Some form of closely _graded lessons_ is the only kind of material which should be used in our church schools; the children have the same need and the same right to material graded and prepared to meet their understanding in religion as in language or in science. But when we employ graded lessons we must make sure that _the child, and not the subject matter; is the basis of the grading_. We must make certain that the writer of the lessons knows the mental grasp, the type of interests, the characteristic attitudes, and the social activities of the child at the different stages, and then arranges the material to meet these needs. We must not simply aim to cover so much biblical material, even if we select it as well as we may to come within the child's grasp; we must have his real religious needs, his religious growth, and his spiritual development in mind, and provide for these. Adapting graded lessons to young children.--In the graded series of lessons now most commonly used in the church schools the material is, on the whole, fairly well selected to meet the needs of the _beginners_ and the _primary section_. Interesting stories are told, and much nature material presented. The work is, of course, all presented to the pupils by the teacher, as the children cannot yet read. In some cases the stories used are undoubtedly too difficult, and not a few of them lack the elements of good story-telling. Yet the instruction usually centers about the topics most needed by the child at this time--the love and care of God both for our lives and in the world of nature about us; the Christ-child and his care for children; lessons of kindness, obedience and love in the home, etc. Because of this directness of appeal the child responds to the material and the teacher finds her task much easier and more fruitful than with the difficult topics of the ungraded lessons. Graded lessons not all well adapted to ages.--As the graded lessons pass on into the _junior_ age, the adaptation of material is generally less successful than for the primary grades. The topics are based less on the interests and spiritual needs of the child, and more on the material. The lessons for the greater part consist of biblical material only, and are often too difficult for the child to be interested in them or to understand them. No coordinating principle relates the topics to each other, and the material consequently comes to the child in rather disconnected scraps. Too frequently this material, because it belongs to a later stage of development, is without any particular or direct bearing on the learner's experience, and hence not assimilated into his life.