The teacher, standing before his class, says : “Let us see how many times we can find red in the school-room. Choose first the reddest red we can find here, the one most nearly like the red in the rainbow “. Mary’s hair ribbon is decided upon by the class. ” Mary may come to the front and stand in the middle. The colour of her hair ribbon is what we call standard red. There are a great many other reds in the room but they all belong to the same family. We shall put all the light reds above Mary and all the dark reds below her, in a line.”
The pupils pick out all those who have red in their clothing, and these go forward. After these are all at the front, those in the seats’ rearrange them in order from light pink to dark red. Those at the front also make suggestions as to where they should place themselves in the line.
Any colour may be taught in the way indicated, or the pupils may bring bright patches of silk, cloth, or pieces of paper to school and arrange them in order. Flowers or fruits may take the place of the patches. Other expedients will suggest themselves to the teacher.
In each case a drill should follow the classification. Where the pupils have been arranged at the front, they may take their seats according to their relation to some one in the line. For example, the teacher may ask those with a red lighter than Mary’s ribbon but not light enough to be called pink, to take their seats ; meanwhile those in the seats watch to see that no mistake is made. This sort of questioning is continued till all are in their seats.