Help in
Language
Lessons.

ercises in Form Study which involve the exercise of the pupil's imagination. In a similar manner the Language lessons are anticipated, emphasized, or supplemented, by work in Building, Modelling, Tablet and Stick-laying, Drawing, and other modes of manual expression. The Freehand Drawing gives the child freedom and growing facility in the line of pencil sketching, and this sketching, though necessarily very crude in point of technique, is found in actual experience to be of great assistance in Language work, as supplementing the written reproduction of stories.

Help in

Primary work in Number is strengthened by the Form Study, in that the latter makes the Number. child practically familiar with certain standards of dimension (the form-models being one inch in diameter, or one by two inches in certain cases), and with many different combinations of numbers, concretely illustrated in the study of faces, edges, corners, etc. The child has also valuable practice in thinking number, and the practical working out of number-ideas, in his exercises in Tablet and Stick-laying. His work in Paper-folding and cutting makes him experimentally familiar with the idea of halves, thirds, quarters, etc., the division of a whole into parts, and the combination of parts to form a whole. His crude pencil sketches of real things are often found by experienced teachers to be a help in impressing ideas of Number, as, e.g., when he is allowed to "make up examples" of his own, illustrated with pictures of the objects concerned.

Primary lessons in "Place," or Elementary Geography, are strengthened by the work in "Place" Form Study, in that the various exercises Lessons. with models, tablets, sticks, and paper give the child clear ideas about position, location, and direction, and accustom him both to understand and to correctly use terms of position, location, and direction. Again, his developing power of Freehand Drawing, whatever its stage may be, is of help in this work, as it enables him to sketch with approximate success the natural forms he studies, or to make a simple diagram of class-rooms, school-yards, etc.

Nature

The primary school instruction in Natural Science is, most clearly of all, related to the work of the same grades in Form Study and Draw- Study. ing. Since Form is a necessary property of the objects studied in Natural Science lessons, all the regular work in Form Study may be regarded as directly anticipating instruction which would otherwise have to be given in the "Nature Study" periods. Again, the Form Study and the Science work may, and should be, mutually helpful as means of cultivating the higher nature through exercise of the sense of beauty. The element of beauty (though not always given due recognition in otherwise excellent scientific instruction) is conspicuous in most of the natural objects selected for primary school study; it is that characteristic in them which most immediately and strongly appeals to the child himself. The aesthetic training received by him in his elementary Art Instruction with models and objects. when properly interpreted makes him still more appreciative of the beauty of things studied in Science les

sons; while, reciprocally, the Science Study may be of great benefit to the Art instruction when it gives the æsthetic element right recognition.

The use of Freehand Drawing as a means of expression in Nature Study is very generally recognized. Such utilization of Drawing in primary grades is made especially practicable by encouragement of the sketching of solid objects from the very beginning of school life, and by exclusive use of the free hand. The advantage of this freehand work is especially evident when considered in connection with Nature Study, because mechanical drawing, if taught in primary grades, is not only itself valueless for Nature Study, but its practice in primary schools is also proven by experience to hamper thought and retard the development of power to sketch freely and effectively.

Manual

The Manual Training practicable for primary grades is given through the regular exercises in Training. Form Study, Modelling, Making, Building, Tablet and Stick-laying, Paper-folding and cutting, and Freehand Drawing which constitute a thorough elementary course in Manual Training. These exercises are entirely consistent with the requirements of Manual Training in higher grades, and are found in actual experience to prepare pupils broadly and practically for such higher work.

All the general work of Primary grades is strengthened by the Form Study and Drawing, in that the Form Study and Drawing are constantly developing the child through observation, thought, and expression, and are constantly relating the mental power gained to other lines of school work. The pupil's interest in

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school life is greatly increased, habits of observation are cultivated, and a love of neat, orderly, and beautiful work is awakened, tending towards a higher standard of effort in every direction.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS

As many teachers have not had an opportunity to prepare themselves in this work, a brief out

Outline.

line of Form Study of the first six solids is
given here to open the subject to them for self-study.

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Fig. 1

In the illustration, Fig. 1, we see the type solids of the first year arranged in two groups, the group on the left containing the sphere, cube and cylinder-that on the right, the hemisphere, square prism, and rightangled triangular. The six solids will furnish sufficient material for illustrating the subject here.

1. STUDY OF THE SOLIDS AS WHOLES The first step in the Methods of Study is to take the solids as a whole, in accordance with the well-known educational maxim, first the

The solids as a whole.

whole, then the parts. The study of a solid at first.

must not, therefore, deal with the details of surface, face, edge, and corner, but must consider the solid simply as a whole.

Study by Touch

Grasp the sphere in one hand, roll it between the two hands, Fig. 2, hold the sphere with the fingers of one hand, turn it with the fingers of the other hand, Fig. 3.

Hold the sphere tightly in one hand, grasp the cube with the other hand, Fig. 4. What impressions are received?

The sphere is smooth and pleasant to hold.

The cube has sharp points and hurts the hands.

Grasp the cylinder in various ways, Fig. 5.

The cylinder is pleasant to hold in one way-held in another way it cuts the hand.

Move the fingers over the solids in different directions. The sphere feels the same all over-the fingers move easily all over it.

The cube feels smooth in some places and sharp in others.