Some Wild Plant and Animal Life That Has Been Presented in Thirty First Grade Readers During the Last Fifteen Years

Author

Olivia M. Ammons, Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College

Date of Award

8-1937

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Degree Discipline

Education

Abstract

Since the interests of children often center around wild plants and animals, the writer has attempted to picture the needs for realistic and scientific material for first grade children.

The use of the child's interests and needs as guides for teacher's planning necessitates a comprehensive knowledge of available material, that is why the study of wild plant and animal life that has been presented in thirty first grade readers is of great importance. Even in the first grade the child's desire to find out should be encouraged in his reading rather than his dependence upon being told. What materials on wild plant and animal life can a teacher expect to have? Because wild plant and animal life is living, and because it is in some form, within the living experience of practically every child (two vital characteristics of material for children) this study has been made in an attempt to answer the preceding question.

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it is to determine the wild plant and animal life material found in thirty first grade readers, and a comparison of this material with wild plant and animal life existing in Texas.

Although the wild life of Texas has been used as a basis of comparison in this phase of the study it may be applied generally to the Southwest. Because of the range in geographical and climatic conditions in Texas we find here many birds, other animals, flowers, and trees of neighboring states. For example: the Arizona State Bird is a native of Texas; the Oklahoma State Flower is wild in Texas; the Louisiana Pines grow in abundance in East Texas.

Second, this study is to determine the trends in the use of information on wild plant and animal life in thirty first grade readers from 1922 to 1937. This phase of study should be of considerable value to first grade teachers of the nation. It portrays the amount and type of material existing about certain animals and plants in groups of five year periods. Are your readers among those books in which most space was given to fantastic, realistic, or scientific discussions? Does this study emphasize for you the need of a certain type of reading material? What should be done about it?

If the thirty different readers in this unusually well equipped first grade room lack the needed material for these children, could it be expected that first grade children in an average school room situation are getting what they need?

Committee Chair/Advisor

Pauline M. Watkins

Publisher

Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College

Rights

Date of Digitization

8-12-2021

Contributing Institution

John B Coleman Library

City of Publication

Prairie View

MIME Type

Application/PDF

Recommended Citation

Ammons, O. M. (1937). Some Wild Plant and Animal Life That Has Been Presented in Thirty First Grade Readers During the Last Fifteen Years. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/233