Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study Part 13

~Lesson.~--The matter and method are suggested by the following:

What are the different things for which horses are useful?

What kinds of horses are most useful for hauling heavy loads?

Why are they most useful?

What kinds are the most useful for general farm work? Why are they the most useful?

What kinds are the most useful for driving?

Are there any other animals that would be as useful as the horse for all these things?

What causes some horses to be lean and weary while others are fat and brisk?

What kinds of stables should horses have as to warmth, dryness, and fresh air?

Why is it cruel to put a frosty bit into a horse's mouth?

When a horse is warm from driving on a cold day, how should he be protected if hitched out-of-doors?

Why, when he is warm from driving, should the blanket not be put on until he has been in the stable for a little while?

Correlate with reading from _Black Beauty_.

II

~Preparation.~--I want you to find out some more things about the horse, but you will understand these things better if you remember that long ago all horses were wild, just as some horses are wild on the prairies to-day, and that the habits learned by wild horses remain in our tame horses.

The teacher should read to the cla.s.s parts of "The Pacing Mustang" from Ernest Thompson-Seton's _Wild Animals I Have Known_, or "Kaweah's Run" from _Neighbours with Claws and Hoofs_. This will give the pupils a motive for making the required observations.

~Observations.~--Compare the length of the legs of the horse with his height.

Of what use were these long legs to the wild horses?

What causes horses to "shy"? Of what use was this habit to wild horses?

In how many directions can a horse move his ears? Of what use was this to wild horses?

When horses in a field are alarmed, do they rush together or keep apart, and where are the young foals found at this time? Of what use were these habits to wild horses? Are the eyes of the horse so placed that he can see behind him and to either side as well as in front? Of what use was this to wild horses?

_To the teacher._--The horse is an animal which is strong, swift, graceful, gentle, obedient, docile. The pupils should learn that, in return for his good services, the horse should be treated with kindness and consideration.

The legs of the horse are long, straight, and strong, and the single toe (or hoof) means that the horse walks on the tip of one toe, and the hoof is in reality a large toe nail developed to protect the tip of the toe.

To these features is due the great speed of the horse. Horses gather together in the field with the foals in the most protected part of the group, just as wild horses found it necessary to do for protection. The wild horses "shied" at a fierce enemy concealed in the gra.s.s, and the tame horse shies at a strange object.

CORRELATIONS

With literature and reading: By interpretation of _The Bell of Atri_.

With language: By exercise on new words, as graceful, etc.

DOMESTIC BIRDS

THE DUCK

~Home Observations.~--Compare the duck and the drake as to size, colouring, calls, and other sounds.

Observe the position of the birds when standing. Observe their mode of walking, of swimming, and of flying. Where do they prefer to make their nests? Why is the duck more plain in dress than the drake? What is the shape, size, and build of the nest? Describe the eggs. When does the duck sleep? Why can it not sleep upon a perch as hens do? How do ducks feed on land? Compare with the feeding of hens. Observe how ducks feed when in water. Observe the various sounds, as alarm notes, call notes, social sounds.

Describe the preening of the feathers and explain the meaning of it.

Compare the appearance of the young ducks with that of the older ones.

Do the young ducks need to be taught to swim?

CLa.s.s-ROOM LESSON

Provide, where convenient, a duck for cla.s.s study.

~Observations.~--Colour, size, general shape of the body, and the relation of the shape to ease of swimming; divisions of the body.

Size of head, length of neck, and the relation of the length of the neck to the habit of feeding in water.

The legs and web feet, and the relation of these to the bird's awkward walking and ease in swimming.

The bill and its relation to the bird's habits of feeding by scooping things from the bottom of the water and then straining the water out.

The sensitive tip of the bill by which the duck can feel the food.

The feathers, their warmth, and compactness for shedding water. The oil spread over them during the preening is useful as a protection against water.

The bill, feet, and feathers should be compared with those of the hen and goose, and reasons for the similarities and differences should be discussed.

The uses that people make of ducks and their feathers and eggs; the gathering of eider-down.

For desk work, make drawings of the duck when swimming, flying, and standing.

CHAPTER V

FORM I

SPRING

GARDEN WORK