During the past month the teacher has been making a careful study of each child under her care. The power to observe, think and do has been noted; the tendencies of each individual studied and such a grouping made as will give each the best opportunities for growth. Changes in the grouping are made whenever they are needed and the same subject, adapted to the needs, is usually taken up in each group.

The children have been making collections of fruits, insects, pebbles and stones. They have been observing the weather and a daily record in the "Weather Report" is kept on the blackboard. Thus are they led to watch more closely what is going on in the natural world and note many things that tell of the changing season. The flight of the birds has been observed and talked about and the first verse of " Good-bye

roses and dandelions grow side by side with many others. The thought is a helpful one and as she looks into the merry brown eyes of master Golden Rod" and the timid blue ones of little "Daisy" her desire and purpose to give each the best soil for growth is made stronger. She questions as to why the flowers say "good-bye" and why the birds go away. The answers come readily and "Jack Frost " is mentioned.

What will come after "Jack Frost" has been here awhile? Cold weather, ice, snow, winter are among the things spoken of.

Can any one tell of anything else that is getting ready for winter besides the birds? Flowers and trees are suggested and the second verse of the song is given:

"The wee flow'rs are nodding, so sleepy they grow,

land they go.

The brown birds are flying like leaves through the sky,

The flow'rets are calling, 'Dear birdlings, good-bye!'

The bird voices falling, so soft from the sky,

Are answ'ring the flow'rets, 'Dear play

mates, good-bye.'"'

The children imagine themselves flowers, saying "good-bye" and some are allowed to tell what flowers they are.

The teacher discovers that in this garden of hers pansies, golden-rod, lilies,

Their playtime is ended, for summer is o'er,

They'll sleep 'neath the snowflakes, till spring comes once more."

The children show by nodding heads and sleepy eyes the way the flowers go, and tell of flowers they have seen with "night-caps" on.

Some one has brought bright autumn leaves and the teacher says, "Here are some leaves from a wise old tree. What story do you suppose they tell?" (Many different stories are given, among others that the leaves are getting ready for winter.)

I wonder how they knew it was time

to get ready. Shall I tell you what some leaves told about it one day?

The wind had been whispering to the leaves all summer and at last it told this story:

"Come little leaves" said the wind one day,

'Come over the meadow with me and play.

Put on your dresses of red and gold, For summer is gone and the days grow cold."

As this story is told such words as wind, leaves, play, dresses, red, gold and cold are written on the blackboard as they are spoken.

The teacher questions, pointing to the script words when she wishes to use them, and allows the children to say the words softly instead of pronouncing them herself.

The words to which she points are indicated here by script.

How many have heard the (wind) talking to the (leaves)?

Do you suppose it was asking them to change their (dresses)?

Do you think these (leaves) did what the (wind) asked?

How many have seen (leaves) with (dresses) of (red)? of (gold) ?

Yes, so have I and I'll try and bring some of them to-morrow for you to see. They have very bright (dresses). You may each see if you can bring a leaf that has heard the (wind) calling it and then I'll tell you how they answered the wind's call.

The second verse of the poem will be given the next morning and as many verses on following mornings as may be thought profitable. The children will memorize each verse after they have become familiar with the thought.

Some morning they may be told how the leaves on a great tree did not like bedtime and after this story, the poem, "I'll tell you how the leaves came down," by Susan Coolidge, will be read.

"Where do all the birdies go?" in Tomlin's Songs for Children is also learned and sung. Any other song or story that may be available will be used to enhance the interest and induce closer observation of the changes taking place in the outdoor world.

The children will be led to look carefully at any bird's nests they may see and note their condition; to notice if any birds still remain and, if so, if they are building nests. Trees will be examined and twigs brought in for closer observation and description. Are the twigs dead! Where are the leaves? Will the tree have leaves again? Where will they come from? We will watch the trees all Winter and see how they get along when Jack Frost is here.

The occupation in connection with this work may be the picturing of things seen getting ready for Winter, of trees when the leaves have all gone away and of many other things suggested by the story. The children may bring in and sort leaves and twigs from different trees, putting all of a kind together. They may draw and cut out of paper leaves of different trees as maple, oak or elm and these may be utilized in many ways.

The veins may be drawn with pencil and the leaves used as covers for one or two slips of the brown paper on which have been made drawings. They are outlined, perforated and sewn on cardboard and used in the same way. The paper leaves may be used as patterns from which to cut leaves of felt or flannel. The children can put in the veins

in outline stitch with silks and these leaves used as covers for pen-wipers or needle-books.

A busy teacher with a large school may think this will require too much time for preparation of material and for supervision of the work but it need not do so. There are always some bright, competent children who need extra work.

A short lesson before or after school in cutting, threading needles or taking the stitch, will make them the earnest, helpful little teachers of their groups when the time for this work arrives. Time which the active child might spend in idleness or worse, is spent in helping some one and no better spirit can be cultivated than that of real helpfulness. The child, realizing his power, will watch for opportunities to use it and while exercising and developing his gifts will be cultivating unselfishness in their use.

The names of the articles and materials used in this work may be written on the board and the children asked to point to the name of the article needed instead of asking for it orally. They thus become familiar with a new class of words.

In all the work that has been done the child, seeing the script words frequently, has unconsciously been gaining a vocabulary of written words. In the observation lessons he has seen many sentences written as the expression of his thought and has learned to recognize several idioms when he sees them written as the expression of another's thought. There has been no drill on words or idioms for the sake of knowing them, but their constant use, demanded for the expression of the child's thought and observation, has secured many repetitions. The reading is a part of every lesson.

Grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars, spiders and other insects, kept in boxes such as were described last month, have been observed. These observations have been written for reading and much number work has been demanded in the expression of thoughts about these objects.

In speaking of what the insects can do, the actions of familiar animals, as the dog and cat, may be referred to. Many of the words used in the first lessons in First Readers will thus become necessary in the expression of thought. and grow familiar to the children. Sentences similar to the following have been read:

Here is a grasshopper.

This grasshopper has six legs.
This grasshopper can hop.
Can you hop?

Have you six legs?
The grasshopper can eat.
The cricket can eat.
We can eat.

Harry's dog can eat.
Have you a dog?
Can your dog eat?

This grasshopper can fly.
It has four wings.

The butterfly can fly.

The butterfly has four wings.

A bird can fly, too.

A bird has two wings.

How many wings have a butterfly and a bird?

Can the cricket fly?

How many wings has the cricket?

Many large green caterpillars have been brought in, fed and watched. Some have begun to spin cocoons, and in a lesson on one of these the spinning of the caterpillar is compared to that of the spider. In this connection the myth of Arachne is told, also the story of Penelope's weaving, from the "Odyssey."

The children speak of the fine thread made by the caterpillar and spider, and they are asked to bring samples of thread made by men-such thread as they see mamma using at home. Samples of cotton, silk and linen thread are brought and compared to that made by the insects. This work may be carried out more or less in detail according to the teacher's judgment.

The question as to why the caterpillar is shutting itself up in a little "house" soon comes and the children think that it is getting ready for winter. This is left an open question and they are told to watch and see what happens.

As the leaves fall from the trees many cocoons are found attached to twigs.

A number of these will be fastened to a sheet of cardboard, placed upon the wall where they can be seen by all and developments awaited.

Stones have been brought in, also pebbles and lessons on these alternate with the subjects already mentioned. The sandstone, limestone, granite or any other stone used in building near the school may become familiar. The color, form, surface, lustre, streak and degree of hardness of the pebbles may be the subjects for many lessons on these objects. The hardness may be tested by scratching with finger-nail, pin or nail and the term used to describe the degree of hardness may be "very soft," "soft," "hard" or "very hard," if they can not be scratched.

The children will bring empty boxes, about the size of a pound candy box, and each will have a box of stones to work with at his desk.

Each box will be supplied with a pin, a nail and a little piece of sand-paper for finding the streak of the stones. The stones are to be classified according to

- In doing this work it will be discovered that some of the hard stones will scratch the softer ones and that by rubbing them together sand is made. It will be found that rough places can be smoothed and sharp edges rounded. The question as to the way in which many of the pebbles become smooth and rounded will arise. The teacher will not attempt to tell how this was done, but will have the children put several clean stones of different degrees of hardness into thick glass bottles such as pickles or jam are bought in. The stones will then be covered with clean water, the bottles corked and each child told that he may shake his bottle every day at recess or before school. Soon the stones begin to wear and they notice that the water looks muddy when they shake the bottles. As it settles they discover sand or mud in the bottom and the longer the shaking continues the more sand is found.

One bottle of stones has been up on the shelf and has not been shaken. Its condition is compared with the others, the stones in each carefully examined and all are allowed to draw conclusions.

More than one experiment may be necessary and if so it must be carefully and patiently repeated. There should be no haste in formulating conclusions. There must be many experiments and long observation before this is done.

The important thing is the habit of observing and of thinking of what is observed. This work will not stop with the experiment in the school-room. The

being blind

He feels of it

For example: -- Fred, folded, is given a stone. carefully and then whispers to the teacher, who writes:

I think I have a stone.

It is rough.

It is hard.

It has sharp edges.

It feels like sand-stone.

The children must read the sentences to find what Fred has found out about the stone. Many variations may be made to suit the needs of the school. Various ideas of form and number may be constantly tested in these exercises.

In connection with the work in the "Weather Report" this month, the "Little Jack Frost," from Mrs. Hailmann's book; the "Wind Song" (No. 70), and the "Lady Moon" (No. 76), E. Smith's songs, will be taught.

SARAH E. GRISWOLD, Cook County Normal School, Chicago.

"I know of a little brown wonder-box That will only ope to the South Wind's knocks,

Holds a thousand of green leaves folded tight,

children are playing and gathering the fruit which contains these little brown wonder-boxes. There are many such in the large orchard close by the Kindergarten, and many happy hours do we

white,

Holds a tree with its branches all complete,

And fruit that is golden, juicy and

sweet;

But one apple tree grew in the Kindergarten and was only about four inches high when the summer vacation began. The imagination of the children however, saw that small plant grow into a