MARCH..

THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH.

"All about him the child sees the work-a-day world. This, claims Froebel, should show forth love and self-denying service. Human progress becomes possible when labor is organized on the principle of mutual help. When each man works for all, when civil society acts with a view to the good of the social whole, then each one doing his special work, makes possible for himself and others a broader and richer human life; consequently the next period in the kindergarten is spent in bringing the child into contact with the laboring world.

"The labor of man has many aspects, and there is a great variety of songs, games, talks and stories bearing upon this point. Those activities which meet universal needs, and those which have been and are important factors in human progress; these will stir in the child a sense of both the dignity and importance of labor, and will help to make him feel the brotherhood of man. In these games the various forms and processes of constructive activity are illustrated, and in playing the farmer, carpenter, baker, miller, wheelwright and others, the child once again shows how the fruits of their labor came to be.

"In observing these forms of human activity the child soon learns that all of them are directly or indirectly connected with nature, whence the materials man uses are derived. That she may serve him well, man must study, foster and improve nature. Here again the child traces the processes in nature which resulted in the materials man uses.

"The weeks spent upon these experiences bring us to Easter and the spring, and the child turns naturally to

spring. Studying her unfolding, he learns not only how nature provides for man, but how even the child may foster the life of nature; therefore seeds are planted and visiting animals cared for out of doors, where it is possible; and where this is not possible window boxes and large cages find a place in the school room that the children may, in their turn, be the caretakers of a life less strong and more needy than their own." -By Laura Fisher, in Kindergarten Magazine.

TOPICS OF STUDY FOR MARCH.

The children of Holland.

Transportation by water.

The wind as a force.

Boats, windmills, mills, etc.

Story of Robert Fulton and the first steamboat.

What we live in.

The carpenter.

The woodman.

March window gardening.

The awakening of spring.

The study of buds.

The willow tree.

The maple tree.

The cow.

The robin, bluebird and woodpecker.

FIRST AND SECOND WEEKS.

MARCH, THE WINDY MONTH.

What is the name of the new month? Spell March. How many days in the month? Any holidays? Noted birthdays?

What season has just closed? (winter.) What season has just begun? (spring.) How many are glad spring is coming? Why? How many are glad winter has gone? Why?

Does it look much like spring to-day? Are there any signs of spring yet? Let us look for signs every day, and when we see one, make a record of it on the calendar.

Have you found any frozen caterpillars on the snow? Where are the caterpillars? The birds? Have any of them come back yet? What is the first bird to come back? What birds do we see every day? Are there any snow birds left? What is his song now? Where is the snow almost gone? On which side of the house is it highest? On which side does it remain longest before melting? Where will the grass first begin to look green? The first boy or girl to see and locate a robin or blue bird, or a blade of grass may picture them for us on the calendar of the day. (Paste on the square a picture of robin or bluebird.)

How does the river look now? Is there any ice on it? How does the water look? Is it as high as it was last summer? Any higher? Who has noticed the willow or poplar trees by the river? What color are the willow stems? Are the buds swollen yet? Which buds will swell and open first, leaf or flower? Gather as many kinds of buds and twigs as you can, and let us see them in their winter dress. They will change it before long. Where do we look for the first spring flowers?

(up among the trees.) How do the trees look now? Are they dead? How can you tell? Where are the leaves?

How does

the grass look? Is it dead? I think if they could talk they would tell us just what this little poem tells us.

TALKING IN THEIR SLEEP.

"You think I am dead," the apple-tree said,
"Because I have never a leaf to show-
Because I stoop and my branches droop,
And the dull gray mosses over me grow!
But I'm all alive in trunk and shoot,
The buds of next May I fold away,
But I pity the withered grass at my root."
"You think I am dead," the quick grass said,
"Because I have started with stem and blade!
But under the ground I am safe and sound
With the snow's thick blanket over me laid;
I'm all alive and ready to shoot,

Should the Spring of the year come dancing here-
But I pity the flower without branches or root."

"You think I am dead," a soft voice said,
"Because not a branch or root I own!

I never have died, but close I hide

In a plumy seed that the wind has sown.
Patient I wait through the long winter hours;
You will see me again, I shall laugh at you then
Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers."

-Edith M. Thomas.

Is it warmer or colder than it was on Valentine Day? Is it thawing or freezing? Are the days longer or shorter now than they were in December? Do you eat breakfast by lamp light now? Is it dark at supper time? At what time is it dark? Is there any moon now? How does it look? Draw it? Draw me a March landscape, showing how the trees and ground look. If we paint it, what colors will we need to use? For the sky? The ground? The trees?

MORNING TALKS.

MARCH.

I'm merry, breezy little March;
Dear children gathered here,
I hope you all are glad to greet
The third month of the year.

There's so much work for me to do!
Old Winter's stayed so long;
And I must blow him north again,
With breezes swift and strong.

Then I must melt the snow and ice,
And waken little Spring,

And from the warm and sunny South
Must call the birds to sing.

-From Primary Education.

Read the poem to pupils.

What month has come? What month of the year is March? What kind of a month is March-winter or spring?

This is the beginning of a new season-Spring. In what way does spring differ from winter? Is the weather the same? Are the out door pictures the same? Are people doing the same things they were in January? What work does March bring to us? What does March have to do? away? What does he drive him with? Has he melted any ice and snow to-day? any birds yet? From which direction will they come?

Whom does he drive What else does he do? Has he called back

Who can write the name of our new month? Who can write a sentence that tells me about it? What kind of a day is it? Who could tell me with crayon, on the board? What is the wind doing? From which direction is it blowing? How can you tell? Who noticed the flag on the school house? The weather vanes on the barns? The tree tops? Which way did they blow? Do you know what the east wind brings? There is a poem that tells us what the winds bring. Listen and see if you can tell me what the east wind brings?