1. Place of Geography in Primary Grades. Most of the geography teaching in primary grades is incidental and indirect. The exception is in those schools whose courses of study require a period a day to be devoted to this subject in the third grade. But even here the teaching is liable to be indirect; that is, its chief purpose is to prepare the pupils for the formal study of geography in the next grade, which is done by directing the lessons in nature study and some language lessons to this end. In first and second grades no direct reference to geography is made. The nature study lessons, however, bring numerous geographical facts and phenomena to the attention of the pupils. For instance, lessons on plants lead to some knowledge of the places in which they grow, and casually call attention to the seasons.

The geography work in the first three grades is so closely interwoven with nature study that the two subjects are inseparable. The geographic features of nature study are emphasized in the geography lessons, and the method of making such use of nature study material is fully described in the chapter on Nature Study, Vol. II, Chapter I. These two chapters should be studied together in preparation for the geography lessons.

2. Geographic Material. The teacher must select her geographic material with extreme care. Third grade children are not interested in the study of details, consequently simple subjects should be selected, and in the study of these only the most striking features should be noticed.

(a) SELECTION. The work of this grade should be devoted almost entirely to home geography. Fruitful topics for discussion, topics with which the children are already somewhat familiar, are the weather, the seasons, the length of day and night in summer and winter, food plants grown in the vicinity, or found in the market, articles of food and clothing obtained from other localities, the occupations of the neighborhood, wind, rain and snow, and the relief of the region about the school, as brook basins, hills, plains, valleys, etc.

This list of topics is suggestive of what may be used, but the selection should be varied to meet local conditions. The teacher in a rural school or a small town can do more with the study of relief forms than can the teacher in a city, while the latter can do more with occupations than the teacher in the country.

(b) PRESENTATION. In arranging her material for lessons, the teacher should be guided by the following principles of presentation:

(1) Correctness. The articles used should be genuine, not imitations; or, if pictures are used, they should give a correct representation of the object. The illustrations should be true to life; that is, they should conform to the facts associated with the subject of the lesson.

(2) Regard for the Human Element. The geography lessons in this grade should place particular emphasis upon the relation of the subjects studied to our daily life and needs. Home geography affords ample opportunity for this line of work. In the study of remote regions or foreign countries, this can be done by having the studies center around the people of the region.

(3) Knowledge at First Hand. So far as possible the pupils should obtain their knowledge of geographic facts by observation, hence the great importance of selecting home material for the first lessons. This observation should be directed by the teacher, who should ask the children to look for the particular things which she wants them to see.

The teacher may also give additional facts when the pupils have learned what they can by their own observation. The teacher should be careful, however, in giving additional information, that she does not carry the subject beyond the pupils' understanding. She should look at the subject from their point of view, rather than from her own.

3. The Teacher's Preparation. The teacher's preparation for the geography work of this grade may be considered under two heads - general and special.

(a) GENERAL. The general preparation consists first of all in acquiring such a knowledge of the subjects to be presented as will enable the teacher to make them interesting to the children. Along with this knowledge, a general idea of the subject as a whole, and of the work for each term and the entire year, should be gained. Otherwise the teacher will not be able properly to relate the lessons to the geography work of the grade.

The second step in general preparation consists in acquiring such skill in the use of the crayon and the pencil as will enable the teacher to draw simple sketches on the blackboard or on paper. Ability to do this adds much to one's success in teaching geography. Many teachers do not attempt to draw because they feel that they cannot make good pictures. This is a great mistake. Elaborate drawings are not desirable. The following sketches show what may be used to excellent advantage, and any teacher can, by a little practice, acquire sufficient skill to enable her to make sketches of this kind.

The third step is the collection of material. The geography teacher should gather and constantly have on hand a stock of material specially adapted to the work of the grade in which she is giving instruction. Pictures from newspapers, magazines, railroad and steamship circulars, catalogues of manufactures and picture postal cards, samples of raw material from which clothing and other articles in common use are made are of great value in giving the

children first hand knowledge, and in lending interest to the work. The school which has a cabinet of such material, supplemented by collections of minerals, insects and woods, is fortunate.

Both pupils and teacher can assist in collecting all the material here suggested. It should all be classified and arranged on a systematic plan, so that whatever is needed can be obtained without waste of time.

(b) SPECIAL. The teacher's special plans will consist in the selection of subjects for daily lessons, and the planning of each lesson. In selecting geography subjects for primary grades, the teacher should be guided by (1) the adaptation of the subject to the capacity of the children, (2) its adaptation to the season of the year, (3) its ability to be easily related to other departments. To illustrate: the lessons in nature study are easily related to geography. They are also closely related to drawing and language, and occasionally to number lessons. Frequently subjects, otherwise equally proper, might be selected for primary grades were it not for the fact that they are of such nature that they are not easily related to the other work of the school. It is usually wise to omit such subjects. The preparation for the lesson should include the selection of the subject for the lesson, and a thorough study of the subject for the purpose of presenting it to the class so as to bring out the desired points. This study should include the general line of questioning necessary to lead the class to discover the desired facts and principles. In addition to this, the teacher should prepare to give one or more interesting facts or incidents, to relate an anecdote or read or repeat a short poem or other literary selection especially suited to the lesson.

4. Outdoor Studies. Since all the geography lessons in the primary grades have to do with the immediate neighborhood, the lessons can often be made more effective by taking the class to the place where the object under consideration can be studied. So far as possible, objects near the school should be selected, but sometimes in cities and