CHAPTER VII.

LESSONS TO SUGGEST PLANS OF WORK.

I.—_Lesson upon the Cow._

To precede or accompany Reading Lessons which refer to the Cow (in lowest grades).

1. _Find out what the children know about the cow._

Every new lesson should be built upon and fastened to the children’s past experience. If they have no knowledge of cows, we must introduce the subject accordingly. If they have always known them, the lesson will be merely a review, because the foundation will have been prepared. If the children live in the country and know the common animals, proceed at once to definite questions which will arrange their knowledge and help them to express it:

Where have you seen cows? What do you know about them—their size, color; the head, ears, legs, feet, tail?

How large are they, as compared with the horse, dog, cat?

Compare the covering with that of the horse, dog, cat. Compare the parts with the corresponding parts of those animals.

Describe the horns. Why do cows have horns? What use do they make of them?

Describe the ears. Where are they? Does the cow move them? The ears of the dog, cat, cow, horse are movable; ours are not. Why?

Compare the cow’s nose and mouth with those of the cat or the horse.

Does anyone know anything about the cow’s teeth? What does she eat? What kind of teeth does she need?

Tell the children about the chewing of the cud.

Of what use to the cow is the long tail with its brush at the end? Who has seen her use it? Would a short tail serve as well?

Who knows anything about the cow’s foot? Who can draw a picture of a cow’s footprint?

Of what use are cows to us? What does the cow give to us?

How should cows be cared for? What kind of stall, what kind of bed, what food, water, pasture, should they have? Describe a pasture that you would like if you were a cow. Describe a barn that you would like if you were a cow.

How ought we to treat animals? Is it right to forget their wants when we have the care of them?

Every lesson upon animals should help the children to realize more fully their obligation to properly care for them. Sympathy for animal life ought to be developed through the reading and language lessons. Interest in animal life is always present in children. The questions above suggested cannot be answered at once, by any ordinary class of children. Many who are familiar with cows in general will be unable to answer them definitely. But the questions will lead them to more thoughtful observation, after which they can report in another lesson. Sometimes the subjects may be distributed, different groups of children being held responsible for the answer to a certain question.

2. _Direct outside observation, in order to get new knowledge._

It is entirely feasible, in many school-rooms, to make the study of the cow the subject of a field lesson. The children may be taken, in groups, to a farmyard, a pasture, or a stable, where a cow may be observed and studied. Such lessons have ceased to be formidable, since they have become so common. The need of these visits is revealed by the children’s vague answers. Nothing but definite observation of the real thing will open their eyes, and make the words in their lesson full of meaning.

There are many city children who have never seen a cow. If it is impossible to take them to a real cow, excellent pictures should be substituted. Many of the questions suggested could be answered by pictures. It must be remembered, however, that the picture tells to us, who have had the real experience, much more than it tells to a child who has never had that experience. It is not strange that a boy who has never seen a real cow should imagine that animal to be six inches long, the size of the cow which he has known from pictures in the lesson. Emphasize the fact of the size. Allude to the picture as a picture only. Have the children show by their hands how high a cow would be, how long, how wide its head, etc. By such means, help to vivify the mental picture which is suggested to the children by the lesson. If the pictures are the only avenue through which they learn about the cow, do not attempt to give as much information as would naturally be associated with the real observation lesson, Remember that the amount of knowledge which the child gains is not proportioned to the number of facts which the teacher enumerates. He will intelligently appropriate those which his observation and thought have helped him to understand. As has been said before, this truth determines the value of the reading lesson to the child, and necessitates the associated lessons, which supplement his experience and enable him to bring to the lesson a mind furnished with appropriate ideas.

3. _Tell the children simple facts which they cannot find out for themselves._

There are many facts associated with the cow which the children can know only through others: the use of the horns, of the bones, the hair, etc.; the manufactures; the reason for the cud-chewing; the making of butter and cheese. The writer has known class-rooms in which milk was skimmed, the cream churned into butter, and the butter eaten by the children. The quantity, of course, was small, but the process was very real and very interesting. This happened recently in a kindergarten in a large city. There were only three children in the class who had ever seen a cow. It is hardly necessary to say that the lesson followed a visit to the cow.

4. _Reënforce the lessons by stories._

Stories about cows, or descriptions of certain animals, perhaps the pets which we have known, will add interest to the lessons.

5. _Collect pictures of cows, for comparison and description._

In almost any district the children will be able to help in making collections of pictures which illustrate the language and reading lesson. These pictures can be obtained from newspapers, magazines, advertisements, and various other sources. Every child who helps to swell the collection will feel an added interest in it. The collection will be valuable in proportion as it is carefully arranged and thoughtfully used by the teacher. If the cards are neatly mounted upon separate sheets which contain the name of the contributor, and distributed amongst the children for observation and comparison, it will prove really helpful. Through the comparison of the different pictures many facts will be developed, suggested by the children’s comments or questions. Such teaching will be sure to fit the need of the children.

These suggestions will be modified and arranged by any teacher who desires to use them. They may help to point the way for those who are not entirely familiar with this phase of their work, and so lead to better things.

II.—_Lesson upon the Oak._

As in the previous lesson, the teacher’s first object should be to discover what the children already know. Nearly all children, even those living in the midst of the city, have some opportunity to see and study trees, and their attention should be carefully directed to the trees in their neighborhood.

Have you ever seen an oak tree? Where was it growing? How tall was it? (Compare with a man, with a horse, a house, with other trees.)

What do you remember about the size of its trunk? about the bark, about the leaves, about the fruit?

Bring to the class acorns, leaves, or, in blossom time, bring blossoms. What is the use of the blossom, of the leaf, of the acorn? Draw them.

Plant an acorn and see what comes of it.

Of what use is the oak tree to us? (Do not forget that beauty as well as manufacturing is to be considered.)

Name articles made of oak.

Bring specimens of the wood.

The older pupils can draw the tree.

Tell the children about the Charter Oak.

Take them, if possible, to a field or woods or park or street where they can see an oak tree growing.

Refer to the lesson some weeks afterwards, in order to lead to continued observation of the tree in different stages.

Do not feel that it is necessary to do all which the lesson suggests, with every class; but be sure that the children have some actual knowledge of a real oak tree.

III.—_Lessons upon Occupations._

Frequent reference is made, in all literature, to the occupations of men. Even if this were not so, a knowledge of these occupations is necessary to even a fair education. Every child should be intelligent in regard to the work of the farmer, the miller, the carpenter, the brick-layer, the engineer, the miner, the merchant. But, be this as it may, the pages of the school reader, even, will demand some knowledge of the everyday occupations of men.

Children are naturally interested in the occupations of their neighbors. They like to see things made. They like to know why certain effects come from certain causes. Nothing could be more fruitful than a visit to a blacksmith shop, a new house that is being built, a sewer that is being dug, a cellar that is being laid; to a ropewalk, to a mine, to a quarry, where real men are engaged in real work. This natural interest of children in these subjects is evidenced by their desire to “play” the miller, the farmer, the driver, the boatman, etc. We do well when we build upon this natural interest. “The Village Blacksmith” is a familiar poem, based upon a common experience. As has been said, the children who know something about the work of the blacksmith will enjoy and understand the poem as no others can. Ask them to go to a blacksmith, and then to report; or go with a class of children, and help them to observe and to question. The blacksmith will be helpful and generous if he is courteously requested to give his aid to the children. Prepare them for the lesson by a preliminary talk about the blacksmith, his work, the need of his work; his tools, the material with which he works; the source from which iron is obtained, the process by which steel is made. Having prepared the children to observe, assign questions or topics upon which they are to report: the anvil, the forge, the sledge, the bellows, the horseshoe, etc. Upon returning from the visit, allow the different pupils to tell what they have seen. After the general conversation, insist upon an orderly description.

Kindred lessons may be given upon the other occupations suggested. In many cases, stories can be told, or read, which will reënforce the observation. It must not be forgotten that one result of the lessons should be a sincere respect for honest toil, and sturdy pride in ability to do honest work well. It is hardly necessary to say that the visit to the blacksmith’s shop will reënforce the reading, and that a study of Longfellow’s poem will in turn make the visit more valuable. The language lesson will help the reading lesson because it adds interest; it will also help the lesson as literature, because it gives fuller power of interpretation, and corresponding appreciation of the poem. All these lessons will be made more valuable by the use of collections of pictures.

IV.—_Rain._

For Second Grade.

_Observation during a Rainfall._

What is rain?

Where does it come from?

How did it get there?

Experiment later, if the children become interested in the question, but do not answer it for them now; let them question and think.

Upon which windows does it fall?

Why not upon the opposite windows?

Where does it go?

What good will it do?

What harm will it do?

Think what the rain does for the trees.

How do you know?

What does it do for the birds?

How do you know?

What does it do for the flowers?

How do you know?

What does it do for you?

If no rain were to fall for three or four months, what would happen to the flowers?

To the grass?

To the gardens?

To the brooks?

Would it make any difference to you?

Experiment: Breathe upon the cold glass; show condensed vapor.

Boil water; collect vapor on cold surface.

Recall vapor on windows.

Recall clothes drying.

Recall windows on washing day.

Explain how fine particles of water are carried through the air, and unite so as to be seen, when cold, in the breath, on windows, in clouds, in fog.

Explain how rainfall is caused.

Read “Children of the Clouds.”

Memorize “Is it Raining, Little Flower?”

Read to the children “A Rainy Day.”

Tell the story of the drop of water in its journey from ocean to ocean again.

_Oh for a booke and a shadie nooke,_ _Eyther in-a-doore or out;_ _With the grene leaves whispering overhede,_ _Or the streete cry all about._ _Where I maie reade all at my ease,_ _Both of the newe and olde;_ _For a jollie goode booke whereon to looke,_ _Is better to me than golde._

—_OLD ENGLISH SONG._