. 

 McFadden, Principal of Nature Study in the Oakland schools, 

 who has for some years enthusiastically given and supervised 

 giving these lessons in the various school grades. It is very 

 largely thru the actual work of experimenting by the teachers of 

 Oakland under the direction of Miss McFadden that the authors 

 feel confident that the topics as given here can be used with suc- 

 cess. The provisional course of study given in the Appendix is 

 based on the Oakland experience. 



No attempt has been made to outline actual lessons, nor, 

 except as suggested in an appendix, to point out the portions to 

 be assigned to the different grades, but rather to give only a simple 

 treatment of the subject for the teacher's use with some suggestion 

 as to methods. The lessons must be considered as simply sugges- 

 tive and by no means as comprehensive. The Appendix already 

 referred to suggests the allotment to the different grades. 



The fragmentary treatment of the subjects and the lack of 

 system in their arrangement is designedly carried out to illustrate 

 the method which experience with children points out as the best 

 method in which to proceed. Even at the risk of being monoton- 

 ous it is stated now, and will be more than once repeated, that 



