46 TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

 1. Children may bring pictures, clippings, or living things to the
 room.
 2. Preserved specimens may be displayed.
 3. Possible questions may be listed such, as,
 a. What does it eat?
 b. What is it?
 c. Where does it live?
 4. Reading about an animal to find out about its:
 Food Value Helpfulness
 Home Care of babies Harmfulness
 5. Take a field trip to observe findings.
 6. Observe the living things in the school room.
 Aquarium
 Discovery of the need of balance necessary to life
 Preparation of the aquarium
 Interdependence of plants
 Teachers may question the value of this survey and the
time spent in this type of approach, until they once try it. Only
then can its full value be realized. It involves the utilization of
the science of the community and the information available from
the activities and natural resources.
 The most outstanding values by which this survey may be
measured are:
 A science program that is rich with familiar community
 activities gives to the child an awareness of a respon-
 sibility for making contributions to the group.
 It broadens his understanding of the principles and
 generalizations which control life in his own com-
 munity.
 It offers immediate opportunity to apply these new
 learning in his own way of living with others in home,
 school and community; thus it contributes to the im-
 provement of the community by means of practical
 measures.
 It will contribute to the happiness of these children
 now and as adults, in that they will have learned to live
 with others.

Recording and Filing Information
 The information obtained while studying a community is of
so great a value that provisions for filing and recording this
material should be made in order that it may be used again.
 An information or vertical file solves the problem of how to
make clipped material, pictures, and pamphlets readily available.
(See Florida School Bulletin, Dec. 1943, for suggestions on set-
ting up a vertical file.)
 A vertical file, though very useful, does not fully satisfy
the need for an adequate cataloging of local persons, places, and
things. It is therefore suggested that such resources be classi-