Page:Bird-lore Vol 06.djvu/246

 Report of the Circulating Collections Loaned by the American Museum of Natural History to the Public Schools of New York City. December 1, 1903, to July 1, 1904

By GEORGE H SHERWOOD

Aswan: Cumm m Invertebrate Zuni-m

f I ‘HE work of providing the public schools with collections to assist in nature study. which was begun in December, 1903. has been con- tinued through the school year. In this period of six months, over

one hundred collections have been in circulation, and have been used in

one hundred schools in Greater New York. They have been delivered to schools in the boroughs of Manhattan. the Bronx, Brooklyn and Richmond

For general information we have kept a record of the itinerary of each collection. and the number of pupils that have studied it in each schooll

These numbers are furnished by the principals over their signature, The

records show that our collections were studied by the following number

of pupils:—

34 Hian . j pring..,...}2,227l_ 3"‘l"""iran ....5Ms7w"""""96'”* insects..l.. ...,........r.......;4,oyi Mollusks....,.,.. ....,..........io,37o Minerals  10.094 Crabs....  ...........7.42X Surﬁsh....l.  ...  6,52; Spanges.. Total   167.973

Thus. in the six months that our collections have been in circulation they have been studied by [67,973 pupils. Their usefulness is attested by the many letters of thanks and appreciation which we have received from teachers and pupils. with the earnest request that the Museum continue this work the coming year.

The way in which the collections have been utilized in the schools is shown by the following extracts from teachers' letters:—

In one school: "The birds were_used for nature lessons, and in com nection with oral language, writing dictation, color and drawing lessons."

From another school comes this report: "I should say that on the average, 1,000 children have observed and examined the Specimens. Miss O'Brien has been giving a short lecture before the school on the different specimens and started with the crustacea. Her talk is given weekly, and the specimens are put right into the children‘s hands, and are passed so each child can see for itself. She talks to eleven assembled classes, making an average of about 500 or 600 children. The teachers then have short compositions written in their class-rooms upon Miss O'Brien's talk. and in

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