First — The Teacher's Edition gives a complete General Outline of Oral Instruction for Primary Schools, also a Model Oral Lesson and subject matter with definite outlines for one hundred or more oral exercises, adapted to Intermediate Classes.

Second — The teacher is not only advised to use material objects, pictures, and blackboard sketches for illustrations, but is told just what to employ in connection with each lesson. The Supplement contains a fund of valuable information for the teacher's use.

Third — The pupil is not required to deal with printed words until they have been vitalized by the voice of the living teacher and made suggestive of ideas.

Fourth — The subject matter has been selected with reference to the principle that the earth is an organism governed by laws which children may be led to discover one by one; hence the physical side of Geography is made prominent, and the most interesting facts are linked together in a way to impress the mind by the power of association and to lay a firm foundation for the study of the political features of the world.

Animals seem to be made for their homes and manner of life. Birds have hollow bones and boat-shaped bodies which enable them to float easily in the air. Their covering is such as to keep them warm and yet very light. Birds that swim have an oil about their feathers which keep them from being soaked with water. Birds that fly high in the air have eyes like telescopes and can see objects a mile or more away. Birds that wade in the water have long legs so that they can walk in swamps among the reeds and rushes. Fishes have long, slender, flat bodies which cut through the water easily. They are clothed with smooth scales which are kept oiled so that they can glide along swiftly. Their eyes are covered with a transparent skin to keep out the water. Animals have tools and weapons of defence, and seem to follow different trades. The woodpecker has a drill. The elephant has digging tools. The mole has a ploughing machine. The beaver is a carpenter and a mason. The silkworm and spider are spinners. The wasp is a papermaker. Some birds are fishermen. The tailor bird is a seamstress. One kind of fish is a hunter. Animals seem to think about what they see, hear, and feel, and some learn more than others, yet they have no new fashions and contrive no new ways of performing work as men do.

Plants are much like animals. They move, eat, drink, breathe, and sleep. Climbing plants twist themselves around any support at hand. Some flowers turn their faces always to the light. In parts of Brazil the ground is covered with sensitive plants, which when touched close their leaves. Plants take food through millions of little mouths in their roots, and suck water from the ground. They breathe through their leaves. Some plants, if chilled by the cold or kept where a light is left burning, will not go to sleep. When the cold weather comes, some plants go to sleep for the winter as do bears and a few other animals. Plants have sap which circulates up and down through their branches, as blood does through the veins and arteries of animals.

All people do not speak the same language. The Bible tells us that there was a time when everybody talked alike, but the people were very wicked and gathered together on a great plain to make a Tower, the top of which should reach heaven, and God, being displeased, confused their language, so of course they could not build the tower.

Hundreds of men have helped make and prepare the clothes we wear, the furniture we use, and the food we eat. We cannot get along without the help of others. Alone we could accomplish but very little. Since we are dependent upon others for many things we should not feel above them, but treat everyone kindly, doing all the good we can in the world .

Labels: Experiential education, Heimatkunde, Natural law = Sharia law, skill-estate

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