SECOND HALF

THE PUSSY WILLOW

Isabel McDonald

MATERIAL.

Have as many specimens of pussy willow as possible. Allow children to examine the twigs themselves.

INTRODUCTION.

Introduce the lesson by asking the children what season of the year this is. (Spring.)

Which is one of the first twigs to send its buds out to tell us that spring is here? (Pussy Willow.)

APPEARANCE.

How does the pussy willow look when it first comes out? (It wears a brown coat.)

Of what use has this brown coat been to "pussy"? (It protected it from Jack Frost all through the winter.)

Where was the pussy willow in the winter? (Asleep.)

Who awoke her? (The March wind and the warm sunshine called her.)

When pussy takes off her brown coat, what does she put on? (A soft, fine, gray hood.)

Why do we call them "pussies"? (Because the soft, gray, downy hairs. remind us of pussies.)

How are the buds arranged on the twig? (First on one side, then on the other-alternately.)

Are the tip-ends of the buds away from or near the twig? Are the buds large or small?

Which bud is usually missing? (The end one.) Why? (Because Jack Frost nips it so hard that it never wakes up, but disappears.)

WHERE FOUND?

Where have you ever seen pussy willowshrubs? (In the meadow, by

the river, in a swamp, or on a side hill.)

Tell the children that willows do not grow in all climates, and there are children who have never seen or heard of our "pussies."

Encourage pupils to watch the twigs for the bursting of the silken pussy willows.

KINDS.

Ask children if their pussy willow branches are all alike. Have them compare different branches, and tell you about them in their own words. Allow them to break open the catkins or "pussies" and pick them apart.

Tell them that each catkin or pussy is made up of a number of tiny flowers.

On one branch the tassels are all golden yellow. They are covered with yellow dust or pollen. Shake off some of it.

On the other branch the flowers are a silvery green, with no pollen.

INSECTS.

Which insect visits the pussy willow the most frequently? (The bee.) Why does he come to the “pussy”? (Because of its color, odor, pollen and nectar.)

When the bee flies on the goldenyellow flower, all the little hairs on its body catch the pollen and hold it. The bee takes all the honey he wants from this yellow flower, then flies to the silvery green one.

The pollen drops off his body on the silvery green flower, then this flower grows and grows till it becomes ripe and bears fruit.

Other insects also visit the pussy willow for food.

Later on in the season the pupils may look for the white down that gives the seeds the chance to fly away.

TUNE OF COMING THRO' THE RYE. If when coming through the pasture

In the sunny nook.

Where the willows dip their branches
In the breezy nook,

You should see some little people
Bobbing up and down,

They're the pretty pussy willows
Coming back to town.

THE FIRST PUSSY WILLOW. Oh, dainty little pussies

With your soft velvet skins, How is it that you come so soon,

Before the spring begins?

How could your mother let you out
When snow and ice are all about?

The cold North wind is blowing
The air with snow is filled,
Oh, silky little pussies you'll

Most certainly get chilled.

Go back and wait until you hear
The bluebirds calling, "Spring is here"!
L. F. ARMITAGE

PUSSY WILLOWS.

I have some dainty pussies here
All dressed in soft gray fur,
But you might listen all day long
And not once hear them purr.

Nor do they run and frisk about,
These pretty living things,

But closely round a slender twig.
Each tiny pussy clings.

All through the winter's storms and cold,
These furry babies swung

In cradle beds of shining brown,

On willow branches hung.

The rough winds sang their lullaby
And rocked them to and fro,
And all about their sleepy heads
Drifted the cold white snow.

But by and by the sunbeams warm,
Peeped into each small bed,
And said, "Come, Pussies, waken now,
For winter days are fled."

So bravely come the pussies forth,
Though still the cold winds blow,
And up and down the long brown stems
They cling in shining rows.

But when the days grow long and bright,
And breezes not so cold,

They'll change their dress of silver fur
For robes of green and gold.

PLUMMER.

The leaves are heart-shaped, with pointed edges. Flowers:

The flowers are found in blue, white and yellow. The white and yellow violets do not grow as large as the blue ones. They all have something of the same markings that are to be found in their cultivated cousin, the pansy.

There are five petals, the lower one having a spur or honey-bag. The bees pay for the honey which they take from the honey-bag. They do not know it, and it is done in a queer way.

It

The bee thrusts its head into the flower to reach the honey-bag. brushes against the pollen boxes and some of the pollen sticks to it. Then when it flies to the next flower, it rubs the pollen off on its knob. The seeds are much stronger when they get the dust from another plant of the same kind. This is done by insects flying from one flower to another.

METHOD.

If possible, supply each child with a little plant, leaves, flower and root. What flower does the violet resemble? In what way does it resemble the pansy? How is it different from the pansy? Where does the pansy grow? Where does the violet grow? Here may be taught the following:

parts are there to the bonnet? It wears also a collar of fine green sepals. Tell about the honey-bag and what the insects do for the violet seeds.

Let children write sentences about the violet, after which they may draw and press their specimens.

CALLING THE VIOLET.
Dear little violet,

Don't be afraid!
Lift your blue eyes

From the rock's mossy shade!
All the birds call for you

Out of the sky;
May is here waiting,
And here, too, am I.
Why do you shiver so,

Violet sweet?

Soft is the meadow-grass
Under my feet.

Wrapped in your hood of green,
Violet, why

Peep from your earth door,
So silent and shy?

Trickle the little brooks

Close to your bed;
Softest of fleecy clouds

Float overhead:
"Ready and waiting!"

The slender reeds sigh,
"Ready and waiting!"
We sing-May and I.
Come, pretty violet,

Winter's away;
Come, for without you
May isn't May.
Down through the sunshine
Wings fluttered and fly;-
Quick, little Violet,

Open your eye.

LESSON ON WATER

Madeline F. Gartlan

In order to get the children to know the different forms of water, and what causes these changes, it would be a good plan to liken the water to ourselves journeying through the year, and thus get them to reason that as we must change our clothing in accordance with the changes of the weather, so must the water put on different dresses.

Instead of trying to explain these changes as they really occur, it would be much more comprehensible to the child to present the work in the form of a story or an allegory.

Far, far away in the heart of a great woods there was a little brook in which lived many tiny Water-drops. One summer day, while they were skipping about on the top of its waters, hopping from stone to stone, and laughing to themselves over the good. time they were having, a fierce wind. came swooping down upon them, followed by a thundering noise in the distance. So frightened were the little Water-drops that they knew not which

way to run, when suddenly torrents upon torrents of rain beat down upon them, and as the wind blew harder and harder, the raindrops were changed to great round hailstones. The poor little Water-drops ran and ran, trying to get out of their way until they came to a river, but still these great round stones were coming after them so furiously that they had to keep on running and running along this river until they came to a mighty ocean. This place was so large they felt sure that that terrible thing, the Storm, could not find them; so they lay down upon the breast of this great Mother, and, being worn out from their long run, they fell fast asleep. After resting for many peaceful hours, one of them awoke, and, looking up to the sky, there, instead of that awful storm which had chased them from their home, there, across the heavens, rested a beautiful rainbow. The little Waterdrop was so pleased to think he saw it first that he thought if he could only get to it before the others awoke, he would be the happiest water-drop on earth. He looked around for some means of help, and seeing his old friend the Sun, he stretched out his arms and begged him to take him up there so he could hunt for that beautiful half-ring of never-ending colors. The Sun put out his great long arms and the little Water-drop took hold of his hand and went up, up, up, until it found itself in the home of many other drops, who looked just like himself. He was greatly disappointed at what he saw, for he wondered what had become of the beautiful colors. "Surely," he said, "this cannot be the rainbow. Shall I ask some of these little friends where it is? No. I will go. on and on until I find it myself, for I saw it first." So he did not tell all