The above are only a few of our best music-books for Primary and Kindergarten use. Teachers should send for our complete free descriptive circulars. OLIVER DITSON COMPANY, 453 to 463 Washington St., Boston NEW YORK: C. H. DITSON & Co. Books for Young Teachers. 1. The Theory and Practice of Teaching. By DAVID P. PAGE. 16 mo, pp. BULLE 448, with Biography, Notes, Portraits of Page, Mann, Colburn, Emerson, Potter, Wadsworth and Olmsted, and Topical Index for Review. Price in Manilla, 50 cts.; in Cloth, $1.00. SCHOOL 874-SNO No other American book on teaching has so much claim as this to be considered as a classic. For nearly fifty years it has been regarded almost universally as the one book the young teacher would most profit by. A hundred thousand teachers have drawn help an inspiration from its pages. It seems only just to the author of a work so successful that his book should be printed just as he wrote it. The day is past when commentators re-write Shakespeare. They may annotate and explain and conjecture, but they take the text as they find it, and print their observations in another type. This book has been less fortunate. In different editions since Mr. Page's death chapters have been added, details have been changed, passages have been entirely rewritten. This volume goes back to the book that Mr. Page published, and follows word for word the text of the only edition he ever authorized. Where the times have changed and we in them, references to present conditions are given in the Notes that follow, which are also in some part explanatory and historical. In short, this is so much the best edition issued, that even those who already have another edition can afford to throw that aside and use this alone. 2. Hand Book for Young Teachers. By H. B. BUCKHAM, late principal of the State Normal School at Buffalo. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 152. Price, 75 cts. It anticipates all the difficulties likely to be encountered, and gives the beginner the counsel of an older friend. 3. The School-Room Guide, embodying the instruction given by the author at Teachers' Institutes in New York and other states, and especially intended to assist Public School Teachers in the Practical Work of the School-room. By E. V. DEGRAFF. Thirteenth edition, with many additions and corrections. 16mo, cloth, pp. 398. Price, $1.50. As distinguished from others of the modern standards, this is a book of Methods instead of theories. It tells the teacher just what to do and how to do it; and it has proved more practically helpful in the details of the school-room than any other book ever issued. Both this work and Page's "Theory and Practice" are named by the State of New York as those upon which all questions in the State and Uniform Examinations in Methods of Teaching will be based. Don't Wear a Corset When you ride, play tennis, or attend gymnasium. Thousands of ladies wear the FERRIS' GOOD SENSE CORSET WAIST. These properly support the form with comfort, can be washed without injury. Carefully made to fit all ages-infants to adults. Children's 25 cents to 50 cents; Misses 50 cents to $1.00; Ladies $1.00 to $2.00. FOR SALE BY ALL RETAILERS. Special Helps in Primary Teaching. 1. Primary Helps. A Kindergarten Manual for Public School Teachers. By W. N. HAILMANN, Sup't of Indian Schools. Boards, 8vo, pp. 58, with 15 full-page plates. 75 cents. Sup't Hailmann is undoubtedly the best exponent of kindergarten principles in this country. Thoroughly pervaded with the spirit of Froebel, he is also a public-school man of long experience, as member of the Detroit Board of Education, and as superintendent of the schools of La Porte. For years it has been his purpose to harmonize all who are engaged in the work, and especially to establish a connection between the kindergarten and the public schools. This book is the result of his efforts in this direction. It makes the principles of Fræbel applicable in primary schools. Take for instance Chapter IV., on the use of sticks in teaching arithmetic. The general principles here laid down have been applied in many of the public schools, but the method has never before been so thoroughly systematized and perfected. There is no primary teacher who would not profit by the careful stu ly of this work; there is no teacher who could not herself use in her school very many of the appliances here suggested. It shows how to make work pleasant for the child and yet a factor in education, developing the artistic sense, and arousing the powers of observation, imagination, and invention. 2. Autobiography of Fredrick Fræbel. Translated and annotated by EMILY MICHAELIS and H. KEATLY MOORE. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 185. $1.50 3. Child and Child Nature. Contributions to the understanding of Froebel's Educational Treories. By the Baroness MARENHOLZ VON BEULOW. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 207. $1.50. 200. 4. A Kindergarten System. By EMILY SHIRREFF. Cloth, 12mo, pp. $1.00. 5. Essays on the Kindergarten Being a selection of lectures read before the Londo a Froebel Society. Cloth, 12 mo, pp. 175. $1.00. Paper, 6. The New Education. BY Prof. J. M. D. MEIKLEJOHN. 16mo, pp. 35. 15 cts. 7. The First Three Years of Childhood. By B. PEREZ, with an introduction by Prof. Sully. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 295. $1.50. The most marked educational characteristic of the present decade is the study of children, which is everywhere becoming recognized as of fundamental importance. This is unquestionably the most helpful book in this direction that has been published. It is of such general interest that it is included by the American Library Association in the list of books to be contained in every library. No primary teacher can afford to be without it. 8. Mistakes in Teaching. By JAMES L. HUGHES, Inspector of Schools, Toronto. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 135. 50 cts. This little book discusses tersely in Mr. Hughes's pleasant way over one hundred of the mistakes commonly made by untrained or inexperienced teachers. It warns young teachers of the errors they are liable to make, and calls the attention of older teachers to those they are in the habit of making. These mistakes are arranged under four heads: management, discipline, method, and manner. C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracus, N. Y. PRIMARY EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT-SEPTEMBER 1895 Nature Study in the Elementary raindrop is but one stage in a vast series of changes or Schools is very incomplete until we investigate its life history. The transformations. The fragment of rock or of soil is most wonderful and instructive when considered as a history of Including Course of Study Prepared by Charles the past or a prophecy of the future. יז B. Scott for Use in Oswego, N.Y., State Normal School Introductory HE following Course of Study in Nature Study, the result of several years of thought, experience and experiment, has been arranged for the practice school connected with the Oswego state normal school. The suggestions and outlines for Plant Study in the Elementary Schools, published in the Report of the Committee of Ten, were prepared by the writer, as a member of the Conference on Natural History, appointed by that committee. The principles followed in the preparation of that report, but with some additions or amplifications, have guided in the preparation of this Course of Study. In this the same ideas have been applied in the study of animals, minerals and physics. The work outlined for the first four years is based entirely upon experience, and has been done, most of it, again and again. No work in astronomy or physiology has been included in the course. The fundamental facts in astronomy which can be learned from observation by children should be and often are usually included in the study of geography. It is difficult to teach physiology to children inductively and it has seemed impossible to correlate human physiology with the other sciences. Much of the work suggested in plant and animal study will prepare for and aid in the study of human physiology. Superintendents and teachers everywhere are learning the importance and necessity of nature study and taking up the work. Too often, however, it is desultory and without plan or coherence. It is hoped that this course of study, and the accompanying discussion of the principles and ideas which have controlled in arranging it, will be helpful and suggestive to school officers and teachers elsewhere. What is Nature Study? By Nature Study is meant investigation by each pupil of the plants, animals, minerals and physical phenomena which constitute his immediate physical environment. Defined in detail, Nature Study is : Not merely pictures and books about nature. Not merely talked about or read about; not merely glanced at, but carefully, patiently studied; personally investigated by every pupil. NATURE STUDIED IN ITS RELATIONS Not as an isolated thing, but in its relations to all its environment: I. To the whole of which it is a part and to the other parts of that whole. The flower or leaf is not merely a flower or leaf, but is related to the whole plant and to every part of the plant. This brings out function, or use, and plan. 2. To natural environment. The plant or animal is related to water and soil and food and air. This brings out life and function and adaptation of structure to function or work, and impresses mutual dependence and co-operation. 3. To past and future. The study of plant and animal 4. To other individuals, similar and dissimilar, leading to comparison and classification. 5. To other phenomena, bringing out relations of cause and effect, and leading to general principles and laws. These relations are prominent in physics and chemistry. 6. To man, ministering to his spiritual, ethical, aesthetic and material nature and needs. Nature must be studied in its utilitarian relations, its practical uses, and in its relations to man's higher nature, leading to the best in literature and through years one to four, the second, through years five to eight, or nine. 2. To study each topic in its relations and not as an isolated thing. 3. To adapt the work to the nature and needs of the children at different ages, always the first essential. 4. To adapt the work to the teacher, selecting that with which the average educated teacher is believed to be most familiar. 5. To relate and adapt the work to other school work, as much as possible, that it may aid and correlate with other studies. 6. To adapt the work to the season. 7. To adapt to the conditions and surroundings of the school, selecting the material and topics which can be studied in almost any school. ARRANGING THE WORK IN TWO CYCLES The work (more especially with plants and animals) is arranged in two cycles. In the first cycle, covering the first four years, an attempt is made to study all parts of the plant, root, stem, buds, leaves, flowers and fruit, their growth, function and general structure, and to get some idea of one or two examples of the common types of animals, their life and habits, life history, general structure, and a little of their classification; also to investigate the common "earth materials," ," "earth forces" and earth making processes. During the second cycle the same ground, in the plant and animal study, is gone over more thoroughly, studying more examples, and bringing in some new types, such as the radiates, among the animals, and the flowerless plants, and giving more attention to structure and classification. In the physical sciences, the work of the second cycle is more thorough or intensive than during the first four years. The division into cycles is based on psychological and on practical grounds. The younger children cannot study structure or classification as thoroughly as the older pupils can and should do. Life, life history, habits and environment, are more interesting and better adapted for language work, reading, etc., than are structure and classification. Then, too, when we remember that fifty per cent or more, of the pupils do not spend more than four or five years in school, it is certainly better to arrange the work so that those who thus leave shall have a clear, broad, gener 1 knowledge of the whole field, rather than a detailed knowledge,- if that were possible for pupils of that age of a small part of the field. STUDYING NATURE IN ITS RELATIONS The work has been so planned that everything shall, from the first, be considered in its relations. In watching, during the first three years, the development of plants from the seed to the formation of the seed, the first year of one plant, the second year, of two somewhat similar plants, the third year, of two unlike plants, the pupils will learn to think of the plant and of every part of the plant in its relations to the whole plant, to other organs, to its surroundings, to other plants, to man and to God. The observation of trees throughout the year serves the same purpose. Great emphasis is also placed on the relations of the animal to its environment, leading to the study of life and habits and of the function of its parts; to the past and future, its life history; to other animals, or comparison and classification; to man. The minerals and physical phenomena are also studied in their relations and applications. This study of relations should broaden the ideas and conceptions of the pupils and gradually lead them to look at things more broadly. ADAPTING THE WORK TO THE CHILDREN The life sciences, plants and animals, are emphasized in the earlier years of the course, because it is believed that the study of life and of living nature is better fitted to develop the higher nature of the child, the spiritual and æsthetic, and to cultivate his sympathies. Plants and animals, also, appeal more directly to the senses, while the study of physical phenomena and forces requires better developed reasoning powers. The latter are, therefore, made more prominent in the latter years of the course. In the earlier years the more interesting, simple and obvious phases of nature are studied, but nearly every subject is studied during two successive years. During the later years fewer subjects are taken up, but they are studied more thoroughly. In the earlier years the work is extensive; in the later years, intensive. While in nature study, as in all other school work, the child is everywhere and in everything the center, there are two subordinate centers, like the foci of an ellipse, the child in his relations to his physical environment or nature, and the child in his relations to intellectual environment, or man. Above all, and including all are the child's relations to his spiritual environment, or God. In the earlier years nature is the main center, because the physical environment appeals more directly to the senses; emphasis should then be placed upon personal observation of nature. In the earlier years of the course the thoughts of protection and care, of mutual dependence and mutual helpfulness, are emphasized, particularly in the plant and animal study. These phases of life appeal strongly to young children. In the later years the attention of the pupils is drawn more to the order and system and law shown in nature. ADAPTING TO THE TEACHER It is believed that better work will be done by the teachers, if, so far as possible, only one or two phases of nature are studied at the same time. For this reason- and for others — in all grades, plant study predominates in the spring, animal study in the fall, minerals and the physical sciences during the winter. Some phases of plant study, such as seeds and fruits, must be and are studied in the fall, and some phases of animal study, such as birds, in the spring. As teachers, in general, are more familiar with plants than with animals, and as it is easier for them to get, preserve and study plants, special emphasis has been placed on the plant study. Comparatively little attentfon (none until the fifth year) has been given to flowerless plants, as the average teacher knows little about them. Provision is made for the study of these during years five to eight. RELATING TO OTHER SCHOOL WORK The work in minerals and in physics during the first four years has been planned almost entirely with reference to its value as a preparation for an aid in the study of geography. Minerals are considered as earth materials and only the most common earth materials, such as limestone, quartz and sandstone, and the granite rocks, are studied. Physics is a study of "earth forces" and only water, air and heat are studied during the first four years. As an aid in geography, much attention is given to soil-making and to the work of water in producing the inequalities of the earth's surface. The facts, ideas and principles gained by observation in nature study not merely prepare for geography, but are expressed by the pupils, and become a basis for language, oral and written, drawing, painting, modeling, or other forms of expression, and are used, as much as possible, in the arithmetic work. In all grades the observation of nature prepares for and leads to the best literature of nature. Nature study thus becomes one of the centers, the other being literature (or man study,") about which the school is grouped. 66 ADAPTING TO THE SEASON The study of life, plant and animal, is emphasized during the seasons fall and spring, when life most attracts attention. During the late fall and the winter months inorganic or lifeless nature, its materials and forces, are studied. ABRIDGING THE COURSE In the practice school of the Oswego normal school, for which this course is arranged, nature study, and its related work in expression and literature, is allotted thirty minutes daily, throughout the year, during years one to three, one hour daily, throughout the year, during years four to six, and one hour three times a week, throughout the year, during years seven to nine. Few school officers can, or think they can, devote so much time to this subject. Experienced teachers can do in less time the work outlined. |