2. With reading and literature:
The pupils are required to express the meaning and sentiment of the following stanza:
The pansy wakes in early spring
To make our world more bright;
All summer long its happy face
Fills children with delight,
Lessons similar to those on the pansy may be based upon the following plants of the garden or field: dandelion, aster, buttercup, nasturtium, goldenrod. The teacher in preparing the lesson should read a description of the plant from a Nature Study book and should also study the plant itself until he is familiar with all the phases of its life.
OBSERVATION EXERCISES ON THE DANDELION
The exercises given below are suggestive for out of school observation work, but must not be too long. By way of preparation for an exercise of this kind, the interest of the pupils in the dandelion must first be aroused.
FIRST EXERCISE
The teacher places the pupils at the school windows from which dandelions are visible and asks them to name any flower that they can see. A short conversation about the brightness of the flower follows.
The pupils are next instructed to:
1. Find dandelions late in the evening, and find out how they prepare to go to sleep and how they are tucked in for the night.