160 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



because of natural ability and innate interest, but the slow- 

 est will see something and will be all the better equipped to 

 see more next time. 



In some weeks, instead of having the entire school 

 working along the same lines, let one grade alone or two 

 grades together work up a special subject. Follow the 

 same general plan as that suggested above, except that two 

 or three minutes of a recitation period should be taken to 

 arouse interest and to keep it going. Toward the last of 

 the week use the geography or language period for reports 

 on observations. 



The making of cuttings, bulb gardening, planting of 

 seeds, etc., may be done the last hour on Friday afternoon. 

 The work should be planned so that by division of labor 

 much may be accomplished in a short time. One group 

 may prepare the soil, another start to make the cuttings, 

 another get the water, and another take charge of placing 

 the cuttings in the propagation box. When the plants are 

 actually started their observation and care may be dis- 

 cussed as a general exercise topic. 



Teachers should not feel that every subject treated in 

 this way must be rounded up to a finish. Indeed, no nature 

 study lesson can, in the true sense, ever be completed. 

 The children should be so guided that they will feel this, 

 and have a desire to go on finding out new things, seeing 

 new relations, and solving new problems. Neither should 

 the teacher feel overwhelmed at the number of topics sug- 

 gested in the outline. She should not attempt too much, 

 but select a few lines of work that seem best adapted to the 

 needs of her children. She should realize that the main 

 purpose of the work is not to accumulate a great number of 



