Did you ever see a spring? Where was it? Was it shaded by trees? Where did the water come from? Did you drink from it? Was the water pure and cold? Where did the water go after leaving the spring?
From the spring flows a tiny, thread-like stream, so small that we can easily step across it. This little stream is called a rill.
Other rills meet this, and form a larger stream, which is called a brook or creek.
Where a river begins is its source. The place where it flows into another body of water is called its mouth. The land over which it flows is its bed.
A river has two banks. As we go toward its mouth, the right bank is on our right hand, and the left bank is on our left.
Do you live near a river? Where does the water come from? In what direction does it flow? Why does it flow in such direction? Does it wind about much? Does it flow into the ocean, or into another river?
Is the water fresh or salt? What grow on its banks? Near which bank do you live?
Make a picture of a spring, and a brook flowing from it. Draw the tall grass and plants that grow near it.