Caroline Stearns Griffin

“ Read the following poem to the children:
WILD FLOWERS
Out amid the green fields,
Free as air we grow,
Springing where it happens,
Never in a row;
Watered by the cloudlets
Passing overhead,
Warmed by lovely sunbeams,
Falling on our heads.
Wild flowers, wild flowers, by the meadow rills,
Wild flowers, wild flowers, on the woody hills,
Wild flowers, wild flowers, springing everywhere,
Joyful in the glad free air.—Selected
Talk about the coming of the wild flowers. What part have the rain and the sunshine in helping the flowers to grow? What wild flowers are in blossom now? ”

“ Venus was very sorry, for she loved the boy Adonis very much. From a silver cup which she carried with her, she sprinkled a few drops of blood over the grass. In a little while, tiny flower buds peeped out from the spot where each drop of blood had fallen.
A gentle wind came up and blew the little buds open and before night it had blown them all away. People called the little flowers wind-flowers, or anemones. Their delicate pink coloring was believed to have come from the heart of Adonis. Have you seen the dainty little anemones, the wind-flowers?—Adapted
Tell the story to the children. ”

“ THE WOODPECKER
An old lady lived on a hill.
She was very small, and she always wore a black dress and a large white apron with big bows behind.
On her head she wore the queerest little red bonnet that you ever saw.
The little old lady grew very selfish as the years went by. People said this was because she thought of no one but herself.
One morning as she was baking cakes, a tired, hungry old man came up to her door.
“My good woman,” said he, “will you give me one of your cakes? I am very hungry. I have no money, but whatever you first wish for you shall have.” ”

“ Nuts, apples, and plums, that hang ripe overhead,
Sweet, juicy grapes, with your rich purple hue,
Saying, “Pick us and eat us; we’re growing for you”?
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O, where do you come from, bright flowers and fair,
That please with your colors and fragrance so rare,
Growing with sunshine or sparkling with dew?
“We are blooming for dear little flowers like you.”
Our roots are our mouths, taking food from the ground,
Our leaves are our lungs, breathing air all around ”

“ Her hair’s like snow, her steps are slow,
Her figure isn’t trim;
But, oh! and, oh! I love her,
This grandmamma of mine;
I wish that she for years may be
My own dear Valentine.—Selected
Tuesday
Write three sentences about your grandmother if you have one; if not, about your mother.
Wednesday
Valentine verses, for the children to copy:
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I wish I were the tiny cup,
From which you take your tea;
For every time you took a sip,
You’d give a kiss to me.
If you love me as I love you,
No knife can cut our love in two.
The rose is red,
The violet’s blue;
Pinks are pretty,
And so are you. ”

“ All summer long the boys and girls played around the log-houses, and were very happy. There were beautiful wild-flowers, and bright-colored song-birds in the woods where they played. One flower that blossomed in the early spring they named the Mayflower, [67] for the ship in which they had come. The trailing arbutus has been called the Mayflower to this day.
When the summer was ended, and all the corn and wheat were gathered in, the Pilgrims said, “Let us have Thanksgiving Day. We will thank God because he made the sun to shine, and the rain to fall, and the corn to grow.” ”

“ One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
—Robert Louis Stevenson.
Have the children copy two stanzas of the poem.
Friday
Have the children copy the rest of the poem, “My Shadow.”
THIRD WEEK Monday
Teach the children the first stanza of “My Shadow.”
Who has a shadow? When can we see our shadow? How does the shadow “Jump before me, when I jump into my bed”? ”

“ When the Indians were going home the Pilgrims said, “Every year we shall have a time to thank God for all He has done for us. You must come and help us thank Him.”
So every year the Pilgrims had their Thanksgiving Day. When other people came to this country they said they would have Thanksgiving too. So for nearly three hundred years we have had the glad Thanksgiving Day. ”

“ How do we know, by feeling, whether an article is hard or soft? What part of the hand has the most sensitive sense of touch? How does a cat know if we pull her tail? How do you know when a pin pricks you? How does a dog know when a flea is biting him? ”

“ Show the children how the prickly burr protects the nuts from squirrels, and from boys and girls, until the nuts are ripe. Then Jack Frost comes along and opens the burr, and the nuts fall out.
Explain how the nut itself is the seed of the chestnut tree, and how, if allowed to lie under the snow all winter, a new little chestnut tree will start up in the spring.
[29]
Thursday
Teach this little rhyme to the children:
When we have a pleasant day,
We like to stroll along the way;
And as we walk upon the street,
The folks we know we always greet. ”

“ Before very long the English boys and girls were [65] talking Dutch as easily as if they had been born in Holland, and had never heard of any other country.
“My, my,” said good Father Brewster, the leader of the Puritans, as they were called. “This will never do. We want our children to talk English, and to love England and her ways”—for the Puritans still loved their country and their flag, just as we love our beautiful flag with the stars and stripes.
“They say,” said Father Brewster, “that far away over the ocean there is a land called America. Let us go to America. ”

“ Why did you all come to school this morning with rubbers and umbrellas? Why is an umbrella shaped as it is? [35] Why does the rain sometimes fall straight down, and sometimes slanting? How does the rain tell us which way the wind blows? Why do rubbers keep our feet dry, when shoes do not? What else is made of rubber? ”

“ Write a rhyme of four lines about a shoe.
Wednesday
Write a letter to a cousin, telling what you have done in school to-day.
Thursday
Write twenty-six words, each to begin with a different letter of the alphabet. As a, apple; b, baby, etc.
Friday
Play “Guess what I am,” each pupil to play he is some flower. As, “I grow in the fields. My flowers are white with yellow centers. They close at night. What am I?” (Answer. A daisy.)
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FOURTH WEEK Monday
Story for reproduction:
PUSSY
My name is Puss. ”

“ Do we taste food after it has been swallowed?
(Have the children test this by actual experiment, with an apple, or some other eatable with pronounced taste.) Tell the children about the taste-buds on the tongue that help us to tell the flavor of what we take into the mouth.
Wednesday
Have the children close their eyes. Allow each child to smell cologne, vinegar, a lemon, and an onion. How many can tell by the scent what each is?
Thursday
Conversation on Smelling:
With what do we smell? Can we smell anything if we cover the nose? Why is it difficult to smell anything if one has a cold? ”

“ Geranium wore a red dress.
Not far from the three fairies in red, yellow and blue, were three other fairies. These fairies had on old, faded dresses. They stood and watched the gaily-dressed fairies dance in the moonlight.
“Come,” said Buttercup, “won’t you come and dance with us?”
“We cannot,” said the three. “We cannot dance, for we have on our old clothes. We have worked hard all day and are just going home, but we like to see you dance in your pretty clothes.”
[198]
Then Buttercup took the skirt of her yellow dress and dipped it into a lily cup filled with dew. ”

“ What color is sunshine? Point to the sun. What color are storm clouds? How does the rain come down? What does the sunshine do for the trees and flowers? What does the rain do for the trees and flowers? What does the rain do for us? ”

“ In what month is Thanksgiving Day?
Where do the birds go, before winter comes?
In what month does Christmas come?
SECOND WEEK Monday
Write the following poem on the blackboard, and make it the topic for an oral lesson, discussing how fruit grows on tree and vine; growth of the plants; the likeness of the plants to us; the ethical lesson. ”

“ Have pupils write the words describing what they have brought, as leaf, grass, twig, etc.
Friday
Talk about Decoration Day. What it means, and how to celebrate it.
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SECOND YEAR FIRST WEEK Monday
Learn the first two stanzas of the poem:
THE SEED
As wonderful things are hidden away
In the heart of a little brown seed
As ever were found in the fairy nut
Of which we sometimes read.
Over the dainty shining coat,
We sprinkle the earth so brown,
And then the sunshine warms its bed,
And the rain comes pattering down. ”

“ Sometimes more of them came than could work upon the grass and buds.
Then some of them ran off to play. But the best of them went down to feed the roots and the worms. They worked out of sight.
But they always went back to their father, the king.
Now it is very hard work to catch a swan maiden on her way back home.
[109]
A boy is sure he saw one of them on a ring in the tea-kettle steam. How many of them get away is a secret.
When the king saw the flowers shiver in the fall, he called the bravest swan maidens to him. He told them that they must go away for a long time. ”

“ Use the rhyme as a means of teaching the children the proper method of salutation on the street. Let the girls wear their hats, and the boys have their caps at their seats with them. Allow a boy and a girl, with hats on, to go to the front of the room, and from opposite sides of the room walk towards each other. As they start, the children—all except the two at the front—repeat the rhyme. ”

“ An old man and his little son took care of this fire and kept it burning day and night.
They knew that if the fire went out all the people would freeze and that the white bear would have the northland all to himself. ”

“ To be committed to memory:
Hearts, like doors, will ope with ease,
To very, very little keys;
And don’t forget that two of these
Are, “Thank you, sir,” and “If you please.”
—Selected
Wednesday
Write a list of ten objects to be seen in the school-room.
Thursday
Talk about bread. Who makes the bread we eat? What is it made of? Where does the flour come from? Where does wheat grow? How does wheat grow? How is the wheat made into flour? How is the flour made into bread?
Friday
Write three sentences about bread. ”

“ Write five sentences, telling what the warm sunshine does.
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Friday
Play, as a game, “I went to the woods and brought back a violet.” One child says, “I went to the woods, and brought back a violet and an anemone” (or any other flower) . The next child says, “I went to the woods and brough back a violet, an anemone, and a hepatica.” Each child adds a flower to the list, as long as the children can remember the list of flowers. ”

“ Then the mothers said, “We will have a Thanksgiving party, and invite the Indians. We will cook some of everything raised on the farms.”
The men shot deer, and wild geese, and wild turkeys for the dinner, and that is why we like to have roast goose or turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner.
At last the Thanksgiving Day came. In the morning everybody went to church. When they got home they found that all the Indians who had been invited had come.
The Indians brought five large deer. The party lasted for three days. At each meal, before they began to eat, the Pilgrims and the Indians thanked God. ”

“ What is a “foreland”?
What is “willow-weed”?
What is “mallow”?
What makes the brook wind about?
How do blossoms happen to be sailing on the water?
Whereabouts in the brook do the trout stay?
What is a “grayling”?
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Tuesday
Answer the following questions:
What is a “water-break”?
What is “gravel”?
Why is the gravel called golden?
What are some of the things that the brook carries along to the river?
What is meant by “hazel covers”?
Why are the forget-me-nots said to “grow for happy lovers”?
Wednesday
Answer the following questions:
How does the brook go? ”

“ Read this little poem to the children:
[28]
LITTLE MISS CHESTNUT
Little Miss Chestnut lived in a tree,
She and her sisters; one, two, three.
Their house was covered with prickles green,
To keep the squirrels away, I ween.
Soon Jack Frost knocked, just for fun;
Out jumped the chestnuts, every one.
Elsie and Fred, on their walk next day,
Found the nuts and took them away.
On winter evenings, cold and long,
They’ll roast the nuts. Here ends my song.
—Selected
Have ready, but out of sight, a chestnut burr, if possible containing some of the nuts. ”

“ After reciting the poem, ask the children what became of the snow apples.
Wednesday
Talk about snow; snowballs; sliding on the snow; sleighing; a snow man.
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Thursday
Write: I can make a snowball.
Friday
To be told; for the children to guess:
WHAT AM I?
I live in a hole just above somebody’s chin. I have to stay there, for I am fastened in.
It is because of me that boys and girls like good things to eat. To please me, they eat candy and fruit.
It is because of me that boys and girls are often kept after school. They forget, and use me when they ought not to. ”