125 



tion. These may be varied indefinitely to suit the needs of p irticular 

 districts. They are meant to be typical and suggestive, and teachers, 

 it is hoped, will frame others at th-^ir discretion. Further these les- 

 sons are enhanced in value if they are connected with other subjects 

 of study. The object-lt^sson, for example, and the drawing lesson may 

 often be associated together, and the children should be taught to 

 draw actual objects of graduated difficulty, and not merely to work 

 from copies. In this way, they will gain a much more real knowledge 

 of common implements, fruits, leaves, and insects than if these had 

 been merely described by the teacher or read about in a lesson-book. 

 Composition exercises may also be given — after the practical experi- 

 ments Hnd observations have been made — for the purpose of training 

 the children to express in words both what they have seen and the 

 inferences which they draw from what they have seen ; and the chil- 

 dren should be Frequently required and helped to describe in their ex- 

 ercise books sio^hts of familiar occurrence in the woods and in the 

 fields. Problems in arithmetic connected with rural life may a so be 

 frequently set with advantage. 



The Board of Education also attach considerable importance to the 

 work being done by the elder scholars outside the school walls, whe- 

 ther such work takes the f >rm of elementary mensuration, of making 

 sketch plans of the playground and the district surrounding the school, 

 of drawing common objects, pouds, farms, and other suitable places 

 under the guidance of the teacher, or of the cultivation of a school 

 garden. 



The teacher should as occasion offers take the children out of doors 

 for school walks at the various seasons of the year, and give simple 

 lessons on the spot about animals in the fields and farmyards, about 

 ploughing and sowing, about fruit trees and forest trees, about birds, 

 insects and flowers, and other objects of interest. The lessons thus 

 learnt out of doors can be afterwards carried forward in the schoolroom 

 by reading, composition, pictures, and drawing. 



In this way, and in various other ways that teachers will discover 

 for themselves, children who are brought up in village schools will 

 learn to understand what they see about them, and to take an intelli- 

 gent interest in the various processes of nature. This sort of teaching 

 will, it is hoped, directly tend to foster in the children a genuine love 

 for the country and for country pursuits. 



It is confidently expected that the child's intelligence will be so 

 quickened by the kind of training that is here suggested that he will 

 be able to master, with far greater ease than before, the ordinary sub- 

 jects of the school curriculum. 



REGULATIONS FOR CASTLETON AND HILL 

 GARDENS. 



GAiiTLETON Gardens. 



1. All games, such as running, jumping, or flying kites, are pro» 

 Mbited. 



2. Any employe selling flowers, plants, &c , without at the same 

 time giving a receipted bill for the money, will be instantly dismissed. 

 Yisitors are requested to insist on having receipts. 



