GIFT OF 
 
!ll!ll^ 
 
 A MANUAL 
 
 CONTAINING THE 
 
 COURSE OF STUDY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 Elementary Schools of West 
 Virginia 
 
 Revised Edition 1914. 
 
 Prepared by 
 THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 
 
 And issued by 
 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF FREE SCHOOLS 
 
 M. P. Shawkey, State Superintendent 
 
 Charleston 
 
 (DUNE PRINTING CO., CHARLESTON, W. VA. 
 

A MANUAL 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 T he Graded Course of Study 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
 
 OF 
 
 WEST VIRGINIA 
 
 Revised Edition 1914. 
 
 Prepared by 
 V^u- . THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 
 
 And issued by 
 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF FREE SCHOOLS 
 
 M. P. Shawkey, State Superintendent 
 
 Charleston 
 
 STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: 
 
 M. I*. Shawkey, President, Charleston. 
 J. D. Garrison, Secretary, Middlebourne. 
 J. N. Deahl, Morgan town. 
 C. R. Murray, Williamson. 
 H. F. Fleshman, Hinton. 
 Walter Barnes, Fairmont. 
 

 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION I Special Articles. 
 
 Introductory ....................................... 5 
 
 Rural School Equipment ............................. 6 
 
 The Decoration of School Rooms ...................... 8 
 
 Sanitation .............................. : .......... 16 
 
 Grading and Promotion in Rural Schools ................ 18 
 
 Examinations and the Free School Diploma ............. 19 
 
 Literary Exercises ................................... 30 
 
 Reading Circle Work ................................. 22 
 
 Play ............................................... 23 
 
 Morals and Manners ................................. 35 
 
 Plan Book .......................................... 27 
 
 The Daily Program .................................. 28 
 
 SECTION II Outline of Studies by Grades. 
 
 First Grade ........................................ 35 
 
 Second Grade ..... ................................. 35 
 
 Third Grade ....................................... 36 
 
 Fourth Grade ...................................... 37 
 
 Fifth Grade ......................................... 38 
 
 Sixth Grade ........................................ 38 
 
 Seventh Grade ____ ' .......................... . ...... 39 
 
 Eighth Grade ...................................... 40 
 
 SECTION III Outline of Studies by Subjects. 
 
 Reading and Literature . ... Vc . ; ...... .................. 45 
 
 Language and Composition'','! .{. jX*. f. .: ................... 67 
 
 Writing ____ v . ; : , ; .;.... ........ . . . t . .* .................. 83 
 
 Spelling ...'.*. *.". I*. ; . .':.'::* .'? .*.: .vv %../. ................ 103 
 
 Arithmetic ............................... , ......... 107 
 
 Nature Study .................. ..................... 141 
 
 Agriculture .................... ................... . 157 
 
 Geography ......................................... 170 
 
 United States History ................................ 189 
 
 Civil Government ................................... 301 
 
 State History ...................................... 306 
 
 Physiology and Hygiene .............................. 308 
 
 Drawing ............................ ^ .............. 314 
 
 Music . . 339 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 In 1908 the State Legislature passed an act creating a State Board 
 of Education. One of the duties of this Board is to prepare and pub- 
 lish a State Course of Study for Elementary and High Schools. In 
 compliance with this statute the Board prepared and ^issued in 19 09 
 a Manual of the courses of study for both elementary and high 
 schools in a single volume. In 1912 the Board revised the courses 
 of study for both elementary and high schools, but issued separate 
 manuals for these two kinds of schools. This manual is a revision, 
 in 1914, of the elementary manual issued in 1912. 
 
 For the sake of convenience of references this manual is divided 
 into three sections. Section I contains several special articles writ- 
 ten by individual members of the Board and the Daily Program of 
 Studies. Section II contains an Outline of Studies by grades, indi- 
 cating the text-book to be used, and the amount of each to be com- 
 pleted each year, or half-year. Section III contains a detailed out- 
 line of studies by subjects. For immediate reference Section II will 
 be sufficient; but questions as to how to teach any given subject, and 
 just what to teacli, will be answered in Section III. Throughout Sec- 
 tion II references are frequently made to Section III. Teachers are 
 urged to study Section III as a text on pedagogy; for in this section 
 most of the questions that confront the teacher in her daily class 
 work are answered. For the next year or two, at least, the examina- 
 tion for renewal of teachers' certificates and some of the questions on 
 Theory and Art in the State Uniform Examinations will be taken 
 from this manual. 
 
 293979 
 
SECTION I 
 
 Special Articles and Daily Program of 
 
 Studies. 
 
RURAL SCHOOL EQUIPMENT. 
 
 We will assume that your school has ample grounds, a good house 
 with outbuildings, pure drinking water within easy reach, suitable 
 desks for the pupils and a desk and a chair for the teacher, and that 
 it has suitable means of heating and ventilating the room, that fuel, 
 chalk, erasers and brooms are furnished. This list completes what 
 boards are accustomed to think necessary equipment for a school. 
 Some schools do not fare even so well as this. But granted this 
 much, what can the teacher do towards better equipment of her 
 school ? 
 
 We cannot put too much emphasis upon school equipment. If 
 a factory would be content with such bare equipment as that in the 
 school described, it would not be very efficient. In fact its finer effi- 
 ciency depends upon the things not mentioned in the previous para- 
 graph. Without more equipment than is listed above, the class exer- 
 cises will be largely of the textbook questions and answers. No teacher 
 can do her best work without the necessary tools. 
 
 The library should be a part of every school's equipment. At 
 first, it should consist of the most usable books, supplementary read- 
 ers, books of historical and geographical references, a dictionary, and 
 at least one book of general information, even if it cannot be mom 
 than the World Almanac. Later, books of more general reading 
 can be added. A lot of money has been wasted by teachers who did 
 not know what books to buy. Once in a while you find in the libraries 
 such trash as "Ten Nights in a Bar-room." If teachers will follow 
 suggestions in the Library Day Annual, prepared by the Department 
 of Schools, they will save money and secure better books. It is of" 
 small worth to buy books unless they can be kept in a case. This 
 case need not be expensive. In nearly every school may be found 
 one or more boys who will gladly make a library case, or the neigh- 
 borhood carpenter will make a case at small cost. 
 
 There should be several wall-maps, a globe and a primary reading- 
 chart. 
 
 Boards of education can easily be persuaded to supply these and 
 help supply a library if the matter is brought to their attention I& 
 the right way. : 
 
8 
 
 The sand table is inexpensive and yet its possibilities are limited 
 only by the limitations of the teacher. Anyone who can secure a 
 few feet of lumber and can use the saw and hatchet can make a 
 sand table. Already a number of rural teachers are using the sand 
 table with fine results. 
 
 To set the small pupils to cutting paper may set a-wagging many 
 tongues of the community who have been used to A B C methods 
 of teaching, but if a teacher is skillful she will be able to secure a 
 half dozen pairs of scissors and thus make it possible for the little 
 ones to forget many of their troubles while cutting paper. Are you 
 afraid to try it? 
 
 These are but a few of the suggestions that might be made. The 
 finer things of the school can be done by means of equipment not 
 usually furnished by boards of education. It will all depend upon 
 the ingenuity and skill of the teacher. The catalog of A. Flanagan 
 Company, Chicago; Milton Bradley Co., Philadelphia; Dobson, Evans 
 Co., Columbus, 0.; Virginia School Supply Co., Richmond, Va., and 
 others will be suggestive to teachers, since they make a specialty 
 Off such equipment. Any good book on methods of teaching will aid 
 the teacher. The time has come when merely assigning lessons and 
 hearing recitations out of books will not do. Such methods have 
 never done well. 
 
 THE DECORATION OF SCHOOL ROOMS. 
 
 Very many children, during their school lives, pass from 5,000 
 to 8,000 hours within the school room. What effect, then, the mere 
 physical appearance of the school room interior may have upon the 
 child is certainly worthy of consideration, though to that effect very 
 little thought has usually been given. It is true that in many of 
 <rar fine new city buildings the matter is being treated as carefully 
 as are the other points that pertain to the well-being of the child, but 
 in the great number of smaller buildings, in the country and in 
 little towns the subject is practically ignored. 
 
 To the many earnest and faithful West Virginia teachers who, by 
 their labors in securing school libraries, in beautifying school grounds, 
 and similar endeavors, have shown their genuine interest and often- 
 times a real missionary spirit and devotion, these words are written, 
 in' the hope that they may prove of some value for suggestion and 
 guidance to such as may undertake some activities along this ex- 
 tremely important line of school improvement. For it is not likely 
 that much of this work will be done by the board of education, upon 
 whose already overburdened shoulders the responsibility really rests. 
 
In most instances, probably, whatever is done will be another mark 
 of the enthusiasm, industry and patience of some humble and devoted 
 teacher. 
 
 The Walls. 
 
 An uncoated, plastered wall is not only an ugly and un- 
 attractive thing to look at, but it is also an actual source of injury to 
 the eye. Practically nowhere in Nature, do we find such an environ- 
 ment facing us. Physicians are of the opinion that a strong glare 
 on the eye for a long time is a source of serious eye strain, with 
 accompanying nervousness and restlessness. In our homes we usually 
 strive to cover the plastered wall with some appropriate color. 
 
 The walls made of wood ceiling, which are found in so many of 
 our school houses, soon darken by the natural change of the wood, 
 fio that they are perhaps less harmful to the eye, but on the other 
 hand are even more ugly and unsightly than the plastered wall. The 
 plastered wall may be relieved somewhat by pictures or other decora- 
 tions, but the wooden wall is likely to look the worse for these. 
 
 For the plastered wall tinted preparations of the nature of the 
 one in common use, called Alabastine, are not expensive, are quite 
 durable, and come in an excellent range and variety of shades. For 
 the wood it is better to use some of the so-called "flat" interior 
 paints, that is, paints with a dull rather than a gloss surface. These 
 are more expensive than the washes, such as the Alabastine, but they 
 have the advantage that when they become soiled they can be sponged 
 off and cleansed. 
 
 In the choice of colors both artists and physicians are pretty well 
 agreed as to what colors are most suitable. It is a physiological fact 
 that the shades towards the red end of the color spectrum are more 
 irritating to the eye than those near the center of the spectrum. 
 Therefore we should avoid such colors as yellow, orange and red. 
 The greeiis, of which there is a wonderful range of tints, are both 
 artistic, and soothing to the eye. Through countless ages our eyes 
 have been getting accustomed to the various shades of green in the 
 vegetation that surrounds us out of doors. Some buffs and light 
 browns and some light shades of blue may do for certain rooms. Sug- 
 gestions for color schemes will be found in the cards and other adver- 
 tising matter issued by paint manufacturers, but where the teacher, 
 with whatever assistance can be secured, undertakes to put on a 
 coat of paint or other coating a single tint properly selected will do 
 very well. 
 
10 
 
 Pictures. 
 
 A whole book would not more than suffice to treat adequately the 
 subject of the pictures in the school room. A few of the chapters of 
 Burrage & Bailey's School Sanitation and Decoration treat of the 
 subject and any teacher having access to the book would do well to 
 read it. Some general suggestions only can be given here. 
 
 The cheap, highly colored pictures of many kinds that are dis- 
 tributed free by commercial firms and companies for advertising 
 purposes are not usually appropriate or suitable for school decora- 
 tion, although we often see them used for the purpose. Indeed, 
 sometimes school rooms are found that have their walls almost com- 
 pletely hidden by material of this kind. Oftentimes it is tacked or 
 nailed up to the wall and the following year will be torn down, leav- 
 ing the wall permanently disfigured by the nails that were used in 
 putting it up. The decorations of a school room ought to be of suffi- 
 cient appropriateness and value to make them worthy to remain on 
 the wall, when once put there; if not permanently at least not to be 
 subject to removal except to put something better in their places. 
 
 Subjects. While it is better, in general, to take our subjects from 
 the lists of the paintings by artists whose merit is generally recog- 
 nized and acknowledged, still, it must be remembered that not every- 
 thing of this type is suitable for school decoration. On account of the 
 nature of the subject, or for other reasons, there are many paintings 
 by the old masters which are not nearly so well suited to a school 
 room as would be some less known pictures by modern painters. 
 
 The pictures for a single grade of a city school can be selected with 
 reference to the interests of children of about the same age, while an 
 ungraded or one-room school will have the varying interests of children 
 of all ages. However, there are still certain groups of subjects that 
 are safe in any case. 
 
 The mother and the child, exemplifying mother-love; scenes of 
 home life in the house, the yard, or the field; man's relations with 
 the animal world, either of domestic or wild animal life; animal life 
 without reference to man; the Christ-life, and other Biblical scenes; 
 many views of land and water; any of these, properly selected are 
 likely to present the elements of interest which will lead under proper 
 guidance to the love for art. Such things abound in the paintings 
 of the earlier and later masters. Millet, Murillo, Breton, Dupre, 
 Keynolds and many other signatures will be found beneath pictures 
 whose subject matter is exactly suited to the purposes of the school 
 room. 
 
11 
 
 Kinds of Reproductions. The common penny pictures have many 
 uses in the school room, but they are not usually well suited for wall 
 decoration. Besides their small size, they are usually of the sort of 
 reproductions known as half-tones, which are not very good for the 
 purpose. This is the kind of work we find in most magazine pic- 
 tures, which, while satisfactory for that kind of illustrating, does not 
 bring out the lights and shadows and tone values of pictures enough 
 for the purposes of wall decoration. Many publishers get out repro- 
 ductions of the general type of photogravures that are far better 
 suited to the purpose. They come mostly in blacks and browns, and 
 are true to the originals as well as being ai'tistic and permanent. In 
 sizes suitable for school use they can be had at prices ranging from a 
 dollar to a considerably smaller amount, depending upon size. 
 
 Sizes. A picture of the size of 22x28 is large enough for almost 
 any ordinary school room, while in subjects in which there is not 
 too much detail such sizes as 20x24, 16x20 and even smaller, are 
 often convenient and satisfactory. A large wall space naturally re- 
 quires a larger picture than a smaller space, which enables us often- 
 times to use various sizes of pictures for a pleasing effect in the same 
 room. Sometimes quite a small subject, properly chosen, is just the 
 thing for a narrow space between two windows and here long panel 
 shaped pictures are oftentimes especially effective. 
 
 Framing. It is very rarely that we find an unframed picture in 
 a refined home. It would certainly seem as out of place in a school 
 room. 
 
 Probably the best thing that the teacher can do is to buy his pic- 
 tures already framed, although there are some difficulties in the way 
 of doing this. For instance, the ordinary dealers in the country 
 and small towns do not have very carefully selected stocks, but buy 
 in quantities, pictures that have been selected almost at random by 
 the manufacturers who frame them, without much regard to the sub- 
 ject, the painter, the merit of the reproduction or anything else. 
 T,liey are especially likely to have cheap and highly colored, even 
 gaudy reproductions of paintings by artists little known and perhaps 
 of small ability. A person who knows for what he is looking may 
 occasionally find in these collections some subjects that he wants, and 
 that are worth having. Then the frames themselves are oftentimes 
 very flashy and cheap, the gaudy effects covering all sorts of defects 
 of workmanship and art. 
 
 Many small towns, and nearly all large ones, have men who frame 
 pictures as a business and can do simple jobs of framing fairly well. 
 
12 
 
 To these, however, the teacher 1 ought to be able to give definite in- 
 structions as to width and style of moulding, width of margins, etc. 
 
 A teacher with some mechanical and artistic conceptions if pro- 
 vided with the proper tools and materials can oftentimes teach him- 
 self to frame pictures, which art will not only enable him to furnish 
 his school house with much less expense, but will also be a means of 
 making some little extra money, for in almost every community there 
 are people who want pictures framed. 
 
 A Marsh mitre machine for cutting the moulding can be had for 
 about $10.00. This can be used in other departments of wood- work- 
 ing and carpentry. As to materials he will need the following: 
 
 Moulding, in two or three widths. This can be bought either al- 
 ready finished in various colors, or "raw," that is, unfinished, the 
 stain to be applied by the framer, at prices ranging from 2 cents to 
 8 cents a foot. Stains already prepared and easily applied can be 
 had for this purpose. One advantage is that the framer does not 
 have to carry so large a stock of mouldings, which he would need 
 otherwise in various colors. 
 
 Glass. An amateur had better confine his frames to two or three 
 standard sizes, as say 22x28, 12x20, 11x14, for which he can get 
 glass already cut from any dealer. Irregular sizes will cost more. 
 The framer can soon learn to cut glass of any size he wishes, how- 
 ever, with some practice, and for from ten to twenty-five cents he 
 can get a very good cutter. 
 
 Backing. The manufacturers make special backing for filling in 
 behind the pictures, for protection, etc. Ordinary cardboard will 
 not do, for it will warp and the picture will follow it and twist out 
 of shape. 
 
 Miscellaneous. Screw eyes, picture wire, tacks and nails are kept 
 at the hardware stores. The openings and cracks between frame and 
 backing at the back ought to be pasted to keep out the dust and grime 
 which will slowly work its way down inside the front of the picture. 
 Some mat-board should be kept for mounting an occasional picture 
 which comes unmounted. This is, however, one of the most difficult 
 things that the framer has to do, and he should, whenever possible, 
 buy his pictures mounted on the mat-board in exactly the form he 
 wishes to use them. 
 
 Suggestions. The frame should be cut about an eighth of an inch 
 larger than the picture so that if the picture gets damp and swells it 
 will have room for expansion. A beginner will do well to start with 
 small frames, of narrow moulding, say 1 inch or 1 1-2 inches. Many 
 
13 
 
 of the two and three inch mouldings are so thin that it is extremely 
 hard to get a nail through them without splitting them. A Yankee 
 spiral punch or drill, is useful for drilling before nailing thin mould- 
 ings. Many writers advocate close framing that is, without a mar- 
 gin for the picture, but it is the opinion of the writer, after extended 
 practice and observation, that a properly adjusted margin of white 
 mat-board or occasionally some harmonious shade gives the best effect 
 for many pictures, especially pictures in which there is much detail. 
 The width of the margin, however, is very important. It does not 
 look well if too wide, nor if too narrow. Ordinarily it should be of 
 the same width around, although in some instances if slightly wider 
 at the bottom the effect is good. 
 
 If the little penny pictures are used at all, they may be very cheaply 
 framed with the passe-partout, in which form they are far more effect- 
 ive than when unframed. In some instances several of these may be 
 mounted with proper grouping on one mat-board, and all framed 
 together. 
 
 Casts. 
 
 Where the room has a shelf or other projection suitable for their 
 reception plaster casts make a very interesting decoration. The man- 
 ufacturers also sell pedestals and wall brackets suitable for the recep- 
 tion of these, although this will add considerably to the expense. 
 
 The casts should be procured in the ivory finish. Eeproductions 
 of almost all the famous sculptures of the world can be had in this 
 form, at prices that are reasonably low. Some small pieces that 
 would do very well for the purpose would not cost over a dollar. The 
 price, however, increases rapidly with the size. 
 
 Bambini, by Delia Eobbia, The Madonnas by various sculptors, 
 'and many other pieces can be had in friezes, or bas-relief casts, ready 
 to hang in some suitable space on the wall just as a picture is hung. 
 
 Flowers. 
 
 At many seasons of the year the teacher can have either growing 
 flowers or cut flowers on her table or elsewhere in the room, and cer- 
 tainly nothing will add more to its beauty. Unfortunately the vari- 
 ability of the temperature of the ordinary school room prevents the 
 keeping of potted flowers there at all times. Still, the schools that 
 begin early can have flowers in the room the greater part of the term, 
 if the teacher so desires it and will take the trouble. 
 
 In some of the dusty, dirty, unkempt and disordered school rooms 
 
14 
 
 that we so often find in West Virginia, is it any wonder that so much 
 of our attempted instruction goes for naught? A teacher who will 
 find the way to reconstruct such an interior and to remake it into a 
 clean, harmoniously colored room with its walls adorned with suit- 
 able reproductions of the world's best art is certainly bringing an en- 
 vironment around the school that will silently but powerfully re- 
 enforce her teaching, and may give some lessons which, no matter 
 how good a teacher she may be, are without her power. 
 Dealers who are believed to be satisfactory are as follows: 
 
 Moulding and Framing Supplies, etc.: 
 
 D. E. Abbott & Co., Huntington, W. Va. 
 The H. Lieber Co., Indianapolis, Ind. 
 S. S. Moore & Co., Charleston, W. Va. 
 
 Pictures : 
 
 Perry Picture Co., Maiden, Mass. 
 Geo. P. Brown & Co., Beverly, Mass. 
 Bureau of University Travel, Boston, Mass. 
 The A. W. Elson Co., Boston, Mass. 
 Horace K. Turner Co., Boston, Mass. 
 The Taber-Prang Co., Springfield, Mass. 
 
 The first three picture dealers listed make a specialty of 
 "penny pictures," etc. The next two make a specialty of traveling 
 exhibits, but also sell pictures. The last has a fine line of all sorts 
 of good pictures at reasonable prices. W. A. Wilde Co., Boston, 
 Mass., have a nice line of small colored biblical pictures. 
 
 Casts: 
 
 P. P. Caproni & Bro., Boston, Mass. 
 The C. Hennecke Co., Milwaukee, Wis. 
 
 Out of the many approved subjects in pictures a few are as 
 follows : 
 
 Madonna of the Chair ^Raphael 
 
 Rest in Flight Ivnaus 
 
 Children of the Shell Murillo 
 
 Baby Stuart Van Dyck 
 
 Age of Innocence Reynolds 
 
 Feeding Her Birds Millet 
 
 By the Riverside Le Rolle 
 
 Shepherdess Knitting Millet 
 
 The Knitting Lesson .Millet 
 
15 
 
 Caritas Thayer 
 
 Member of the Humane Society Landseer 
 
 The Connoisseurs Landseer 
 
 The Blacksmith Frere 
 
 The Escaped Cow Dupre 
 
 The Sistine Madonna Raphael 
 
 Madonna and Child Dagnan-Bouveret 
 
 Children of Charles 1 Reynolds 
 
 The Shepherdess LeRolle 
 
 The Gleaners Millet 
 
 At the Watering Trough Dagnan-Bouveret 
 
 Automedon and the Horses of Achilles . . Regnault 
 
 The Horse Fair Bonheur 
 
 The Aurora Guido Reni 
 
 Kabyl Shreyer 
 
 Pilgrims Going to Church Boughton 
 
 Paysage Corot 
 
 Joan of Arc Bastien Le Page 
 
 Queen Louise Richtef* 
 
 Sir Galahad . . . Watts 
 
 The Hay Maker Adan 
 
 The Sower Millet 
 
 Dance of the Nymphs Corot 
 
 The Golden Stair Burne-Jones 
 
 Washington Stuart 
 
 A Reading from Homer Alma-Tadema 
 
 Princes in the Tower Millais 
 
 The Last Supper da Vinci 
 
 Can't You Talk Holmes 
 
 A Helping Hand Renouf 
 
 Monarch of the Glen Landseer 
 
 A Halt in the Oasis Shreyer 
 
 Angels' Heads Reynolds 
 
 Christ in the Temple Hofmann 
 
 The Broken Pitcher Greuze 
 
 The Infant St. John Murillo 
 
 Arrival of the Shepherds LeRolle 
 
 Leaving the Hills Farquharson 
 
 Return to the Farm' Troyon 
 
 Close of Day Adan 
 
 The Infant Samuel Reynolds 
 
16 
 
 Song of the Lark Breton 
 
 Amiens Cathedral 
 
 St. Mark's Cathedral 
 
 Notre Dame Cathedral 
 
 Milan Cathedral 
 
 Cologne Cathedra! 
 
 The Colosseum 
 
 The Doge's Palace 
 
 The Rialto . 
 
 SANITATION. 
 
 Two mottoes that are often seen -exemplify the change that has 
 come over man's whole attitude towards his life, so far as relates to 
 the question as to whether his condition in that life is to be of health 
 and strength or of weakness and disease. 
 
 Not long since the favorite motto that adorned our walls was 
 the familiar "God Bless Our Home," executed in every variety of 
 lettering and color. The motto was, we might say, about half 
 right. We needed, and we still need, all the care that can be 
 bestowed for our protection by an all-seeing and loving Divine 
 Being, but we were too apt to put all of the responsibility and care 
 on the all-carrying shoulders of Providence. If while we sat in 
 ease and comfort, disease struck us, with its torturous course leav- 
 ing us in weakness or in death, it was Providence that was at fault, 
 and we put forth many a solemn wail at the mysterious and devious 
 ways of the Providence of God. 
 
 Still, a little labor would have covered the cess-pool that bred 
 the typhoid carrying fly, or drained the pond in which the malaria 
 bringing mosquito as a "wiggle-tail" spent his active youth, or 
 have cleaned out the lurking germs of the dread white plague, left 
 by some earlier victims of tuberculosis. 
 
 It might be stretching it a little to dignify it with the name of 
 a motto, but the legend that we see so oftentimes nowadays, in so 
 many places, might be worthy of the name. At any rate we surely 
 can do no better than put into action its command, and whenever 
 we have the opportunity "Swat the Fly/' Without any doubt 
 when we are doing this we are doing something that really is far 
 more likely to defend our physical well-being than we are in 
 plastering our walls with mottoes of the old type. 
 
 For modern science is taking the position that disease has causes 
 that are removable and preventable, and is, therefore, unnecessary. 
 
17 
 
 We are learning what agencies carry and spread each kind of 
 illness, whether it is the fly that is the noxious agent or the 
 mosquito, or the flea, or the wind, or the water. We believe that by 
 the destruction of the germs at their source, all diseases that pass 
 from one person to another can be controlled. Other diseases that 
 are brought to the individual not directly from some other individual 
 but from the widespread contamination of waters and soils, will be 
 prevented by stopping the infection of these things and by a more 
 widespread diffusion of the knowledge of treatment of wounds, and 
 of the laws of health in general. Diseases that originate within the 
 individual from the misuse of the various organs in wrong habits 
 of life, as for instance dyspepsia from wrong habits of eating or 
 wrong kinds of food, shall be made to yield to right habits of life, 
 about which we are coming to know more, and sickness will be 
 practically at an end. 
 
 These things are not an idle dream; they are practical scientific 
 possibilities. The adopted textbooks in hygiene, sanitation and 
 physiology give a fine lot of information that should be used 
 to this end; but physiological knowledge is one of ithe most useless 
 kinds of knowledge, merely as knowledge, just as it is one of the 
 most valuable kinds of knowledge when applied. The teacher 
 should have a burning enthusiasm for knowledge of this sort, should 
 seek it and acquire it from all possible sources, and in all cases 
 should be in her school and in her community a tireless missionary 
 of the great gospel of good health. 
 
 The teacher should above all things else try to. control the health 
 conditions of her school room. The room should be clean and every 
 known sanitary principle within her power should be applied. For 
 instance, the best air there is is that out of doors, and the one general 
 principle of ventilation is to bring this air in as freely as is possible. 
 Every dust mote may be the aeroplane of a jolly party of germs, 
 ambitious to make explorations and settlements in some child's 
 nose or mouth or lungs. Therefore the dust mote should reach the 
 ground outside otherwise than by flight through the air. Black- 
 boards should be cleaned outside of school hours in order to reduce the 
 danger from chalk dust. A dozen kinds of germs are lurking in the 
 common drinking cup, and the weakest, the strongest, or the dearest 
 child of the school may be the next object of attack by a colony of 
 the most deadly germs. For each child to have his own cup is little 
 trouble. 
 
 These are but a few of the things the teacher should make his 
 
18 
 
 daily thought. NOT should the teacher's efforts be confined to the 
 school. Unhygienic habits of life in the child's family at home will 
 often yield to the tactful talk of the teacher to the child. A teacher 
 who might finally have this epitaph: "Each community in which 
 she taught she left a stronger and healthier one," would certainly 
 deservedly rank as a great teacher. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this article to furnish the rules and 
 principles for such a work. Elsewhere must these be sought; in 
 the physiologies ; from medical works; from the physicians; and 
 from many other sources. It is hoped, merely, that many teachers 
 from reading this article may have a stronger sense of duty and a 
 keener desire for this particular kind of service. 
 
 GRADING AND PROMOTIONS IN RURAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 One of the chief difficulties in carrying out instructions in this 
 course of study will be the grading of the pupils. And yet it is a 
 rather simple matter as a general proposition. Its difficulty is 
 found in applying the general principle to particular pupils. 
 
 Suppose you have a school that has never been graded, or at 
 least has been only very poorly graded. The first thing to do is to 
 determine what pupils should be in the first grade. Of course all 
 who are just starting to school for the first time will be in that grade. 
 Normally we would expect them to be six years of age. But some 
 of them may be seven or eight years of age. 
 
 Furthermore, there will likely be some who have been in school one 
 or two years, but, because of irregular attendance, poor teach- 
 ing or dullness on their part, have not learned enough of the first 
 grade work to do the work of the second grade. These will also 
 be in the first grade. Once it is determined what pupils will do the 
 work of the first year, you have your first grade organized. Then 
 you go to the course of study and find just what work these pupils 
 will do. Similarly the teacher will organize the pupils into classes 
 of the second grade, third grade, and so on up through the eight 
 grades, if all the grades are represented. And by referring to the 
 course of study the teacher can tell just what work each grade will 
 do and what books they will study. 
 
 It is to be hoped that no teacher in the state will hereafter disre- 
 gard the course of study and go on in the old way of trying to teach 
 each pupil in a class by himself. Even during the past year teach- 
 ers have been found with as many as a dozen classes in arithmetic, 
 each pupil working by himself and going as far each day as he 
 
19 
 
 could work the examples or solve the problems. Such individual 
 teaching might not be very bad if properly done, but no teacher 
 has time to do this. Some of the pupils will be neglected and the 
 neglect usually comes to the smaller ones who really need most at- 
 tention. 
 
 Once the school is graded the matter of promoting next claims at- 
 tention. Normally the first grade would be promoted to the second 
 grade at the end of the year, the second to the third and so on up 
 to the eighth grade, who would receive their diplomas. But it does 
 not always work out so in actual practice. Some pupils will do bet- 
 ter than others. The test for promotion should always be ability of 
 the pupil to do the work of the next higher grade. If at any time 
 a pupil can do the work of the next higher grade, he should be 
 promoted. This situation will not often arise unless there be pupils 
 whose age would normally place them in a higher grade. In such 
 cases the pupils should be given a trial in the grade of their age, 
 or the grade next above the one in which they have been placed. It 
 may be that a teacher will misjudge a pupil's ability to do. the work 
 of a given grade and place him in a grade too high. [This misjudg- 
 ment is all the more likely where poor records of the pupil's work 
 have been kept, the teacher being compelled to rely on the pupil's 
 statement or a brief oral examination. In such case the pupil 
 should, after a fair trial, be placed in the next lower grade. 
 
 The classification of pupils by grades is a means of economizing 
 the time and energy of the teacher. The chief reason why grading 
 is important in a rural school is that a teacher can in fifteen minutes 
 teach a half dozen pupils more and better in a class than if she gives 
 each of them 2~y 2 minutes separately. And since the rural teacher 
 has from six to eight grades, it is the only way she can distribute 
 her time so as to get the best results in the short time at her dis- 
 posal. Furthermore there is something, to be gained by the associa- 
 tion of pupils in a class. They learn from one another and have a 
 means of measuring their attainments with those of their fellows. 
 
 EXAMINATIONS AND THE FREE SCHOOL DIPLOMA. 
 
 There should be no written examinations for promotion below the 
 fourth or fifth grade. There may be written exercises of the nature 
 of examinations. Even then and thereafter promotion should not 
 be determined wholly by the results of the examinations. The teach- 
 er should keep in mind always that the true test for promotion is 
 ability to do the work of the next higher grade. The examination, 
 
20 
 
 therefore, should be only one means of determining this ability. 
 The examination should be a fair test of the pupil's knowledge of 
 the work he has been doing, and at the same time should be a test 
 of the pupil's ability to generalize from this knowledge and apply 
 it to new situations. 
 
 The final examination for the free school diploma will be pre- 
 pared by the State Superintendent. This examination will aim to 
 test the pupil's knowledge of the elementary subjects. It will de- 
 termine first, whether or not the pupil has received all from the 
 elementary grades that it is worth while to get, and second, whether 
 or not he is prepared to do the work of the first year in high school. 
 
 The free school diploma is serving as a fine incentive for pupils 
 to complete the elementary grades, especially where a high school 
 is within reach of the pupils. Teachers will be rendering a great 
 service not only to their pupils but also to the state by acquainting 
 the boys and girls with the value of finishing the course and re- 
 ceiving the diploma. To develop the habit of finishing a task once 
 begun is an essential step toward success in life. Winning pro- 
 motions year by year and finally this diploma will be a valuable 
 contribution toward fixing such a habit. 
 
 MTERARY EXERCISES. 
 
 Every school ought to make some provision for so-called "liter- 
 ary work" or "literary exercises." It is perhaps best for certain 
 reasons to have this .done in the school under the supervision of the 
 teacher, but if there is sufficient interest among the patrons to main- 
 tain a good literary society, meeting in the school house at night, it 
 is well to organize it. The literary exercises of the school cannot 
 assume that breadth of scope which the literary society for the whole 
 community does, because of the immaturity of its members. 
 
 The school should, in a measure at least, become a social center for 
 the district. The regular meetings of a literary society furnish the 
 opportunity and occasion for the patrons of the school to meet and 
 discuss the subjects that are of interest to them. It affords the 
 teacher also an opportunity to' meet the patrons, to become ac- 
 quainted with them, to explain the work of the school, to interest 
 them in its work, and to enlist their co-operation. 
 
 There will always be in every community those whose ability and 
 information fit them to discuss the larger questions of the. day. They 
 bring to these discussions the results of their own experience and 
 knowledge of affairs, and the younger members of the society profit 
 
21 
 
 greatly by hearing them. In this way the literary society renders both 
 an intellectual and a social service. 
 
 The work of; the school is quite largely a work of acquiring, of 
 taking in, of impression. In earlier years the mind's ability to 
 take in exceeds its power to give out. And yet the power to express 
 is the practical power to the adult. It is the man who has been 
 trained to express himself who becomes the leader of others. It 
 was said of David Page, the first principal of the Albany (N. Y.) 
 Normal School, that one of his chief traits was his ability to think 
 and to express his thought, "while standing on his feet before 
 folks." This power like every other may be stronger in some than 
 in others, but in every case it is developed by experience and trial. 
 
 It should be borne in mind also that work of this kind is easier 
 for children in their earlier years than it is later. It is very diffi- 
 cult for one who has reached maturity without having had any 
 training in public speaking to make the first attempt. As pupils 
 enter the period of adolescence they become more self-conscious and 
 it is more difficult for them to respond to such requirements. 
 
 The work, so far as it is under the direction of the teacher should 
 be carefully supervised. Pupils left to themselves are apt to select 
 readings, recitations, etc., with reference to some vein of humor 
 which is apt to be coarse. The literary work should aid in the appre- 
 ciation of good literature. To this end the teacher should help the 
 pupil to select his material from writers of known ability and repu- 
 tation. The fact that material of this kind can be used in the literary 
 work furnishes a stronger motive for the careful memorizing of 
 select poems and other selections from literature. 
 
 The exercises of most value to the pupil, however, are those which 
 call upon him to work up in his own way the material which he 
 may have accumulated on any subject. This is original work. 
 Theme writing is to literature and reading what the laboratory is 
 to scientific study. It is the means of working up into usable form 
 the materials which one collects. Hence the essay, oration, or writ- 
 ten debate is valuable in developing the original power of the pupil 
 and teaches him to arrange his ideas and express them in the most 
 forcible way. 
 
 In many schools literary societies are organized, which elect their 
 own officers, construct their own programs and conduct their entire 
 exercises. These societies are always, of course, subject to the 
 supervision of the teacher. They have this advantage, that they give 
 pupils a practical training in the conduct of public bodies, and 
 
make them, to some extent, familiar with some of the principles of 
 parliamentary law. 
 
 Teachers are strongly advised to write the Department of Schools, 
 Charleston, requesting a copy of a Handbook, containing Suggestions 
 and Programs for Community Social Gatherings at Eural School 
 Houses. 
 
 READING CIRCLE WORK. 
 
 The idea of the Teacher's Beading Circle arose some twenty-five or 
 thirty years ago, and it has been one of thf prominent factors in 
 arousing interest in, and developing the study of, the professional 
 side of the teacher's work. It is a matter for congratulation that 
 with so little organization to push the work in this state, so large a 
 number of the teachers read and study the books recommended each 
 year. Every teacher in the state ought to be an enrolled member of 
 the Circle. A few reasons follow why this should be done. 
 
 The value of the Eeading Circle work to the teacher lies first in 
 this, that it selects his professional books for him. The texts recom- 
 imended for study from year to year are selected with especial 
 care both as to their treatment of the subject and as to their adapta- 
 tion to the needs of the teachers of the state. They can be depended 
 upon as being sound in their teaching, and they are selected with 
 reference to the particular needs of our own state. Many books are 
 examined before a selection is made. With the great multiplicity of 
 books on educational subjects now coming from the press, the mat- 
 ter of proper selection of one's professional reading is of great 
 importance to the teacher. 
 
 Second. Every teacher, whether he has had a normal course or 
 not, must read some educational books in order to grow profes- 
 sionally. No teacher can long continue to do successful work who 
 is not keeping up with the progress in his profession. 
 
 This progress has been so rapid in recent years that it requires 
 the teacher to be on the alert all the time. Ten years has seen almost 
 a complete change in the view of the purpose of the school and of the 
 methods of attaining that purpose. These changes are reflected in 
 the more recent books and literature and, therefore, they are the 
 sources to which teachers must go for their own knowledge of the 
 progress and current tendencies in education. Constant reading 
 of the literature of the profession is necessary to one's professional 
 growth. 
 
 Third. The aim in the Eeading Circle work is to select books from 
 
23 
 
 i 
 
 year to year so as to present different phases of education or differ- 
 ent fields of study. The history of education, psychology, method 
 and the general principles of teaching, all, by this means, receive their 
 proper consideration and the teacher's professional reading maintains 
 a balance and proportion which it otherwise might not have. 
 
 Fourth. By the purchase from year to year of the books recom- 
 mended for reading, one soon accumulates a library of well-selected 
 professional books with which he is thoroughly familiar. Frequent 
 reading and study of these works help, at least, to furnish clearer 
 ideas of the purposes of the public school and of the processes of 
 educating the child. The more clearly these purposes and processes 
 are seen the more direct become the efforts of the teacher and the 
 better are the results of his teaching. In other words, careful study 
 of the books prescribed in the Reading Circle will tend to more effi- 
 cient work by the teacher. 
 
 PLAY. 
 
 Certainly every teacher in our remotest country school has heard 
 of the importance of teaching children, and even adults, by beginning 
 with what they already know. This is a widely recognized principle 
 and should be applied in every phase of school room work. Play is 
 one of the instincts found in the early development of child life. It 
 is only the abnormal, or very exceptional child who enters school with 
 little or no knowledge of spontaneous play, and of a few simple games. 
 Hence, this elementary knowledge of games will serve as a good start- 
 ing point for teaching. Each teacher should, early in the term, ascer- 
 tain what games the pupils know, what ones they like, and how skill- 
 fully they can play them. These facts will throw much light upon 
 the mental habits of the pupils and upon their skill in motor control, 
 two facts which the teacher must know before he can do effective 
 teaching. If the young pupil has a particular desire to play ball it is 
 quite probable that you can teach him this word much more easily 
 than a word which does not appeal to his interests. If the pupil lacks 
 motor control you may be able to discover some physical defect, which, 
 if not attended to, will seriously impair mental development; that is, 
 the teacher may be able to discover a defect in seeing, or hearing. 
 There are other reasons, however, why the teacher should give atten- 
 tion to play. The main ones are recreation and sport. 
 
 Games have a positive educational influence in the development of 
 the individual. The child who is dull, slow, and timid, and seems to 
 hesitate before acting upon external stimuli often undergoes a com- 
 
plete change under the influence of carefully planned or spontaneous 
 games. His sense of perception is cultivated by learning to see the 
 ball when it is coming towards him, to make the proper muscular 
 reaction with the bat, to hear the footsteps behind him, to recognize 
 and respond quickly to all the stimuli around him. If he is excelled 
 by pupils of his own age and seeming strength his motive will be 
 strong for improvement. The awkward pupil has strong reasons 
 for developing activity and grace. 
 
 Many children who are timid and backward owing to certain home 
 environment naturally shrink from society. They lack self-confidence 
 and hesitate to trust others. On the other hand, there are those who 
 are bold, over-confident, and self-assertive. Nothing is a better level- 
 ler for these two cases than games which require co-operation. The 
 timid child gains self-respect and confidence, and the boisterous one 
 learns that he cannot secure results without the co-operation of his 
 playfellows. 
 
 Many children come from families in which they move according 
 to that which pleases them. They have always acted upon impulse 
 and have never learned to suppress a desire for the sake of the end 
 to be attained. Well chosen and skillfully directed games will do 
 much towards developing the children's ideas so that they will act 
 for the good of society rather than for selfish purposes. 
 
 Games for young children should have few restrictions and should 
 aim to develop spontaneity and initiative. However, the very young 
 child will soon learn that he must conform to certain regulations; 
 these regulations become more formal and exact as the child matures 
 and indulges in other games. He soon learns that he cannot bat out 
 of his turn, that the rights of other pupils must be respected, and 
 that at times he must even make a sacrifice hit in order that another 
 may score. Ample opportunity is afforded for the pupil to distin- 
 guish between winning by fair means and foul. If a love of fair 
 play is instilled into the pupil at an early age it will be of inestimable 
 value both to the pupil himself and to society. 
 
 We would suggest to teachers that games be selected which have 
 strong play values, i. e., the game selected should contain the elements 
 of both sport and interest. Let the teacher participate in all games. 
 Do not make games too serious; get fun and laughter out of them. 
 In teaching games much interest may be added if a full explanation 
 is given by the teacher before the game is begun. This may often 
 be best done by means of diagrams upon the blackboard. Whenever 
 
25 
 
 the interest in a game wanes the teacher should be ready to suggest 
 a new one. Games furnish excellent opportunity for teaching disci- 
 pline; let the teacher see to it that good discipline prevails upon the 
 play ground. Teach pupils to play to win, but emphasize the impor- 
 tance of proper tactics, and aim to cultivate a high sense of honor. 
 
 For further study of games it is recommended that the teacher 
 procure a copy of "Games for the Playground, Home, School and 
 Gymnasium," by Jessie H. Bancroft. The book is published by the 
 Macmillan Company, New York. Price $1.50. It names and de- 
 scribes a large number of games suitable for each grade in the ele- 
 mentary school. Another book of games costing less is recommended : 
 Johnston's "What to Do at Recess" ; Ginn & Co., New York, price 25 
 cents. The following list of games may prove helpful to teachers. 
 First and Second Years. 
 
 Playground. Indoors. 
 
 Jack Be Nimble. Changing Seats. 
 
 The Muffin Man. Bean Bag and Basket Relay. 
 
 Teacher and Class. Kaleidoscope. 
 
 Do This, Do That. Oats, Peas, Beans. 
 
 Third and Fourth Years. 
 
 Playground. Indoors. 
 
 Bean Bag Circle Toss. Blackboard Relay. 
 
 Single Relay Race. Leaf by Leaf. 
 
 Prisoner's Base. Slap Jack. 
 
 The Farmer is Coming. Target Toss. 
 
 Hill Dill. Last Man. 
 
 Fifth to Eighth Grades Inclusive. 
 
 Playground. Indoors. 
 
 Circle Dodge Ball. Blackboard Relay Race. 
 
 Wood Tag. Nimble Squirrel. 
 
 Double Dodge Ball. Bend and Stretch Relay. 
 
 Jumping Rope III. Hen Roost. 
 
 Partner Tag. The Minister's Cat. 
 
 Old Woman From the Wood. Author's Initials. 
 
 War. Prince of Paris. 
 
 Base Ball. 
 
 - 
 
 MORALS AND MANNERS. 
 
 Character has a physical basis and this fact should be recognized 
 arly in life by the child. The teaching of morals and manners 
 
26 
 
 should be so directed that the child may realize that its physical 
 welfare will be benefited, and that it pays to do right for economic 
 and social reasons. It should be made clear to children that their 
 usefulness, influence, and happiness in life will depend very largely 
 on the character they will build. 
 
 There are two distinct periods in character building that the 
 teacher must recognize if the most desirable results are to be ob- 
 tained. The period of childhood from six to about twelve or thirteen 
 and the period of youth from twelve or thirteen to about twenty 
 years or later must be clearly distinguished. In childhood the in- 
 stincts are individualistic. The appeal must be made only in so far 
 as the child can see a personal benefit to be derived. All other teach- 
 ing must be based on recognized and accepted authority. The impor- 
 tant thing in childhood is to have the child act out every moral idea 
 and precept that is to be learned. A properly organized school fur- 
 nishes very excellent situations for the child to do what is to be 
 learned. With the child even more than with the youth the doing 
 is the learning. 
 
 As soon as the child attains to the age of youth a very different 
 manner of treatment must be accorded him. His social instincts now 
 make it possible for him to become morally whatever his environment 
 will produce in him. He now has a natural disposition to do and to 
 live for other people. The teacher should not only recognize this new 
 sense, but he must also recognize that the youth has a keen sense of 
 the respect, reverence, and confidence that he is worthy of. He 
 should be treated now as one whose opinions and behavior are of real 
 worth to other people. 
 
 Some of the things that the child should learn are cleanliness, neat- 
 ness, promptness, regularity and obedience. It is also well that the 
 child should learn that it should pay for a benefit before it enjoys it 
 and that it should take pain before pleasure when the one follows 
 the other. Teach by incidents, illustrations, and stories well told to 
 impress the idea and to secure the proper response in conduct. Show 
 that kindness, honesty and truthfulness have their sure reward. Teach 
 that industry, politeness, and respect for other people are desirable 
 virtues and that idleness, rudeness and irreverence are vices to be 
 avoided. , 
 
 Teach the youth to see clearly the need and value of institutions, 
 of government and of society. Use biography, history, and literature 
 to show how civilization depends upon the co-operation of human 
 beings of all classes and ranks of life. Give the youth large oppor- 
 
27 
 
 tunity to act out his moral ideas and place responsibility upon him 
 for which he is to account in a reasonable length of time. Keep in 
 mind in dealing with both children and youth that prevention and 
 not reformation is the school's function. The time to act on the part 
 of the teacher is before the impulse and instinct have resulted in 
 undesirable behavior. 
 
 PLAN BOOK. 
 
 There is no learning without thinking on the part of the pupil. 
 Memorizing is not learning. There is no teaching without thinking 
 and reasoning on the part of the teacher. Hearing pupils recite the 
 lessons they have learned or committed and drilling pupils on what 
 they have not yet acquired is not teaching. 
 
 There is no teaching without thinking on the part of both pupil 
 and teacher. Thinking, in this connection, may be described as mak- 
 ing plans to meet felt needs and finding means to secure the end 
 planned for. Thinking consists in planning worthy purposes and 
 aims and in finding the most economic means to the attainment of 
 these purposes and aims. It follows that successful learning and 
 teaching alike must be well planned. 
 
 Every teacher should have a plan book of convenient size. A 
 blank book about 8x10 inches is suitable in size. The teacher should 
 begin to collect material in this book not later than at the county insti- 
 tute in any school year. During this institute week, many sugges- 
 tions should be developed into tentative school plans which should 
 later mature into very definite plans for teaching. When the school 
 opens, the book should contain the large plans for the entire year 
 and detailed plans for the first week or two. 
 
 After the school has opened in the fall, the plan work should be 
 done weekly and daily. At the end of each week, the plans for the 
 next week should be written in the book. These plans should indicate 
 briefly how much will be attempted in each subject, book subjects 
 by topics and outlines, etc.; objective subjects as nature study, home 
 geography, agriculture, etc., by very definite accounts of the material 
 to be used in each lesson, together with the aim or purpose in pre- 
 senting the material. In doing this weekly plan work, the text book 
 material should be carefully sifted to find what the pupil will need 
 to learn, what difficulties the pupil will find in learning the material, 
 and what may be omitted. This is the time to rank the material 
 according to its educative value. As the book grows from week to 
 
28 
 
 week, the teacher can look back through it to get the trend of his 
 school and to direct the school more wisely and economically. 
 
 There can be no successful teaching without daily preparation and 
 planning of the work. A teacher never becomes so thorough in any 
 subject that daily preparation is not necessary to teach it success- 
 / fully. To provide for good teaching and the growth of the teacher, 
 individual lessons should be planned as often as time will permit. A 
 plan of this kind consists in stating the aim or purpose of the lesson 
 or group of closely related lessons, an analysis of the material to be 
 studied in the lesson and the chief teaching questions to be asked 
 the pupils. 
 
 Suggestive school room material, such as seat work, plan books, 
 etc., may be found by writing C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y. ; A. 
 Flanagan Company, Chicago, 111.; or Milton Bradley Company, 11 
 S. 16th St., New York. A chapter on lesson planning together with 
 a number of lesson plans may be found in Strayer's "The Teaching 
 Process," published by the Macmillan Company, New York City, 
 $1.25. 
 
 THE DAILY PROGRAM. 
 
 The arranging of a daily program is always a difficult thing to do 
 in a rural school of eight grades. And yet the success of the school 
 depends largely on how well this program of daily work is arranged. 
 The tendency among teachers is to provide for too many classes. 
 Some teachers have been found trying to do the impossible task of 
 teaching from 30 to 40 classes a day. There should not be more 
 than 20 to 25. 
 
 How to avoid having too many classes is a problem that confronts 
 every rural teacher of a one-room school of seven or eight grades. 
 The problem can be solved only by alternation and correlation of 
 studies. 
 
 Alternation is the systematic and regular union of two grades of 
 pupils, both grades doing the work of one year in one class, while the 
 other year's work is omitted. The next year the work omitted is 
 taken up and the first year's work dropped. In this way each pupil 
 does all the work of the course, but not all in the same order, and 
 the number of classes is greatly diminished, the recitation periods 
 lengthened and more efficient work done. 
 
 The best rural school work can not be done without alternation. 
 Alternation is used in many high schools and also in colleges and 
 
29 
 
 post-graduate courses of our great universities. The rural teacher 
 must avail himself of this valuable plan of organization. 
 
 Alternation of classes may begin in the 3rd and 4th grades, but for 
 most schools it is adequate to begin with the 5th and 6th grades. It 
 is a very simple matter to teach the 5th grade work in geography to 
 the 5th and 6th grade pupils in 3914-15 and in 1915-16 to teach the 
 6th grade geography to 5th and 6th grade pupils, and so on, alternat- 
 ing each succeeding year. 
 
 In a similar manner 5th grade reading and 6th grade history, 5th 
 and 6th grade arithmetic and 5th and 6th grade language work may 
 be alternated. In the 7th and 8th grades all the work may be alter- 
 nated where it is not more economical to correlate with other sub- 
 jects. 
 
 Correlation is here used to mean the teaching of one subject, as 
 bookkeeping, while teaching the 8th grade arithmetic work. Above 
 the oth grade there should be no class in writing except in indi- 
 vidual cases. These individual cases should take daily practice along 
 with the lower grades. 
 
 Type Daily Program of Recitation and Study. 
 
 Suggestions. 
 
 1. Note that this program is but a type program. It is meant 
 merely to be suggestive. The number of pupils and the number of 
 grades will determine the daily program of your school. 
 
 2. Study this type daily program diligently until you have mas- 
 tered the general plan of recitation and study periods. To do so will 
 enable you to work out a daily program for your school. 
 
 3. Note that it is important for children to have regular times- 
 for studying the different subjects as well as for reciting. To do so- 
 will result in good habits of work and better discipline in the school. 
 
 4. This type program has 26 recitation periods. You will doubt- 
 less be able to reduce this number somewhat. For example, three 
 periods, 25 minutes, are allotted to spelling. If your pupils are al- 
 ready reasonably good spellers, or if you think you can teach spelling 
 in connection with other subjects, these periods may be eliminated, 
 thus reducing the number of class exercises to 23 and allowing 25 
 minutes to be applied to other subjects. 
 
 5. Note what classes are alternated and correlated in this type 
 program. It may be that you can extend these methods of saving 
 time. The teacher must be the judge as to whether two grades can 
 work together on one year's work without having done the work of 
 
30 
 
 the preceding year. In classes so indicated it is possible, provided 
 the pupils have been well taught up to this time. Once a school has 
 been organized in this way it is then comparatively easy to do. 
 
 6. Note that but one period has been assigned to United States 
 and state history. It may be that the teacher will have to teach 
 seventh grade history as a separate class. In the grades below the 7th 
 geography and nature study use the same period, on different days. 
 Hygiene and sanitation should be taught at this same period once a 
 week. A good allotment would be: Nature study, 2 days; geogra- 
 phy, 2 days; hygiene and sanitation, 1 day. In the 7th and 8th 
 grades agriculture and physiology should use the same period, recit- 
 ing on different days, 2 periods for the one and 3 periods for the other 
 each week. 
 
 7. Note that reading includes literature and language includes 
 composition. See Section III for definite instructions for teaching 
 these subjects. 
 
 8. General history has not been given a place on this program. 
 It should not be taught unless absolutely necessary. Bookkeeping 
 should be taught only in connection with 7th and 8th grade arith- 
 metic. 
 
31 
 
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SECTION II 
 
 Outline of Studies by Grades. 
 
OUTLINE OF STUDIES BY GRADES. 
 
 First Grade. 
 
 READING Texts : 
 
 White's Story Reader (Primer). 
 
 Jones' Reader Book One. 
 Supplementary Readers: 
 
 Art Literature Readers. 
 
 (Primer and First Reader.) 
 
 Free and Tread well's Literature. 
 (Primer and First Reader.) 
 
 See Reading and Literature, and Language and Composi- 
 tion, Section III, for General Discussion and First Grade. 
 
 WRITING Text. Berry's Writing Books. Book No. 1. See Writing, 
 Section III, General Discussion and First Grade. Write B. 
 D. Berry & Company, 620 So. Wabash Ave., Chicago 111., 
 for "Suggestions for Teaching Writing." 
 
 SPELLING See Spelling, Section III for General Discussion and 
 First Grade. 
 
 ARITHMETIC See Arithmetic, Section III, for General Discussion 
 and First Grade. 
 
 NATURE STUDY See Nature Study, Section III, for General Dis- 
 cussion and First Grade. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE See Physiology, Section III, for outline 
 of work in First, Second and Third Grades. 
 
 DRAWING See Drawing, Section III, for General Discussion and 
 First Grade. Use Prang's Progressive Drawing Books 
 Book One. 
 
 Music See Music, Section III, for General Discussion. 
 
 Second Grade. 
 
 READING (See directions for First Grade work.) 
 Text: Jones' Reader, Book Two. 
 Supplementary Readers: 
 
 Art Literature Readers (Second Reader). 
 
 Free and Treadwell's Second Reader. 
 
36 
 
 WHITING Same as First Grade. 
 
 Text: Berry's Writing Book No. 2. See Berry's "Sugges- 
 tions for Teaching Writing." See Writing, Section III, for 
 General Discussion, and Second Grade. 
 
 SPELLING Same as First Grade. See Spelling, Section III, for Gen- 
 eral Discussion and Second Grade. 
 
 AJUTHMETIC See Arithmetic, Section III, for General Discussion 
 and Second Grade. 
 
 NATUBE STUDY Same as First Grade. 
 
 HISTOKY (Story and Biography). See United States History, Sec- 
 tion III, for General Discussion and Second Grade. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE See Physiology, Section III, for Gen- 
 eral Discussion and Outline of Work for First, Second and 
 Third Grades. 
 
 DEAWING See Drawing, Section III, for General Discussion and 
 Second Grade. Use Prang's Book Two. 
 
 Music Same as First Grade. Congdon's Music Primer, Book I. 
 
 Third Grade. 
 
 BEADING Text: Jones' Reader Book Three. 
 Supplementary Readers: 
 
 Art Literature Readers (Third Reader). 
 Winslow's "The Earth and Its People," of the Geographic- 
 Readers, or some other book of similar grade. 
 See Reading and Literature, and Language and Compo- 
 sition, Section III, for General Discussion and Third 
 Grade. 
 
 WEITING Text: Berry's Writing Book No. 3. See Writing, Sec- 
 tion III, for General Discussion and Third Grade. 
 SPELLING Text: Champion Spelling Book, Section I. See Spell- 
 ing, Section III, for General Discussion and Third 
 Grade. 
 
 AEITHMETIC Texts: Appleton's Primary Book, Chapters I, II and 
 III, and Lippincott's Mental Arithmetic. See Arithmetic, 
 Section III, for General Discussion and Third Grade. 
 NATUEE STUDY See Nature Study, Section III, for General Discus- 
 sion and Third Grade. 
 
 HISTOEY (Story and Biography). See United States History, Sec* 
 tion III, for General Discussion and Third Grade. 
 
37 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE See Physiology, Section III, for General 
 Discussion and Outline of Work for First, Second and Third 
 Grades. 
 
 DRAWING Prang's Book Three. See Drawing, Section III, for Gen- 
 eral Discussion and Third Grade. 
 
 Music Congdon's Book II, or First, Second and Third Grades may 
 together use Congdon's Book I. 
 
 Fourth Grade. 
 
 READING Text: Jones Eeaders Book Four. 
 Supplementary Readers: 
 Art Literature Readers (Fourth Reader). 
 Winslow's "The United States" of the Geographic Read- 
 ers. See Reading and Literature, Section III, for Gen- 
 eral Discussion and Fourth Grade. 
 
 LANGUAGE Text: Modern English, Book One, Part I to Lesson 
 62 ; Part II to Lesson 124. See Language and Composition, 
 Section III, for General Discussion and Fourth Grade. 
 
 WRITING Text: Berry's Book Four. See Writing, Section III, for 
 General Discussion and Fourth Grade. 
 
 SPELLING Text: Champion Spelling Book, Section 11. See Spell- 
 ing, Section III, for General Discussion and Fourth Grade. 
 
 ARITHMETIC Texts: Appleton's Primary Book Completed. Lip- 
 pincott's Mental Arithmetic. See Arithmetic, Section III, 
 for General Discussion and Fourth Grade. 
 
 NATURE STUDY See Nature Study, Section III, for General Discus- 
 sion and Fourth and Fifth Grades. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY First Half Year. No text is to used this half of 
 the year. See Geography, Section III, for General Discus- 
 sion and Fourth Grade. Note that for the second half year 
 Frye's First Course is to be completed to page 98. 
 
 HISTORY (Story and Biography). See U. S. History, Section III, 
 for General Discussion and Fourth Grade. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE Text: Ritchie-Caldwell's Primer of 
 Hygiene, Chapters I to XXI inclusive. See Physiology, 
 Section III, for General Discussion and Fourth Grade. 
 
 DRAWING Text: Prang's Book Four. See Drawing, ' Section III, 
 for General Discussion and Fourth Grade. 
 
Music Text: Congdon's Book Three, or Fourth, Fifth and Sixth 
 Grades may together use Book Two. See Music, Section III. 
 
 Fifth Grade. 
 
 READING Text: Jones' Eeaders, Book Five. 
 
 Supplementary Readers: 
 
 Art Literature Readers, Book Five. 
 
 "Our American Neighbors." 
 
 Bison's Grammar School Literature, Book One. 
 
 See Reading and Literature, Section III. 
 LANGUAGE Text: Modern English, Book One, completed. See 
 
 Language and Composition, Section III. 
 WRITING Text: Berry's Book Five or Book Six. Fifth and Sixth 
 
 Grades should be combined into one class. See Writing, 
 
 Section III. 
 SPELLING Text: Champion Speller, Section III or IV. Fifth and 
 
 Sixth Grades should be combined into one class. See 
 
 Spelling, Section III. 
 ARTHMETIC Texts: Appleton's Grammar School Arithmetic, 
 
 pages, 1-120; Lippincott's Mental Arithmetic. See Arith- 
 metic, Section III. 
 NATURE STUDY See Fourth Grade. 
 GEOGRAPHY Text: Frye's First Course, completed from page 98, 
 
 in first half year; Frye's Higher Geography, second half 
 
 year, pages 1-60, and West Virginia Geography. See Geog- 
 raphy, Section III. 
 PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE: Text: Ritchie-Caldwell's Primer of 
 
 Hygiene completed from page 103. See Physiology, Section, 
 
 III. 
 
 DRAWING Text: Prang's Book Five. See Drawing, Section III. 
 Music Text: See Fourth Grade and Music, Section III. 
 
 Sixth Grade. 
 
 READING Text: Elson's Grammar School Literature. Book One. 
 Supplementary Readers : 
 "Europe" of the Geographic Readers. 
 
 Teachers are urged to write Scott, Foresman & Co., Chicago, 
 111., for manuals on teaching the Elson Readers. They are 
 free. 
 See Reading and Literature, Section III. 
 
39 
 
 LANGUAGE Text: Modern English, Book One, Part III completed. 
 See Language and Composition, Section III. 
 
 WRITING Berry's Book Five or Book Six. See Fifth Grade. Fifth 
 and Sixth Grades should be combined into one class. See 
 Writing, Section III. 
 
 SPELLING Text: Champion Speller, Section III or IV. See Fifth 
 Grade. Fifth and Sixth Grades should be combined into 
 one class. See Spelling, Section III. 
 
 ARITHMETIC Texts: Appleton's Grammar School Arithmetic, 
 Chapter IV; Lippincott's Mental Arithmetic. See Arith- 
 metic, Section III. 
 
 NATURE STUDY See Nature Study, Sixth Grade, Section III. 
 GEOGRAPHY Text: Frye's Higher Geography, completed from page 
 60. See Geography, Section III. 
 
 UNITED STATES HISTORY Text: Montgomery's Beginner's Ameri- 
 can History. Completed in first half year. No history in 
 second half year. See United States History, Section III. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE Text: Ritchie-Caldwell's Primer of 
 Sanitation; first half year pages 1-100; second half year 
 pages 100-194. See Physiology, Section III. 
 
 DRAWING Prang's Book Six. See Drawing, Section III. 
 Music See Fourth Grade and Music, Section III. 
 
 Seventh Grade. 
 
 READING Text: Elson's Grammar School Literature, Book Two. 
 
 Supplementary Readers: 
 
 "Distant Lands" of the Geographic Readers. 
 
 See Reading and Literature, Section III. 
 LANGUAGE Text: Modern English, Book Two, Part I and Part 
 
 III to Lesson 16. See Language and Composition, Sec- 
 tion III. 
 WRITING Berry's Book Seven, or Book Eight. Seventh and Eighth 
 
 Grades should be combined into one class. See Writing, 
 
 Section III. 
 
 SPELLING Text: Champion Speller, Section V or VI. Seventh 
 and Eighth Grades should be combined into one class. See 
 Spelling, Section III. 
 
40 
 
 ARITHMETIC Texts: Appleton's Grammar School Arithmetic, 
 Pages 231-353 ; Lippincott's Mental Arithmetic. See Arith- 
 metic, Section III. 
 
 AGEICULTORE Text: Soule and Tur pin's Fundamental Principles 
 of Agriculture. Seventh and Eighth Grades should be com- 
 bined into one class, using different materials each year. See 
 Agriculture, Section III. 
 
 UNITED STATES HISTORY Text: Montgomery's Leading Facts of 
 American History; first half year, Chapters I-III; second 
 half year, Chapters IV- VII. See United States History, 
 Section III. 
 
 DRAWING Text: Prang's Book Seven. See Drawing, Section III. 
 
 Music See Music, Section III. 
 
 Eighth Grade. 
 
 BEADING Text: Elson's Grammar School Literature, Books Three 
 and Four. See Reading and Literature, Section III. 
 
 LANGUAGE Text: Modern English, Book Two. 
 
 See Language and Composition, Section III. 
 
 WRITING Text: Berry's Book Seven or Book Eight. See Seventh 
 Grade. Seventh and Eighth Grades should be combined 
 into one class. See Writing, Section III. 
 
 SPELLING Text: Champion Speller, Section V or VI. See Sev- 
 enth Grade. Seventh and Eighth Grades should be com- 
 bined into one class. See Spelling, Section III. 
 
 ARITHMETIC Text: Appleton's Grammar School Arithmetic. Com- 
 pleted in first half year. Lippincotf s Mental Arithmetic. 
 Bookkeeping takes the place of Arithmetic in second half 
 year. See Arithmetic, Section III. 
 
 AGRICULTURE See Seventh Grade and Agriculture, Section III. Sev- 
 enth and Eighth Grades should be combined into one class, 
 using different materials each year. 
 
 UNITED STATES HISTORY Text: Montgomery's Leading Facts of 
 American History, Chapters VIII and IX, completed in 
 first half year. State History should be studied last half 
 year. See United States History, Section III. 
 
 CIVIL GOVERNMENT Text: Peterman's Elements of Civil Govern- 
 ment. See Civil Government, Section III. 
 
41 
 
 STATE HISTORY Text: Lewis' History and Government of West 
 Virginia. Last half year only. Bead carefully instructions, 
 State History, Section III. 
 PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE Text: Caldwell's Human Physiology. 
 
 See Physiology, Section III. 
 
 DRAWING Text: Prang's Book Eight. See Drawing, Section III. 
 Music See Music, Section III. 
 OENERAL HISTORY AND BOOKKEEPING. 
 
 Note: Unless there is a strong demand for these subjects 
 they shoujd not be taught as separate subjects. General 
 history is believed to be too difficult for elementary 
 pupils. Bookkeeping can be taught in connection with 
 arithmetic. If taught at all, bookkeeping should be 
 offered only in the second half year after arithmetic has 
 been completed. 
 
SECTION III 
 
 Outline of Studies by Subjects. 
 
READING AND LITERATURE 
 
 GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 General Statement. 
 
 Reading is the most important study in the curriculum. It is the 
 most important study because nearly all the other subjects depend 
 upon it. Arithmetic, geography, history and other branches are- 
 studied in large part through books which the pupil must read. It 
 is important, moreover, because reading is the most convenient meana 
 that the children have, after they leave school, of informing them- 
 selves and of amusing themselves. Reading, then, is the key that 
 unlocks the great store house of knowledge and wisdom, art and cul- 
 ture. 
 
 One of the fundamental aims of the school, therefore, is to teach 
 children to read well, which is to read with ease, pleasure, rapidity, 
 and intelligence. In fact, aside from nature study, agriculture, hy- 
 giene, and handicraft work, the curriculum may be said to exist, in 
 part, for the purpose of teaching the child to read and write well in 
 different subjects; and even the branches mentioned above are sup- 
 plemented largely by reading. The teacher who can teach reading 
 in the broad sense in which it is here used, is a good teacher. 
 
 Method of Teaching! Primary Reading. 
 
 It follows, then, that the method of teaching beginners to read is- 
 very important. Reading is the art of getting the meaning from 
 print and writing. Any series of exercises that enables the child to 
 learn this art is a method of teaching reading. But some series of 
 exercises are better than others, easier, more economical of time and 
 energy, and lead more directly into the art of getting ideas from 
 print and script. What is the best method? 
 
 If we examine the way in which the child learns to get the mean- 
 ing from what he hears, perhaps we shall see how we should set about 
 training him to get the meaning from what he sees on the printed 
 page. The infant sees a certain animal with four legs, a body of a 
 certain shape, ears and eyes and tail. He can recognize the animal 
 when he sees it; but as yet, he does not know any name to apply to- 
 rt. But he wants to know. His mother tells him it is a pig, and she* 
 
46 
 
 has him say the word until he can pronounce it. After some days 
 of forgetting and being told, he succeeds in remembering that the 
 sound pig is the sign of that animal. Now the name given to that 
 animal might have been gip and the child would have been just as 
 well satisfied. That is, the name is an artificial sign of the idea. 
 No amount of observing the animal would have told him what its 
 name is. That is something he has to learn as a separate bit of 
 knowledge. Likewise he learns that I is a sound used by a person 
 to represent himself when he is speaking and writing; that see is a 
 sound used to stand for the act of looking, of using the eyes to ob- 
 serve. Finally if the sentence I see a pig is read, the child recognizes 
 the sounds as representing ideas, and he learns how to express his 
 own ideas by using these artificial sounds. In other words, he had 
 learned that certain sounds stand for certain ideas, and he can articu- 
 late these sounds with the understanding that he is expressing ideas. 
 
 Observe five facts in this process: (1) The child has but learned 
 the sound-signs of ideas that are already familiar to him. He has 
 learned only how to call the things that he knew. He has mastered 
 the artificial symbols of previously learned ideas ; he has not acquired 
 new ideas. (2) He has learned these names as whole, not as parts; 
 that is, he has not learned the sound pig by learning separately the 
 three sounds in the word, or by learning the three letters p-i-g', he 
 has learned the group of sounds as a unit. (3) He has learned that 
 each object and idea has its sound-sign, and by practice has developed 
 some power of learning new sound-signs. (4) He has learned to 
 understand sounds by hearing them often, and has learned to utter 
 the sounds by imitation and practice. (5) He takes pleasure in the 
 process, because he feels the desirability of knowing the names for 
 the different objects and ideas. 
 
 Learning to read is a similar process. Instead of learning sound- 
 signs, the child is now to learn print-signs. The idea is now ex- 
 pressed by means of printed or written letters combined in words and 
 sentences, instead of by means of spoken sounds, combined in words 
 and sentences. The child has now a double task. He must not only 
 learn the print-signs of ideas; he must identify the print-signs with 
 the sound-signs. The spoken word pig is a sign of the animal; 
 the printed word pig is another sign of the animal; while 
 the written word pig is a variety of the printed sign. However, this 
 double task is not very difficult, since the child has already learned 
 the sound-name; and as soon as he learns the print-name for the 
 same idea, he associates the two names. 
 
47 
 
 Just here one of the fundamental mistakes of teaching reading is 
 often made: the teacher thinks the child's sole task is to directly 
 associate the two names. As a matter of fact, the child's first task 
 is to associate the print-sign with the idea ; after he has done that, the 
 readily associates the two names. That is, the child should be taught 
 to get ideas from the printed symbols, not merely to pronounce the 
 corresponding spoken symbols. There is danger that the child in 
 reading his lesson may only associate the print-sign with the sound- 
 sign; may only pronounce words, instead of getting ideas. 
 
 Naturally, then, the teacher must make sure that the child see and 
 express the meaning; and in order to make sure, the teacher will 
 have to perform a process similar to that of the mother when she 
 taught the child the sound-names of ideas. 
 
 I. The teacher must teach the print-signs of these ideas that are 
 already familiar to the child. To do this, she must call up the idea 
 into the child's mind. She can do this in four ways. 
 
 First, she may have the objects themselves brought into the school 
 room, or may take the child out to the objects, then have the child 
 get reacquainted with them. If she wishes to* teach the word ball, 
 she can have the child handle the ball. When she is sure the child 
 has the idea of ball in his mind, she shows him that the idea is repre- 
 sented by a certain sign, then she writes the word on the board and 
 points it out in the primer. She repeats the word and the child 
 repeats it after her. Other words she teaches in the same way, re- 
 viewing and repeating from time to time, just as the mother has 
 done. 
 
 Second, if the idea is an action-idea, the teacher has the child per- 
 form the action, then teaches him the written and printed word that 
 names the action. Thus she teaches toss, catch, drop, etc., by having 
 the child perform the actions; then associates the action with the 
 word written on the Hoard, and pointed out in the chart or primer. 
 
 Third, if it is not convenient to have the object before the child, 
 a picture is often used. This is one reason so many pictures are 
 found in primers and first readers. 
 
 Fourth, often the teacher can bring the idea back into the child's 
 mind by asking questions and starting conversations about the idea. 
 This is not so good a way as the others, but it will serve. 
 
 The teacher may use any or all of these devices, but she must make 
 sure that the children have the idea clearly in mind before the print- 
 sign of the idea is presented; otherwise the child is likely to merely 
 pronounce the word without associating it with the idea. The new 
 
48 
 
 words must always be taught in this way until the child has gained 
 the power of learning new words for himself. And, whenever the 
 reading lesson contains an unfamiliar idea, the teacher must first 
 make the idea clear before she tries to teach the word. 
 
 II. The words should be taught as wholes, not as parts. The 
 mother taught the sound-sign of pig by enunciating the entire com- 
 bination of sounds, not by uttering the three sounds one by one. The 
 teacher should teach the print-sign of ideas by presenting the entire 
 combination of letters and sounds. In other words, neither the 
 a-b-c's nor the phonics should be taught first. The whole word repre- 
 sents an idea, but no part of it represents an idea; therefore, it should 
 not be taught by parts. 
 
 As soon as possible the child should be taught to read whole sen- 
 tences. As a matter of fact, a word rarely expresses a complete idea, 
 while a sentence does. And, as reading consists in getting ideas from 
 print or writing, the child should be taught to read whole sentences 
 as units of ideas. This he can do almost from the beginning. As 
 new words are taught, they are combined with old words in sentences. 
 For example : When the child has read the sentence, "I see a pig," 
 he can read sentences like "I see a dog," "I see a cat/' etc., as rapidly 
 as he learns the new words. If the child acquires the habit of read- 
 ing sentences as wholes, and is taught to study a sentence through 
 before he begins to read aloud, he will not form the habit, so fatal 
 to good reading, of reading in the following fashion: "I" (pause) 
 "see" (pause) "a" (pause) "pig," laboriously putting word to word 
 and failing to perceive and express the meaning of the sentence. 
 
 III. The pupil has learned that each idea has its print-sign, just 
 as previously he has learned from his mother that each idea has its 
 sound-sign ; and he has developed some power of learning new print- 
 signs. Now it is evident that this power must be increased, so that 
 he may learn for himself print-signs of familiar" ideas. How is he 
 to increase this power ? 
 
 First, by being shown, that many words are alike in appearance 
 and sound, and that he can learn a new word by its resemblance to 
 a word he knows. Here comes in the teaching of phonics. The pupil 
 knows the appearance and sound of certain words the word pig for 
 example. Other words resemble this: big, dig, fig, jig, wig, etc. 
 With a little instruction, the child learns that ig has a certain sound. 
 In the same way he learns that other letters and combinations of let- 
 ters have certain sounds, until finally he can discover the pronuncia- 
 tion of new words by their resemblance to ones already learned. This 
 
49 
 
 process of comparing a new word with old ones will come quite natur- 
 ally and sometimes unconsciously; but the teacher must give a good 
 deal of assistance. Very often a word is not phonetic; (that is, is 
 not pronounced as it is spelled) but in most cases it has enough 
 resemblance to a word already taught to help the child, with a little 
 prompting, discover the pronunciation. Then, if the child has already 
 formed the habit of associating the sight and sound of a word with 
 the idea, he learns to discover the idea represented by this new word. 
 In general, the exercises in phonics need not be complex, and they 
 should arise out of the reading lessons. 
 
 Second, by inferring the meaning of a new word. For instance, 
 suppose the child sees this sentence : "The sun rises in the east and 
 sets in the west/ 7 If he knows the meaning of all the words except 
 "west," he may be able to infer the meaning of that word. Pictures 
 assist materially in this process of inference. This inference 
 guessing, as we call it goes on constantly and is one of the uncon- 
 scious ways in which the child learns new print-signs. 
 
 IV. The teacher must read for the pupils, so that they may learn 
 through imitation ; and must drill them until they recognize the word 
 readily wherever they see it. As to the drill, the best possible way 
 is to supply plenty of supplementary reading material, in order that 
 the child may learn the new words in fresh combinations, and that 
 his interest may be kept intense. Many teachers err in assuming 
 that a child will master a word by learning it once; as a matter of 
 fact, dozens of repetitions are necessary to fix some words in his 
 mind. Drill is an absolute essential in teaching primary reading, 
 but it is best to make this drill as interesting as possible by varying 
 the material used. 
 
 V. The teacher must do her best to make the pupil feel the 
 desirability of learning to read. The child learns to recognize the 
 words he hears and to speak these words because he feels that it is 
 desirable. Usually the child feels a desire to learn to read also, but 
 often his desire becomes weak and must be strengthened. There are 
 several ways of doing this. 
 
 First, the teacher may read poems and read or tell interesting 
 stories to the children, and emphasize the fact that if they learn to 
 read they may find and enjoy such stories for themselves. The teacher 
 must be such a good oral reader that she will at once set a good 
 model for imitation and start a longing in the pupils to read as well 
 as she does. In the country school the child's desire to learn to read 
 is often strengthened by hearing the older pupils read ; and of course 
 
50 
 
 the fact that the child's parents and older brothers and sisters can 
 read is another stimulus. 
 
 Second, the children should have supplementary readers, so that 
 they may continually be getting acquainted with fresh, interesting 
 material. A child soon loses interest if he is forced to read the same 
 book over and over. A number of suitable books should be at the 
 child's disposal in the school library. 
 
 Third, the teacher should introduce the lesson in such a way as 
 to create in the children a desire to learn to read it. A few pointed, 
 suggestive questions and remarks bearing on the coming lesson and 
 hinting at what is to be found, will often stimulate a desire to become 
 acquainted with it. 
 
 Fourth, the teacher should clear away the difficulties that are too 
 great for the children to conquer. When the lesson is being assigned, 
 she should lead the children to understand the unfamiliar ideas and 
 the difficult words, and should plant within their minds the sugges- 
 tions that will enable them to read with ease and pleasure. 
 
 Fifth, the teacher should be patient with the children, remember- 
 ing that learning to read is a complex and difficult mental act; and 
 that harshness, or even impatience, often crushes the desire to learn. 
 
 Summary of Method. 
 
 Let us summarize the method of teaching primary reading. (1) 
 The pupils should be taught sentences and words as wholes. (2) The 
 words taught should represent familiar ideas, and the ideas should 
 be brought lip into the child's mind before the print-signs are pre- 
 sented. (3) The new words should be taught in groups, so that the 
 child will learn the separate sounds as soon as possible; and the 
 teacher must help him form the habit of discovering new words 
 through their resemblance to the old. (4) Constant imitation and 
 repetition are necessary to fix the words in the child's mind. (5) The 
 teacher should strengthen the child's desire to learn to read and should 
 make the process as pleasant and interesting as possible. (These 
 are the essentials of the method. It may be said, however, that many 
 variations of the method must be employed to fit different children.) 
 
 The Alphabet. 
 
 Incidentally the alphabet is easily learned. The teacher must re- 
 member that the names of the letters of the alphabet are decidedly 
 different from the sounds of the letters, and they have, to be taught 
 as separate bits of information. Moreover, they have little or no 
 
51 
 
 connection with learning to read. Suppose the child learns the let- 
 ters in the word dog. If he spells them out, he pronounces deeogee, 
 which is certainly not the way to pronounce the word and gives little 
 clue to the pronunciation. But after the child learns to read, he 
 feels some curiosity about these different characters and willingly 
 learns their names. Of course, he must know the alphabet names 
 before he can spell orally; but this need not come before the end of 
 the first year. He need not know the letters in their order (a, b, c, 
 d, etc.) until it is time for him to consult a dictionary; though, of 
 course, he will usually learn them much sooner. The names and 
 order of the letters are often taught by means of an alphabet song. 
 
 Reading Versus Literature. 
 
 The child should have a basal primer, a reader and at least two 
 or three supplementary readers in the first grade ; and in each of the 
 grades above the first, he should have at least one supplementary 
 reader. These readers will consist of two kinds of material: infor- 
 mational reading matter and literature. The difference is implied in 
 the names. The informational reading matter consists of lessons 
 designed to give the child knowledge of various kinds. The literature 
 consists of poems, stories, etc., designed to arouse his emotions, and 
 increase his enjoyment and his love of beauty. Of course, these two 
 overlap: informational reading matter often has some of the quali- 
 ties of literature, and literature often gives the child information 
 and knowledge ; but the two should be distinct in the teacher's mind, 
 since they should be taught in different ways. 
 
 The literature should predominate all through the grades, since 
 the pupil has access to much informational reading matter in his 
 various text-books; and after the fifth grade, reading ceases entirely 
 as a study, in the remaining grades literature taking all the time 
 previously given over to both literature and reading. A good many 
 teachers think that literature is not as important as informational 
 reading, since it does not teach the children facts. On the con- 
 trary, the arousing of good, pure, strong feelings is about the most 
 important act a teacher can perform, since it is feelings that urge 
 to good or evil and that make or mar these boys and girls who are 
 the future citizens of the republic. Time spent upon the reading of 
 good literature is time very well spent. 
 
 The informational reading matter is the material upon which the 
 mechanics of reading should be based. The teacher should always 
 introduce the lessons, of course; and, in the first year, she will have 
 
52 
 
 to assist the children with new words and unfamiliar ideas and to 
 read aloud to furnish them a model. But, after that, since the read- 
 ing is usually direct and straightforward prose and presents few 
 mental difficulties, she should shift the burden of work upon the 
 pupils. They do the reading aloud, and the teacher takes advantage 
 of the situation to teach proper position, best way of holding the 
 book, new words, spelling, pronunciation, enunciation, inflection, 
 and quality of voice in short all that which we call the "mechanics"' 
 of reading. 
 
 In the teaching of literature in the lower grades, the teacher's work 
 is more difficult. She must present the lessons in such a way as to 
 arouse the pupils' interest, and to give them hints that will assist 
 them to enjoy the selection; and in the conduct of the lesson, she 
 must help the children get into the spirit of the selection, fill in the 
 details of the scene, become intensely interested in the contents and 
 saturated with the emotions. Then she must read aloud, naturally, 
 pleasantly ; and must have the children read after her. The purpose 
 of the lesson in literature is not to teach the mechanics of reading, 
 but to start healthy emotions and train the children in the apprecia- 
 tion of literature, so that they will like to read it after they leave 
 school. The teacher should, therefore, not emphaize the mechanics 
 of reading, but the spirit of the selection though, of course, the 
 work in literature will do much incidentally toward making the chil- 
 dren better oral readers. 
 
 Oral Reading. 
 
 As the children advance in the grades the teacher should drop 
 more and more into the back-ground. Instead of reading first, she 
 will now have the children read first, so that by the time they have 
 finished the eighth grade they can read expressively and intelligently, 
 without the teacher's assistance. The teacher should not make def- 
 inite and binding rules for reading aloud; she should train the chil- 
 dren to express themselves according to the natural spirit of the 
 selection or passage, reading gayly or sadly, loudly or softly, rapidly 
 or slowly, as the emotion suggests. She should not make rules as 
 to how long to pause after a punctuation mark. That depends en- 
 tirely upon the meaning and emphasis. The teacher should be 
 extremely careful not to let poetry be read in a sing-song manner. 
 Poetry is measured off into accented and unaccented syllables; and 
 there is a tendency, when one gets into the strong swing of the 
 meter, to keep this meter strictly regular. Sometimes this spoils 
 
53 
 
 the meaning and interferes with the musical qualities of the poetry. 
 The children should be taught to read for the meaning and emotion 
 and to disregard the metrical accent whenever it conflicts with the 
 natural accent. 
 
 Silent Reading. 
 
 The teacher should train the children in silent reading, since most 
 of their reading in later life will be silent. They should always r^ad 
 silently before they read orally; and sometimes the teacher should 
 merely examine them as to the content of the informational reading 
 matter without asking them to read aloud. (The literature, espe- 
 cially the poetry, should be read aloud; and in the upper grades the 
 children should take their books home and read aloud in preparation 
 for the recitation.) There should be many suitable books in the 
 library that the child may read in school or at home, and the teacher 
 should encourage rapid but intelligent silent reading in these books. 
 Often she should ask questions to make sure that the children have 
 mastered the subject matter. The teacher should urge the children 
 to read much, and should train them in the power to enjoy and ap- 
 preciate books, to the end that they may form good reading habits 
 whirh will remain fixed after the children leave school. 
 
 Dramatization. 
 
 The teacher and the children should occasionally dramatize a lit- 
 erature lesson that is, make a play out of it. In a story in which 
 there are several characters,, let the children take the place of the 
 different characters and play out the story, making up the conversa- 
 tion as they go along. They do not need a stage or costumes or 
 elaborate stage furniture or objects ; they can do very well with what 
 they find in the school room. Occasionally they may give a public 
 performance, with home-made costumes. Dramatizing is not diffi- 
 cult, and it is one of the best possible ways of realizing and appre- 
 ciating a story. After the children have dramatized plays for some 
 time, they will begin to see more clearly the dramatic qualities in 
 what they read, and will read with more understanding and enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 Correlation. 
 
 The teacher should constantly correlate the reading and literature 
 with the other branches. If, for example, you are studying the Civil 
 War period, it would be well to have the children study Whitman's 
 
54 
 
 poem, "My. Captain/' and Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech, and any other 
 selections that fit in well with the history. If you do not happen to 
 be at those particular lessons, turn to them anyway. It is of little 
 importance whether or not you study the lessons in order, and it is 
 of great importance that you study the lessons at the time when they 
 will have the most significance. 
 
 The teacher should also teach reading in connection with the other 
 studies. The" pupils should be taught to read the arithmetic prob- 
 lems as intelligently as they read their reading lesson, for often they 
 fail to solve the problems because they have not really read them. 
 They should be taught to get the ideas out of their geography and 
 history lessons in the same manner as they do out of their reading 
 lessons. 
 
 General Outline of Work. 
 
 In the first five years, Jones' Eeaders are used as basal readers. 
 Supplementary readers are suggested under each grade. In the last 
 three years, Elson's Grammar School Literature Eeaders are used, 
 with supplementary work as suggested in the following pages. 
 
 The mechanical elements in learning to read should be largely 
 mastered by the end of the third or fourth year; that is, by the end 
 of this time, the children should be able to master the subject matter 
 of the lessons with ease and rapidity, and should be able to express 
 the meaning intelligently and clearly. The reading process by this 
 time should be largely unconscious; the child should not have to work 
 consciously and laboriously at his reading lesson any more than he 
 has to labor hard to do his speaking. Through the remaining years 
 of the course the emphasis should be placed upon the literary phases 
 of reading: development of imagination, stimulation of emotions and 
 love of beauty, ability to fill in the details of the story ; and the power 
 to express the meaning and spirit of the selection naturally and 
 pleasingly. 
 
 The following books deal with the teaching of reading. It would 
 be well for the teacher to purchase at least two or three of these 
 books: Arnold's "Beading and How to Teach It", (Silver, Burdett 
 & Co., New York) ; Briggs and Coffman's "Reading in the Public 
 Schools" (Eow, Peterson & Co., Chicago) ; McMurry's "Special 
 Method in Primary Beading" (D. C. Heath & Co., Boston) ; Clark's 
 "How to Teach Reading in the Public School" (Scott, Foresman & 
 Co., New York). A book that deals especially with the teaching of 
 literature is McMurry's "Special Method in Beading of English 
 Classics" (Macmillan Co., New York). 
 
55 
 
 FIRST GRADE. 
 
 The best authorities agree that we have hitherto given too much 
 time to primary reading, to the exclusion of other subjects more 
 important to children of this age. The first year of school life should 
 be given to the child's "own experiences/' to use Prof. Huey's ex- 
 pression. Nature study, hand-work, story-telling, memorizing poetry, 
 conversation about the child's home interests, and group games are 
 the most important means of leading the child from home life to the 
 larger, more organized life of the school. Reading in the first year 
 should be subordinated to real life. For example, directions for hand- 
 work and for playing games may be written on the blackboard in- 
 stead of being given orally. In this way children learn that reading 
 is a means of communicating thought, since they cannot do the de- 
 sired thing unless they can read the directions. This habit of con- 
 necting action with reading should begin with the first school year. 
 
 Children should learn in the first year the printed forms of from 
 three to five hundred words used in their daily speech. (Xo word 
 not in a child's vocabulary should occur in his reading.) Also his 
 ear and his vocal organs should be trained to recognize separate 
 sounds recurring in familiar words, for example : d in dog, dark, do, 
 and down, should be recognized as the same sound occurring in dif- 
 ferent words. 
 
 Begin reading in the first grade by reading to children, telling 
 stories, and having them memorize verses. All these activities pre- 
 pare the way for reading. The first reading by children must be 
 based on the children's own activities and interests. Begin with 
 action words and the names of familiar objects in the room. In every 
 case connect the written symbol with the action or object it repre- 
 sents. The teacher calls Frank to her and whispers to him "run." 
 She then says, "This tells the secret I told Frank. I said to him 
 'Run' ". And she writes the word on the board. Other devices for 
 connecting the word with the action will suggest themselves to the 
 teacher. To teach the names of objects she may write the name of 
 "Sand," "Book," "Ball," "Window," etc., and pin the name on the 
 object it represents, so that these words will be learned by associa- 
 tion. 
 
 For the first few weeks children's reading may well be limited to 
 the interpretation of action words and names of objects. It is not 
 necessary at this time for children to do any oral reading. Silent 
 reading must precede oral in every case. Much bad reading is caused 
 by insisting on oral reading from the first. 
 
56 
 
 After children have learned to act in response to written symbols, 
 (for example, "Throw the ball," "Catch Tom," "Close the door") 
 continue reading by using the rhymes children have memorized. 
 Write on the board a rhyme that does not contain unusual words. 
 Suppose this rhyme is selected : 
 
 "This little pig went to market, 
 This little pig staid at home, 
 This little pig had roast meat, 
 This little pig had none, 
 This little pig cried 'wee, wee, wee, 
 They've left me all alone/ " 
 
 Let the children say the rhyme over, counting their fingers for the 
 pigs as they say it. Then tell one child to "read" the first line as 
 you write it on the board. Call on another child to read the next 
 line, and so on. The children are thus really reading, although they 
 do not know the separate words. The approach to reading is easy 
 and natural, not painful and artificial as it often is when words are 
 built up from their sounds or letters. 
 
 Have words from the rhyme written on cards. Select only the 
 words children will be apt to use again, as "this," "little," "pig," 
 "went," "staid," "home," "cried," "me." Hold up the card for "this" 
 and ask the children to find a word like it on the board. Ask what the 
 word says. Do the same with the other cards. When a child hesi- 
 tates ask him to say over the rhyme until he comes to that word. He 
 thus learns to rely on himself. Play a game to see who can find and 
 call most words. Continue work of this kind with memorized rhymes 
 until children have built up a word list they can recognize at sight. 
 Be careful to vary the work enough to keep up interest in it. It is 
 a mistake to stay long on one rhyme. Begin daily word drills in the 
 form of games, as varied in character as possible. Have these drills 
 at a different time from the reading lesson. 
 
 After children have learned forty or fifty words, combine these 
 words with others to make sentences about familiar things. Write 
 a sentence on the board and ask the children to read it. Let children 
 whisper sentences to the teacher, who will then write " a secret" on 
 the board for children to guess. There is a real motive for reading 
 in this kind of work. For example, the teacher will say, "Who will 
 tell something he saw on the way to school?" "Come and whisper 
 it to me." Billy comes up and whispers, "I saw a horse." The 
 teacher says, "See if you can tell what Billy saw." She writes the 
 
67 
 
 sentence on the board, and tells the children any new word that thej 
 have not had before, "horse," for instance. Now she asks other chil- 
 dren to read the sentence and tell what Billy saw. Skill must be 
 used to avoid too wide a range of words. 
 
 Blackboard work and word drills should be continued for some 
 time one to three months before taking up a book. There is really 
 a saving of time in postponing the use of a book. When the book is 
 first used children should be taught how to hold it and to turn the 
 pages. Do not allow children to hold the book closer than fifteen 
 inches from the eyes, because a large amount of eye-strain is the re- 
 sult of close reading. The book must have very large print for little 
 children. From the beginning children should learn to read to the 
 class, not exclusively to the teacher. They should share their thought 
 with their audience, and to do this the book must not be held between 
 the child and the audience. 
 
 Phonics : Ehymes make a good introduction to phonics. Through 
 them children notice similar sounds in words, and learn to build up 
 "families" of words. Jill, hill, down, crown, may easily lead to other 
 words of similar sound. The phonic work of the first year should be 
 informal, and should consist of games. For example, pronounce dog, 
 did, Dot, and ask children to tell you other words that begin in the 
 same way. Then write "d" on the board, giving the sound and asking 
 children to give the sound also. Be careful to give the correct sound 
 not "duh." Take up all the initial consonants in this way. This 
 phonic drill or play should come with the word drill, not with the 
 reading lesson. Little more than this should be attempted in phonics 
 the first year. Indeed, many authorities think phonics should not be 
 begun until the third school year, because it holds the child to an 
 analysis that taxes him too much. However, if the work is taken 
 up as play rather than as uninteresting drill, this objection would be 
 overcome. 
 
 Complete Jones' First Eeader and two or three supplementary 
 readers in this grade. 
 
 SECOND GRADE. 
 
 Complete Jones' Second Reader during this year. In addition 
 have 'the children read two or three supplementary books emphasiz- 
 ing the literary side of reading. Hazard's "Three Years With the 
 Poets" (Houghton Mifflin & Co., Boston) contains excellent poetry 
 for this grade and for the third and fourth. If the children get the 
 book for the second year, they should read only the first section. Free 
 
58 
 
 and TreaclwelPs "Beading-Literature" is excellent. (Kow, Peterson 
 & Co., Chicago.) Lucia's "Peter and Polly in Summer" (American 
 Book Co., Cincinnati) is a series of excellent stories for this grade. 
 Perraulf s "Tales of Mother Goose" (D. C. Heath & Co., New York) 
 furnishes nursery tales for this and the third grade. 
 
 Do not attempt to teach the lessons in the order in which they 
 come in the book, but rearrange them to suit circumstances. For 
 example, teach the lesson on page 101 just before or just after the 
 children have had a party. Teach the lesson on page 124 after a light 
 fall of snow. Teach the lesson on page 177 in connection with the 
 nature study lesson on the toad. 
 
 In general it is well not to read in one book until it is finished, 
 but to change from one book to another, selecting the lessons that 
 will fit best with the seasons, the interests of the children, their other 
 work, etc. 
 
 Emphasize this year, work in phonics, acquiring of new words, 
 ability to read rapidly, to read aloud intelligently and expressively. 
 Care must be taken in assigning lessons, so that the pupils may have 
 their interest aroused in the subjects and may be put on the hunt 
 for the ideas. For instance, in assigning the lesson on page 78 it 
 would be well to begin by asking the 'children if any of them have 
 ever seen the wind. After you have talked about that with them, 
 and they have agreed that they have never seen the wind itself, you 
 ask them how they know when the wind is blowing. Ask them 
 whether the wind is blowing harder when "the leaves hang trem- 
 bling" or when the "trees bow down their heads." Finally you tell 
 the children that you are going to read to them a poem that tells 
 about the wind blowing through the trees. Always take some time 
 in assigning a lesson, and always prepare your assignment at least a 
 day in advance, so that you may know just how you are going to 
 introduce the selections. 
 
 In the recitation it is best not to ask the child to read one para- 
 graph or one sentence, because perhaps that is not a natural stopping 
 place. You had better study the lesson with the children and divide 
 it up into sections. 
 
 Dramatize some of the lessons. The story on page 91 serves well 
 for this work. Have the lesson studied first, then have the story re- 
 told orally. Now ask for four pupils to take the parts of Rus, Fus, 
 Mus, and Tabby Cat. The three mice talk together about building 
 new houses. Rus gets some hay and scatters it in a circle, then gets 
 in it. Fus uses paper in the same way. Mus uses books, which he 
 
59 
 
 calls bricks. Then Tabby Cat comes up to Ens' houses and says, 
 "Please let me in." Eus answers, "Oh, no; you can't come in/' but 
 Tabby Cat reaches in, drags him out, and pretends to eat him. The 
 rest of the story is played as suggested by the incidents in the story. 
 
 The teacher should tell and read many good stories to the children 
 in this grade. This provides interest and entertainment, gives good 
 material for language conversations, and inspires a desire to read. 
 
 Have the children commit many poems to memory. They should 
 be asked to commit only those poems which they have studied and 
 understand fairly well. 
 
 THIRD GRADE. 
 
 Read Jones' Third Eeader in this grade- As there is little litera- 
 ture in this book, some supplementary books containing literature 
 should be used. Free and Treadwell's "Reading-Literature" Third 
 Reader (Row, Peterson & Co., Chicago) ; Heart of Oak, Book Two 
 (D. C. Heath & Co., New York) ; and Stevenson's "Child Garden of 
 Verses" (Eand, McNally & Co., New York) are excellent. Have 
 these supplementary books bought near the beginning of the year, 
 and change from one to the other, as you think best. 
 
 Continue phonics work. The common diacritical marks should be 
 mastered in connection with the reading and spelling. 
 
 Give persistent practice in reading aloud. Insist on distinct enun- 
 ciation. Break up habits of reading too fast or too slow, too loud or 
 too low. Do not let any reading pass that does not express the mean- 
 ing. This implies that before a pupil is called upon to read aloud, 
 the teacher must have satisfied himself, by questioning, that he under- 
 stands what he is trying to express. If the pupil has formed the 
 habit of reading only one word at a time, ask him to read each sen- 
 tence through silently before he reads aloud. All unfamiliar and 
 difficult ideas must be learned before the oral reading begins. For 
 example, on page 203, sentence ten, the pupil must be led to see 
 what this sentence means, "The cord was doubled," else the story 
 cannot be clear and convincing. 
 
 Very often the story in the lesson will not tell all the details, but 
 will leave them to be inferred. This is especially true in poetry. The 
 teacher must be sure that these details are understood. For example, 
 on page 142, section 7, when the mother looks at her daughter, and 
 smiles and the girl says, "Yes, indeed, Mamma," the teacher must 
 
60 
 
 understand and /teach the children to understand what the mother's 
 look and smile mean. 
 
 Continue dramatization. Ask the children to reproduce orally 
 some of the stories read. (See Language and Composition, Third 
 Grade, page 70.) 
 
 Teach the spelling of all the useful new words. It is not neces- 
 sary to require the children to learn the spelling of all the proper 
 nouns or the unusual words. 
 
 Keep in mind the difference between informational reading mat- 
 ter and literature. (See page 51.) The teacher should study each 
 lesson before she assigns it, that she may know whether she is going 
 to present it as literature or as reading matter. 
 
 Occasionally have a "sight" lesson. In this you introduce the sub- 
 ject as usual; but instead of assigning the subject for the next day, 
 you take it up at once. The children read silently through the lesson 
 as fast as possible. Then the teacher asks questions until she is sure 
 the pupils understand the thought. They then read aloud. This 
 plan encourages rapid reading, and reading for the main outline. 
 
 Have the children learn many poems by heart. 
 
 FOURTH GRADE. 
 
 Read Jones' Fourth Reader in this grade. Some supplementary 
 books are: Heart of Oak, Book Three (D. C. Heath & Co., New 
 York); Farm Life Readers, Book Four (Silver, Burdett & Co., N. 
 Y.) ; "Robinson Crusoe" (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass.) 
 
 L T se care in assigning the reading lesson. (See page 58.) Train 
 in rapid silent reading. To do this have much sight-reading, limit 
 the time for the preparation of lessons, and encourage much home 
 reading of library books. Occasionally do not have the lesson read 
 but merely retold. Let the children see that silent reading is very 
 important, since it is more rapid than oral reading, and since they 
 will be expected to read silently more than orally when they are out 
 of school. Teach the children not to move their lips when they read 
 silently. 
 
 The pupils should be thoroughly trained in dividing a lesson into 
 sections. This is done by having the child state the substance of 
 each paragraph before or after he reads,' or make an outline of the 
 story, or reproduce orally the essentials. In the lesson on page 107, 
 (Book Five) for example, the story naturally divides itself into the 
 following parts: First two paragraphs, preparations; third para- 
 graph, putting on the helmet; fourth and fifth paragraphs descent; 
 
61 
 
 sixth, seventh, and eighth paragraphs, the divers jumping lesson; 
 ninth paragraph, the current; rest of the lesson, the ascent. In the les- 
 son on page 94, (Book Five) the first line makes a general statement; 
 the next seven lines describe the grasshopper, the last six lines describe 
 the cricket. Every lesson has its outline ; and the lessons are not well 
 learned until the main points in the outline are discovered. Correlate 
 this study with the making of outlines in the composition work. ( See 
 page 74.) 
 
 The pupils should be led to see that some lessons are to be read 
 rapidly and for the story, while others are to be read slowly and for 
 other points. For example, the poem on page 64 (Book Five) must 
 first be read through for the complete thought, then must be re-ex- 
 amined line by line, while the lesson on page 22 should be read quite 
 rapidly. 
 
 Connect the lessons with the work in the other branches. The les- 
 son on page 187, for example, will go well with the history lesson 
 on the Pilgrims. Be sure also that the lesson fits in well with the 
 season of the year. For instance, the poem on page 148 should be 
 taught near Christmas time. 
 
 Continue memorizing. Many teachers have the idea that only 
 those selections which contain moral truths or practical precepts 
 should be committed to memory. As a matter of fact, beautiful 
 poetry should be memorized, whether it has any direct moral lesson 
 or not. The selection on page 127, with its music and pictures and 
 its appeal to the imagination, should be stored away in the mind 
 along with the lesson in the selection on page 200, with its eloquent 
 statement of truth. 
 
 Watch the children in their reading in all their textbooks. For 
 instance, in the arithmetic lesson have the examples read intelligently 
 before the solution is attempted. 
 
 It is well to read in the fourth grade, and in each grade beyond, 
 one long story in the class each year. "Robinson Crusoe" is good 
 for this grade. Assign two or three chapters at a time; then in the 
 recitation have the story in these chapters told orally, and a few 
 paragraphs read orally. Eemember that the emphasis in this year, 
 and in all the work in reading to follow, should be placed upon liter- 
 ature rather than upon mechanical reading. 
 
 FIFTH GRADE. 
 
 Use Jones' Fifth Header in this year. Good supplementary books 
 are : Heart of Oak, Book Four (D. C. Heath & Co., Boston) ; Farm 
 Life Readers, Book Five (Silver, Burdett & Co., New York); 
 
"Studies in Reading/' Fifth Reader (University Publishing Co., Chi- 
 cago). 
 
 Jones' Fifth Reader is not very large book. If you find it neces- 
 sary to omit any, however, let it be those selections that seem too com- 
 plex and subtle for the children's comprehension, or those that deal 
 with subjects less interesting. Better yet, read only a part of this 
 volume in the fifth year and read the remainder in the sixth year. 
 
 Many of the selections in this book are difficult so difficult that 
 the teacher must be constantly on her guard lest her pupils miss the 
 point of some splendid story or poem. You can usually tell whether 
 the pupils understand by the way they read. If they have failed to 
 perceive the meaning, you should question them until they do per- 
 ceive it; then, have them read again. 
 
 When the children read poetry, insist that they bring out the 
 thought, regardless of the rhythm. There is a natural tendency to 
 make a pause at the end of a line. Sometimes this spoils the sense. 
 For example, in the poem on page 222, there should be no pause after 
 the fourth line, but the next pause should be in the fifth line after the 
 word "Occasion". 
 
 After the children have learned to appreciate a selection, it is well 
 to call their attention to the author and the other selections of his 
 that the children have read. There is an index of authors at the 
 front of the reader. It might be well occasionally to read all the 
 selections of one author in succession. Refer the children to library 
 books by the same authors. For example, after your pupils have read 
 the selection 011 page 175, it should not be difficult to get them inter- 
 ested in "The Christmas Carol." Do not spend much time on the 
 biography of authors. 
 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 
 Complete "Bison's Grammar School Literature," Book One. The 
 supplementary reading should be in the longer classics. Some good 
 ones are: ''Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" (Charles Scrib- 
 ner's Sons, New York) ; Wood Folk at School" (Ginn & Co., New 
 York) ; "Pinocchio" (Ginn & Co., New York). 
 
 Elson's books are full of most excellent literature. The teacher 
 should remember that literature does not exist primarily for the pur- 
 pose of imparting information, but of arousing and guiding the emo- 
 tions; and she should be dissatisfied with any literature lesson that 
 does not accomplish this. Of course, there is often decided intel- 
 

 63 
 
 lectual value in the selection, but that should come after the feelings 
 have been stirred. 
 
 It is almost impossible to give brief, specific directions for teach- 
 ing a literature lesson. (The teacher should show the children how 
 to use the lesson helps in the readers. These are very valuable as 
 they direct the children's attention to the important phases of the 
 study. Every teacher should have the manual that goes with the 
 readers.) The usual method of procedure is as follows: 
 
 First, assignment. In the assignment the teacher should ask ques- 
 tions designed to connect what the pupil already knows with that 
 which the lesson has to give. For example, in the lesson on page 
 114, the children might be asked to bring in specimens of jack-in- 
 the-pulpits; anemones, and other flowers mentioned in the poem. 
 They should note the queer shape of the flower and discuss the appro- 
 priateness of the name. If Jack really was a preacher in the pulpit, 
 what would be his church, what would serve as a church bell, who 
 would be his hearers, and what would he preach about? After this 
 assign the lesson, telling the children that they may now study a 
 poem about jack-in-the-pulpit. 
 
 Second, preparation of the lesson by pupils, (a) The pupils 
 should be trained to read silently through the whole selection rather 
 rapidly in order to understand the principal thought, the predomi- 
 nant emotion, and the different sections. For example, in the poem 
 referred to above, the principal thought is the fancy of jack-in-the- 
 pulpit being a real preacher. The predominant emotion is love of 
 nature. The sections are three, arranged in three stanzas, (b) 
 Then he should silently study the poem more carefully sentence by 
 sentence, trying to appreciate the meaning and force of the words, 
 to see the pictures, and fill in details intentionally omitted by the 
 author, to understand the figurative language, etc. If the words are 
 familiar but evidently have unusual meanings to the pupil, try to 
 infer the meaning from the context. If the words are entirely un- 
 familiar or the pupil cannot get the meaning from the study of the 
 whole sentences, he should look up the word in the dictionary, (c) 
 The pupil should then read aloud, trying to bring out the main 
 thought, the significance of the details, and the spirit or mood of 
 the selection, in a natural, intelligent and musical manner. In the 
 poem on page 114 the spirit is gay and lively. There is danger that 
 the reading may be too rhythmic : that the children may be so carried 
 away by the swing of the meter that they spoil the meaning and make 
 the reading monotonous. 
 
64 
 
 Third, recitation, (a) The teacher asks questions bearing on the 
 main thought and the details, designed to show the pupils' knowledge 
 and appreciation, to see if the pupil has filled in the outlines, under- 
 stands the figurative language and unusual words, etc. She covers 
 the same ground that the pupils have gone over in their preparation, 
 though, of course, she will bring up points the children had not 
 thought of, and will give suggestions that will lead to new ideas, (b) 
 After a frank and free discussion, the poem should be read aloud. 
 Sometimes the teacher reads first, sometimes the pupils; but the 
 teacher should always read at least a part of the lesson. The oral 
 reading should show appreciation and understanding, and should be 
 natural and expressive. Special attention should be given to the 
 oral reading. Do not encourage "elocutionary" reading; insist rather 
 on simple, natural, appreciative and pleasing expression of the 
 thoughts and emotions, and remember that the oral reading, if it is 
 to be really expressive, must come after intelligent study; the chil- 
 dren cannot express the meaning until they know the meaning to 
 express. 
 
 Fourth, application. The selection should not be allowed to sink 
 out of sight in the children's minds. It should be used in some way. 
 (a) It may be memorized, (b) It may be assigned for composi- 
 tion or language work, (c) It may be used to illustrate or explain 
 a lesson in some other subject, (d) It may be applied to some inci- 
 dent of the school or home life, (e) It may be referred to later in 
 studying other literature. 
 
 A slightly different method must be followed in the teaching and 
 studying of selections that are too long to be covered in one recita- 
 tion. In this case, the teacher should assign a chapter or two at a 
 time, in order to get through the selection as rapidly as possible. 
 The preparation and recitation should be concerned with questions 
 and discussions as to the story, what may be expected to happen next, 
 the characters, and how they develop and react on each other, the 
 connection and significance of incidents, the mystery and suspense, 
 etc. Then 'when the selection is finished, it should be reviewed rap- 
 idly to get the entire story, the general theme and aim, the outline of 
 the plot, the lesson, the general characteristics, the characters, etc. 
 The pupils should be encouraged to read many library books, and to 
 pursue the same plan in this reading that they do in class study. 
 
 If the children have kept up the dramatization, they should be 
 able to give quite ambitious plays in the sixth grade. The girls can 
 make the costumes and the boys can provide the "properties" that 
 
(55 
 
 is, the objects needed in the play. Invite the parents in occasionally. 
 Some work of this sort will help the children to study and appre- 
 ciate the characters and action in all that they read. 
 
 Some magazines, such as the Youth's Companion (Perry Mason 
 Co., Boston) and "Saint Nicholas" (The Century Co., New York) 
 should be in the school room. Perhaps some subscriber in the neigh- 
 borhood will lend them to the school, after they have been read. 
 Encourage the children to read these. 
 
 SEVENTH GRADE. 
 
 Complete the second book of "Bison's Grammar School Literature 
 Readers." Supplementary reading should be in the longer prose and 
 poetic classics. The year's work might consist of reproductive selec- 
 tions from Irving, Poe, Hawthorne,, Longfellow and Clemens. Inci- 
 dentally some instruction may be given concerning the lives of these 
 authors, but this should be brief and informal. One of Cooper's 
 stories might be studied, partly in class and partly in home read- 
 ings. "The Last of the Mohicans" is particularly good. 
 
 Suggestions for teaching literature have been given under the out- 
 line for sixth grade. (See page 63.) Make the work more ma- 
 ture, as befits the age of the pupils and the nature of the literature. 
 Give elementary but definite instruction about the fundamental laws 
 of artistic writing: unity, coherence, proportion, development of 
 plot, grouping of characters, use of descriptive passages; and give 
 some instruction in meters; kinds of poetic feet, principals of rhythm 
 and rhyme, alliteration, and assonance. 
 
 Have the children memorize and recite literary selections in the 
 literary society. In case the child does not memorize easily, allow 
 him to read a well prepared selection from the book. 
 
 Encourage much reading of library books. The teacher should be 
 familiar with the books in the library, and should often refer her 
 pupils to them. The course in reading and literature that does not 
 succeed in getting the children into the reading habit has failed in 
 one of its important functions. Show the children how to "get the 
 heart out of a book;" how to perceive the central idea and purpose, 
 the lead ing characteristics, how the book differs from other books. 
 Remember that the boys and the girls often want and need different 
 kinds of books. The ideal is: Read much, read rapidly, read with 
 intelligence and appreciation. Let the children take the books home 
 with them or read in the school room when they have leisure. 
 
66 
 EIGHTH GRADE. 
 
 Read Books Three and Four in the Elson Grammar School Litera- 
 ture Readers. In case the children cannot buy both books, have them 
 get Book Four rather than Book Three. Supplementary reading 
 should be in the longer classics. If American authors have been 
 studied in the seventh grade, British authors might be taken up in 
 this year. Scott's "Ivanhoe," Stevenson's "Treasure Island," and 
 poems of Wordsworth, Scott, Tennyson, Macaulay, and Kipling, are 
 valuable for this grade. 
 
 Continue the study as suggested in the sixth and seventh years. 
 The children should learn to understand and appreciate the splendid 
 characters in the books they read, should know them as familiar 
 friends, should allude to them in their conversation, should admire 
 and imitate their virtues. They should discuss and debate the vari- 
 ous points that arise in the action, just as they do in real life. 
 
 Continue dramatization. Continue the reading of literature in lit- 
 erary society. Continue the reading of books in school and home 
 libraries. Encourage children to start a small library of their own. 
 Teach them how to discriminate between choice books and the trashy 
 ones they sometimes find. Try to persuade each child in the eighth 
 grade to read one book a month during the year. 
 
LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 
 
 GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 
 Aims of the Course. 
 
 The aims of the course in language and composition are : 
 
 1. To train the child to examine subjects within his comprehen- 
 sion; to choose, reject, and organize his material on these subjects; 
 to present in speech and writing his thoughts on these subjects in 
 an orderly, pleasing, and effective manner. 
 
 2. To train the child in desirable language habits. Some of these 
 habits are: 
 
 (a) The habit of speaking and writing with ease and pleasure 
 and with clearness and correctness. 
 
 (b) The habit of using vigorous, idiomatic, expressive words ar- 
 ranged in free, natural sentences, which, in turn, are arranged in 
 compact, unified paragraphs. 
 
 (c) The habit of taking care that his language be effective and 
 of taking pride in his linguistic power. 
 
 (d) The habit of using mechanically the various formal elements 
 of speaking and writing; such as correct pronunciation, distinct 
 enunciation, spelling, paragraphing, punctuating, etc. 
 
 General Outline. * 
 
 It is obvious that since the child is using the language from the 
 time he enters school, training in language must be started at once. 
 During the first two years, however, the language work should not be 
 given a special period on the daily program, but should be connected 
 with the other work of the school, especially with reading and litera- 
 ture. Throughout the entire course, language should be taught in 
 connection with the other work of the school. It is a serious mistake 
 to give the pupils the impression that the language work is over when 
 the language period is spent. Encourage free, vigorous conversation 
 in connection with all the branches. Teach the children to organize 
 their thoughts and insist upon their using clear, definite, and correct 
 words. This incidental language work is often the most educative, 
 since it connects the language more closely with the child's life. In 
 
 A definite outline is given in connection with the work of each school year. 
 
 cr TH r A. 
 
 of each 
 
 ( UNf 
 
68 
 
 the third year a separate period should be given to language, though 
 the pupils should not use a text. From the fourth year on the pupils 
 use the text and have a definite period. 
 
 The composition work should never have a separate period. In the 
 first and second grades composition work is largely oral and should 
 be combined with the regular language work. From the third grade 
 on some of the language periods should be used for composition work. 
 
 No text in composition work should be used until the seventh 
 grade. In this and the eighth grade the pupil should use the section 
 on composition writing in the last part of the second book of "Modern 
 English." 
 
 Since the work of the first three years does not provide for a text 
 book, the teacher must suggest the material and direct the work. In 
 order to do this she should have two or three language books from 
 which to get suggestions, ideas, plans, and exercises. These books 
 will be valuable also for work above the third grade, since they will 
 provide material for supplementary work. The following language 
 books are suggested: 
 
 Live Language Lessons. 2 books. University Publishing Co., Chi- 
 cago. (Especially good for country and village teachers.) 
 
 Primary Language Lessons. 1 book. American Book Company, 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 Studies in English, The Language Book. Eow, Peterson & Co., 
 Chicago. . 
 
 Guide Books to English. 2 books. Silver, Burdette and Company, 
 New York. 
 
 The teacher should have and study two or three good books on the 
 teaching of language and composition. Teaching in these subjects is 
 so important and so difficult that the teacher needs all the assistance 
 she can secure. The following are suggested: 
 
 Barnes English in the Country Schools. Row, Peterson & Co., 
 Chicago. 
 
 McMurry Special Method in Language. Macmillan Co., New 
 York. 
 
 Hinsdale Teaching the Language Arts. D. Appleton & Co., New 
 York. 
 
 / 
 FIRST GRADE. 
 
 The language and composition work of this year should be almost 
 entirely oral. All the writing that should be done is the copying of 
 words and sentences, memorized selections, etc., marks of punctuation 
 
69 
 
 being copied without explanation. Spelling may be copied, and occa- 
 sionally a sentence may be dictated by the teacher and written by 
 the pupils. Do not expect any original composition this year.. 
 
 The basis of this year's work should be informal conversation. 
 Xature study, pictures, literature read, stories told by the teacher, 
 the interests and experiences of daily school and home life, the sea- 
 sons and holidays will furnish sufficient material. The teacher should 
 try to get the children to talk freely, easily, naturally and correctly 
 on the topics brought up. Children should answer in complete sen- 
 tences. 
 
 Attention should be given to such sentences as: "John and me 
 want to play." "I ate a apple." "There is two birds on the tree." 
 "I ain't got my lesson." " He lias went." Correct these and similar 
 blunders without explanation, but always give the correct form and 
 have the child repeat it. Enlarge the child's vocabulary by suggest- 
 ing a better word instead of the one he has used. Make these con- 
 versations informal and pleasant. Always base them on topics inter- 
 esting to the children. 
 
 Some reproduction work can be done. The teacher tells or reads 
 an interesting nursery tale, such as "The Three Bears." The chil- 
 dren ask and answer questions about the story until it is well under- 
 stood. Then they tell the story as effectively and dramatically as 
 possible. Very little criticism of the language should be allowed, 
 since the pupils should be encouraged to reproduce with confidence 
 and pleasure. Mistakes in accuracy of reproduction and the most 
 serious errors in language should be pointed out after the story has 
 been retold. 
 
 Some of the simpler stories told or read should be dramatized. 
 Some of the Mother Goose Jingles furnish good material. (See 
 page 53.) 
 
 SECOND GRADE. 
 
 Oral English should be the basis of this year's work. Continue 
 the conversations as in first year, based on literature, pictures, nature 
 study, field excursions, games, activities, etc. Ask questions that 
 involve several related sentences in the answer, such as, "How do you 
 make a paw-paw whistle?" "How do you sweep a room?" "How 
 do you play prisoner's base?" Train the children in sticking to the 
 story, in proper position while standing, in speaking directly to the 
 other children instead of the teacher, in distinct enunciation and easy 
 conversational tone. Incidentally correct such errors as "I can write 
 
70 
 
 good," "Mother learned me my lessons/' "John don't know how to 
 play," "I taken my slate home." Train in the use of "shall" and 
 "will," "may" and "can," the common irregular verbs, etc. 
 
 Try to enlarge the pupils' vocabulary. Teach them to distinguish 
 between easy synonyms. 
 
 Continue oral reproduction of stories. Encourage the children 
 to retell stories they have learned at home. Train the children to 
 make up and tell simple stories based on pictures. Train them to 
 tell the essentials of stories they read, leaving out details. 
 
 Dramatize, as in the first grade. 
 
 Study a number of fables with the children, and encourage them 
 to make up simple fables of their own and tell them orally. Here 
 is a fable told by a second grade pupil : "Once a rabbit was running 
 away from some dogs and he wanted to get into a hole in some rocks. 
 But some dirt had got into the hole. He got into another hole and 
 got away from the dogs. Then he said, 'Tomorrow I will go and dig 
 that dirt out, so I can get in the next time/ But the next day he 
 forgot all about it. A few days after, the dogs got after him and 
 were close behind him. He ran up to the hole and could not get in, 
 and the dogs caught him before he could run into another hole. It 
 served him right for being so careless." 
 
 The written work should be very simple in this grade. Copying, 
 writing from easy dictation, writing of spelling lists and of memory 
 selections is recommended. Some class exercises in original compos- 
 ing should be worked out. For example, the teacher asks the chil- 
 dren to make up sentences about a cow. The pupils present such sen- 
 tences as : "The cow gives milk ;" "The cow has horns ;" "The cow 
 is red ;" "The cow eats grass." The teacher writes these on the board 
 one by one. Then she and the class rearrange the sentences in 
 their natural order; finally the pupils copy the revised work, writing 
 all the sentences in one paragraph. 
 
 Pupils should be taught the use of capital letters at beginning of 
 sentences and lines of poetry ; in the pronoun I ; in proper nouns, days 
 of week, names of months. The following marks of punctuation 
 should be taught: period and question mark at ends of sentences; 
 period after initials and common abbreviations; apostrophe in pos- 
 sessive case; comma in series and after names of persons addressed. 
 Observe the use of these marks in the readers. 
 
 Have the children start a composition book in which they copy their 
 finished work. Have plenty of seat work in writing, basing all work 
 on interesting subjects. 
 
71 
 THIRD GRADE. 
 
 A definite language period should now be assigned, but the inci- 
 dental work in language should be continued. The teacher should 
 outline her work for this class at least a week ahead, for she must 
 direct the children orally and keep them working steadily at some 
 definite aim. 
 
 The work should still be largely oral. Continue the reproduction 
 of stories, poems, etc. Children should be asked to tell the other 
 children about books they have read, sketching the story and giving 
 brief character descriptions at the suggestion of the teacher. 
 
 So called "oral composition" work should be started in this grade. 
 The teacher should assign easy subjects to the pupils such as : "How 
 to plant corn;" "What I saw in the blacksmith's shop;" "A fishing 
 trip" subjects drawn, in general, from the actual experience of the 
 pupils. The pupils prepare talks of two minutes or more on these 
 topics, then speak to the class. Teacher and class criticize sympa- 
 thetically on whether the subject was clearly presented, whether the 
 points were arranged in the best order, whether the pupil spoke dis- 
 tinctly and used correct English. 
 
 Original stories based on pictures should be told. Occasionally 
 part of the story may be told by the teacher and the pupils be asked 
 to complete it. Pupils in this grade should be taught in their litera- 
 ture lesson to study the arrangement of incidents in such a way as 
 to lead up to the important point, and should be encouraged to use 
 this method in their own stories. Imaginative stories, such as fairy 
 stories, Santa Glaus stories, etc., stories in which the children im- 
 personate some animal or object are good for this grade. Dramatiza- 
 tion should be continued. 
 
 Tn all this oral work the teacher should try to build up the chil- 
 dren's vocabulary and power to discriminate between words, and 
 should break up slovenly habits of speech and enunciation. Care 
 must be taken also that the children do not form the habit of using 
 too many short, disconnected sentences, or long sentences the clauses 
 of which are joined by "and." However, the teacher must take heed 
 lest she destroy the pupils' naturalness and expressiveness and make 
 them too conscious. Close watch should be kept on the children's 
 language, and kindly, patient criticisms given whenever needed. 
 
 The written work of this year should be of two kinds : paragraphs, 
 and letters. 
 
 Toward the beginning of the year pupils should be taught to write 
 brief paragraphs on simple topics, such as those assigned for oral com- 
 
72 
 
 positions. The teacher should assign the topics and discuss them 
 with the pupils, showing them definitely how to plan and arrange their 
 material. Pupils should write their paragraphs in school with pencil 
 and the next day should read their paragraphs. Teacher and class 
 should discuss the clearness and correctness, the expressiveness and 
 naturalness, the unity and coherence of the composition. As much 
 time as possible should be spent in this discussion. Pupils should 
 then copy the paragraphs with pen and ink in their permanent com- 
 position book. Continue this work throughout the year. The teacher 
 must always assist in the preparation and discussion of the para- 
 graphs, but should gradually put the work more and more upon the 
 pupils. The topics should be stories and explanations, with an occa- 
 sional description, and should always be drawn from the children's 
 life or reading. Study the paragraphs in reading and literature les- 
 sons. 
 
 Letter writing should be studied this year. Have the children 
 write letters of one paragraph to friends and relatives, telling them 
 of interesting happenings of current interest. Whenever possible, 
 have these letters copied after discussion and mailed to the persons 
 addressed. Insist on neatness, legibility, naturalness, etc. Occasion- 
 ally read a model letter, that the children may -learn to catch the 
 spirit of the letter. (An excellent book for this purpose is "Letters 
 to Children Written by Famous People." Hinds & Noble, New York. 
 This book can be used in the third, fourth and fifth grades.) 
 
 The following letter is poor. It lacks unity because it takes up 
 too many subjects ; and it lacks coherence because the sentences are 
 disconnected. 
 
 "Dear Grandpa : We played in the snow yesterday. Papa took 
 me to town Saturday. We get lots of milk now. I like to go to 
 school. Our telephone was broken down, but it is fixed up now. How 
 is grandma? We are all well. This is my first letter. 
 
 Your loving, 
 
 Susie." 
 
 The following letter is much better : 
 
 "Dear Grandpa: We have been having good times this week. 
 There was a big snow and we all played games like fox and geese, 
 snow ball and building snow men. Papa brought us to school yes- 
 
73 
 
 terday on our sled. I tell you old Frank and Jerry had to pull hard 
 up Creek Hill, for the snow was awful deep. 
 
 Don't you think this is a good letter for the first one? 
 
 Your grandson, 
 
 William." 
 
 In learning to write paragraphs children must learn certain forms. 
 They must learn : to indent the first line of the paragraph and 
 close the paragraph wherever the last line happens to fall; to divide 
 the word between syllables at the end of the line; to leave a wide 
 margin at the left of the sheet. In writing letters the pupils should 
 be taught the conventional usages; where to place the address of the 
 writer and the date, how to address the correspondent, how and where 
 to write the complimentary close and the signature, how to address 
 the envelope. 
 
 In all the written work insist on correct spelling and correct gram- 
 matical usage. Teach punctuation : the dash, hyphen, apostrophe, 
 quotation marks. Teach simple abbreviations: "Mr.," "Mrs.," 
 "Rev.," "W. Va.," "St.," "P. S." Teach simple contractions: "don't," 
 "doesn't," "isn't," "wasn't,"' "hasn't," "can't" "it's," "I'm," etc. 
 
 Have some writing every day during this year. Occasionally assign 
 written work in connection with nature study, arithmetic, literature; 
 and insist that all written work be done neatly, accurately, and 
 legibly. 
 
 FOURTH GRADE. 
 
 This year for the first time the pupils use a text. Book One of 
 "Modern English" is divided into three parts. The fourth grade 
 work should complete Part One to lesson 62 and Part Two 
 to lesson 124. The lessons in Part Two should be scattered along 
 through the year, thus providing sufficient exercises in letter writ- 
 ing. Do not attempt to take the lessons in their order. So arrange 
 them that the oral and the written work will be mingled in the proper 
 proportions. "A little writing every day and not too much any day," 
 is the ideal. 
 
 Pupils that have been trained according to the directions given for 
 the first three years will find much of the text-book work of the fourth 
 year a good review of facts already learned. Such pupils should be 
 given much supplementary work. In fact, the teacher must consider 
 the language book merely as a guide and must constantly bring into 
 the language lesson work from other subjects, and from the interests 
 
74 
 
 and activities of the children. Language cannot be taught from any 
 book; and the teacher that confines herself to the exercises in the 
 book will fail to give adequate and interesting training in language. 
 
 The untrained teacher should not omit many of the lessons from 
 the book. Even though the lessons seem disconnected with language 
 work, they are excellent to start discussions and get the children to 
 thinking and talking; and that is the basis of language work. The 
 teacher should be very careful, however, to make the lessons alive 
 with interest. She should never assign a lesson by saying merely: 
 "Take the next lesson/' She must introduce the topic in such a way 
 that the pupils will be able to see the point in the lesson, to know what 
 they are expected to do. For example, in assigning the poem in les- 
 son 38, it would be well to introduce the theme by talking of how 
 John and William differ in talents, how a horse's work differs from a 
 cow's, how a tree's value differs from a fence's. Then bring up the 
 lesson by asking how a mountain and squirrel differ in talents and 
 tell the children that they are now about to study a lesson that tells 
 how a little squirrel proved that he had talents as distinctive as those 
 of a big mountain. 
 
 The lessons contain directions for the children ; but they cannot 
 follow these directions without assistance. For example, in lesson 
 43 the pupils need some help in learning the story from the outline 
 given. The teacher must not confine herself to the directions and 
 questions provided in the book; she must add suggestions of her own 
 based on her knowledge of the pupils' experience. Do not let the 
 lessons be merely book study. 
 
 Whether the suggestions are drawn from the book or not, the oral 
 composition work of the third grade should be continued. The pupils 
 may now make notes from which to speak. The topics should be 
 practical, definite and vital. Have children report stories and make 
 oral reports on the books 'read. 
 
 The lessons in part one provide much writing and the exercises- 
 in letter writing in part two provide much more; but at least once 
 a week the pupils should be required to write a composition of two 
 or more paragraphs on some interesting topic. Most of these should 
 be taken from life, such as: "A Trip to the Fair," "How to Make 
 a Sled," "My Grandfather's Home." Some of them may be imagina- 
 tive subjects, such as "The Autobiography of a Penny/' "A Trip to 
 the Moon," "What the School Bell Saw." If the teacher can secure 
 inexpensive pictures, it is a good plan to have the children paste them 
 
75 
 
 in their composition books and write descriptions and stories about 
 them. 
 
 During* this year the children should be taught to construct sim- 
 ple outlines before they begin to write. For example, if they are to- 
 write about "Our Farm/' they should make out an outline somewhat 
 like this : 
 
 Location and Size location of orchard, meadows, streams, build- 
 ings. 
 
 What we raise. 
 
 Each division of the outline should represent one paragraph in 
 the composition. If the pupils do not make an outline before they 
 begin to write, they will not plan the work logically and definitely,, 
 will leave out important points and bring in unimportant ones. In 
 criticizing this work the teacher should be judicious and sympathetic, 
 calling attention to the grossest errors, but at the same time encour- 
 aging the children to express themselves easily and freely. It is a 
 good plan to criticize only one type of error in each group of com- 
 positions. Show the children how to criticize their own work. 
 
 Continue the work in the writing of single paragraphs. These 
 have much of the educative value of the lon*g composition and are 
 more convenient as units of writing. In this grade begin to train 
 the pupils in the use of the "topic sentence" ; the sentence placed near 
 the beginning of the paragraph, which tells or suggests the substance 
 of the whole paragraph. 
 
 Pupils should be encouraged to consult the dictionary to look up 
 the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of words. The teacher must 
 show the children how to find words, to interpret the abbreviations,, 
 etc. It would be well to have the children purchase a small dictionary 
 for their own use. Webster's Common School Dictionary (American 
 Book Co., Cincinnati) is perhaps the best for grade work. 
 
 Insist on correct spelling in all written work. Eeview the rules of 
 punctuation already given, and teach the simple rules for use of 
 comma, semicolon, colon, exclamation mark, etc. 
 
 Take advantage of every opportunity in every lesson to teach 
 spoken and written English. In the arithmetic lesson, for example, 
 teach neatness of writing and arrangement, clearness and correct- 
 ness of language, etc. In literature study the use of words and 
 help the pupils to add words to their speaking and writing vocabu- 
 lary; study the construction of sentences and point out that John's 
 sentences are too long and Henry's too short as compared with what 
 they are reading; study the paragraphing to see how authors organize 
 
76 
 
 and unify their paragraphs and connect them with each other. 
 Encourage informal arguments -concerning lessons in literature, his- 
 tory etc. 
 
 FIFTH GRADE. 
 
 During this grade the first and second parts of book one should 
 be completed, the lessons from Part Two being scattered throughout 
 the term, as in the fourth grade. 
 
 Supplement the book study with much supplementary work. In 
 assigning and studying the lessons in the book be sure to arouse 
 thought and intelligent expression. (See suggestions in fourth 
 grade. ) 
 
 Continue oral and written compositions. Encourage the children 
 to introduce fun and humor into their stories. Continue the work 
 in writing single paragraphs with topic sentences, and longer com- 
 positions of three or more paragraphs, with outlines, written once 
 a week. Have pupils criticize each others' language. Emphasize tHe 
 simple grammatical rules in the book and show the pupils that they 
 must follow these rules in speaking and writing. 
 
 In this grade children may start keeping diaries. The teacher 
 should help them for a week or two and show them what they should 
 record each day, then should encourage them to continue the work. 
 From time to time the teacher should ask about the diaries and give 
 suggestions. 
 
 Occasionally the pupils should be asked to take notes on some- 
 thing the teacher reads, or on the talks given by visitors. The 
 teacher and class should criticize these notes from the standpoint 
 of fullness, clearness, accuracy, etc. Some days after the notes have 
 been taken, let the pupils expand them and reproduce the original. 
 
 Simple and informal debating should now be introduced. The 
 questions should arise naturally from the lessons; in agriculture, 
 "Is this community best adapted to fruit raising or cattle raising?" 
 in history "'Did Washington do more for his country than Lincoln?" 
 in literature. ''Should the Pied Piper have taken the children out 
 of Hamelin ?" Questions arising in school may be debated. For exam- 
 ple, "Should you snow-ball a boy that does not want to snow-ball?" 
 (Connect with lesson 98, page 83.) Have these debates in con- 
 nection with the recitations in the different subjects. Let each 
 pupil choose one side or the other and set forth his opinions briefly 
 and forcibly. The teacher should preside and should insist on pupils 
 sticking to the subject, showing courtesy to an opponent, and obeying 
 
77 
 
 parliamentary laws; and she should occasionally throw in a thought- 
 producing question. 
 
 Continue the dictionary work. However, do not send the children 
 to the dictionary unless it is necessary. In the literature lesson, 
 for example, it is much better to discover the meaning of the word, 
 whenever possible, by examining the whole sentence and seeing the 
 significance of the word in the sentence. For instance, in lesson 
 95, have the children infer the meaning of "mock" in the third 
 sentence. The dictionary would not help much here for it would 
 give some word like "sham", which is equally unfamiliar. The. teach- 
 er should not insist on the pupil's being able to give a dictionary defi- 
 nition ; if they know what the word means, can give a synonym for 
 it, or can use it in an intelligent sentence, they know the word well 
 enough. 
 
 Encourage pupils to enlarge and enrich their speaking and writ- 
 ing vocabularies by observing and using good words they meet in their 
 reading. But the teacher must be sensible in this matter. She should 
 not urge the pupils to acquire bookish, unusual words, but colloquial, 
 suggestive, usable words. To preserve the child's naturalness and 
 vigor and at the same time refine, correct, and enrich his language 
 is difficult; but the teacher must undertake no less a task. 
 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 
 Complete Part Three of the first book in this year. A good deal 
 of practical grammar is scattered through these lessons. See to it that 
 the children learn these rules, and, more important yet, that they ob- 
 serve them in their speaking and writing. Rearrange the exercises 
 and lessons whenever necessary, so that the oral and written work 
 alternate and combine well. Spend some time in assigning each 
 lesson, in order that the pupils may save some time in studying. 
 
 Continue the work in oral composition, paragraph-writing, and 
 writing of whole compositions. In all written work, except friend- 
 ly letters, outlines should be required. These outlines should not 
 be very complex but they should be definite. It is a good plan to 
 assign and discuss the topic one day, have the outline written and 
 discussed the next day, and the composition written the following 
 day. Insist that the pupils plan all written work carefully before 
 beginning to write. They should know the number of paragraphs, the 
 order in which they are to come, and the subject matter of each, 
 before they start writing. After they have prepared the outline, 
 
78 
 
 encourage them to write freely and naturally. Whenever absolutely 
 necessary, they may change the outline <as they are writing their 
 composition, but they should always be called upon to give the reason 
 for the change. 
 
 Continue the writing of letters. Arrange a correspondence between 
 the pupils of your school and those of a school in some other part 
 of the state. Have imaginary letters written by travelers in for- 
 eign lands, or by famous persons in history to their families, or by 
 a dog to its absent master. In case the school is ordering any books 
 or supplies, or any pupil has occasion to write a business letter, make 
 it a class exercise and send the best letter written. 
 
 In this grade the teacher should begin to criticize the written 
 work more closely. Mistakes should be indicated by symbols ("Sp" 
 for misspelled word; "Cap" for using a small letter instead of a cap- 
 ital letter; "SI" for using a capital letter instead of a small letter, etc.) 
 Criticisms may be made in red ink. In order to make sure that the 
 pupils study the criticisms, use the following plan: have the chil- 
 dren write on only one side of the page in their composition books, 
 leaving a wide margin at the left of the page. Make your criticisms 
 in this margin. Then when you hand the book back, have the children 
 write the correct forms just opposite the incorrect forms, not re- 
 writing the entire sentences, but only that part involved in the 
 error. It is not a good plan to have the children rewrite the whole 
 composition, except in case of extreme carelessness. 
 
 During this year the children should write brief newspaper articles 
 on the school activities. If, for example, you have had an entertain- 
 ment in the room or school, conduct afterwards a class exercise in 
 which the teacher and the class discuss what should be written, num- 
 ber of paragraphs, etc. ; then have each child write an account of the 
 entertainment. Let them vote on the best article as another class 
 exercise, indicating its good points and suggesting improvements. 
 Then have the writer copy his article and send it to a local or county 
 newspaper. 
 
 Continue work in dramatization. Study a story or poem in 
 the literature class; then hare the children write out the dramati- 
 zation, supplying stage directions and conversation. Then have the 
 story acted according to the best dramatization. 
 
 Continue the work in debating. Assign questions that lie within 
 the experience and reading of the children. Have the pupils make 
 outlines of what they are going to say and speak from these outlines. 
 

 79 
 
 Do this in connection with the subject out of which the question 
 arises. 
 
 Encourage the children to take pride in their spoken and written 
 language. Encourage them to criticize each other sympathetically 
 and with the desire to* help improve each other. Teach language all 
 the time. 
 
 SEVENTH GRADE. 
 
 Part One of the second book of "Modern English'' and Part Three 
 over to lesson 16 should be completed this year. Alternate the lessons 
 in Part Three with those of Part One, so that the work in composition 
 is scattered throughout the year. 
 
 Part One consists almost entirely of work in grammar. It is a waste 
 of time to attempt to teach pupils all the grammar in these lessons. 
 ' It is much better to have a plan somewhat like this : Mondays, whole 
 compositions; Tuesdays and Thursdays, text-book grammar; Wednes- 
 days, oral composition work; Fridays, paragraphs, letters, debates, 
 dramatization, etc. 
 
 In order to cover Part One it will be necessary to omit many sec- 
 tions of the book. This should be done, since many of them deal with 
 minute grammatical details that are of little or no value in teaching 
 the children to speak and write. Some of the material that may be 
 omitted is: Ex. 7; Exs. 14, 15, 30; Chaps 19, 20, 21; Exs. 40, 41; 
 Pars. 89, 90; Ex. 51; Chaps. 29, 31, 32; Ex. 66; Chap. 35; Exs. 
 72, 75, 80; Chaps. 41, 42; Exs. 91, 93, 94, 97, 100, 101; Pars. 
 153, 157, 163, 181;. Ex. 103; Chap. 54. 
 
 Much more may easily be omitted; and the long and tiresome exer- 
 cises should be greatly shortened. The teacher should test all 
 grammatical material by examining it to see if it assists in training 
 pupils in practical, intelligent speaking and writing; any material 
 that does not meet this test should be rigidly excluded. In some 
 places the teacher will have to bridge the gap left by the omitted 
 lessons, but this can easily be done. Leave out all the elaborate and 
 complex machinery of grammar and teach only the barest essentials. 
 Teach these plainly and follow them up in the language of the pupils. 
 
 Continue the oral work and writing of the previous grades. Make 
 use of Part Three as suggested above. Emphasize during this year the 
 construction of sentences. They should be neither too long nor too 
 short; an average of from fifteen to thirty words is desirable, though 
 some sentences will be longer and others somewhat shorter. Train 
 in mixing declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative sen- 
 
80 
 
 tences. Train in writing complex sentences; children usually ex- 
 press themselves too frequently in simple and compound sentences. 
 See to it that the sentences have clearness, force, unity, coherence and 
 variety. Work of this kind must be done patiently and prudently, so 
 that the children may retain their naturalness while attaining other 
 desirable qualities. Study sentences in the literature lesson and help 
 the pupils to model their sentences after the easy-flowing, well con- 
 structed sentences they find in the prose of good authors. 
 
 Eeview and apply constantly the facts and rules of punctua- 
 tion. Continue the dictionary work. The pupils should now consult 
 the large dictionary and should be trained to look not only for the 
 meaning and spelling but for the way in which the word is used, syn- 
 onyms, etc. Send the pupils to the dictionary to settle practical 
 questions of language. For example, a child has used this sentence: 
 "We attended the social." Eaise the question as to whether "social" 
 is the correct word and ask the pupils to find out. If you can get 
 a child to consult the dictionary once a day, you have put him on the 
 road to a good -education. 
 
 If the diary work started in the fifth grade has not been kept 
 up, it may be started again this year. Pupils should always be en- 
 couraged to keep account books of the money received and spent by 
 them. Continue the writing of articles for newspapers. In country 
 schools, send a weekly letter* to a county paper. Have the. child ron 
 gather the items and write them out and arrange them as a class 
 exercise. 
 
 Continue close, but kindly criticism of language, both spokon mil 
 written. Encourage the pupils to help each other. It is a good plan 
 to group students in pairs, the two to work together in prepara- 
 tion, writing, and revision of compositions. Occasionally keen a 
 composition a week or two, then hand it back to the writer for his 
 own criticisms. 
 
 A literary society should be organized this year for seventh and 
 eiirhth grade pupils. Meetings should be held in th- 1 uveninir, if 
 possible ; and the children should elect their own officers. The teach- 
 er sliould serve as critic. The program should consist of music, the 
 reading of good literature, reproductions of interesting stories and an 
 occasional dramatization, articles on the various activities of the 
 school, a school paper of jokes, news items, and, whenever possible, a 
 '.lebate. Nothing will give more encouragement to English work than 
 a literary society. 
 
81 
 
 If a society cannot be organized, the school should at least issue 
 a weekly paper. It should be made up of the best composition work 
 of the week, of special articles, of jokes, items, advertisements, etc. 
 Perhaps some pupil will copy the paper on his typewriter, or perhaps 
 a mimeograph copy can be made. 
 
 It is well to have a bulletin board upon which to post notices, pro- 
 grams, etc. The teacher should carefully watch the language used and 
 criticize it as occasion offers. 
 
 A verse-making class may interest some of the pupils. It may be 
 held at noon or after school. It is best not to take any of the regular 
 time of the school for this work. 
 
 During this year assign much written and oral work that gives the 
 pupils an audience or interested readers. 
 
 i 
 EIGHTH GRADE. 
 
 The second book of the "Modern English" series should be com- 
 pleted this year. As in the seventh grade, scatter the exercises in 
 Part Three throughout the year. Limit the grammar study to two 
 days a week, following the plan used in the seventh grade. 
 
 Cut down the technical grammar to the minimun. The following 
 may be omitted : Chaps. 54, 55, 56, 59, 60; Ex. 133 ; Par. 240; Chaps. 
 66, 76; Exs. 147, 148; Chaps. 81 to 86; Chaps. 91 to 95; Chaps 98 to 
 100; Chaps. 102 to 104; Chap. 114; Chap. 120 to 124; Chap. 126; 
 Chaps. 128 to 130; Par. 487; Exs. 236, 237; Chaps. 136 to 138; Ex. 
 253 ; Chap. 142 ; Chaps. 144 to 145 ; Chap. 148. Omit all other chap- 
 ters and sections that do not have direct connection with speaking 
 and writing. Condense long exercises and make all grammar work 
 practical. 
 
 Continue the oral composition work and the writing of paragraphs 
 and compositions. Train the pupils to consult encyclopedias and 
 reference books to get material. Train them to organize material, 
 make notes and outlines, and speak and write clearly, confidently, and 
 intelligently. Assign subjects that lead to thinking but that are 
 within the children's ability. 
 
 Continue the literary society work and everything else that leads 
 the children to express themselves before an audience or for readers. 
 Continue letter writing. Eemember that after they leave* school, about 
 the only writing the children are called upon to do is the writing of 
 letters; therefore make sure that before they leave school they can 
 write chatty, interesting friendly letters, and straight-forward, clear, 
 accurate business letters. 
 
82 
 
 Review and practice all the formal elements : punctuation, spelling, 
 paragraphing, etc. In all the classes and throughout the day keep 
 watch on the children's language., endeavoring to break up all bad 
 habits of speech and especially to arouse in the children a desire to 
 speak well. Teach the children to imitate intelligently the good qual- 
 ities in the literature they read. You do not want to make authors of 
 your children, but you should train them to borrow from the writing 
 of authors those qualities that will make their own work better. 
 
WRITING 
 
 GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 
 The teacher should realize that writing is a subject of great impor- 
 tance. It should receive a prominent place, and a due amount of time 
 both on the daily program, and in the teacher's thought and prepara- 
 tion. 
 
 1. There are many teachers who are already skillful and success- 
 ful teachers of writing. It is not expected or intended that such 
 teachers should throw away the plans and systems that they have been 
 using and follow the principles, methods, and devices herein suggest- 
 ed. Some good teachers can get help from a study and application of 
 this course in writing; but it is devised especially for those who have 
 not yet become successful. 
 
 2. In any study of writing there are two distinct phases or things 
 to be considered, and it will greatly help clearness in studying and 
 
 discussing the subject if these are given different names. First f there 
 is the act or process, the set of motions we go through : Second, there 
 is the result of these movements, or the product. In this discussion, 
 therefore, bear in mind the following definitions : 
 
 By PENMANSHIP we mean the process or art of writing : 
 
 By HANDWRITING we mean the product that results from the 
 process. 
 
 Qualities of Good Handwriting. 
 
 1. Legibility. . The first quality of any handwriting is that it can 
 be read. Some of the things that affect legibility are these : 
 
 a. Good Forms: The letters should follow good forms. Some 
 forms are naturally more easily read than others. 
 
 b. Accepted Forms: The letters should follow accepted forms. 
 Naturally we can more easily read forms we are accustomed to. More- 
 over, no teacher has a right to teach new and unusual forms of the 
 English letters. Since English is so nearly a world language, it is 
 highly important that the forms of the letters should be fixed and 
 permanent so as to be recognized all over the world. 
 
84 
 
 c. Connections and Spacing should be properly made. 
 
 d. The slant should not be over 70. It has been proven that the 
 more nearly vertical the writing is the more easily read it is. 
 
 2. Uniformity and Regularity. All letters are made of a few 
 single elements, such as straight lines, curves, etc. If these elements 
 are always made the same, with reference to position, length, slant, 
 form, connections etc., the result will be uniform and regular hand- 
 writing. Besides the appearance, there are other reasons why a 
 uniform handwriting is desirable, such as ambiguities in legal docu- 
 ments. 
 
 3. Beauty. Beauty is its own reward. Handwriting should pos- 
 sess this quality. The qualities mentioned above contribute somewhat 
 to it, but beautiful forms when seen, should be imitated and beautiful 
 ideas of letters built up in the mind of the child. 
 
 Qualities of Penmanship. 
 
 .Some of the qualities at which the teacher should aim, in order of 
 their importance, are as follows: 
 
 1. Ease. It ought to be easy for any one to write. Correct posi- 
 tion, correct movement, correct habits as to slant, height, spacing, 
 connections, etc., with proper forms in the hiind, will result in easy 
 writing. A forearm movement seems generally Acknowledged to be 
 the easiest movement; and a slant of about 70 degrees seems to be 
 the easiest slant. 
 
 2. Speed. For obvious reasons any one ought to be able to write 
 with a fair degree of speed. Practice, properly carried out, is the only 
 road to speed. 
 
 3. Pleasure. It ought to be a pleasure to write, or at least not 
 unpleasant. Many a man has lost much, in a business way, because 
 writing was disagreeable to him. If writing is distasteful it encour- 
 ages procrastination and delay in business matters. 
 
 4. Automatism is writing automatically and without thought. 
 The ultimate end as to penmanship, ought to be that the student will 
 become so skillful that he writes without thought, so far as the mere 
 writing is concerned, and is free to give all his mental effort to the 
 ideas he is trying to express. 
 
 Aim of the School. 
 
 What is then the definite aim of the school? It is to teach the 
 child to write a legible, uniform and beautiful handwriting, to write 
 with pleasure, and with such ease and speed that he will finally write 
 automatical ly. 
 
85 
 
 Aim of the Teacher. 
 
 What is the aim of the teacher? It is to understand the general 
 problem of what good penmanship and good handwriting means, 
 and to know each day what thing must be done that day to assist the 
 child to gain the small bit of power and skill which will gradually 
 enable him to reach the proficiency at which the school aims. 
 
 Practice. 
 
 Aristotle said : "We learn to do by doing that which we wish to do 
 when we have learned it ; we become builders by building, and harpers 
 by harping. So, by doing just acts we become just, and by doing 
 acts of temperance and courage we become temperate and coura- 
 geous/' If we learn to do by doing it is evident that the first duty of 
 the teacher is to have the child to do, which is, in this case, to write. 
 Practice must not be neglected. 
 
 But many who build are not good builders, and many who play the 
 harp are not good harpers. So there must be some things connected 
 with practice that should be considered. 
 
 Physical Conditions of Right Practice. 
 
 a. The general law of physical development is that the larger and 
 more general muscles come under control of the will earlier in life 
 than, the smaller and finer muscles. For instance, the larger muscles 
 of the arm can be controlled long before the muscles of the fingers. 
 This seems to indicate that the smaller children should use larger 
 forms in handwriting, larger things to write with, and freer move- 
 ments of larger muscles. 
 
 b. When we consider that the whole body must be kept steady for 
 good penmanship, so that many body muscles are concerned besides 
 those of the arm and fingers, we see that a very large number of 
 muscles are in use in writing, the number being estimated as high as 
 five hundred. For these and other reasons the writing period should 
 never come when the person is physically fatigued, or excited, or when 
 muscular control is in any way affected. Just after recess, or late in the 
 day is not a good time for the writing period. Temperature condi- 
 tions ought also to be good for these markedly affect muscular 
 control. 
 
 c. The copy should be near the child. For that reason when the 
 child is writing on his desk, a copy on a slip of paper on the desk is 
 better than a blackboard copy. It is also better for other reasons. 
 Blackboard writing itself is a useful exercise, and the best copy for 
 it is blackboard copy. 
 
86 
 Laws of Habit Affecting Practice. 
 
 When several movements have to be performed in harmony with 
 one another we call them co-ordinated movements. Writing is a 
 good example of such a set of movements. The general law of skill 
 in co-ordinated movements is that ease and accuracy or rapidity and 
 accuracy, in the performance of a set of such movements, result in 
 proportion to the number of repetitions under right conditions. In 
 the main these conditions are as follows: 
 
 a. Ideal Forms. The mind should have a clear idea or ideal of the 
 proper form. Unless this is true, the efforts have no guidance and 
 amount to nothing. 
 
 b. Close Attention. The repetitions should be made with strong 
 attention. Practice when the attention is not strongly fixed amounts 
 to little. So there should be nothing to distract the attention at the 
 writing period. 
 
 c. Proper Intervals of Time. The repetition should be made 
 at proper intervals. The effect of practice seems to "set" in the 
 mind after the practice is stopped. Fifteen minutes practice for four 
 days each will probably result in much more progress than sixty con- 
 secutive minutes one day. 
 
 d. A Pleasurable Exercise. The repetitions should be accompanied 
 with pleasure. We easily learn to do what we like to do. Therefore, 
 the teacher should take pains that the writing period is an enjoyable 
 time. 
 
 e. Correct Movements. The repetitions should be rightly gone 
 through with each time. It is only the correct actions or movements 
 that count. The incorrect action is not only a loss of time, but it is 
 also setting up a wrong habit which more time will be needed to over- 
 come. 
 
 f. Uniform Speed. In general, within reasonable limits, speed 
 and accuracy develop together. At a fair speed, work is likely to be 
 more accurate; at a very low or very high speed, work is likely to be 
 less accurate. 
 
 g. Patience. The teacher should especially note this principle, 
 for often it will save him from discouragement. Speed and accuracy 
 and skill do not develop regularly, even with, regular practice. There 
 are periods of increased and decreased progress, and periods in which 
 practically no progress is observable, although it is doubtless taking 
 place. 
 
87 
 The Stages of Skill in Penmanship. 
 
 Three distinct and well marked stages may be noted in learning to 
 write. The teacher should have these clearly in mind. 
 
 a. Printing Stage. What may be called the stage of printing, 
 when the whole movement is guided by the eye, and practically the 
 whole attention is taken in controlling the movement. 
 
 b. Eye Directed Stage. The second stage, when the writing is 
 mostly guided by the muscle sense, and the eye is not much used for 
 the formation of the letters, but merely for general supervision of the 
 movement, to keep the writing straight on the line, etc. This is the 
 stage most people reach. 
 
 c. Automatic Stage. The automatic stage, when the writing is 
 entirely unconscious and automatic, the entire thought being given to 
 composition of the matter written. 
 
 Generalization . 
 
 In the first two or three grades the teacher is concerned with the 
 first of these stages; in the intermediate grades, with the second; 
 and in the upper grades, with the last. The child's writing 
 outside of the practice time should contribute a great deal 
 towards his reaching the final stage. Therefore, all written work 
 should receive the teacher's special attention. It should be given with 
 the request that it be written according to conditions given for regu- 
 lar writing practice, and not so much written work should be given as 
 would make the child neglect these conditions in his haste to get it 
 done. 
 
 The Use of the Copy Book. 
 
 The copy book should be used as a writing dictionary. At 
 a given lesson the pupil should be allowed to copy one line 
 of the copy in the book. The teacher should then point out 
 errors and faults in this copy. The child should next make 
 several copies on other paper, and finally one more copy below the 
 first one for the lesson made in the book. He should then carefully 
 compare this with the first one, to note improvement. If there are 
 still faults, the same process should be repeated. All practices for 
 correction- of faults should be outside the book. The copy-book is for 
 reference for correct letter forms, just as the dictionary is for 
 reference for correct spelling and pronunciation forms. 
 
8S 
 
 Proper Pen-Holding. 
 
 In Clark's "Public School Penmanship" the following seven points 
 are given for correct holding of the pen or pencil. The pen should 
 be held between the first and second fingers and the thumb. 
 
 1. It should cross the second finger at the corner of the nail. 
 
 2. It should cross the first finger close to the middle joint. 
 
 3. The thumb should bend outward at its first joint, and the end 
 of it should touch the penholder opposite the first joint of the first 
 finger. 
 
 4. The forearm should rest lightly on its muscle, as has been 
 shown in describing the body position. 
 
 5. The wrist should be raised slightly above the desk. 
 
 6. The hand should rest on the tips of the third and fourth finger 
 nails. 
 
 7. The top of the pen-holder should point in a line up the forearm 
 and over the elbow, between the elbow and the shoulder. 
 
 How To Teach Proper Pen-Holding. 
 
 These seven points should be taught one at a time, but not neces- 
 sarily in the order given. They should be taught in the order of their 
 importance. Proper exercises should be given to assist in the detailed 
 development of the study. 
 
 The upright position of the hand is of first importance. Some- 
 times it is well to put a long thin stick, such as a ruler, into the pupil's 
 hand in the same position as a pen-holder should be, and show him that 
 this should extend directly over the shoulder. Then have him lift his 
 arm vertically over the elbow, till the ruler comes directly and verti- 
 cally over the shoulder. Have him repeat this exercise briskly for 
 ten or fifteen seconds. 
 
 Have the child place the hand at the left edge of the paper, move 
 it half way across the page, meanwhile paying full attention to the 
 position of the hand not the sheet then lift his hand on the elbow 
 in exactly the position it was, and then if the pen does not point 
 directly over the shoulder it shows that the hand has rolled over out 
 of position while he wrote the line. 
 
 Next in order of importance is the third and fourth finger nail 
 rest. Have the pupil put his hand flat on the desk, close all of the 
 fingers so that all of the four finger nails rest on the desk, then extend 
 the first and second fingers as though holding the pen. 
 
 The elevation of the wrist should come next. If when his hand 
 is properly supported on the two finger nails the wrist tends to drop, 
 
89 
 
 have him hold the muscle of the arm properly on the desk and prac- 
 tice raising and dropping the wrist. 
 
 For the crossing point of the pen-holder against the second finger 
 nail, ask the pupil to hold his pen correctly between the first finger 
 and the thumb. Then ask him to raise his first finger from the pen- 
 holder, and to notice the slight pressure of the thumb against the cor- 
 ner of the second finger nail. 
 
 In order to correct a too curved position of the first finger show 
 that it rests on the pen-holder from the middle joint to the end. If 
 necessary, fasten a small rubber band around the pen-holder and 
 finger, between the first joint and end. 
 
 In order to correct undue curvature of the first two fingers and 
 thumb see to it that the pen point is at least three-quarters of an 
 inch below the end of the second finger. 
 
 Both pencil and pen-holder are held in the same manner. Give 
 drills one time with the pen-holder, and then with the pencil. 
 
 Useful Gymnastic Exercises. 
 
 To assist in developing control of the muscles of the hand and arm, 
 try the following: 
 
 1st. Place hands palms downward lightly on the desk, arms 
 resting on desk, only fleshy part of arm near the elbow touching or 
 resting on desk. No other part of arm should touch desk, except part 
 near elbow, and the third and fourth fingers which serve as runners 
 or glides when moving from letter to letter or word to word. 
 
 2nd. Lift hands high as head. 
 
 3rd. Wave hands up and down, as in waving good-by to someone, 
 or move fingers and hands as birds fly. 
 
 4th. Bring hands to desk. 
 
 5th. Drop hands to side of body let them hang limp near end 
 of seat. Eepeat these arm and hand manipulations briefly each writ- 
 ing period at beginning of year or term, but gradually lessen time 
 given to each. Eeview whenever necessary. Children like to show 
 how they say good-by to father, mother, or baby, or how the birds 
 fly, by waving their hands. As a rule children naturally and easily 
 show how birds fly. A child waves good-by naturally; handling of 
 pencil or pen should be as natural and will be, when the concept ia 
 as clear and interest is as near. Some teachers give signals, thus : 
 
 Position (which means feet on floor, hands resting on desk). 
 
 Lift hands (which means hands in air about as high as head) . 
 
90 
 
 Show how birds fly, or wave good by. 
 Bring hands down on desk. 
 Drop hands side of body. 
 
 Reasons for Good Position. 
 
 It may help the teacher to secure a good seat-work position, 
 if the child himself understands the reason why the teacher 
 insists on it. The child ought certainly to understand that 
 these reasons are for his welfare, and not for some mere 
 whim of the teacher. Three good reasons for proper position in writ- 
 ing are: 
 
 a. To preserve the eyesight. A poor position causes bad eyesight. 
 
 b. To preserve good health. A bent-over position cramps and 
 restricts the circulation and respiration, which is bound to affect the 
 health adversely. 
 
 c. To secure convenience in penmanship. The following sugges- 
 tions are offered : the teacher should explain these artfully to the 
 children and should see that they have the proper position in all school 
 work. 
 
 1. Position for Seat-Work in Penmanship. The body should be 
 erect, facing front, with feet flat on -floor. Shoulders should be back 
 with head erect. Hold the right arm extended from elbow, and rest- 
 ing on large muscle of forearm. Let left arm rest on the desk to 
 steady the paper, which should lie at a slightly oblique angle with the 
 edge of the desk. It would be well to have a line marked across the 
 desk to show position of paper. 
 
 2. Position for Blackboard Writing. Teach proper position at the 
 blackboard the first thing. Pupils should stand a little distance away 
 from the board, the line of the body not quite parallel with it. The 
 space of the blackboard written on should have its center directly 
 opposite the right shoulder. 
 
 Form and Movement. 
 
 These are somewhat related, but the hand-writing of any 
 person, so far as its appearance goes, depends largely upon 
 the forms of the letters which the person has in his mind. His 
 skill as a penman is largely a matter of his muscular control in exe- 
 cuting these forms. Thus in a general way we might say that, accord- 
 ing to the distinctions made herein: Form pertains more to hand- 
 writing while movement pertains to penmanship. In actual practice, 
 however, these cannot always be separated. 
 
91 
 
 It will tend to better teaching, however, if the teacher recog- 
 nizes and provides for these two phases of the question. 
 
 Attention ought to be directed towards a good form before any 
 letters either in words or without words, are practiced. Of course, 
 the copy-book gives these forms; however, the teacher should usually 
 at the beginning of the lesson call attention to any special points that 
 are worthy of notice. By the very nature of the mind, the teacher 
 ought to see more in a given copy than the child would, embracing 
 many such points as the connection of letters, the height, slant, 
 amount of curvature of certain parts, etc. 
 
 Every copy-book lesson should be preceded by general movement 
 exercises in making ovals, loops, and many such designs. Of course, 
 the lesson itself should be carried on with proper movement in mak- 
 ing the copy that constitutes the set exercise for the tfay. 
 
 Permanent Model. 
 
 The following suggestion is of first importance. If there is 
 ample blackboard room the teacher should keep a set of model 
 letters on the board for reference. If , blackboard space is lack- 
 ing, a set of these in printed form can be made and tacked upon the 
 Avail in a position where the pupils can easily see them. This will 
 serve as a model for correct forms for the children in writing at all 
 times in other work ; also, whenever the teacher observes a letter poorly 
 formed, she can call attention to the properly formed letter in the 
 permanent model set, to secure the correction of error. 
 
 Grading. 
 
 Grading furnishes the child an effective stimulus and motive. 
 The grading of writing, however, has usually been so much a 
 matter of personal opinion that it was not very practicable. 
 The Russell Sage Foundation, however, has worked out a definite 
 scale commonly known as the "Ayres" scale for grading hand-writing, 
 which is perhaps as good a thing as has yet been done along the line 
 of offering a definite basis for such grading. A copy of this scale 
 can be secured from the Russell Sage Foundation, 130 E. 22nd St., 
 New York City, for 5 cents. 
 
 Dr. Edward Thorndike has also worked out a scale, copy of which 
 is to be found in "Teaching the Common Branches," by Dr. Charters, 
 which is on the State Reading Circle Course for 1914-15. At the 
 beginning of each term each pupil ought to be given a copy to make, 
 which shall be graded and filed as a record of his hand-writing. At 
 the end of the term, if not every month, this should be repeated, a 
 
92 
 
 copy being given to be written, graded according to the scale, and thus 
 definite ideas formed as to the advancement of the individual pupils. 
 
 The Alternation and Combination of Classes in Writing. 
 
 In one-room schools the work in writing can be very successfully 
 done with-out having separate classes for each year. It is thought 
 that the following combinations can be easily made: 
 
 1st grade with 2nd grade, where 2nd grade is small or not well 
 advanced. 
 
 2nd grade with 3rd grade in other cases. 
 
 4th grade with 5th grade. 
 
 6th, 7th and 8th grades. 
 
 Thus a school having all or nearly all grades might not have more 
 than three or four writing classes. 
 
 The Pupil's Interest and Enthusiasm. 
 
 No success can come to the teacher who does not secure 
 the proper interest and enthusiasm on the pupil's part. The 
 teacher herself should exhibit these qualities, for they are con- 
 tagious. She should preserve and exhibit written work. Whea 
 she has a school entertainment or even visitors, written work 
 should be on exhibition. Work that properly exhibits the writ- 
 ing of the child should be taken home by him. Reward pupils who 
 are showing improvement by having a little honor roll on the black- 
 board. Have pupils themselves compare and select good writing from 
 their class work. Encourage friendly rivalry among pupils. Use 
 the Thorndike or Ayres scale for determining advancement in the 
 quality of hand-writing, and use timed tests in writing a definite 
 numbers of letters or words for improvement in speed. Promise that 
 all who show a certain amount of improvement may have some special 
 privilege, such as writing a valentine on Valentine Day, writing invi- 
 tations to a school entertainment, writing letters to Santa Claus, etc. 
 
 The Left-Handed Child. 
 
 The phenomena of right and lef^t-handedness are not throughly 
 well understood at present, although there are various theories 
 on the subject. Therefore we do not really know how much 
 a- child's writing with his left hand may be related to all 
 the other factors in his physical and mental make-up. According to 
 our best knowledge at present the teacher should be guided by the 
 following suggestions : In the beginning if a child displays a tend- 
 
93 
 
 eney to write with his left hand the teacher should make a moderate 
 effort to train him to use his right hand instead ; however, if there is 
 any marked inability to gain the necessary muscular control, it would 
 perhaps be better to allow him to continue with the left hand. In 
 the case of more advanced pupils, in whom the habit has already be- 
 come seated, merely try to train them to be good writers with the- 
 left hand. 
 
 For full discussion of the subject see: Thompson's Psychology and 
 Pedagogy of Handwriting. 
 
 Books that are recommend to teachers of writing: 
 
 B. D. Berry & Co., Chicago, 111., have an excellent manual to- 
 accompany their systems of copy-books. This takes up the writing 
 by grade, and by illustrations, explanations, exercises, gives thorough 
 exposition of the methods which they recommend for the successful 
 use of the system. They will supply this to county superintendents 
 and teachers free of charge. 
 
 Clark's Public School Penmanship, Ginn & Co., New York. This 
 is a good practical book covering practically all of the teaching of 
 penmanship, developing the principles in a way that is applicable to- 
 any system. 
 
 Thompson's The Psychology of Writing. Warwick & York, Balti- 
 more, Md. This book, while not attempting to give any detailed sys- 
 tem, goes deeply into the fundamental principles involved in the psy- 
 chology and pedagogy of the subject. 
 
 Steadman's Teacher's Manual. The American Book Co., Cincin- 
 nati, 0. This is a practical manual, and while it is especially de- 
 signed to accompany the author's own system, it has much material 
 and discussions of general value. It contains an outline of 76 graded 
 lessons that would be of use with any system. 
 
 FIRST GRADE. 
 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. General: The work of the first year is mostly concerned with 
 teaching the forms of the letters, and getting some start in the move- 
 ment. The writing is in part very closely connect-ed with the work 
 in reading, for the child has to be taught how to read the script forms, 
 as well as how to make them. In the first few weeks in one-room 
 schools there will usually not be much time for any writing exercises 
 that are riot directly connected with the other lessons. 
 
 2. Time : The teacher should devote at least ten minutes per day 
 to the writing of the first year class. 
 
94 
 
 3. Means and Materials: Where the school room has ample 
 blackboard space much of the work of the first lessons can be well, 
 perhaps best, done at the blackboard. This is not only a useful way 
 of beginning the work, but it also supplies small children with the 
 necessary rest and variety in physical posture and position. 
 
 Where the work must be done at the seats, the materials will be 
 paper and large pencils. 
 
 Paper ruled about 3/4 of an inch, single ruling, is recommended, 
 about 12x9, or 10x8. Cheap printing paper, squares torn from old 
 newspapers may be used for practice. 
 
 The following pencils are commended : 
 
 Dixon Crucible Co., Philadelphia, beginner's No. 308. 
 
 American Lead Pencil Co., New York City, No. 81. 
 
 E. Faber, New York City, Elementary No. 6370. 
 
 The Eagle Pencil Co., New York City, No. 773, or Alpha No. 245. 
 
 Do not use a small, hard leaded pencil. 
 
 See if your dealer will not carry these in stock. 
 
 No copy need be used this year. 
 
 4. General ISTotes on Method : 
 
 a. The Publisher's Manual. The B. D. Berry Co., 623 So. Wa- 
 bash Ave., Chicago, the publishers of the state adopted writing 
 books, have an excellent manual for teachers. This manual will be 
 furnished to teachers, preferably to the county superintendent. It is 
 recommended that teachers secure this manual, as it gives a carefully 
 prepared course of work designed to go with their copy books. 
 
 b. Drill. The first drill should be on oval o ? s of large size, the 
 teacher counting, one-two-three, or saying round-and-round-and- 
 round. The child loves rhythm, and the purpose is to secure rhythmi- 
 cal motion. Some appropriate little songs might be used for the same 
 purpose. 
 
 Later on small ovals can be used with the larger ones, and can be 
 joined to the letter n. 
 
 Slanting up and down strokes can be used following this, such as 
 / / / / /'/, making three or more to some kind of rhythmical count- 
 ing. 
 
 c. Devices. Rolling the Hoop. Connected ovals may be made, 
 to a count. Teach the children to press lightly or the hoop will stop 
 rolling. 
 
 Jumping the Rope. A similar series of ovals, but inverted, may be 
 made. The children may count with the teacher, jump-jump-jump, 
 
95 
 
 etc., or sing some appropriate little song. Let the accent come on 
 the downward stroke, as if the rope were hitting the ground. 
 
 Grapevine Swing. Horizontal curves, back and forth. 
 
 The Ticking Clock, or Tick Tock. This is similar to the swinging 
 game, but the horizontal curves do not run over the top of each other, 
 but a little drop is made each time. 
 
 The Humming or Buzzing Bees. Light curves, joined by a long 
 loop. This may be made later when the children have gained more 
 freedom and better control of their muscles. 
 
 Skating. Oblique up and down strokes, joined by loops at bottom 
 and top. 
 
 The Sky Rocket. A set of ovals, growing smaller and converging 
 to a center, ended by an abrupt upward oblique straight stroke. 
 
 5. Form : These notes might suggest the idea that the first 
 year's work is mostly a matter of movement, but such is by no means 
 the case. The teacher should constantly try to develop the ideas of 
 form in the pupils. 
 
 It is necessarily true that children will vary greatly in the forms 
 they learn and use for letters ; but it is thought that it will in general 
 be well for the teacher to use the forms of letters given in the adopted 
 copy books. The teaching of proper forms is mostly a matter of indi- 
 vidual work and attention, as each child has & tendency to make his 
 own errors and deviations from proper forms. These should be shown 
 hini personally, and the work should be varied individually to suit 
 his case. Clark's Public School Penmanship, pages 71-74, 134-37, 
 gives a good treatment in detail for teaching the script. 
 
 6. Supervision of First Grade Writing : It is strongly urged that 
 first grade pupils should be allowed to write only under the super- 
 vision of the teacher. ITnsupervised writing is the source of many 
 faults which cost a vast amount of effort to overcome. 
 
 For seat work, cutting out and pasting pictures, word and sentence 
 building with alphabet or word cards, and many forms of activity 
 may be correlated with other work at this time, and many of these 
 develop manual skill that will in turn contribute directly to the 
 writing. 
 
 7. Position : For both board and seat writing the proper positions 
 should be carefully taught before attempting any work. (See General 
 Discussion.) 
 
 Order of Teaching Script: Clark's Public School Penmanship 
 
96 
 
 gives a carefully worked out order of teaching the various letters and 
 words for the primary grades. (See books recommended under Gen- 
 eral Discussion.) 
 
 The teacher should endeavor to invent or find some scheme for a 
 procedure in this matter, for the letters should proceed according to 
 some definite plan. There is a natural order which greatly facilitates 
 the child's progress. In general, any particular letter is similar in 
 form to others, and this suggests natural series and groupings. 
 
 9. Promotion Standards : At the close of the first year the pupil 
 should be able: 
 
 a. To stand properly at board and write on correct slant. 
 
 b. To sit properly at desk. 
 
 c. To place the paper on his desk properly. 
 
 d. To hold the hand upright while writing. 
 
 e. To write letters and words with proper movement of forearm. 
 
 f. To write legibly on single lined paper. 
 
 g. To make script letters a little smaller than he made at the 
 first of the year. 
 
 SECOND GRADE. 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Time: The pupils of the second grade should receive at least 
 ten minutes time per day. In some instances this can be taken in 
 conjunction with the work of the first year class, in other cases with 
 the third year class. 
 
 2. Means and Materials: The pupils of this grade should use 
 large, soft pencils, and paper during the first part of the year, and 
 do blackboard work during all of it. During the last half of the 
 year they may use the copy book, and pen and ink. Use copy book 
 No. 1. 
 
 3. Purpose and Aim : In general these should be as follows : 
 
 a. Fixation of proper forms in the mind. 
 
 b. The gaining of an increase in free movement through drills 
 on exercises and letter forms. 
 
 c. The increase of the child's interest in writing. 
 
 4. First Steps : Review various exercises suggested for first 
 grade. Spend at least a month on this. Begin with blackboard exer- 
 cises, and with unruled paper for. seat work. When ruled paper is 
 used, it should be ruled somewhat closer than for first year work. 
 The width shown in the No. 1 copy book is very good. 
 
 5. Pen and Ink: If the use of pen and ink is begun -here, the 
 
97 
 
 child should be taught several things that are of practical importance. 
 
 a. The use of a blotter. Show him how to lay the blotter care- 
 fully on the inked paper, to press it gently, and to lift it squarely 
 from the surface, instead of sliding it on or off the paper. 
 
 b. To dip the pen carefully into the ink. The pen should be 
 dipped rather slowly into the ink, about to the depth of the top of the 
 "eye," and removed slowly. This will prevent the ink from dropping 
 from the pen. A new pen point has some oil on it to prevent rusting,, 
 and this should always be carefully wiped off. 
 
 c. The kind of pen-holder to use. It should be large at the base,, 
 and tipped with cork, rubber, etc., not metal. 
 
 d. To make and use some proper sort of pen-wiper, and to wipe 
 the pen dry when stopping the use of it. Several folds of cloth sewed 
 together at one edge is very satisfactory. 
 
 6. Distributing the Work in the Copy Book: When the copy 
 book is begun the teacher should count the number of pages of copy, 
 then plan the work of the year so as to allow the proper number of 
 days for each page. (See General Discussion, on the Use of the 
 Copy Book.) 
 
 7. The Penmanship Lesson : Pass and collect materials in a sys- 
 tematic manner, planned so as to economize time. Give the little 
 relaxation drill suggested in the General Discussion. At the beginning 
 of the lesson have all pupils take proper position, under the supervi- 
 sion of the teacher. In exercises be sure to count or in some way indi- 
 cate the rhythm, so as to keep the proper speed. Use the blackboard to* 
 show how to overcome general or class faults; go to each pupil indi- 
 vidually to overcome individual faults. Instruct more by showing 
 than by telling. Strive to arouse enthusiasm by means suggested in 
 General Discussion. 
 
 8. Improvement and Promotion Standards : At stated times dur- 
 ing the year apply the Ayres or Thorndike scales, for testing improve- 
 ment in form and legibility of handwriting. In this grade pupils 
 may not advance many steps in the scales, but it gives them a definite 
 end to work towards. 
 
 At the close of the year about the following should have been accom- 
 plished. The pupil should have acquired: 
 
 a. Proper position for writing at board or desk. 
 
 b. Knowledge of proper position of paper on desk. 
 
 c. The habit of holding pen or pencil properly, involving the- up- 
 right position of the hand, the third and fourth finger-nail rest, the 
 elevated wrist. 
 
98 
 
 d. More uniformity in his script. 
 
 e. Smaller script. 
 
 f . Pair use of fore-arm movement. 
 
 THIRD GRADE. 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Time : At least ten minutes, preferably twenty, throughout the 
 year. In one-room schools with many grades this grade can be com- 
 bined with either the second grade or the fourth. (See General Dis- 
 cussion.) 
 
 2. Means and Materials: Practice paper, pencil, pen and ink, 
 blackboard. Ruling of paper should be a little closer, and pencils 
 should be soft, but may be smaller than for second grade. 
 
 3. Purpose and Aim: Improvement in form, increase in speed 
 and freedom of movement, maintenance of interest and enthusiasm. 
 This year should specialize on the study of the letter forms. (See 
 Clark, pages 31-74, for detailed instruction for teaching script; also 
 pages 134-137.) 
 
 4. First Month : Time spent on review and practice exercises on 
 blackboard, and with paper and pencil. See first and second grade 
 detail. Give exercises on blackboard with the class working in unison 
 to teacher's count, and give similar drills on large unruled sheets of 
 paper, reproducing forms and exercises of previous years. Note the 
 words and letters used in the copy book, however, and let these pre- 
 liminary exercises be directed towards them. Spend some days in 
 practice drill on the various points relating to position at board or 
 seat, and position of paper, etc. 
 
 5. The Copy Book: Adopted Book No. 2. Read General Dis- 
 cussion, on use of the copy book. In this year a detailed 
 study of the letters should be emphasized, so that the pupil will 
 build up a definite idea of the proper form. Use the copy book, also 
 the model series (See General Discussion) for this purpose. 
 Count the pages in the copy book, and make some estimate of 
 the number of days you can allow to each page. Begin the use of the 
 book the second month. It would be better not to have pupils bring 
 their pen and ink to school till this time, so that they will be fresh 
 and in good condition for beginning the work. Teach dipping the 
 pen, blotting, wiping pen, etc. 
 
 6. The penmanship lesson : See Grade 1, Paragraph 7. 
 
 7. Improvement and Promotion Standards: See Paragraph 8, 
 Grade 1. Pupils should during the year show much improvement as 
 
99 
 
 tested by scales, and in timed tests in penmanship. Before promotion 
 the pupils should have acquired the following: 
 
 a. The habit of proper position of body, arm/ hand, pen and paper. 
 
 b. Better script, as to form, size, etc. 
 
 c. The habit of applying these things in writing at other than the 
 writing time. 
 
 d. More definite knowledge of and ability to compare letter forms. 
 
 e. A fairly good use of the forearm movement. 
 
 f. Some skill in use of pen and ink. 
 
 FOURTH GRADE. 
 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Time: From ten to twenty minutes. (As much as possible 
 each day throughout the year.) This year's class may be combined 
 with that of some other year. 
 
 2. Means and Materials: Copy Book No. 3, otherwise same as 
 last year. 
 
 3. Purpose : Continuation of fixation of proper forms. Speciali- 
 zation in improvement in movement. 
 
 4. First Month : Review of all points pertaining to position. Ex- 
 ercises and drills with blackboard, pencil and paper, physical move- 
 ments and drills without anything in hand, etc. Apply carefully 
 Clark's Public School Penmanship, giving a detailed study of move- 
 ment, forms and development, pages 75-96. 
 
 5. The Copy Book: Begin with the second month. Count the 
 number of pages so as to allot the proper amount of time to each 
 lesson. Use about half of the time for movement drills, and half of 
 the time for form Work, the latter based on the forms of script found 
 in the copy book. Use the copy book for a writing dictionary, in the 
 manner suggested in General Discussion. Although this is the 
 year for giving especial attention to the improvement in move- 
 ment, the application of this movement to the writing will not all 
 be accomplished this year. This will take several years. 
 
 6. Reference: General Discussion, and First Year, Paragraph 7. 
 
 7. Improvement and Promotion Standards: Collect specimens 
 several times during the year, to which apply the Thorndike or Ayres 
 scales. Have timed rapidity tests for noting improvement in move- 
 ment and speed. 
 
 8. Promotion Standards: Before promotion the pupil should 
 show improvement in all of the five points mentioned in third year 
 -standard. In addition, he should have: 
 
100 
 
 a. A growing knowledge of what is meant by movement, the things 
 that go to make it up, and its uses and advantages. 
 
 b. Increased pleasure and pride in his hand-writing and penman- 
 ship. 
 
 FIFTH GRADE. 
 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Time : Fifteen to twenty-five minutes per day. The class may 
 be combined with other grades, below or above. 
 
 2. Purposes: Improvement in form; growing mastery of move- 
 ment; the application of movement to form; maintenance and in- 
 crease in interest and pleasure. 
 
 3. First Month: As in fourth year. 
 
 4. Copy Book: No. 4, and in long terms another might be com- 
 pleted. See grade 4. Distribute the lessons so that each will receive 
 a fair share of time. 
 
 5. General Eemarks: This is a highly important year's work in 
 writing, for in many instances it marks about 'the last year's school- 
 ing for the boy or girl. The student should be constantly directed 
 towards proper letter forms, so that the legibility and general appear- 
 ance of his writing will show the proper progress. In addition to 
 this attention to form, definite exercises designed to further develop 
 movement should be given. Ovals, ellipses, "figure eights/' push and 
 pull movements, etc., should be used in regular drills. Then these 
 movements should be applied in the writing of letters and words. 
 Combinations of words requiring special practice, such as b, v or w, 
 with e, b with y, o with o, d, v or s., etc., should receive especial atten- 
 tion. Lateral spacing should receive attention. Many children make 
 each line of a copy shorter, showing that they vary the lateral spacing. 
 Clark's Public School Penmanship gives a very elaborate study on 
 the application of movement to letter forms. The pupil should be 
 constantly encouraged to use his arm movement in all of his writing 
 in other lessons. He should begin to have some power to use the arm 
 movement entirely across the page. 
 
 6. Standards : The teacher should apply one of the scales during 
 the year twice or more times, and should give timed tests on writing 
 familiar copy, for speed and accuracy. 
 
 In addition to the standards mentioned in grade 4, the pupil should 
 show improvement as to the various points therein mentioned, and 
 should : 
 
 a. Understand how all letters are joined. 
 
101 
 
 b. Understand something about lateral spacing. 
 
 c. Be able to apply free movement across the whole page. 
 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Time: The class, either alone or in combination with other 
 years, should have a period of 15 to 25 minutes. 
 
 2. Writing Period : The writing period should in general consist 
 of three parts, each taking its proper share of the time. 
 
 a. Movement exercises. 
 
 b. Study of letter forms, spacings, etc. 
 
 c. Application of movement to sentence writing. 
 
 3. Blackboard Writing : As children in the upper grades use the 
 blackboard more and more they should be taught to write well on the 
 blackboard. Certain lessons should be given to this instead of to 
 seat-writing. 
 
 4. Copy Book : At least one copy book should be finished. A sec- 
 ond book may be finished, in cases where it seems advisable to do BO. 
 
 5. Correlation: Writing may be taught effectively by noting the 
 written work connected with the other subjects of the curriculum. 
 
 6. Reference: See General Discussion, for the stages of pen- 
 manship. The child who has made proper progress should now 
 be entering on the automatic stage of penmanship. Progress here 
 means that the thought should be given more to the subject matter 
 than to the process through which the hand is producing the hand- 
 writing. Therefore the teacher should give attention to the writing 
 that is done in connection with the expression of thought in various 
 school activities, and teach the child to apply the general principles 
 he has learned in the writing periods. 
 
 Many pupils' writing at about this time actually begins to deterior- 
 ate, often due to carelessness and lack of attention from the teacher. 
 
 SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADES. 
 Directions. 
 
 1. Combine the seventh and eighth grades for instruction and 
 practice in writing. 
 
 2. Most of the writing should be correlated with other subjects 
 particularly with arithmetic, bookkeeping and English, such material 
 as the commercial papers found on pages, 109, 202, 203, 230, 335, 
 341-2, 354-6, 358, 362-4. 371 and 438 of the Grammar School Arith- 
 metic, will be found particularly adaptable to correlation. 
 
102 
 
 3. The teacher will doubtless be able to teach more by demanding 
 care and neatness in the written work of other subjects than by any 
 instruction she may give at the writing period. Carelessness should 
 not be tolerated in any kind of written work. 
 
SPELLING 
 
 GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 Aims and Suggestions. 
 
 The problem before us is to find out, if possible, the reasons for 
 misspelling and apply more rational methods in teaching this sub- 
 ject 
 
 The world demands two or three times as many Words as a pupil 
 can acquire before the compulsory school age expires, and this deficit 
 must be made up by resorting to the dictionary. 
 
 Here are a few reasons for misspelling: 
 
 1. The teacher attempts too much. She tries to teach too many 
 words in each lesson. The teacher often assigns more than one lesson 
 at a time and then spends little time in testing. The words are not 
 applied by the pupil. 
 
 2. The pupil's pronunciation may be different and more prominent 
 than the teacher's. The people in the community may pronounce 
 the word incorrectly. The child has become familiar with this pro- 
 nunciation and for this reason does not recognize the word when the 
 teacher gives the correct pronunciation. 
 
 3. The teacher's mispronunciation. 
 
 4. Some pupils read little, hence they lack impressions and stock 
 of word pictures. 
 
 5. Physical reasons. 
 
 (a) Indistinct vision. 
 
 (b) Defective hearing. 
 
 (c) Blurred perception. 
 
 6. Carelessness. 
 
 The following suggestions may prove helpful: 
 
 1. Have a definite period for spelling. It is of primary impor- 
 tance. 
 
 2. Spelling is mostly an effort of memory rather than that of 
 reason. The teacher should discover which kind of memory predom- 
 inates in the pupil the visual type of memory in which the child 
 depends upon sight in fixing the form of the word in his mind ; or the 
 auditory the kind used by the ear-spellers who recall the letters of a 
 
104 
 
 word through association of the sounds represented by the letters; or 
 the motor type of spellers, who learn by writing and re-writing or by 
 saying and re-saying words. Then there is the mixed type where the 
 three are employed in combination. 
 
 In the lower grades the motor and auditory types predominate. 
 Here the children should be allowed to move their lips while study- 
 ing spelling. 
 
 3. Assign the lesson the day before. If the pupil is ear-minded, 
 he should study the lesson outside of school hours where he can 
 sound aloud the words of the lesson. The eye-minded can learn the 
 lesson in school. 
 
 4. Combine oral and written spelling. Oral spelling should pre- 
 cede written. Oral spelling aids pronunciation and adds to the inter- 
 est of the spelling lesson. 
 
 The object of teaching spelling is to trwin pupils to spell correctly 
 when writing. 
 
 5. Teach pupils how to study the spelling lessons. Do not let 
 them waste time upon the easy words, but drill them upon the words 
 commonly misspelled. 
 
 6. Arouse an interest in spelling by : 
 
 (a) Spelling matches. 
 
 (b) Inter-school contests. 
 
 (c) Developing in the pupils the spelling habit. 
 
 (d) Frequent drills but not too much repetition. 
 
 (e) Varying the methods. 
 
 7. Have words used in sentences or have the meaning given be- 
 fore oral or written spelling. Do not require formal definitions, but 
 make sure that the child understands the word by using it in a sen- 
 tence or by giving its synonym. 
 
 8. In writing a lesson have no division into syllables and no dia- 
 critical marks. They change the picture of words. 
 
 Note: Pupils should be taught never to divide a syllable at the 
 end of a line. 
 
 In oral spelling the pupil should pronounce the word before spell- 
 ing and while spelling separate the word into syllables by pauses. 
 
 9. See to it that the word pronounced is understood by the pupil 
 and that it becomes a part of his vocabulary. Ideas before symbols. 
 
 10. Teach homonyms in dictation lessons so as to bring out the 
 meaning. 
 
 11. The principal diacritical marks with their names and the 
 
105 
 
 sounds they represent should be known by all pupils on completing 
 the fifth grade. Insist on the use of the dictionary above the fourth 
 grade. 
 
 12. Don't mispronounce words in order to help the pupil spell 
 them. 
 
 13. Emphasize in the upper grades accent marks, root- words, pre- 
 fixes, suffixes and syllabication. 
 
 14. About seven per cent of the time should be given to spelling. 
 
 15. Grades I, 'II, III, should have two unphonetic words daily. 
 Grades IV, V, should have three new words daily. Grade VI should 
 have four new words daily. Grade VII should have five new words 
 daily. Grade VIII should have six new words daily besides the 
 review words. 
 
 16. Alternate the seventh and eighth grade spelling. 
 
 Steps of the Spelling Lesson. 
 
 1. Word viewed by the pupil. 
 
 2. Word distinctly pronounced by the teacher if the pupil cannot 
 pronounce it. 
 
 3. Word then pronounced by the pupil. 
 
 4. Word next used in a sentence by the pupil. 
 
 5. Study of words by the pupil,- assisted in the lower grades by 
 the teacher. 
 
 6. Oral spelling by the consecutive and promiscuous methods. 
 
 7. Written spelling in column. Contextual spelling once a week, 
 that is, using the word in sentences or spelling from dictated sen- 
 tences. 
 
 8. Papers collected and corrected by the teacher. 
 
 9. Pupils notified of misspelled words by number of word or dic- 
 tated sentence, the pupils who have misspelled being required to spell 
 these words to teacher in written form. 
 
 10. Review frequently. 
 
 Note: Co-ordinate writing and spelling and have spelling words 
 for writing exercises. Teach spelling in connection with composition. 
 Here is a good place to form the spelling habit. 
 
 Spelling by Grades. 
 
 Spelling has already been provided for in this course of study in 
 grades I, II and III, in connection with the subject of reading. Word 
 lists are to be compiled from the reader and given as special exer- 
 cises. 
 
10G 
 
 THIRD GRADE. 
 
 Section I of the Champion Speller may be used. Word lists are to 
 be compiled from the reader and made a special exercise. 
 
 FOURTH GRADE. 
 
 Champion Speller, Section II. The text should be supplemented 
 with word lists made from the work connected with other subjects. 
 See suggestions and steps of the spelling lesson. 
 FIFTH GRADE. 
 
 Champion Spelling Book, Section III. The dictionary should be 
 used as a reference work for pronunciation and meaning. 
 
 A thorough review of the elementary sounds and diacritical marks 
 should be made. 
 
 Teach the pupils how to use the dictionary. Show them that the 
 words are alphabetically arranged. 
 
 Drill them in turning quickly to the word wanted. Have diction- 
 ary races to acquire speed. Show them how to make a choice of the 
 different meanings of the word. The dictionary should be in constant 
 use in language work. Cultivate the dictionary habit. 
 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 
 Champion Speller, Section IV. 
 
 Spend little time in having rules for spelling committed to memory, 
 and then only one rule at a time. Word building and word analysis 
 may be emphasized. The meaning of words should receive attention. 
 
 See suggestions on spelling and reasons for poor spelling. 
 SEVENTH GRADE. 
 
 Champion Speller, Section V. 
 
 Emphasize accent marks, root-words, prefixes, suffixes and syllabi- 
 cation. 
 
 Any misspelled word should be given until its spelling is learned 
 by all pupils. Exceptions are to be made where the pupil is a chronic 
 misspeller. 
 
 EIGHTH GRADE. 
 
 Champion Speller, Section VI. 
 
 Cultivate the habit of accurate spelling in all written work. The 
 pupil should be sure that the words in a written exercise are spelled 
 correctly before it is handed to the teacher. 
 
 Drill upon topical lists of words, Latin and Greek roots, prefixes 
 and suffixes, definitions of words and the proper use of the dictionary. 
 
 See suggestions on spelling and reasons for poor spelling. 
 
ARITHMETIC 
 
 GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 
 1. The Course: The course of study in Arithmetic consists of 
 two parts: (a) the general discussion; (b) the grade detail given 
 under the headings of the various grades. No teacher can know the 
 course properly without knowing both parts. 
 
 2. Extent of the Course : Arithmetic is to begin in the first grade 
 and to continue throughout the eight grades, although the method is 
 varied to suit the nature and powers of the child's mind at different 
 
 3. Method in Primary Grades: The work in the first grade is 
 largely oral and part of it incidental. This does not mean that it is- 
 to be done at random or by accident, but it means that it is closely 
 related to, and grows out of, other lessons in school and other activi- 
 ties in the child's life, in school and out of it. It should be carefully 
 planned by the teacher, and the teacher should have definite ideas of 
 what is to be done; but there will not be, usually, formal recitations 
 of such type as older pupils have. 
 
 4. The Duty of the Schools : The general public expects the child 
 to get from his arithmetical training the following results : 
 
 a. A certain number of arithmetical facts. 
 
 b. The power to handle these facts with accuracy and speed. 
 
 c. The ability to reason in mathematical terms; that is, to use 
 arithmetical facts in the solution of the problems that arise in busi- 
 ness and professional life which involve numerical relations. It is 
 the duty of the school to ascertain the nature and extent of these de- 
 mands and to satisfy them with as little waste as possible, 
 
 5. The Teacher's Aim : The teacher is concerned, therefore, with 
 four immediate ends, and should have them clearly and constantly 
 
 in mind. 
 
 a. The Number, Content or Facts that the child should acquire. 
 This includes the ordinary number, relations of addition, subtraction,, 
 multiplication, etc. ; the processes in which they are used ; some facts 
 and relations that are often found in arithmetic, such as tables used 
 in measurements; principles used in mensuration of plane and solid 
 figures, as, for example, the value of pi; facts relating to customs 
 
108 
 
 and practices in business life outside the school. In general the text 
 book is expected to furnish the guide to these things, although the 
 teacher ought always to have some discretion as to omissions and addi- 
 tions. The general principle that should guide the teacher is that 
 arithmetical facts in school are valuable in proportion to the amount 
 of use they will have later out of school. 
 
 b. Accuracy in Using, Handling and Applying These Facts : This 
 is secured only by requiring pupils to obtain correct results from the 
 beginning and throughout the course, not even the slightest errors 
 being tolerated. Pupils should be taught consciously to test results 
 by asking themselves whether a given result seems reasonable or not ; 
 for> instance, if a pupil should compute that five bushels of potatoes 
 at 80c a bushel cost $40.00, he should ask himself whether such a 
 quantity of potatoes ever cost so much, which most children know to 
 be unreasonable. This would lead to a revision of the work, with 
 probable discovery of the source of error. Wherever possible, definite 
 proofs should be applied, as the subtraction test for addition, multi- 
 plication test for division, etc. What might be called the approxi- 
 mate or round number test is often valuable. For example, if I have 
 multiplied 697 x 18, since 697 is less than 700 and 18 is less than 20, 
 I might multiply 20 x 700 mentally, giving 1400. Therefore my an- 
 swer should be less than 1400. If it is greater, then it is certainly 
 wrong, and the operation should be gone through with again. 
 
 c. Eapidity in the Use and Application of These Facts: Speed 
 is secured only by many repetitions under right conditions. These 
 conditions imply that practice should come at proper intervals of 
 time and for periods of suitable length. It should occur when the 
 child is not fatigued or physically unfit, when he feels an interest in 
 the matter, and when he can give close attention. Much of the early 
 work of the school has rapidity in the simple fundamental operations 
 as its chief aim. The teacher should constantly strive to supply inter- 
 est for drill and practice work, by varying the methods, materials, 
 etc., by using contests, games, etc., and by adapting the work to the 
 instincts of the child. 
 
 d. Neatness : The teacher should insist on neatness in all written 
 work. She should recognize clearly the elements that constitute this 
 quality, for they are simple and few. For instance, the paper should 
 be unsoiled, and the pupil's hands should be clean in order to keep 
 it so. Pupils should be taught plain and simple forms of figures, and 
 make them regular and uniform as to size, shape, etc. Plus and 
 minus and other operation symbols should be carefully and regularly 
 
109 
 
 spaced, not too close nor too far apart. They should run straight 
 across the page, parallel with the top. Columns of figures should be 
 absolutely vertical and parallel with the sides of the page. Lines used 
 in addition, division, etc., if intended to be straight, should be abso- 
 lutely so. The bottom, top, and side margins of the paper should 
 be observed. A set of problems or examples on the same sheet should 
 be properly grouped with reference to one another. A neat and uni- 
 form system of numbering such sets should be used. If the teacher 
 will insist on these things until proper habits are formed not much 
 further attention is needed. 
 
 In the long run the child gets his ideas of school values from the 
 school itself. The above qualities will seem important to the child if 
 the teacher shows strongly enough that these things are important to 
 herself. Therefore in every way the teacher should emphasize the 
 qualities that she desires to develop. One of the best means to use is 
 to show a high degree of pleasure at any work that exhibits the de- 
 sired characteristics. ' Rewards for good work, and. punishments for 
 poor, are not the best incentives, although they have their place. 
 
 6. The Fundamental Processes: Addition, subtraction, multipli- 
 cation, and division are called the fundamental arithmetical pro- 
 cesses. And when we consider that they constitute practically all of 
 the arithmetic that most of us ever use in practical life we see their 
 immense importance. 
 
 It is believed that one of the greatest causes of lack of success in 
 teaching these processes has grown out of the fact that they are often 
 treated as though they were one simple, single operation, while as a 
 matter of fact they are all more or less complex, and appear in various 
 forms and phases. 
 
 7. Processes Having Different Phases : The comparatively simple 
 operation of subtraction, for example, is found in many types or 
 phases. Thus, we would certainly find the types given below, and in 
 them the procedure in some cases considerably different. For brevity 
 we will use abbreviations M and S for Minuend and Subtrahend. 
 
 a. Where M and S are each less than Ex. 9 7 
 
 10. 4 3 
 
 b. Where M and S have an equal 
 
 'number of figures (two or more), 
 
 and each figure in S has a 
 
 smaller value than the figure of Ex. 498 6735 
 
 M above it. 286 5621 
 
110 
 
 c. Where S has fewer figures than M, 
 and each figure in S has a smaller 
 
 value than the figure of M Ex. 984 28639 
 
 above it. 23 518 
 
 d. Where both M and S consist of 
 several figures and one figure in 
 S has a greater value than the 
 corresponding figure above it, but 
 the next figure at the left of S 
 
 is smaller than the corresponding Ex. 6639 34929 
 
 figure above it. 2384 4572 
 
 e. Where S has two or more adjoining 
 
 figures with less value than corre- Ex. 64374 4832 
 
 sponding figures above them. 16632 2465 
 
 f. The presence of zero (0) in M or S might be construed as con- 
 stituting another type; and evidently other variations might be 
 evolved. The above analysis, however, suits the purpose for the 
 present. 
 
 8. Processes Exhibiting Several Steps With Different Phases Also 
 Possible: In such a topic as long division or square root, the pro- 
 cesses are complex both on account of there being phases that depend 
 on the chance relation of the numbers concerned to one another and on 
 account of the number of steps involved in the latter case. For in- 
 stance, in division we have to put the numbers down in certain form, 
 draw certain lines, determine a trial quotient, test it, if unsuccessful 
 try another trial quotient and test again. If successful put down the 
 product, subtract, bring down some additional figures from the mul- 
 tiplicand, take trial quotient again, etc. 
 
 Examples of the different phases that arise from chance relations 
 of the numbers might be exemplified by the fol- 848962 4- 2436 
 lowing: 848962 -~ 958 
 
 848962 -5- 424 
 
 Thus (1) differs from (2) as to whether the first figure of the 
 divisor will go into the first figure of the dividend, and all teachers 
 know that this is a serious question to the child beginning the sub- 
 ject. (3) differs from both (1) and (2) in that after the first sub- 
 traction takes place there is no remainder, but several figures have 
 
Ill 
 
 to be "brought down," and the divisor filled by zeros (O's). This is 
 also a stumbling block for the child. 
 
 9. The Teacher's Procedure: Without going into a long discus- 
 sion of the psychological basis of method, it is possible to suggest a 
 simple analogy that may help the teacher to attack the difficulty that 
 is presented above. 
 
 If we see an oak tree that is 100 feet high, it would probably be 
 safe to assume that it is 200 years old. Such a tree has grown on 
 the average less than one-sixtieth of an inch a day; its vast bulk has 
 been built up out of sap carrying only minute quantities of the vari- 
 ous food elements. 
 
 The child's arithmetical growth must, by analogy, be slow and his 
 mental food given in small quantities. 
 
 The teacher should first recognize the different phases involved in 
 such simple processes as addition and subtraction, etc., and the phases 
 and steps involved in more complex ones. The subject matter should 
 bo presented to the child in these little steps and stages, oftentimes 
 one at a time and wliat&ver drill and repetition and practice that are 
 found necessary to install each step in the child's mind must be given, 
 before proceeding to the next step. These steps thus taken are often 
 of surprising ease to even the average child. (See grade detail, Para- 
 graph 6, Third Year.) 
 
 10. Xew Processes and Topics: In new processes and topics as 
 far as possible use small numbers in explanations, solutions, etc. This 
 frees the attention from the fundamental processes, so that it can 
 concentrate on the new material. 
 
 11. Explanations: Explanation of the reason should not be given 
 unless the pupil seeks such explanation, except later in the course. 
 These things belong to the science of arithmetic. It is sufficient for 
 the child to know how to "carry" or "borrow/' without knowing why. 
 If the teacher needs general rules to go by in this matter the folldw- 
 ing may apply : 
 
 a. Teach the process only, without explanations, in all cases where 
 the process is simple and so much used that it will become fixed in 
 the mind and be used automatically. 
 
 b. Teach the explanation in cases where the process is compli- 
 cated and not frequently used, so that the logical memory may assist 
 in recalling it when used. 
 
 Obviously the cases where the first principle would apply are many, 
 and those where the latter would apply are few. 
 
 12. Eemembering and Memorizing: The teacher should clearly 
 
112 
 
 distinguish in her mind between the terms remembering and memoriz- 
 ing. The normal mind has a tendency to remember any experience, 
 and will remember it if the interest and repetitions are sufficient. 
 There is nothing in nature, however, that corresponds to such work 
 as oral or written repetition of subject matter for the purpose of fir- 
 ing it in our mind. It is by no means meant to imply that there is 
 no place or use for memorizing in the study of arithmetic, but it is 
 meant to be indicated that, in most instances, it is not a successful 
 way; things merely memorized do not stick. Besides, there are so 
 many things that are so rarely needed by the mind that it is more eco- 
 nomical to look them up in a book when they are needed. This does 
 not apply, however, to such facts as the multiplication tables, etc. 
 These, one way or another, must be gotten into the mind. 
 
 13. Kinds of Arithmetic: There are, in general, two kinds of 
 arithmetic or work in arithmetic, which may be distinguished by such 
 terms as pure arithmetic and applied arithmetic, abstract work and 
 concrete work. Both of these have their uses and functions, and both 
 are important. There is a tendency in many systems of teaching, or 
 methods, to give undue importance to one, and neglect the other. 
 The teacher should always avoid this mistake. The true method i& 
 generally from the concrete to the abstract, but neither should be neg- 
 lected. In primary work the emphasis is usually on concrete forms and 
 methods, in higher work it is on abstract. 
 
 14. Problems and Examples: In general the two kinds of arith- 
 metic find applications in two classes of exercises, usually designated 
 as problems and examples. On this basis an example would be some 
 exercise in which numercial relations are solved or expressed without 
 reference to any particular objects, e. g., find the product of 24 x 95; 
 while a problem refers to a concrete situation or instance, as; what 
 would 24 gallons of oil cost at 9c per gallon? Examples are more 
 pr6perly designed to secure practice and repetition for drilling pur- 
 poses; while problems involve more use of the reason and train the 
 mind in applications such as are used in later, and outside-of-school 
 life. Both have their uses, and neither should be neglected. Of 
 course, the example belongs to the abstract or pure type of arithmetic,, 
 while the problem exemplifies the concrete and applied type. 
 
 15. Problems of Various Steps: A problem containing only one 
 manipulation or process to be performed is often called a one-step 
 problem, while those 'containing two or three such are called two-step, 
 or three-step, problems. For instance: "John had two apples and 
 Mary gave him three more, how many had he then ?" would be a one- 
 
113 
 
 step problem. But: "John had two apples, Mary gave him three 
 more. After eating one how many would he have left?" would be a 
 two-step problem. In selecting problems of a graded degree of diffi- 
 culty, careful attention should be paid to the matter of the number 
 of steps they involve. 
 
 16. Stages in the Solution of Problems: The steps in the solu- 
 tion of a problem are four : 
 
 a. Grasping or understanding the problem. 
 
 b. Determining or planning the processes to be applied. 
 
 c. Applying the processes. 
 
 d. Testing the result. 
 
 (a.) It is believed that pupils are often unable to solve problems 
 more on account of failure in (a) than for any other reason. In 
 the assignment of lessons the teacher ought to see to it that the pupil 
 can be reasonably expected to understand what is required or sought 
 in the problem. The lack of understanding may grow out of lack of 
 power to read well, or lack of knowledge of the objects or circum- 
 stances or relations with which the problem deals; in the latter in- 
 stance, the child who had never seen or heard of a wagon would not 
 be competent to solve problems relating to the wheels of a wagon. 
 
 A very valuable drill is to fake a set of problems at recitation times 
 and have the pupils merely state what is to be found. It is also 
 valuable to go further and have them indicate what steps would have 
 to be performed, but stop short of the actual performance. 
 
 (b-c.) The whole course in arithmetic is designed to build up abili- 
 ty to achieve these steps. Success with them depends partly upon a 
 clear conception of what we have given, and what we are to ascertain 
 or get or find. Many teachers do not hold these ideas strongly and 
 clearly enough before the child. The whole course in arithmetic is 
 to develop in the mind sets or series of processes that fit certain rela- 
 tions between what are given and what are to be obtained. For in- 
 stance given a certain price and number of articles, and desired to 
 get the total cost,, we multiply; similarly, when a certain time and 
 rate of motion are given to find distance. Yet many children in the 
 upper grades fail to solve simple problems of this type merely because 
 they have not been carefully trained in the habit of attending to what 
 is given, what desired, the particular type a certain problem belongs 
 to, and the process such a type requires. 
 
 See last remark (a). 
 
 (d.) Eead what is said under (5-b) about accuracy. 
 
 The first test to be applied is to give attention to the result to see 
 
114 
 
 whether it is what was desired ; for instance, whether the result was 
 dollars when we wanted dollars. If the problem involves various 
 computations in the fundamental process these should be checked by 
 such methods as recasting addition, testing addition by subtraction, 
 etc. each step being tested when that step is completed. The general 
 test of reasonableness should be applied. Also we should apply the 
 valuable form of test that we have already called the approximate- 
 test. 
 
 17. The Assignment of the Lesson : After pupils have gotten in- 
 to the use of the text-book many teachers assign lessons by merely 
 saying, "Take the next page, class is dismissed." Except with fami- 
 liar material this is not teaching at all. At least part of the recita- 
 tion, even half or more of it, occasionally the whole time, ought to be 
 taken up in going over advance lessons to see that the child clearly 
 understands what he is to do and what processes are involved, in 
 order that he may be prepared to reason out the proper steps, that he 
 may know the fundamental facts and processes, and that he may know 
 how to test the results. Such an assignment often makes the follow- 
 ing lesson a pleasure instead of a task. The child likes to do, that is, 
 to succeed in doing. The satisfaction that results from doing what 
 he sets out to do is one of the finest incentives in the world for later 
 effort. 
 
 18. Written Work: Pupils should never be given written work 
 unless the teacher has time to examine it. Neatness should be insist- 
 ed upon. (See 5-d). Papers should have all errors marked, or in- 
 dicated. Do not correct them, however; if correction is necessary it 
 should be done by the pupil, either with or without assistance. Mark- 
 ing papers takes much time, but there is no other way by which the 
 teacher can get a definite knowledge of the results of her work; and 
 this knowledge, while often disappointing, is wonderfully helpful. 
 A time-saving method of marking is to have the class give attention, 
 exchange papers, let the teacher explain each problem on the black- 
 board, have pupils mark and grade on a scale suggested by the teacher, 
 and then return papers to owners. 
 
 19. Home Work: There are many who discourage home work 
 altogether. However, there are probably conditions under which home 
 work is desirable. It should always be carefully assigned, and gen- 
 erally only under the following conditions : 
 
 a. When proper surroundings prevail in the home, such as prop- 
 erly heated and lighted rooms in which to study, reasonable quietness, 
 
115 
 
 and freedom from distractions. It may take co-operation between 
 teacher and parent to ascertain or secure these conditions. 
 
 b. The giving of work, the theory of which is already understood 
 by the pupil. The teacher should not send the child home with work 
 which he does not know how to do. This will only bring discourage- 
 ment to the child, with possible criticism and fault-finding from the 
 parents, the latter directed not only towards the child, but also to- 
 wards the teacher. Study in the sense of using the mind to work out 
 new processes, should be done only in the presence of, or with the 
 help of, the teacher, and only in the lower grades. 
 
 There may occasionally be cases allowed where problems present 
 only simple elements that are new; but generally, unless the child 
 already has the mental tools suited to the solution of a problem, he 
 should never be sent home with it and these tools are not general 
 powers or faculties, but special knowledge and specially trained habits. 
 
 20. The Child's Interest: No teacher can teach sucessfully who 
 does not supply immediate interests and motives for the child's 
 work. .; 
 
 In all the living world about us we find that this is nature's method. 
 The animal or human does not eat because he thinks his organs or 
 tissues need replenishment or repair. Nature does not trust to 
 such remote motives; she has taken care to see that a strong craving 
 and appetite for food should arise when the bodily tissues need it ; we 
 eat to satisfy this insistent craving. Similiarly a person does not rest 
 because he has a general idea that his muscles are worn down through 
 long sustained effort; he rests because there is a strong feeling of 
 fatigue, which is unpleasant, and which resting satisfies. The child 
 plays because he is resistlessly impelled to motion and activity, and 
 this desire for action is the means that nature uses to secure the 
 activity of organs and tissues which is essential to their growth. 
 
 We must not always, therefore, expect to get the young child to 
 attend to his daily lessons merely because some day it may be use- 
 ful to him. (The motive is too remote.) We have to attach the les- 
 son to some natural 'instinct or desire of his that is active at the 
 time, as his desire to play, to construct, to move, to do. 
 
 21. Deficiencies: It is not a good thing, generally speaking, to 
 "turn the class or child back" in the book at the beginning of the 
 term. It discourages him, oftentimes excites the criticism of the 
 parent, and may be construed as a reflection on the preceding teach- 
 er's work. It is usually better, if possible, to give oral, supplemen- 
 tary, or outside work of some kind, to make up any deficiencies that 
 
11G 
 
 the pupil may show or to refresh his memory on points forgotten 
 during the long vacation. If several members of the class seem not 
 to know essential points of previous work, stop the class work for a 
 part of the lesson and give some oral review right then if necessary 
 continue for a lesson or two. 
 
 22. Preliminary Tests: The teacher should have clear ideas of 
 what the pupils know at the beginning of any term's work. The 
 child entering the first primary grade should be tested by simple 
 questions, and by noticing him while at play. At various times writ- 
 ten and oral tests may be given to older children. 
 
 23. Promotion Standards : The teacher should have clear ideas of 
 what knowledge and powers are required for promotion at the end of 
 each term. 
 
 24. Plan Book : !NTo other one thing that the teacher can do will 
 assist so much towards successful teaching as planning each day's 
 work in advance. Where the teacher does not have time to plan all 
 of her work she ought at least to make plans for the subjects that 
 present the difficulty. Oftentimes the amount of planning that 
 can be done for a class in a very few minutes will help wonderfully 
 in the success of the recitation, and if this is kept in permanent form 
 in a note book the teacher in time acquires a stock of material that is 
 exceedingly valuable. In arithmetic, especially, the primary number 
 work ought always to be planned in advance. Usually enough work 
 for the whole week can be planned on Saturday without very much 
 trouble. The plan for any given lesson ought to give, in brief, the sub- 
 ject matter to be presented, notes on the manner of the presenta- 
 tion, special remarks about points or children requiring attention, 
 etc. 
 
 25. The Individual Variation of Children: Eecent studies and 
 investigations in the direction of attempting to standardize school 
 work have emphasized more than ever before the importance of the 
 variation in the individual abilities of children, both in the matter of 
 the amount they learn, and of the ways in which they learn. The 
 teacher will often have to use careful thought in representing process- 
 es and facts in different ways, if the child can not learn them from the 
 ordinary mode of presentation. Whenever methods or plans suggest- 
 ed in this course of study, or in the textbook, or in the ways already 
 in the teacher's ordinary practice, are not successful, new methods 
 should be tried. 
 
 26. Arithmetic Abilities: Modern pedagogy teaches very clear- 
 ly that there is no general arithmetical power or ability; that arith- 
 
117 
 
 metical talent or skill is made up of many powers or abilities. For 
 instance, it is clearly proven that many children know the multipli- 
 cations well,, but do not make successful application of them in the 
 solution of problems; while other children have the power to reason 
 out solutions but fail in securing correct results on account of weak- 
 ness in knowledge of the fundamental number combinations. In 
 fact, there seems to be but little real connection between these two 
 things. One source of failure in the school is that it develops cer- 
 tain arithmetical powers to the neglect of others. Some teachers are 
 careful in drilling on the fundamental combinations, but do not prop- 
 erly drill in the solution of problems. This failure accounts for the 
 very large number of pupils who will get a correct answer by an erron- 
 eous solution. In the stages of the solution of problems (See General 
 Discussion, Paragraph 16-a) a vast amount of attention must be given 
 by teachers to training pupils to read problems so as to understand 
 what they really mean. One of the most eminent investigators in this 
 field of knowledge has said that it may finally be found that the know- 
 ing how to solve problems is at bottom nothing more than the power 
 to read them understandingly. 
 
 FIRST GRADE. 
 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Year's Work: At the end of the first year the child should be 
 able to count 100, orally, without objects; to count objects to 100; 
 to add numbers whose sum is not over ten, and make the correspond- 
 ing subtractions; to make and recognize multiplications by twos and 
 threes, whose product is not over 10 ; to separate groups of objects not 
 over ten into two or three parts; and to write the numbers up to 
 twenty, in figures. 
 
 2. Time and Periods: The teacher should give at least ten min- 
 utes to tbe number work of this year each day of the term. 
 
 3. Methods : The work should be largely oral and developmental, 
 and connected closely with the other work and activities of the 
 school, and with the life of the child both in school and out. The 
 child will learn number best through this contact and experience with 
 things, not through the mere words of the teacher. Therefore work 
 should largely fit into the child's interest for play, for action, for 
 handling things, and for constructing things. Measurements should 
 also be made use of. 
 
 4. Beginning: During the first weeks the teacher should use the 
 
118 
 
 regular period and other opportunities to ascertain, by simple ques- 
 tion and by observation, the number content, or number of facts, 
 already in the child's mind, as for instance : 
 How old are you? 
 
 How many brothers and sisters have you ? 
 How many pets have you? How many kittens are there at 
 
 home? 
 I How many can you count? Count for me. 
 
 Can you count the windows in the school room? 
 
 How many children are there in the class? 
 
 How many pencils have I in this hand? How many in the 
 
 other hand? 
 
 How many will I have if I put them together? 
 5. Outline : The work for the year is divided into nine parts call- 
 ed periods. In six or seven-month schools each period should be cov- 
 ered in a month, omitting if necessary, some of the constructions, oc- 
 cupation work, etc. In a nine months' term a month can be put on the 
 same amount of work, giving more of the occupation work, and doing 
 all the work more thoroughly. 
 
 1st Period: Counting to 10, with and without objects, orally. 
 Combinations of objects to 4. 
 Separation of 4 into parts. 
 Eeading and writing of words to 4. 
 Learning figures to 4. 
 
 Incidental Work: In part, this work can be made incidental to 
 other school work. The child can count in connection with other 
 lessons. Words and other work on the blackboard can be arranged or 
 grouped to show the numbers up to 4. He can note the numbers of 
 the pages. He can hand out pencils or crayons, taking three or four 
 and distributing these, then getting another three or four. Many such 
 devices will occur to the teacher. Teach the familiar jingle: "One, 
 two, buckle my shoe, etc." 
 
 Occupation Work: Grouping and counting corn grains, beans, 
 tooth-picks, splints, blocks, paper-folding etc. for teachers who are 
 familiar with such work. Stringing colored beads by twos, threes, 
 fours, etc. Laying splints in forms of simple objects, requiring two, 
 three, or four. Let the child make three or four inch rules from 
 pasteboard at lesson periods with teacher helping, and use these in 
 measuring things. Use blocks to build towers, etc., involving certain 
 numbers of blocks upon certain constructions, and parts. Eemember 
 that memory depends upon repetition with interest and attention. 
 
11!) 
 
 Secure endless repetitions of these number facts in varied experiences. 
 (See General Discussion, 3-12-20). 
 
 2nd Period. Extend counting to 20. 
 
 Combinations of objects to 5, with separations. 
 Reading and writing of numbers and figures to 5. 
 Incidental Work. As in period 1, extended to correspond with 
 above. 
 
 Occupation Work. As in period 1, but extended. 
 
 3rd Period. Extend counting to 30. 
 
 Combinations of objects to 6, with separations. 
 Reading and writing of words and figures to 6. 
 Grouping by 2's and 3's and combinations of these 
 
 groups to make 4 and 6. 
 
 Distinguishing between cardinal and ordinal num- 
 bers to 6. 
 
 Incidental Work : As in period 1, but extended. Let the child give 
 the number and line of the word he wishes to ask about, instead of 
 pointing out, in his book or on the blackboard. Simple games of 
 store can be played, which are especially valuable if toys and money 
 made by children are used in the game. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: As in period 1, but extended. Have 
 children make toy money. Continue constructions, as the child be- 
 comes more familiar with the smaller numbers, that can be combined 
 into simple problems. The too long continued use of objects with 
 familiar numbers causes the child to lose interest, and may arrest 
 his mental development. The teacher must always be the judge as to 
 individual cases for it will vary considerably with different children. 
 
 4th Period: Counting to 40. 
 
 Combinations, separations, to 7. 
 
 Ordinals reviewed and extended to 7. 
 
 Making figures to 10. 
 
 Incidental work: As in period 3, extended. 
 Occupation and Seat Work: As in 3rd period, extended. 
 
 5th Period : Counting to 50 ; . 
 
 Combinations, separations, to 8. 
 Equal groupings of 2's, 3's to make 6, or 8. Cor- 
 responding separations. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: This should be extended and allowed 
 to take the place of part of the incidental work. The child is gaining 
 
120 
 
 more power to do things, but his work should be very carefully 
 planned by the teacher. 
 
 6th Period. Counting to 60. 
 
 Review combinations and separations to 8. 
 Review groupings as above to 8. 
 Writing numbers by figures to 10. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: Continued and extended. Unusually 
 capable classes and individuals may be given some simple exercises in 
 addition and subtraction for seat work, either copying examples from 
 board, or being given the examples on paper. (See General Discus- 
 sion 5-a.) 
 
 Blackboard drills, and regular recitation periods should be used 
 for frequent reviews over previous period work. 
 
 Extend the use of the problem. 
 
 7th Period. Counting to 70. 
 
 Combination land separations to 9. 
 
 Groupings of 2's, 3's, 4's. 
 
 Writing numbers by figures to 15. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: Reviews and drill work, all carefully 
 planned, in advance by the day or week. 
 
 8th Period. Counting to 80. 
 
 Continue combinations and separations to 9. 
 
 Continue groupings of 2's, 3's, 4's, to make 6, 8, & 9. 
 
 Separate 6, 8, 9 into 2's, 3's, 4's. 
 
 Writing numbers to 20. 
 
 Distinguish between cardinal and ordinal numbers 
 
 to 9. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work. Seek especially to provide appropriate 
 work of this kind, from various sources. The child should now be 
 able to play some simple games involving numbers. 
 
 9th Period. Counting to 100. Combinations to 10. 
 
 Grouping of 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's to make 10 or less. 
 Corresponding separations into 2's, 3's, etc. 
 
 Review preceding work; use all opportunities to ascertain child's 
 knowledge or lack of knowledge and design work to supply the de- 
 ficiencies that are found. 
 
 6. Explanation of Xames, Forms, etc : See Paragraph 11. Do not 
 try to explain anything to the child unless he demands "it. In oral 
 work, or occupation work, etc., merely tell him what to do. 
 
121 
 
 Names. Do not use the terms addition, subtraction, etc., especially 
 not multiplication and division. Provision has not been made in the 
 foregoing for teaching the signs +, , x and -=-. In cases where an 
 unusual class understands the work well enough to give them simple 
 written work they might be taught -f- and , but for multiplica- 
 tion use the form 2 3's are six, etc. 
 
 Forms: In giving occupation or board work in addition or sub- 
 
 4 6 
 
 traction the forms +3 2 are better than the forms 4+3, 6 2, 
 since they correspond to the forms in which addition and subtraction 
 are mostly found and used in life. 
 
 7. Teachers Helps : The following books will be found helpful in 
 suggesting work in number: 
 
 Name. Author. Designed 
 
 for. 
 First Year in 
 
 Number. Hoyt & Peet, Houghton Mifflin & Co. N. Y. 1st yr. 
 Beginner's Number Primer. Macmillan Co. N. Y. 1st yr. 
 
 Number primer. Baily & German. American Book Co. Cin. 0. 1st yr. 
 Natural No. Primer. Gibbs American Book Co. Cm. 0. 1st yr. 
 First Journeys in 
 
 Numberland. Harrison Waldo. Scott, Foresman Co. Chicago. 1st yr. 
 
 8. Games For Number Work : Games useful in teaching primary 
 number work are suggested or explained in the following books : 
 
 The Teaching of Arithmetic, Smith. Ginn & Co. Chap. 14, page 107. 
 How to Teach Arithmetic. Brown & Coffinan, Eow Peterson & Co. 
 page 142. 
 
 First Journeys in Numberland has work based on playing store. 
 
 SECOND GRADE. 
 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Requirements of the second grade: 
 
 Review and fix the ability to count, orally with objects to 100. 
 
 Teach how to write numbers with words or figures to 100. 
 
 Teach hundreds, but not full counting system, to 1000. 
 
 Teach addition combinations to sum not orer 20. 
 
 Teach subtraction, minuends not over 20. 
 
 Teach multiplication to product not over 20. 
 
 Teach division with dividends not over 20. 
 
 Teach counting to 100 by 2's and 3's. 
 
122 
 
 Teach fractions to sixths. 
 Teach signs, -f-, , x, ~. 
 In adopted text go to page 49. 
 
 In addition and subtraction do not teach "carrying" or "borrow- 
 ing." 
 
 2. Time and Periods : The teacher should give at least 15 min- 
 utes a day to the number work throughout the year. 
 
 3. Text-Book: The teacher should follow a book, otherwise the 
 work is not apt to be systematically done. The pupil, however, is 
 not to have a book, during this grade. Perhaps the best plan is to 
 follow the adopted textbook and this course, as written for the 
 second year, contemplates that this will be done. However, the pri- 
 mary textbooks referred to in 1st" grade, Paragraph 9, can be effectively 
 used. It is expected that whatever book is followed the requirements 
 for the year will be met. 
 
 4 Methods: A greater use of problems should be made in this 
 year. Much that was said relative to first grade will still apply. 
 The occupation and seat work, games and. activities, should be still 
 largely used, and the work more or less correlated with other work 
 and activities of the school. 
 
 5. Preliminary Tests : During the first day or so of the term the 
 teacher should give oral tests to guide first month's work, and to as- 
 certain need of review, etc. The child that has not forgotten a good 
 deal of the first year's work is the exception, but the second learn- 
 ing is much easier than the first, and much that appears to be for- 
 gotten has not really been entirely forgotten. The reviews ought to 
 bring the child up to last year's promotion standard before beginning 
 advance work. 
 
 6. Outline: The outline is made in 9 periods, to be covered as 
 directed in first grade detail. 
 
 1st Period. Use Appleton's Primary Book, Articles -1-2 and 4, in 
 connection with the review work of the first week. Omit Article 3 for 
 the present. Supplement it with such other work as is necessary. 
 Teach counting by 2's to 20. Complete book to page 10. Carry ad- 
 dition and subtraction combinations to 12 only, omitting parts of 
 pages 5-6-7-8 and 9 that are inconsistent with this. Omit much that 
 Appleton gives and supply other material. Teach +, and =, but 
 
 4 8 
 
 remember +5 6 are better forms than the linear forms, 4 -f- 5, 
 8 6. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: Note suggestions of first grade. Select 
 work from pages 28 and following, on measurements to use here. 
 
123 
 
 For games see: Hoyt & Peet, First Year in Number, pages 25 and 
 129. See Lessons in Harrison Waldo's First Journeys in Cumberland 
 for lessons, based on "playing store/' See Gilman & Williams' "Seat 
 Work and Industrial Occupations", Macmillan & Co., Xew York 
 City, for constructions to be used in "playing store/' etc. 
 
 2nd Period. Carry combinations to 14, in addition and subtraction. 
 Use part of work omitted in 1st period, in Appleton. Take multiplica- 
 tion combinations to product not over 14, using only appropriate 
 parts of tables and exercises in Appleton's. Cover the text with 
 proper omissions to page 16. Counting by 2's and 3's to 30. Eeview 
 signs plus and minus and teach the sign X. Review previous month's 
 work, and when you find a deficiency stop right then to remove it, 
 by private or individual work for as long as need be. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: Make especial efforts to give this 
 work proper attention, so as to secure true development for the child ; 
 these activities should always be such that the child's need for num- 
 ber will grow out of them in a way that he will feel it, and they should 
 feel the reality and genuineness of the thing. 
 
 3rd Period. Carry division to dividend of 14. It is doubtful 
 whether the teacher should yet refer to this as division, but the work 
 should still be carried on merely as separating numbers into parts, or 
 rather groups into smaller groups. Textbook to page 23, omitting 
 all parts that are inconsistent with the requirements of this manual. 
 Count by 2's and 3's to 40. If examples on page 21 are used as 
 written exercises note that quotient is placed above the line over the 
 dividend. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work. As before. 
 
 4th Period. Eeview previous months' work. Teach Roman num- 
 bers to 12. See device in Baily & German's Number Primer for 
 teaching "how to tell the time." Extend addition, subtraction, multi- 
 plication, and division work to 16. Count by 2's and 3's to 50. Get 
 practice material from textbook, pages 30-35, omitting combinations 
 involving numbers over 16 and fractions. 
 
 5th Period. Review Roman numbers and the telling of time. Carry 
 addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division work to 18. Count 
 by 2's and 3's to 60. Get practice material as in period 4, omitting 
 where necessary. 
 
 Occupation and $eat Work. Combination of previous work with 
 new devices where possible. 
 
 6th Period. Pages 23-27 inclusive. Fractions. Be sure to use 
 objects and drawings very abundantly so that the child will get the 
 
124 
 
 proper concrete idea of the fraction. Use correlated and illustrative 
 material from next section on measurements. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: Design this work especially in your 
 plans with reference to fractions. 
 
 7th Period. Review combinations and all processes to 18. Go 
 back in book to omitted portions and use material there. Get sup- 
 plementary work from other sources. Take your own copy of the 
 book some Saturday, and with marginal notes indicate in what month 
 each part of various pages comes. When you have taught the month 
 out, indicate by notes what week you think each part ought to come 
 in that month. Count by 2's and 3's to 80. Extend Eoman num- 
 bers to 15. 
 
 Occupation Work. As before. Keep up your interest and atten- 
 tion in this, and write down your most effective devices in your note 
 book in permanent form for future use. 
 
 8th Period. Extend combinations in all processes to 20. Drill on 
 counting by 2's and 3's to 100. Extend Roman numbers to page 20. 
 Use textbook, pages 34-41 inclusive, for review material. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: Provide suitable work for seat, design- 
 ed to secure necessary drills. 
 
 9th Period. Pages 42 and 47 in textbook. Review combinations 
 in addition and subtraction of previous month's work. Review and 
 extend notation and numeration to 1000 as stated In requirements. 
 Begin to round up the work of the year and strengthen weak places. 
 Drill on counting by 2's and 3's, on the required multiplication and 
 division, etc. 
 
 Occupation Work. More written work can be done at seats than 
 in previous months ; this with oral work ought to be especially designed 
 to secure proper drills. The teacher should also give much care to 
 make the work interesting enough to be valuable. 
 
 THIRD GRADE. 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Requirements: The third grade is supposed to complete Chap- 
 ter II, and take all of Chapter III, in Appleton's Primary Arithmetic. 
 In general, the various arithmetic processes and operations should be 
 carried forward as follows: 
 
 Enumeration and notation to 100, including the ability to write 
 numbers in words that far. 
 
 Enumeration of exact 1000's to 100,000. 
 
 Counting by 4's, 5's, 6's to 100. 
 
125 
 
 Addition of two numbers, sum not to exceed 1000. 
 Subtraction, with minuend not to exceed 1000. 
 Multiplication, multiplier not to exceed 9, product not over 1000. 
 Division, divisor not to exceed 9, dividend not to exceed 1000. 
 Fractions, in the operations given in text, to sixteenths. 
 
 2. Time and Periods: The teacher should give twenty minutes 
 per day to the class in number for this year, throughout the year. 
 
 3. Notes on Method for the Grade : 
 
 The Textbook. The pupil should have the text-book throughout the 
 year. 
 
 The text-book is arranged on the so-called spiral plan, different 
 topics thus being repeated at different times and intervals. While 
 in general each pupil ought to master as much of a given topic as is 
 presented at one time, this arrangement allows him other opportuni- 
 ties for making up slight deficiencies. 
 
 Every principle is preceded by illustrative and introductory mat- 
 ter, designed to lead up to an understanding of the material to be 
 taught. Such work in the book is usually labeled "Preparatory". 
 The concrete problems usually follow the drill on the abstract pro- 
 cesses, but it is always intended that the processes should be taught at 
 first as concretely as possible. 
 
 The following suggestions given by the authors, excellently express 
 very important truths. 
 
 a. A principle should first be presented concretely. 
 
 b. A principle must be drilled in the abstract until it becomes 
 automatic. 
 
 c. Then the actual problems must be given, and the drill con- 
 tinued on them till .a pupil can use a principle with ease, rapidity, and 
 accuracy. 
 
 d. The drills should be definitely on the subject that has just been 
 presented. 
 
 e. Drill is to presentation what a fixing bath is to a photographic 
 print: it keeps the impression from fading out. 
 
 As an illustration of the above we might say that a child from 
 laying down 3 sticks in each of four groups might realize that 3 times 
 4 are 12; but after this concrete presentation must come the repeti- 
 tion and drill until he knows without thinking, that is automatically, 
 that 3 times 4 are 12. 
 
 4. Model Lesson: Model lesson in measurement to be used in 
 Connection with page 66 of the text. In preparing to teach a lesson in 
 measurement the relations of the units in Dry Measure, for example 
 
126 
 
 the actual measures should be provided, so that the pupils may 
 obtain the facts at first hand. 
 
 a. Prepare the minds of the pupils by discussing with them how 
 various commodities are measured, especially those previously studied, 
 and lead up to the measures which pertain to the lesson. State that 
 grains and fruits are measured by the pint, half-peck, peck, half- 
 bushel, and bushel, as given at the top of page 66. 
 
 b. By using some light substance, like oats or sawdust, find the 
 contents of the larger units in terms of the smaller ones. This 
 should be done in regular order, as shown in paragraphs 1, 2 and 
 3 on page 66 of the text. 
 
 c. Write the table of Dry Measure as obtained by experiment, 
 using the form shown on page 66. 
 
 d. Follow the making of the table by a series of oral questions, 
 reviewing the facts of the table and their use in simple cases of 
 measurement and reduction; then supply written exercises requiring 
 more calculation based upon the relations and the facts of the table 
 
 5. Solution Drills: Bead section 7, General Discussion, for an 
 occasional class period exercise. Have a group of problems written 
 on the board, before the recitation time, and keep them covered till the 
 class assembles. Then uncover the problems and ask the class to read 
 the first problem carefully. Ask who can tell how he would solve it, 
 giving various pupils a chance to answer in turn; and if possible, 
 allowing pupils to solve the problems mentally, the teacher writing 
 down the result. Then ask pupils to apply the following or other tests 
 in order. 
 
 a. Does it seem reasonable that, for instance, such a quantity would 
 cost about so much? 
 
 b. Take the nearest round numbers, or some convenient approx- 
 imate numbers to those given, and by multiplying these mentally, test 
 the result approximately. 
 
 c. Apply addition for subtraction, etc. 
 
 This exercise is especially valuable, if used with a list of problems 
 found in the text-book, using the exercise during the recitation period 
 before the assignment of the list for the next lesson. Remember that 
 in these drills the correct answer is not the important thing; the 
 perception of the steps involved, and of the way to test it, are the ends 
 sought. Let the pupils suggest methods of testing, and if various 
 pupils suggest different tests, let each apply his own test and compare 
 results. Try this first with one-step problems and then with several- 
 step problems. 
 
12: 
 
 d. Preliminary Tests : During the first day or so the teacher 
 should give preliminary tests, as indicated in second grade. The child 
 should be at least fairly well up to the end of the second year's pro- 
 motion standard before taking up advance work. 
 
 For special notes on the teaching of various processes, read 6, 7, 
 8, 9, 10 and 11 in General Discussion. 
 
 6. Xote that the text-book has carefully distinguished the 
 various phases of addition, subtraction, etc. and has given these 
 phases in a good order, with examples graded accordingly. The ex- 
 ercises on addition as given in the text-book are as follows : 
 
 a. The addition of one-figure numbers to tens. 
 
 b. Addition of one-figure numbers to a two figure number, when 
 the sum of the units (that is, the figures in units place) is less than 
 10. 
 
 c. Column addition with two figure numbers when the sum of 
 each column is less than 10. 
 
 d. Addition of a one figure number to a two figure number when 
 the sum of the units is greater than 10. 
 
 e. Addition of two-figure numbers, when the sum of the figures 
 in unit's place is greater than 10. 
 
 f. Column addition when the sum of the figures in units column 
 is greater than 10. 
 
 a-b-c and d are found in Articles 30r3 1-32-34 as numbered in the 
 text-book, and have the heading as given above ; e and f are really the 
 points that are indicated here but they are not so headed in the 
 text. The teacher should read carefully these headings, note examples 
 that illustrate each, and get the distinction of the different phases 
 clearly in mind. In teaching the pupils, teach the steps one at a time, 
 and have the pupil thoroughly understand each one before proceed- 
 ing to the next. Do not have the pupils memorize the classifications, 
 nor pay any particular attention to the distinctions, except to the one 
 difference that in some cases the sum of a given column is over 10 
 and in others it is not. Observe how the teaching of "carrying" is 
 taught in article 34, and the note under it, without the use of the 
 word, and without any unnecessary explanations. 
 
 The same explanation is given less fully in Article 83, page 124 of 
 the text. 
 
 The exercises on subtraction are given as follows: Subtraction, 
 
 a. Of a one-figure number from 10. 
 
 b. Of a one-figure number from a two-figure number when the 
 units can be subtracted. 
 
128 
 
 c. Of two-figure numbers when the upper figure in each column 
 is larger than the lower number. 
 
 d. When the upper number in unit's column is zero. 
 
 Note carefully these exercises, re-reading what is said about the 
 exercises on addition, just above. The order of these is a very good 
 one, though there might be some question as to whether it is the best. 
 For instance (a) might be changed to read from 9, which makes it 
 more naturally precede (b). Also, a more natural and easy step to 
 precede (d) might be as follows: 
 
 The subtraction of one-figure numbers from two-figure numbers in 
 the teens, the upper figure in unit's place being less than the lower. 
 This would make a more natural introduction to the device that we 
 call borrowing, for if, for instance we take 8 from 13, we do not mere- 
 ly take 8 from 3, but we use the 1 before the three with it. The child- 
 ren ought to be more or less familiar with this fact by this time. 
 However, unless the teacher is able to work this matter out carefully 
 in her mind, it is suggested that she follow the series as given in the 
 text-book. 
 
 Observe the test that is suggested in the example illustrating each 
 of these exercises, and take time to teach it and also to require the 
 pupils to use it in their daily work. 
 
 7. Outline : ( Suggestion : Ee-read all of the outline for first and 
 second years.) 
 
 1st Period : Review numeration and notation to 100. 
 
 .Review counting by 2's and 3's to 100. 
 
 Counting by 5's to 100. By 4's and 6's to 40. 
 
 Teach and drill on separation of the following numbers into equal 
 parts: 10, 12, 14, 15, 18 and 20. 
 
 Review addition covered in Appleton's Primary Arithmetic, pages 
 49 to 55 inclusive (read General Discussion Sections 7, 8, 9, 10, 16 
 and 17). Write small problems on the board and have drills on 
 what is to be done and how to test results, without actually having 
 solution performed. Use problems on pages 53, 55, 58 and 61 for 
 this purpose, giving this kind of drill before the problems are as- 
 signed to be solved for a recitation lesson. 
 
 Occupation and Beat Work: This work will, in an increasing de- 
 gree, be related to the preparation of the written or oral lesson that 
 is to be recited at the next recitation period. In written work, insist 
 on accuracy and neatness. (General Discussion Articles 4, 5 and 6.) 
 
 Have each pupil make out an addition table and by actual counting 
 show him that there are only 45 addition combinations in all the ad- 
 
129 
 
 ditions that he will ever have to make, and that if he knows these 
 well he will have no great difficulty with the subject. 
 
 2nd Period : Continue review of numeration as in 1st period. Take 
 subtraction as covered in Appleton's Primary Book, pages 56 to 61 
 inclusive. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: See 1st period. 
 
 3rd Period: Appleton's Primary Book, pages 62 to 77 inclusive. 
 The work covered in the text is devoted to review and practice, and to 
 advance work on mensuration, all of which will furnish valuable 
 material for drill work on the subject matter covered herewith. It 
 is an especially good time for solution drills on problems. Have these 
 frequently before the assignment of the lesson. 
 
 Take counting by 4's and 6 J s to 60. 
 
 Drill on the separation of the following into equal parts: 21, 22, 
 24, 25, 26, 28 and 30. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: The object work used should be con- 
 fined mainly to new subject matter. The pupil should, if possible, 
 be asked to make constructions with rulers and blocks for the work in 
 measurement given for the month. Pupils who can not yet tell the 
 time should be taught to do so this month. The teacher should out- 
 line solution drills, and other appropriate matter in her plans. Do 
 not weaken the child's interest, and possibly arrest his proper develop- 
 ment, by having him spend time merely in counting objects, when he 
 is already familiar with the numbers involved. 
 
 Exercises appealing to his play instincts would be such games as 
 store, bean-bag, dominoes made by himself, etc., and used in various 
 arrangements. 
 
 4th Period. Text, pages 78 to 91 inclusive. 
 
 Pages 78 and 79 and first half of 80 should be made the basis of 
 a brisk oral presentation and board drill by the teacher, and should 
 be covered at one period. Similarly pages 85, 86 and first half of 87. 
 Article 51 and such preparatory exercises can well be gone over by the 
 teacher in the last part of a recitation period whose first part is de- 
 voted to work previously assigned. 
 
 Take counting by 4's and 6's to 80. 
 
 Drill on the division of the following numbers into equal parts : 32, 
 35, 36 and 40. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: Article 47, page 79, suggests an occu- 
 pation that each child should be required to make; extend this and 
 have the child show various small multiplications in the same way, 
 
130 
 
 using variously colored paper. Let the child color with crayons, alter- 
 nate squares or rows of different colors. 
 
 Have child construct in written form the multiplication tables to 
 be used this month. 
 
 28 
 
 The multiplication form, -- and the division form, 8) 288, are 
 better forms to use for most work than 28x25 or 288-^-8, for they 
 have wider application later. 
 
 5th Period. Text, pages 91 to 106 inclusive. 
 
 Eeview counting by 4's, 5's and 6's to 80. 
 
 Drill on the division into equal parts 40, 42, 44, 45, 48 and 50. 
 
 Drill incidentally on names and meanings of unit's, ten's, hundred's 
 and thousand's places. 
 
 Have pupils make constructions, draw and color figures, and fold 
 paper to help them get clear ideas of the work in fractions. 
 
 Take weather observations, use the thermometer, etc., as suggested 
 in the textbook, page 104. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: The teacher should mainly be con- 
 cerned in maintaining interest in the drill work ; repetitions and prac- 
 tice are effective in proportion to the interest maintained by the pupils 
 while practicing. 
 
 6th Period: Extend counting by 4's, 5's and 6's to 100. 
 
 Drill on the division of the following into equal parts : 52, 54, 55, 
 56 and 60. 
 
 Drill on meaning of unit's, ten's, hundred's and thousand's places. 
 
 Text, pages 106 to 116 inclusive. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: Have pupils develop multiplication 
 tables through the 6's (textbook, pages 136 to 150) and write x them 
 in a regular form. 
 
 7th Period: Drill on division of the following into equal parts: 
 63, 65, 68 and 70. 
 
 Textbook, pages 116 to 136 inclusive. 
 
 The teacher should never omit the oral explanatory drill work, 
 using blackboard freely, giving solution drills, etc. This will not be 
 very effective unless the work is planned in advance, and it is much 
 better for the young teacher to write out the plan. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: The same as for 6th period. 
 
 8th Period: "Reviews on whatever work may be found necessary, 
 especially short incidental reviews at recitation times. 
 
131 
 
 The separation of the following into equal parts : 70, 72, 75, 76, 78 
 and 80. 
 
 Occupation and Seat Work: Based on the development of the mul- 
 tiplication tables for the 6's, 7 ? s, 8's and 9's. 
 
 9th Period : Pages 154 to 171. The separation into equal parts 
 of the following numbers: 81, 84, 85, 88, 90, 91, 92, 95, 99 and 100. 
 Perform the measurements given on pages 161 and 165. Use our 
 measures as far as possible with such substitutes as sand, bran, water, 
 etc., to be weighed or measured. 
 
 In exercise suggested on page 160, leave room in temporary charge 
 of some other person, as an advanced pupil, go to some nearby house 
 and measure of a lot plan. Let pupils make such a plan of their home 
 on. a scale drawing. Do not, however, require pupils to undertake 
 such an exercise without ample preparation by the teacher. Have a 
 contest for ideal lot plans, etc. Extend the work further by making 
 a very simple house floor-plan. 
 
 FOURTH GRADE. 
 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1 . Requirements : The fourth grade should complete Chapters 
 IV and V in Appleton's Primary Arithmetic. 
 
 2. Time and Periods: The teacher should give at least fifteen 
 minutes per day to the class throughout the year. 
 
 3. Suggestions : The teacher should read the detail discussion on 
 Arithmetic and the preliminary parts of the grade detail for third 
 and fourth grades. The spiral plan of the textbook gives excellent 
 opportunities for reviewing the fundamental processes and for 
 strengthening any weaknesses that the pupils may disclose. 
 
 4. Preliminary Tests: During the first day, or soon thereafter, 
 the teacher should give some preliminary tests to guide her in the 
 assignment of the first lessons and in the conduct of the work in 
 general. 
 
 5. General Outline: 
 
 1st Period: Text, pages 172-182. It is suggested that not too 
 much time be given to the formal representation of thousand's, ten's 
 and unit's places, as given on page 172. The device there given is 
 of doubtful value. Short term schools may abbreviate the amount of 
 time given to Koman Notation, given on page 176. Classes already 
 proficient in addition and subtraction may omit these topics, while 
 those especially weak should receive supplementary work in addition 
 to that given in the text. 
 
132 
 
 2nd Period: Pages .183-194. A review of the multiplication tables 
 given on pages 152-3 would be useful before beginning the topic pre- 
 sented here. On page 186 have pupils find the value of some local 
 piece of land, or lot, in a way similar to problems given. On page 
 191 it may be that the first explanation given will have a tendency to 
 confuse the child rather than to help him and that therefore the sec- 
 ond form given should be used with such simple explanations as the 
 teacher may be able to give. The teacher should read sections seven, 
 eight and nine in the general discussion. To those teachers who have 
 difficulty in teaching long division, the following series of steps in 
 its presentation is suggested: 
 
 a. A review of such examples as are found on pages 145-9 of the 
 textbook. 
 
 b. A list of examples such as the following in which the divisor 
 consists of two- figure numbers, and the first two figures in the 'hvi- 
 dend will always contain the two figures of the divisor and also in 
 which after every partial division the next term of the dividend 
 brought down is with the remainder sufficient for the next oartial 
 division. Examples: 24) 744 31) 9982 
 
 c. Some numbers in which we have two figures in the divisor .uirt 
 these two figures are not contained in the first two figures of the divi- 
 dend, but in which after every partial division the next term of the 
 dividend brought down is with the remainder sufficient for the next 
 partial division: Examples: 32) 1342 43) 2322 24) 13584 
 
 d. It will be well here to take a lesson or two for special drill on 
 the matter of finding the number of times that the divisor will go 
 into the first three figures in such examples as have been indicated 
 here, as this is the troublesome thing for most children. One good 
 way to do this is to have the children make a little table. Thus, if the 
 divisor is 24, have them put down 
 
 1 times 24 = 24 
 
 2 times 24 == 48 
 
 3 times 24 = 72 
 
 4 times 24 =: 96 
 
 5 times 24 = 120 
 
 6 times 24 = 144 
 
 and thus on until they come to the multiple of 24, which gives them 
 the trial quotient that they are looking for. This will give the child 
 one means by which he can always find the desired term of the quo- 
 tient, although it may seem a waste of time at first. However, he will 
 
133 
 
 soon get to the place where he can tell approximately what the re- 
 quired figure will be by inspection. 
 
 e. Next, we should use a series of problems in which numbers 
 are selected without any reference to the relative size of the first fig- 
 ures in the dividend and divisor, but in which when we bring down 
 the next term from the dividend after some partial division the num- 
 ber so obtained is not large enough to contain the divisor so that one 
 or more other figures must be brought down and noughts used to indi- 
 cate the places in the quotient. 
 
 The examples given herewith will illustrate this point and the 
 teachers should secure other examples of this kind for drill. 
 24) 12120 38) 77254 
 
 The above procedure may seem to the beginner unnecessarily long 
 and tedious, but experience has shown that the lack of a procedure in 
 which the child is taught one simple step at a time is one of the great- 
 est causes of failures in teaching division. Care in developing these 
 different steps is better than any attempt to explain division by bun- 
 dles of splits or other devices based on the values or relations of 
 ?in its, tens, hundreds, etc. The method given above would take per- 
 haps a month or more QJ time if sufficient drill is given in each step, 
 but it will prove an economical way of teaching the subject. 
 
 3rd Period: Pages 195-204. Short term schools if crowded for 
 time may omit the subject of Special Multiples, except tens and hun- 
 dreds. The work in fractions should receive careful attention. 
 
 4th Period : Pages 205-217. Such fractions as have denominators 
 in excess of twelfths might be omitted unless there is plenty of time 
 to take all problems given. Computations suggested on page 212 
 should be applied to some local home place. 
 
 5th Period. Pages 204-225. Make a ring toss board similar to 
 the one shown on page 223. Make rings out of heavy string if metal 
 or wooden ones cannot be secured. Use the game with the fractional 
 values indicated for drill in adding fractions. In the problems on 
 pages 224-5 have some solution drills. 
 
 6th Period. Pages 226-231. The processes in fractions in this 
 period should be drilled upon, but no attempt made to explain the 
 underlying reason. Give especial attention to the topic of business 
 problems, page 231. 
 
 7th Period: Pag;es 232-240. 
 
 8th Period : Pages 241-250. Try to secure some actual bills from 
 your own files or elsewhere to illustrate the subject. Secure some bill- 
 
134 
 
 heads from the local merchants and make off bills on them. Some day 
 have a game of store. Take the price list from the market quotations 
 given in the daily papers. The work of this period might well be 
 correlated with the writing lessons. 
 
 9th Period : Pages 251-263. Use the review lists for two purposes, 
 to-wit : drills and tests. Ascertain the weak places in the preceding 
 work and use the opportunities you have to correct them. To very 
 many pupils this will be the last year's work and they should have 
 this drill in the common processes. In the problems in the general 
 review give a great many solution drills. If the child understands 
 what he must do in many of these problems, it is not necessary actu- 
 ally to perform the work. 
 
 FIFTH GRADE. 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Eequirements : Pupils should now begin the Appleton's Gram- 
 mar School book. This is to be covered to page 120, in the year's 
 work. 
 
 2. First Day's Work: It is suggested that the teacher at the 
 regular program time for this year's class should have ready a care- 
 fully thought out plan for an oral and blackboard test on the funda- 
 mentals that have been already taught, in preceding years. If a pupil 
 shows a fair familiarity with these, pages 1-14, especially in short 
 term schools^ may be omitted. 
 
 3. The best general preparation the teacher can make for the 
 year's work would be to read the General Discussion, and the prelim- 
 inary remarks to the Third Grade Detail. 
 
 4. Outline : 
 
 1st Period: Pages 1 to 31. Perhaps in most cases an experienced 
 teacher could well modify the subject matter as given in the book, 
 making additions or omissions, hitting the weak places of the class 
 when found, and strengthening and developing them. The whole 
 month's work is really review work. 
 
 2nd Period : Pages 32 to 46. This is also review work, and should 
 be used to suit the needs of each class, with such deviations from the 
 text as the teacher finds best. 
 
 3rd Period : Pages 47 to 58. Try to get actual papers to illustrate 
 Articles 50 and 52. For seat work let pupils e.xtend the exercises 
 in Article 63, page 49, by making a table of their own, up to 60, or 
 higher. This is a very valuable exercise. 
 
135 
 
 4th Period: Pages 59 to 68. To many pupils the reduction of 
 fractions is very difficult. Follow each step carefully as here given, 
 taking the needed time for each, before proceeding to the next. 
 
 5th Period: Pages 69 to 77. This presents difficulties to many 
 children, but careful teaching will dispel many of them. It is a very 
 important period. 
 
 6th Period : Pages 77 to 93. The work assigned to this period may 
 require a little more than a month for completion. 
 
 7th Period : Pages 94 to 98. Apply the principles that have been 
 mentioned at various places heretofore in the review work of this 
 period. Give solution drills; use the review to discover and correct 
 the weakness of previous instruction. 
 
 8th Period: Pages 99 to 110. 
 
 9th Period: Pages 111 to 120. Direct the work of the review 
 towards promotion tests. 
 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Eequirements : Appleton's Grammar School Arithmetic, Chap. 
 IV, pages 121- 230. 
 
 2. Beginning: Give tests the first day of term, as suggested in 
 previous years. 
 
 3. Time : The class should have 15 minutes a day, throughout 
 the year. 
 
 4. Outline: 
 
 1st Period. Pages, 121 to 135. In first few days give any reviews 
 in the fundamental operations that may seem necessary. In short- 
 terms schools, or in all cases where necessary review shortens time 
 for advance work, the following omissions may be made : . 
 
 Omissions : Angular measure ; Article 167, page 128. "Questions on 
 tables not much used," page 124. 
 
 2nd Period: Pages 136-150. The pupils should be able to recog- 
 nize and name the various geometrical figures given, pages 138-139, 
 but should not be required to memorize the definitions. 
 
136 
 
 In some of the triangles a little more 
 explanation ought to be given to show 
 that the line representing the altitude 
 often falls without the area of the tri- 
 angle. Thus in the figure given here- 
 with the line CD is the altitude, but is 
 not inside of the triangle at all. It is 
 also believed that pupils will experience 
 no difficulty in naming or reading lines 
 and figures by means of letters placed 
 at the proper points; as, for instance, 
 the line AC, or the triangle ABC, in 
 in the figure given. 
 
 D 
 
 The work of this period is very practical and useful, and will be 
 made more so if actual piles of cordwood, foundations, houses, etc., 
 are measured, and used as the basis of problems. 
 
 3rd Period : Pages 151-165. Read General Discussion, Articles 16 
 and 23. Take especial care with the solution exercises, pages 154-5. 
 The sections on Unitary Analysis and Approximate Results in the 
 text are very important. If pressed for time, Articles 201 and 205 
 may be omitted. 
 
 4th Period: Pages 165 to 177. There are in use two common 
 methods of dividing fractions, the one given in the text and the method 
 by which we point off as many places in the quotient as the number 
 in the dividend exceed those in the divisor. The method of the text 
 is believed to be the better. This is a good period in which to give 
 especial attention to speed and accuracy. If any omissions are neces- 
 sary Article 207 may be omitted. 
 
 5th Period: Pages 178 to 191. Give careful attention to the pre- 
 paratory paragraphs for the various processes. The teacher can save 
 time and make the work better by indicating what topics the prob- 
 lems for review are connected with and which problems should be 
 omitted. 
 
 6th Period: Pages 191 to 202. Teacher will avoid many diffi- 
 culties by using care in the assignment of the lessons of this period. 
 Many oral and blackboard illustrations will be necessary to explain 
 the difficulties involved in some of the problems. Besides the difficul- 
 ties connected with percentage itself, there are others growing out of 
 the fact that : 
 
, 
 
 a. Many of the problems are two or three step problems, or even 
 more, problem 14, page 193, having four steps. 
 
 b. Many problems contain data that is of no use in the solution 
 of the problem. For instance, in example 14, page 193, the fact that 
 the tailor made 6% dozen coats has really no essential connection with 
 the issue at all, and the fact that it is given only tends to confuse the 
 child. The child really should be so informed. 
 
 c. The percentage in many cases can be computed equally well on 
 the basis of one or on more than one article. In the same problem 
 14, page 193, the gain can be computed almost equally well on the 
 basis of one coat, or on a dozen coats. In general, percentage of 
 losses and profits has little to do with the amount or numbers in- 
 volved in transactions, and the child should receive some instruction 
 to help him understand this. 
 
 Each lesson assignment should clear the ground for the private 
 work of study of the child, by preliminary discussions, explanations 
 and illustrations, covering such points as these, and related to definite 
 problems that are assigned. 
 
 7th Period: Pages 201 to 211. The applications of percentage in 
 insurance, taxes, etc., are usually interesting and clear to the child 
 only in proportion to the degree with which they are brought near to 
 actual life. Therefore these should apply to his own school district, 
 his own home, etc. Try to secure the necessary facts upon which to 
 make problems applying to the immediate neighborhood of the school. 
 Get actual check blanks and actually paid checks. In many places 
 the teacher can get actual insurance policies and other real papers. 
 If in a town, the insurance agent can probably show you the actual 
 map he uses in which all houses of the town are located, kinds of roof 
 shown, etc. 
 
 8th Period: Pages 211 to 230. The review lists should be used 
 to test previous teaching, strengthen the weak places, and to get ready 
 for the promotion standards. For this reason in many cases the best 
 way is not to use them straight through, in the order in which they 
 come, but to make judicious selections, omissions, and additions. 
 
 Read Section 16 in General Discussion and also remarks under 
 Period 6, above. 
 
 SEVENTH GRADE. 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 1. Teacher's Preparatory Work: Eead the General Discussion, 
 also the preliminary and explanatory part of the Grade Detail for the 
 preceding two years. 
 
138 
 
 2. Outline: 
 
 1st and 2nd Periods: Pages 231 to 265. The work of these two 
 periods is essentially a general review. The teacher should give tests, 
 orally for the most part, the first day, to see what use should be made 
 of the review examples and problems as found in the textbook. It 
 may be found that some parts of the review can be omitted, or that 
 certain examples may be omitted and others added. 
 
 Short term schools may omit the following topics: Article 269, 
 page 236; Article 276, page 245; Article 284, page 251. Since it is 
 the opinion of some authorities that finding the Greatest Common 
 Divisor, and the Least Common Multiple are not useful, so far as 
 large numbers are concerned, the time given to these subjects may be 
 reduced to the minimum. 
 
 3rd Period: Pages 266 to 276. 
 
 4th Period : Pages 277 to 290. In each list take the opportunity 
 to give solution drills, and apply any other principles that have been 
 given herein to secure growth in the ability to reason out and solve 
 problems. 
 
 5th Period: Pages 291 to 303. It is suggested that short term 
 schools, provided they have to make any omissions, should omit Arti- 
 cle 329 ; Longitude and Time is regarded by many as not" being of 
 great importance, and if necessary the amount of time given to it 
 may be reduced to the minimum. The topic, "Unitary Analysis," is 
 of much importance, as a very large number of problems in life, as 
 well as in school, are solved by it. 
 
 6th Period: Pages 302 to 311. 
 
 7th Period: Pages 312 to 325. Make the subjects of taxes, com- 
 missions, etc., of real interest by introducing problems based on local 
 applications or facts. 
 
 8th Period: Pages 326 to 339. In case where omissions are nec- 
 essary topics 379-380, page 329, "Exact Interest/' and 393-394, page 
 337, "Partial Payments," may be omitted, or the time allowed them 
 be greatly reduced. 
 
 9th Period: Pages 339-353. If omissions are necessary, Article 
 398, page 342; Articles 402-3, page 345, and Partial Payments, on 
 page 347, may be omitted or given reduced time. 
 
 EIGHTH GRADE. 
 Grade Detail. 
 
 Outline: Half the year should be given to the completion of the 
 textbook ; the other half to elementary bookkeeping. 
 
1st Period: Pages 354-378. It is suggested that inasmuch as most 
 of the topics covered in this period have been previously taught, only 
 hasty review of them be taken in the first period. Any omissions 
 found necessary or expedient may be made. 
 
 2nd Period: Pages 379-396. It is recommended that the process 
 of square root be taught, without much effort to explain the reason 
 for the various steps, except where especially desirable. The ralue of 
 a 'pi" should be memorized, and it should be noted that in partical use 
 many mechanics find 3-1/7 near enough for its yalue; however, the 
 problems given in the text should be solved with the value as given. 
 The rules relating to the properties of the circle are valuable, and 
 should be mastered. 
 
 3rd Period : Pages 397-406. The properties of the pyramid, cone, 
 and the frustrum of each, are in general not as well worth knowing 
 as many of the other figures whose measurements are to be found. If 
 there is time, however, a moderate amount of time should be given to 
 their rules of measurement. 
 
 4th Period : Take a general review, applying the suggestions that 
 have been repeated throughout this course with regard to such lists. 
 If time can be found give some attention to the metric system. 
 
 HELPFUL BOOKS ON THE TEACHING OF ARITHMETIC. 
 
 Teachers wishing to make further study of the teaching of arith- 
 metic are referred to the following books : 
 
 Number by Development. By John C. Gray. Published by J. B. 
 Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Gives a complete system for 
 teaching primary number work, given in such detail that it can be 
 applied by the teacher. The system is well recommended by those who 
 have tried it. 
 
 The Teaching of Mathematics. By J. W. A. Young. Published 
 by Longmans, Green & Co., New York. Gives full treatment of the 
 teaching of high school mathematics, as well as of arithmetic. Is 
 useful for a general study of the subject. 
 
 How to Teach Arithmetic. By Brown & Coffman. Eow, Peterson 
 & Co., Chicago. A full discussion of the general subject of methods 
 of teaching arithmetic, historically and otherwise. Quite complete 
 on the subject. 
 
 The Teaching of Arithmetic. By David Eugene Smith. Ginn & 
 Co., New York. A discussion .in a brief form of the philosophy and 
 status of teaching of arithmetic. One of the best of the smaller works. 
 
 Psychology of Number. By McLellan & Dewey. Appleton & Co., 
 
140 
 
 New York. Discusses the psychology of number and gives several 
 chapters on method. 
 
 The Teaching of Arithmetic. By A. W. Stamper. American Book 
 Co., Cincinnati., 0. Treats of the history and development and pres- 
 ent status of method. Quite a clear and thorough presentation of the 
 subject. 
 
 Special Method in Arithmetic. McMurry. Macmillan & Co., New 
 York. Treats the method of teaching quite fully. 
 
 The Number Concept. Conant. Macmillan & Co., New York. 
 Gives the historical development of the number idea in the human 
 mind. Does not treat of the method of teaching arithmetic, or of 
 arithmetic in general. 
 
 The Teaching of Primary Arithmetic. Henry Suzzalo. Hough- 
 ton, Mifflin & Co., New York. A critical study of recent tendencies. 
 
V. 
 
 NATURE STUDY 
 
 GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 Statement. 
 
 Nature Study deals with common objects and processes as they 
 directly affect human life and interests. 
 
 Both the material and method must be for the child rather than 
 for the adult. 
 
 Guide for the teacher : 
 
 1. Is it suitable material? 
 
 2. Can it be seen, handled, etc. ? 
 
 3. Is it a common thing? 
 
 4. Does it have any common interest ? Ex. The house-fly ? 
 The main purpose is to get the child to see and think for himself. 
 
 A study of nature enables the child to grasp the forces about him and 
 to turn them to his advantage. 
 
 The aim should be to awaken an interest in nature and to give a 
 general acquaintance with it, as it lies nearest to the children. 
 
 The children should be brought into actual contact with the object 
 of study, whenever possible, either in or out of the school room. Na- 
 ture study is a study of natural forces and natural objects in their 
 natural setting. 
 
 Emphasis should be placed at all times on plants and animals as- 
 living things, and their mutual dependence upon each other. 
 
 In the lower grades, nature study, geography and physiology should 
 be taught through the year as one subject and in one way or another 
 appear on every day's program. 
 
 The lessons may afford additional material for language and com- 
 position work. 
 
 In rural schools all the children in Grades I-III should be grouped 
 together for this work. 
 
 FIRST GRADE. 
 Fall. 
 
 Birds, trees, flowers, pets, earth and sky should be the general 
 
 topics. 
 
142 
 
 Teach only the facts which are easily within the child's compre- 
 hension. 
 
 Birds: Eecognition and name of some of the common birds of the 
 locality, their food and feeding habits. Encourage the children to 
 feed the birds and to build bird houses. Some kinds of birds leave us 
 in the fall. Why? Note the time when they go. Note when they 
 return. 
 
 Trees: Eecognition of trees by leaf, fruit, bark. Winter buds, 
 their color and protection. Study the kinds of fruit grown in the 
 
 neighborhood. 
 
 * 
 Field Trip. 
 
 Purpose: To identify the forest trees of the locality, and collect 
 specimens of leaves, bark, and, if possible, the fruit. 
 
 Note to Teacher: Unless the trip is carefully planned and both the 
 object to be attained and the method of procedure are definitely fixed 
 in mind the trip will degenerate into a mere picnic excursion without 
 object or destination. 
 
 Things to Observe: Note the two great classes of trees, evergreen 
 (like the pine or cedar) and deciduous (like the oak). 
 
 Observe the bark and leaf of some of the common trees, but do not 
 attempt too many at one trip. It will lead to confusion of ideas. 
 
 Collect bark and leaves and fruit when possible. This material may 
 serve for language and drawing lessons. 
 
 Note the rings of the end of a log that has been sawed squarely 
 across. If a log cannot be found have one or more of the boys to 
 bring to school blocks sawed off so that the annual growth of the tree 
 may be seen. 
 
 Look for diseased trees. How are they injured ? 
 
 Try to find a place where trees have prevented excessive washing 
 of hillside. Look for beautiful trees suitable for shade. 
 
 School-Room Work Based on Field Trip. 
 
 Oral story of trip by the pupils. 
 
 Have pupils who can write make a list of trees studied. This may 
 serve for a spelling lesson as well as a writing lesson. 
 
 A written composition may be required of the older pupils. 
 
 Have pupils draw and paint leaves. 
 
 Number lessons may be based on the trees observed. 
 
 The teacher may think of other ways of using the material and 
 ideas gained by the trip. 
 
143 
 
 Flowers: Learn the names and means of recognizing some of the 
 fall flowers, as the goldenrod, aster, geranium, chrysanthemum. 
 
 A field trip might be made to study the fall weeds and fall flowers. 
 
 Have children save flower seeds and plant in the spring. 
 
 Plant peach pits and apple seeds, after preparing a place' for them 
 on the school grounds. 
 
 School Calendar. 
 
 Have a school calendar on the blackboard or on a large piece of 
 cardboard. Have children observe weather conditions and fill in the 
 calendar daily so that at the end of each month there is a complete 
 record of wind, rain, sunshine, temperature, etc. 
 
 See model for home geography under discussion of that subject. 
 
 Place a weather vane on the school building. Have the children 
 associate the state of the weather with the direction of the wind. 
 
 Winter. 
 
 Birds: Name birds that have gone since fall began. Name those 
 which remain. 
 
 How to make friends with the birds. Read or tell bird stories. 
 
 Insects: Where have they gone? How will they get here again 
 in the spring ? 
 
 Compare the winter life of the squirrel and the rabbit. 
 
 Plants: Where are the wild flowers now? 
 
 Call attention to the house plants and the care that is given them. 
 
 Can you notice any difference in the buds of the trees as winter 
 goes away ? Look closely for changes. 
 
 Study the winter coats of buds, especially of the yellow linden tree 
 and the hickory. 
 
 Compare length of day and night in fall and winter. What effects 
 produced ? 
 
 Spring. 
 
 Birds: Find out the names of the newcomers. Notice what they 
 are doing and tell only what you see. 
 
 Watch at least a pair of birds during the spring and summer and 
 tell the complete story of what you see them do. 
 
 Trees: Note changes in the buds, leaves, etc. 
 
 What trees leaf first? 
 
 Can you gather and preserve the seeds of the elm, the willow, the 
 maple, the poplar? 
 
 Watch for the appearance of the apple and peach seedlings, and 
 care for them. 
 
144 
 
 Plant seeds of maple, elm, willow, and poplar in the school garden, 
 and care for them. Note the kinds of soil these trees grow in, and 
 make your garden soil like it. 
 
 Seeds. 1 : Sprouting of seeds observed; the different ways the seeds 
 come out' of the ground; parts of seedlings (roots, stems, leaves); 
 uses of p&rts of plants. 
 
 Plant seeds of the Lima bean and the nasturtium, and learn how 
 to care for the young plants. Try to raise enough seeds for the chil- 
 dren to plant next year, as well as to plant in the home garden. 
 
 Arrange to care for the garden during vacation. 
 
 SECOND GRADE. 
 Fall. 
 
 Birds: Eecognition and names, homes, food and feeding habits, 
 sounds or calls; enemies. 
 
 What new names can you add to the list of birds you saw since last 
 Spring ? 
 
 Can you tell anything new about the habits of any bird you have 
 previously observed? 
 
 Will you find out all you can about the partridge? 
 
 Organize a "Bird Club" in your school. 
 
 Insects: Eecognition and name of cabbage butterfly, potato beetle, 
 rose bug, cricket, grasshopper. 
 
 Can you find some eggs of the butterfly and watch them develop ? 
 
 Can you collect some caterpillars and watch them feed and develop ? 
 
 Can you collect and keep some cocoons through the winter? 
 
 See Modern English, Book One, page 142, Art. 158. 
 
 Plants: Can you add some new fall flowers to your list made a 
 year ago? 
 
 Examine the flowers of the pumpkin, the red clover, the sunflower, 
 the morning glory, the aster, and tell how they differ from the flowers 
 of the Lima bean. 
 
 Will you try to draw them? 
 
 Trees: Can you tell the names of some other trees you have learned 
 to know since last year? 
 
 We will try to learn to know the trees by means of their buds, out- 
 line, and bark after the leaves are gone. 
 
 Seeds: Tell some ways seeds get out into the world. 
 
 Can you name some seeds that use wings ? Some that steal rides ? 
 
 Work to Do : Save seeds of pumpkin, morning glory, sunflower and 
 sweet pea to plant next spring. 
 
145 
 
 Plant acorns and chestnuts and watch development in the Spring. 
 
 Winter. 
 
 Daily observations of weather recorded in class calendar. 
 
 Locate north by noonday shadow, east and west by rising and set- 
 ting of sun. 
 
 Difference in length of day and night at different seasons of the 
 year. 
 
 Experimental illustrations of freezing, melting, evaporation - 
 
 The Sky: What it is; its color; its shape. 
 
 Preparation of the garden for Spring. 
 
 Feeding and protecting the birds. 
 
 Lessons on kindness to animals. 
 
 Spring. 
 
 Birds: Migratory birds; phoebe, swallow, robin, bluebird, black- 
 oirYl, catbird, humming-bird, scarlet tanager, oriole. 
 
 Special study of one kind of bird. 
 
 Protection of birds. Birds are the farmer's friends. 
 
 Make a study of the hen, as to breed, color, size, uses and care. 
 
 Plants: Watch for the spring flowers and try to name them as 
 they appear. 
 
 A love of flowers should be cultivated. 
 
 Development of Bulbs: Onion, hyacinth, tulip, crocus. 
 
 Bulbs placed in moist saw-dust, soil or water; observation of the 
 development of roots, stems and leaves. 
 
 Animals: Frog or toad; development from egg. Its use to man. 
 Its protection. Continue the observation of any other animal previ- 
 ously observed in which the children are interested, as the horse or 
 cow. 
 
 The Soil: Observe the effects of freezing on the soil. Running 
 water. Where the best soil is found and why. 
 
 The need of good soil may be shown by cultivation of seedlings or 
 plants in saw-dust, in sand and in rich loam. 
 
 Climate: Xote the effects of the length of the day on the tempera- 
 ture. 
 
 THIRD GRADE. 
 Fall. 
 
 Birds: Continue the study as time permits. 
 
 Recognition and name of the resident birds woodpecker, owl, blue- 
 jay, crow, wild canary, cardinal, nuthatch, etc. 
 
146 
 
 Plants: Study of how the farmer selects his seeds for spring 
 planting. 
 
 How seeds are protected while ripening ; adaptation for dispersal by 
 wind, water, birds, hairy animals. 
 
 Collection of dry fruits to show form and method of seed dispersal. 
 
 Field Trip. 
 
 Purpose: To observe, study and collect specimens of weeds and 
 dry fruits. 
 
 Note : Take also the larger pupils, and have them keep a record 
 of the weeds examined. 
 
 Things to Observe: Where the greatest variety of weeds are found, 
 near buildings and roads or in the open fields? Why? Notice the 
 variety of ways in which weeds bear their seeds. 
 
 Special arrangement of plants for dispersal of seeds. Does one 
 weed produce many seeds'? 
 
 What effect does the presence of many weeds have on the yield of 
 corn? 
 
 Will weeds of a certain kind be more plentiful in a field where 
 crops have been grown year after year? 
 
 Have upper grade pupils classify weeds according to their length 
 of life. 
 
 1. Annuals are those which spring from seeds, blossom, fruit, pro- 
 duce seed and die down the first season (as the ragweed). 
 
 2. Biennials grow the first season without blossoming, usually 
 storing up food in their roots, blossom and seed the following season 
 and then die down completely (as the burdock and wild carrot, etc.) 
 
 3. Perennials live and blossom year after year. (As the dande- 
 lion, plantain, etc.) 
 
 Note: Write the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., for 
 Farmer's Bulletins, No. 28, "Weeds and How to Kill Them;" No. 86, 
 ^Thirty Poisonous Plants;" No. 195, "Annual Flowering Plants." 
 Write to College of Agriculture, Morgantown, West Virginia. 
 
 Classify weeds according to ways of spreading or planting their 
 seeds; that is, by means of the wind, water, animals, mechanical con- 
 trivances or artificial means. 
 
 The Weather: Note the changes that take place about us with the 
 coming of winter. The ways that we prepare for winter. Make a rec- 
 ord of the thermometer readings. Continue the weather calendar. 
 
 Winter. 
 
 Study of vegetables in the store. Know what is in the home mar- 
 kets and what is not produced at home. 
 
147 
 
 Transportation of products and disposition of them. 
 
 Kinds of soil clay,, sand. 
 
 A study of trees for building materials. 
 
 Study land surfaces, and the effects of weathering. 
 
 Record of weather observations. 
 
 Life and habits of common wild animals in winter. 
 
 Spring. 
 
 Natural Phenomena: The sun, effects of heat and cold on water 
 and soil, and on plant and animal life ; changes of seasons. 
 
 Cultivation of Plants: The needs of plants. Propagation of plants 
 by seeds, by slips., by runners ; growth of roots of slip in water. 
 
 Experiments: When does sap ooze through stem and leaves? Why 
 do leaves wilt? How do leaves move with reference to light? 
 How do leaves move with reference to light? 
 
 Recognition and name of trees, plants and flowers. 
 
 Plant for special study: Corn. 
 
 Lesson Plans. 
 
 The great fault of formal nature study has been indefiniteness, no 
 plan. 
 
 A lesson plan should have a definite aim all the way through it. 
 Three questions to ask in preparing a lesson plan: 
 
 1. Is this material suitable? 
 
 2. How is this plant or animal to take care of itself? 
 
 3. How does it affect human life and how can we help it do its 
 work? 
 
 4. Any interesting point not brought out by the other three. 
 Below are given some lesson plans which it is hoped will aid the 
 
 teacher by their suggestions. 
 
 The Dog (Second Grade). 
 
 Aim: To teach sympathetic interest in the dog. 
 Subject Matter and Method: 
 
 1. Introductory talks about each child's dog. Kinds of dogs. How 
 can you tell? Name other dogs. 
 
 2. What have you seen the dog do? How does he make his liv- 
 ing? How does he help us? How can we help him? 
 
 3. Harm some dogs do. 
 
 4. How tell a sick dog from a well dog? 
 
148 
 
 5. Tell or read some good dog story. 
 
 The Common Toad. 
 
 Aim: To see the toad and learn of its human interests. 
 
 Subject Matter and Method: 
 
 With the toad before the class, either in a screened box. or in a 
 tumbler covered with netting the cage filled with insects of all sorts, 
 talk with the children about as follows : 
 
 1. Do we like pets that help or harm us? What things eat our 
 garden vegetables? 
 
 Wouldn't a pet be fine that would eat these pests? 
 
 Here is one. Let me introduce him to you. 
 
 What do you think of his appearance? 
 
 Look at his eye. Teach children that toads do not make warts. 
 Speak of his value. Observe the number of things he eats. 
 
 How can we help the toad? Ex. Build a toad house in the gar- 
 den. 
 
 Window Gardens. 
 
 Aim: To teach how to make and to find pleasure in window 
 gardens. 
 
 Subject Matter and Method: 
 
 1. Teacher should prepare a box to fit the .window sill. Place it 
 upon blocks and have oil-cloth under it to prevent water from dam- 
 aging the wood. 
 
 2. Place coarse stones, sand and moss in the bottom to about 1/4 
 the depth of the box. Fill the box with rich sand loam. 
 
 3. . Plant flower seeds, bulbs, cuttings, etc. 
 
 4. Water every day and keep the surface loose. 
 
 Brook Studies (Third and Fourth Grades). 
 
 Aim: To learn the nature and life along the brook. 
 Subject Matter and Method: 
 
 Several excursions may be made to a brook, each time with one or 
 more of the following aims : 
 
 1. Make exact measurements of length and width. 
 
 2. List the trees, shrubs, plants, etc., by and in the brook. 
 
 3. Record the animal life seen in or near. 
 
 4. Make a map of a section of the brook and land near. 
 
 5. What farms or home grounds touch it? 
 
149 
 
 6. Changes which occur in its course from time to time. 
 
 7. Land it drains, its source, mouth, tributaries. 
 
 8. Soils along its course. 
 
 9. Its value to any one. 
 
 The Robin (Third, Fourth and Fifth Grades). 
 Aim : To see and to learn the habits and value of the robin. 
 Subject Matter and Method: 
 
 1. Go out with the class and sit down to watch the robins. 
 
 2. Eecognize the robin by song and appearance. 
 
 3. Where does the robin like to be? Why? 
 
 4. What have you seen the robin do ? 
 
 5. When does it sing most? Try to imitate the song. 
 
 6. Where does it nest? Out of what is the nest made? Number 
 and color of eggs. Find a nest if possible. 
 
 7. What does the robin eat? Is it our friend? Why? 
 
 8. Can the robin be tamed ? How can we help the robin ? 
 
 9. What are the robin's enemies? How can we protect it? 
 
 10. The legend of the "Bed-Breast." 
 
 11. Eefer to readers for robin stories. 
 
 The Coddling Moth (Fourth and Fifth Grades). 
 Aim: To become acquainted with the moth and to learn of its 
 injurious work. 
 
 Subject Matter and Method: 
 
 1. Have some knotty apples for the class and show the worms in 
 these apples. Cause the children to understand that these apples 
 would be perfect if the worms had not got into them. 
 
 2. Tell the life history of the moth. Ask the children to look 
 behind the loose bark of the apple trees to find the silken pod in 
 which the larva stays during the winter. 
 
 Lead the children to see that it would be well to scrape off this 
 loose bark in winter and whitewash the trunk of the tree. 
 
 3. How many have seen woodpeckers picking into the bark of the 
 apple tree ? 
 
 4. Tell of the work of spraying. 
 
 Leaves of Common Trees (Second, Third and Fourth Grades). 
 
 Aim: To learn the names of five common trees as distinguished 
 by leaves, and to learn what leaves are for. 
 
 Subject Matter and Method: 
 
 1. Have each child bring leaves from five different trees or go with 
 the children to gather them. 
 
150 
 
 2. Have children fasten the leaves on a sheet of paper or card- 
 board and write the names of the leaves below. Classify them as to 
 shape, size, color, and margins. 
 
 3. Let each child stand 1 before the class and name his leaves and 
 tell where he got them. 
 
 4. After becoming familiar with the five leaves ask : 
 "What does the leaf do?" 
 
 "What are the leaves good for?" 
 "What becomes of them?" 
 
 5. Bead some simple poems about leaves. 
 
 6. Drawing lesson on leaves may follow. 
 
 FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADES. 
 Fall. 
 
 Note: Nature Study and Home Geography should be the same 
 course in the fourth grade. Both should consist of observations. 
 
 See course of study for fourth grade geography. 
 
 Plants: Woody plants; industries dependent on forests; plants 
 without wood ; useful plant products ; protection of trees. 
 
 Trees: Uses to tree of bark, of wood, and of pith; annual rings 
 and medullary rays (study cross and long sections of piece of wood) ; 
 uses of heart wood and sap wood to plants and to man ; movements of 
 sap (maple) ; blossoming and fruit formation of fruit and shade trees; 
 uses of wood in building and in furniture (collections) ; use of trees 
 in producing rainfall. 
 
 Emphasize the protection and planting of trees. 
 
 Forms of Stems: Erect, prostrate, climbing by tendrils, twining by 
 stems or petiole; why plants seek erect position; underground stems 
 (potato) and bulbs (onion) ; uses of stored nourishment to plants. 
 
 Plant products useful to man. 
 
 Vegetables classified as roots, stems, leaves, bulbs or fruits. 
 
 Fruits classified as fleshy, stone and dry. 
 
 Medicines and Spices; bark, leaves, sap, extracts. 
 
 Clothing; cotton, linen. 
 
 Woods; those used for building, or furniture ; characteristics whi ?h 
 fit them for such. 
 
 Winter. 
 
 Animals useful to man; birds, bats, toads, frogs, fish, turtles, lady- 
 bugs, beetles, dragon-flies, bees, sheep, cow, goat, ox, horse, donkey, 
 mule, etc. 
 
151 
 
 Particular emphasis should be placed on their value to man: 
 
 (1) As destroyers of injurious insects. 
 
 (2) As the source of supply of useful materials, including mate- 
 rials for clothing, food, furniture and ornaments. 
 
 (3) As beasts of burden. 
 
 Animals Harmful to Man. 
 
 Cut-worm, potato beetle, cabbage worm, leaf rollers, plant lice, 
 gypsy moth, coddling moth, beetles, tent caterpillars, canker worms, 
 cloth moths, cockroach, flies, bedbugs, ants, mosquitoes, snails, slugs, 
 rats, mice, etc. 
 
 Particular emphasis should be placed upon their injuries to man; 
 harmful stages ; extermination ; work of the government in destroying 
 pest?. 
 
 Field Trip. 
 
 Purpose: To study how soil is made. 
 
 State to the pupils that it is the intention to take a field excursion 
 for the purpose of studying how soils are made, and that the field 
 trip will be along the bed of a little stream or creek, starting in the 
 lower valley and following the stream towards its source on higher 
 ground. 
 
 Have pupils take tablet or note book and copy the following as it 
 is written on the blackboard. 
 
 Things to Observe. 
 
 Where (near the source or toward the mouth) do you find the bed 
 of the stream covered mostly with sand ? Where mostly with rounded 
 rocks or gravel? Where mostly with large flat jagged rocks? 
 
 Notice holes or grooves worn in rocks. 
 
 Try to find rocks which have been split open by freezing and thaw- 
 ing. 
 
 Look for roots of trees which have grown in rock crevices and have 
 split them open. Find stones that are covered with mosses and lich- 
 ens. Have the pupils scrape off the lichens from the rock and note 
 the dissolving effect which the roots have had upon the rock's sur- 
 face. 
 
 Notice places where roots or sods have kept the soil from washing 
 away. 
 
 Have some of the boys collect samples, (1) of the rounded-off stones 
 or gravel, (2) a sample of sand, (3) sample of the extremely fine sand 
 
152 
 
 mixed with decayed leaves, etc., or ordinary mud, (4) samples of the 
 different soils found on the trip. 
 
 Keep the pupils near you on the trip and when the stream is 
 reached proceed rather slowly up stream in order to observe closely. 
 
 By judicious questioning draw attention to the points which are to 
 be observed, always giving opportunity for the pupils to make the 
 discoveries themselves if possible. 
 
 As each point is noted have the pupils check it off on their list of 
 things to be observed. 
 
 The following questions may be asked as the walk proceeds or may 
 be saved until the following day : 
 
 1. What means do farmers employ to prevent their hillside fields 
 from being washed ? 
 
 2. Do trees and grass-covered hills wash as badly as bare culti- 
 vated hills? Why? 
 
 3. Name all the ways in which nature has broken the rocks down 
 into fine sand. 
 
 4. Does very fine sand make good soil? What must be mixed 
 with it before it is good soil? 
 
 5. What must be mixed with clay soil to make a loam soil ? 
 Upon returning to the school house the specimens may be labeled 
 
 and placed upon the specimen shelf. 
 
 The language lesson for the following day may consist of compo- 
 sitions on either "Our Walk Along the Stream," or "How Soil is 
 Formed," and the various points observed during the trip must be 
 spoken of in the composition. 
 
 The compositions may be made into booklet form with attractive 
 covers and perhaps illustrated with pasted clippings from papers or 
 magazines. When so prepared they make very attractive exhibit ma- 
 terial. 
 
 Spring. 
 
 The School and Home Garden. 
 
 The school garden is the laboratory of nature study. In it almost 
 every phase of nature study can find a place. It may be made a source 
 of delight to the pupils. 
 
 The next best thing is to have the home garden. It is possible in 
 every school if the school lasts till April. Have the children go home 
 and make the same kind of garden as at school. It may be on a 
 larger scale. 
 
 The teacher should go to the homes and see them. 
 
153 
 
 Reward those who have the best gardens. 
 
 Many idle children might be kept busy and happy at home in 
 the garden. 
 
 Children should be taught to garden. When grown they will have 
 the garden habit, 
 
 There can be no objection made to the garden from the stand- 
 point of health, finance, harmony, or pleasure. 
 
 Organize corn and tomato clubs, and prepare to have the work car- 
 ried out among the boys and girls during the summer. 
 
 Prepare for a garden exhibit at the beginning of school next fall. 
 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 Plants. 
 
 Subject matter and method: The plants of the farm are grains, 
 grasses, tubers, roots, legumes, fruit trees, vegetables, timber trees, 
 medicinal plants, fiber plants, and stimulant plants. Study each as 
 to (1) identification of seed; (2) where the plant is found; (3) 
 the cultivation; (4) uses to man and the processes by which it is 
 made useful to man; (5) its relation to the soil; (6) its relation 
 to climate; (7) whether an annual, biennial or perennial; (8) the 
 approximate cost of production. 
 
 Conditions Necessary to Plant Growth. 
 
 A plant to do its best must have (1) air; (2) water; (3) soil 
 which contains the proper chemical elements; (4) cultivation; (5) 
 proper drainage. Make a careful study of the best methods of bring- 
 ing about the above conditions. 
 
 Plant Foods. The plant obtains its food from the air, soil, and 
 water. The leaves of plants are provided with very small openings, 
 or pores, which serve as air passages. Through these openings the 
 plant takes in carbonic acid gas and throws off oxygen. A small cell 
 called a guard cell surrounds each breathing pore. These prevent 
 the escape of an undue amount of moisture. Nitrogen does not enter 
 the plant through the leaves, but is taken up by the roots. It is one 
 of the most important plant foods and is necessary to -all plant growth. 
 The amount of nitrogen in the soil differs in different places. In a 
 humid climate the largest amount is found within six to twelve inches 
 of the surface. Land upon which several crops of wheat have been 
 raised in succession lacks a sufficient amount of nitrogen and we speak 
 of the land as run down. Nitrogen can be brought into the soil through 
 decaying organic matter, through rains, and by meana of leguminous 
 
plants. Upon the roots of certain plants, called legumes, there are 
 small organisms which bring the free nitrogen of the soil and air into 
 contact with the roots of the plant. Every plant must have certain 
 elements found in the soil. Potassium, calcium, magnesium, phos- 
 phorus, sulphur, iron, nitrogen, and chlorine exist in the soil in dif- 
 ferent proportions. Water acts as food itself, dissolves other foods, 
 and carries them to the places where they are needed. To do this a 
 large amount of water is necessary. The surplus is given off through 
 the leaves. Wet grass in the morning is often due to the moisture 
 given off by the grass rather than the fall of dew. The plant takes 
 the materials which it obtains from the soil and the air and makes 
 them into starch, sugar, oil, protein, cellulose, the elements of the 
 plant. 
 
 When we burn a piece of wood in the stove the carbonic acid gas, 
 oxygen, water and nitrogen pass off into the atmosphere, while the 
 mineral matter remains as ashes. For exercises on plant foods, see 
 Bulletin 195, Office of Experiment Stations, Morgantown, W. Va. 
 
 Plants and Animals Compared. 
 
 In the lower forms of life it is difficult to tell which is plant life 
 and which is animal life. In the higher forms we have no difficulty 
 in noting a few chief differences. The animal takes in oxygen and 
 breathes out carbonic acid gas. The plant takes in carbonic acid gas 
 and breathes out oxygen. The animal can move about while the plant 
 is stationary. The animal lives upon organized material while the 
 plant lives upon unorganized matter and makes it into organized 
 material. 
 
 It is clear from our previous study that both plants and animals 
 will live, reproduce and thrive better under certain conditions than 
 under -others. Indicate on the map the parts of the state which are 
 the most. suited to the best production of animal and plant life. 
 State reasons why you select certain parts of the state as better 
 adapted to animal production than others. 
 
 The Home. 
 
 The work on the home is introduced thus early in the course for 
 the purpose of stimulating an interest in beautiful surroundings. 
 Teach that the essentials of a good home are, (1) its location as to 
 a market; (2) healthful surroundings; (3) a house well ventilated 
 from cellar to garret; (4) scientific plumbing; (5) an abundance of 
 sunlight; (6) good books, papers and magazines; (7) convenience 
 in the. arrangement of rooms; (8) cleanliness; (9) modern conveni- 
 
155 
 
 ences, as bath rooms, electric bells, and telephone; (10) an outside 
 appearance in keeping with the inside. 
 
 Corn Contests. 
 
 Every boy in the neighborhood, over thirteen years of age, should 
 be induced to enter a corn growing contest. The boys should do all 
 the work of preparing the soil, planting, cultivating, and harvesting. 
 Near the last of October have the different boys bring to school five of 
 the best ears grown. A competent judge should be selected who will 
 award the prizes. A neatly written essay describing the work done 
 should accompany each boy's samples. The essays and samples of 
 corn should become the property of the school. The following year 
 the best ears of corn can be used for seed in the next contest. 
 
 References. 
 
 The following selections from the Jones' Headers will be helpful 
 in connection with nature study and kindness to animals. 
 Book III: 
 
 What Mrs. Squirrel Thinks, p. 24. 
 Spring, p. 26. 
 Frank and the Snail, p. 28. 
 Don and the Mirror, p. 32. 
 A Strange Pet. p. 35. 
 The Flower's Thanks, p. 54. 
 The Robin and The Voice, p. 67. 
 Lions, p. 70. 
 A Queer Dinner, p. 77. 
 The Tree. p. 81. 
 
 Two Bright Little Squirrels, p. 83. 
 The Story of a Piece of Coal. p. 110. 
 The Clouds, p. 115. 
 Born in Prison, p. 120. 
 How Morning-Glory Climbed, p. 125. 
 A Child to a Rose. p. 156. 
 The King of Birds, p. 187. 
 Petition of the Song Birds, p. 234. 
 Bergetta's Misfortune, p. 254. 
 Book IV: 
 
 Experiences of a Caterpillar, p. 50. 
 The Bees. p. 69. 
 The Baby Owl. p. 90. 
 
156 
 
 Rain in Summer, p. 98. 
 A Bird's Nest. p. 114. 
 Professor Frog's Lecture, p. 116. 
 Spiders and Their Homes, p. 153. 
 The Gladness of Nature, p. 263. 
 Book V: 
 
 Our Friend the Cat. p. 77. 
 Winter Neighbors, p. 142. 
 The Woodpecker, p. 148. 
 
AGRICULTURE 
 
 SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADES. 
 
 General Statement. 
 
 This course in agriculture is based upon a few main topics which 
 come within the experience of the pupil. The textbook should be 
 used as a guide. Exercises, projects, contests, field excursions, book- 
 lets and supplementary data are the real agents for teaching this- 
 subject. 
 
 Note Book. 
 
 The note book here described should be used for general notes and 
 is not a part of the agricultural booklet which deals with special sub- 
 jects. A five-or ten-cent book is suitable. It is used for keeping a 
 record of things observed, questions investigated, experiments, field 
 trips and supplementary information given by the teacher. Each 
 day's work should be preceded by the date and the name of the sub- 
 ject. If an experiment is conducted, the materials used should be 
 described ; the method of procedure stated ; the observations listed ; 
 and the final conclusion drawn. Experiments should always precede 
 the subject matter of the text. Pictures or drawings will make the 
 record more complete. 
 
 The note books should be carefully read and graded by the teacher. 
 Make them supplementary English or language lessons. 
 
 Agricultural Booklet, 
 
 The agricultural booklet is the one most important agent in the 
 successful teaching of agriculture. This. applies equally to the com- 
 mon school and the high school. It correlates the work in agricul- 
 ture with a greater number of subjects than any other device that has 
 yet been invented. In brief, it encourages supplementary reading; 
 teaches the correct use of English; better penmanship; trains in neat- 
 ness; develops originality; encourages investigations and brings the 
 home, school and farm into a closer co-operation. Pupils respond 
 readily to this method of instruction. They take a pride in making: 
 their booklets neat and attractive. In brief, it is live and up-to-date 
 agriculture.. 
 
158 
 
 Directions For Making Booklet. 
 
 1. Determine early in the year the subjects you are going to 
 teach. 
 
 2. Consult the list of Farmers' Bulletins, State Agricultural Col- 
 lege Bulletins, and *write to several of the State Experiment Stations 
 for a list of their publications. A list of these stations will be found 
 on page 312 of Soule and Turpin's Agriculture, or will be supplied 
 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
 
 3. A uniform paper about 9"xl2", that will take ink, should be 
 selected. 
 
 4. Follow an outline of study in writing up topics. Paragraph 
 headings and chapters should be indicated. 
 
 5. One page should not have more than two illustrations and fre- 
 quently one is sufficient. Illustrations should be placed where they 
 are most effective. They should always help to make the subject 
 matter clear. 
 
 6. Illustrations may be taken from bulletins, farm journals, cata- 
 logues, newspapers or may be original drawings. 
 
 7. Information should be obtained through observation, experi- 
 ments, local people, bulletins, farm, journals, text-books and class 
 discussions. 
 
 8. No material should go into the booklet that is not thoroughly 
 understood. Do not permit copying, which is. so frequently done in 
 writing essays. Short quotations are sometimes in order. 
 
 9. A booklet may accompany the class study or it may serve as 
 a laboratory exercise where there is little equipment for laboratory 
 work. 
 
 10. Notes should be written up, corrected by the teacher, copied 
 and transferred to the booklet. 
 
 11. The cover should be of a heavier paper, neatly illustrated, 
 and should bear the name of the pupil and the date. 
 
 12. The first inside page should be blank except for the name of 
 the study, which should be in the middle of the page. 
 
 13. The second page should be the index page. 
 
 14. Pages should be numbered in the upper right hand corner. 
 
 15. Tie the pages together with a cord or ribbon. 
 
 16. After the booklets have been examined by the parents, they 
 should be kept on exhibition at the school. 
 
 17. Local prizes will add interest. 
 
 The booklet is an intensive study of one subject and should not 
 be attempted with every subject which is studied. In each com- 
 
159 
 
 munity, one agricultural interest predominates. It will be well to 
 make a more intensive study of this interest. The booklet is one of 
 the ways. 
 
 Bulletin Board. 
 
 The agricultural bulletin board is one of the effective ways of 
 bringing agricultural information before children or older pupils. 
 The blackboard space in most schools is rather limited and needed 
 for the daily work. Select a part of tfie school room which is easily 
 accessible and cover it with burlap or thick cloth. Whenever pictures 
 or clippings are found, which are of interest, they should be pinned 
 on the bulletin board and attention called to them. The data given 
 may frequently be used for the opening exercises. Children should 
 be urged to bring such data to school. Two brackets with a board on 
 top will make a suitable shelf to be placed underneath. Farm bulle- 
 tins, papers, and books can be kept here. A teacher should subscribe 
 for at least one farm journal. The U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
 Washington, D. C., sends out each month a list of the previous 
 month's publications. Teachers should see that their names are on 
 the mailing list. Also have your name on the mailing list of the 
 State Agricultural College. Make your bulletin board reflect the 
 work of your school. 
 
 Collections. 
 
 Make collections of soils, fertilizers, grasses, cereals, weeds, photo- ' 
 .graphs, designs, plans, catalogues, bulletins and farm journals for 
 use during the school year. 
 
 Correlation. 
 
 Correlate agriculture with the other subjects of your school and 
 "thus vitalize the entire school work. Send to the IT. S. Department 
 of Agriculture for several copies of Farmers' Bulletins dealing with 
 phases of agriculture which are discussed in your text. Use these for 
 supplementary reading. Make the reading lesson an informational 
 lesson as well as an exercise in developing the ability to read. Explain 
 .and discuss the subject matter. Apply your arithmetic instruction 
 to the actual problems of everyday life. Oral and written reports of 
 field trips and discussions of community activities constitute live lan- 
 .guage lessons. Apply the principles of grammar to activities which 
 .later demand the use of grammar. 
 
160 
 
 Preliminary School Exercises. 
 
 The success of your work in agriculture will be judged by its 
 results. Instruction which ends in the school room is of little value. 
 The criticism is often made that students are unable to carry out 
 the instruction which they have received. As a result the entire work 
 in agriculture is judged a failure. It is put down as another school 
 fad. No criticism is more unjust or more injurious than this one. 
 If proper precaution is taken, it can be avoided. No outside demon- 
 stration should be undertaken until it is preceded by careful school 
 room instruction. For instance, if an exercise in grafting is to be 
 successfully conducted, it should be preceded by several class exer- 
 cises. Grafting wax should be prepared and several grafts made on 
 pieces of wood which are brought to the school room. Experiment 
 until the process is thoroughly understood. Before outside pruning 
 is done, several different shaped trees should be pruned in the school 
 room. Consult pictures of trees which are pruned properly and im- 
 properly. Experiment upon trees along the roadside. Experience 
 makes perfect. Plans for laying out the school grounds, home gar- 
 dens and crop rotations should be carefully worked out on paper. 
 Sketch hot beds, buildings, etc., according to scale. Treat seed grain 
 for smut, and potatoes for scab. Give exercises in selecting seed pota- 
 toes and cutting them for seed. In brief, make certain that the prin- 
 ciple is understood and that it can be applied. 
 
 Contests. 
 
 The contests mentioned below are for immediate use in the schools. 
 Boys' and Girls' Club Work and the many other contests extending 
 over long periods of time are not considered. Agricultural booklets, 
 debates, rope tying, accuracy in judging types of soil, different kinds 
 of wood and lumber, grading grain, stock judging, making drawings 
 of farms and farm buildings, obtaining agricultural data, etc., are 
 subjects for contests. Quickness in tying knots is interesting and 
 instructive. Write the Minnesota Agricultural College, St. Paul, 
 Minn., for Extension Bulletin No. 33, Eope Tying. The Iowa Agri- 
 cultural College, Ames, Iowa, has published a similar bulletin. 
 
 The Text-hook. 
 
 The textbook is simply a guide. It supplies supplementary data 
 to be used in making an intensive study of those phases of agriculture 
 which apply to local conditions. Cotton, rice, hemp and sugar cane 
 are not grown in this state and should receive but little attention. 
 Place little emphasis upon textbook assignments. Do not attempt to 
 
161 
 
 follow the order of subjects given in the text. Fall is the season to 
 study corn, ripening fruits, and vegetables. The winter season is 
 the time to study domestic animals and prepare for the spring work 
 on cereals. Naturally the soil and its preparation are closely related 
 to the successful production of farm crops. Soil study should, there- 
 fore, just precede cereals. A few subjects carefully studied are of 
 infinitely more value than a superficial study of many. 
 
 Home and Community Projects. 
 
 Practical instruction in agriculture finds its expression in the home 
 and community. In brief, it serves immediate ends. At the begin- 
 ning of the school year, each pupil should be required to choose one 
 or more projects as a part of his work in agriculture. Outlines of 
 these projects will be supplied by the Supervisor of Agriculture. 
 
 Bulletins. 
 
 In addition to the bulletins published by the West Virginia College 
 of Agriculture, the following bulletins published by the "United States 
 Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., are suitable for West 
 Virginia conditions : 
 
 Corn Nos. 229, 409, 414, 257, 253, and 415; wheat Nos. 250, 
 82, 118, 129, 165; oats Nos. 67, 97, 138 and Circular 88; legumesr 
 Nos. 339, 318, 315, 278, and 260; tobacco No<s. 82, 83, and 143; 
 cotton No. 36; potatoes Nos. 35, 149, 244, and 365; fertilizers 
 Nos. 44, 192, 222, and 225; orchards Nos. 87, 113, 154, 181, 198, 
 283, and 293; garden Nos. 54, 255, and 218; weeds Nos. 28, 86, 
 and 188; insects Nos. 99, 127, 155, 247, and 146; cattle Nos, 22, 
 63, .55, 106, 166, 141, 73, and 32; horses Nos. 170 and 179; hogs 
 Nos. 100, 183, 205, and 272; sheep Nos. 96 and 49; poultry Nos, 
 41, 51, 128, 141, 236, 287, 64, and 200; bees Nos. 47 and 59; birds 
 -No. 54; farm management Nos. 242, 280, 210, 62, 95, 126, and 
 
 155. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 All life, whether plant or animal, is dependent upon the soil. 
 Someone, has said that the prosperity of any nation depends directly 
 upon the fertility of its soil. We select this subject as one of the 
 first to be taught in the fall. Certain phases can more easily be 
 taught in the spring when farmers are more actively engaged in the 
 cultivation of the soil. 
 Teach: :, ;;i 
 
 1. The kinds of soil as sandy, clay, loam and limestone. 
 
162 
 
 2. How and from what each of these soils is derived. 
 
 3. Composition as to the different materials which are found in 
 a soil. 
 
 4. Uses of soil as (a) attachment for plants, (b) to supply plant 
 food, and moisture. 
 
 5. How certain soils are adapted to certain plants. 
 
 6. Water in the soil. Its function is (a) to dissolve materials in 
 the soil so that they can be taken up by the plant, (b) to furnish 
 water for the plant and carry the food where it is needed, (c) it helps 
 in chemical processes. 
 
 7. What makes a soil "heavy" or "light" ? 
 
 8. How soil may be improved by the use of manure, commercial 
 fertilizers, drainage, rotation of crops and growing leguminous 
 plants. 
 
 9. What is meant by tillage and the different kinds of tillage 
 such as general tillage, intertillage, shallow and deep tillage? 
 
 10. The purpose of tillage; (a) to loosen the soil particles, (b) 
 to conserve moisture, (c) to dry the soil by exposing it to the atmos- 
 phere, (d) to destroy weeds, (e) to bring plant food in touch with 
 the young roots, (f ) to form a suitable seed bed. 
 
 11. Tools used in tillage and the cost of each. 
 
 12. The value of good tools and the necessity of proper care. 
 Exercises: Ask the pupils to bring to the school room as many 
 
 different kinds of soils ,as can be obtained in the locality. Classify 
 them as stated above. Examine them as to their rock particles and 
 decayed vegetable matter. Tie a cloth over the upper end of a lamp 
 chimney; fill the chimney two-thirds full of one soil and pour in 
 some water. Note how long it takes for the water to reach the bot- 
 tom. Do the same with the different kinds of soil. Conclusion. 
 Show that, by filling a lamp chimney full of soil and setting it in a 
 basin of water, different soils will absorb different amounts of water. 
 Do the same with different soils. Measure in each case the amount 
 of water used. Plant seeds in the different kinds of soils and note 
 the growth of the young plants. Show that soil must have heat, 
 light, and moisture to produce growth. Test soils with litmus paper. 
 
 Farm Crops. 
 
 Corn. 
 Teach : 
 
 1. History. Corn was first found growing in America. Mexico 
 is probably its native home. The early settlers found it growing in 
 
various parts of North America. The Indians knew its value and 
 grew it extensively. 
 
 2. Classification. There are six races of corn dent, flint, pop, 
 sugar, soft, and pod. 
 
 3. Characteristics of each race. 
 
 4. The varieties best adapted to West Virginia. 
 
 5. Production. The United States produces about 2,500,000 
 bushels. The average yield is 24 bushels per acre. The corn states 
 are Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri. 
 
 6. Cultivation. Plowing, harrowing, planting, hoeing, and har- 
 vesting. 
 
 7. Selecting and testing seed corn. 
 
 8. Uses of corn (a) food for live stock, (b) human food, (c) 
 kinds of leaves, (d) flowers, (e) number of ears. 
 
 Exercises : Visit a corn field and note the number of ears on a 
 stalk. Select ears suitable for seed. Use West Virginia School Agri- 
 culture on Corn. Test kernels for germination. Judge corn accord- 
 ing to the following points: 
 
 1. Trueness to type 10 6. 
 
 2. Ear 35 
 
 a. Shape (10) 
 
 b. Length (10) 
 
 c. Circumference (5) 
 
 d. Weight (10) 
 
 3. Eows 10 
 
 a. Number 7. 
 
 b. Space between rows 
 
 c. Space between kernels 
 
 4. Butt 5 8. 
 
 a. Size as compared 
 
 with entire ear 
 
 b. How filled 
 
 5. Tip 5 
 
 a. Space between tip kernels 
 
 b. How filled 
 
 Kernel 15 
 
 a. Length 
 
 b. Shape 
 
 c. Dented or smooth 
 
 d. Uniformity 
 
 e. Number of kernels 
 
 f. Total weight 
 
 Color 10 
 
 a. Grain 
 
 b. Cob 
 
 Cob 10 
 
 a. Circumference 
 
 b. Rigidity 
 
 c. Weight 
 
 Total 100 
 
 Name of Pupil 
 
104 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Study wheat in the same way you studied corn. 
 Examination Card: 
 
 1. Variety. 
 
 2. Trueness to type. 
 
 3. Spike. 
 
 a. Bearded or smooth. 
 
 b. Length. 
 
 c. Shape. 
 
 d. Color. 
 
 e. Number of spikelets. 
 
 f. Arrangement of spikelets. 
 
 g. Number of fertile spikelets. 
 
 4. Kernel. 
 
 a. Texture. 
 
 b. Number of damaged kernels. 
 
 c. Weight of 100 kernels. 
 
 d. Germination test. 
 
 5. Stem. 
 
 a. Length. 
 
 b. ' Number of nodes. 
 
 c. Number of leaves. 
 
 6. Root system. 
 
 a. Kind. 
 
 b. Length. 
 
 c. Length determined by what? 
 Other cereals may be studied in the same way. 
 
 The Leguminous Plants. 
 
 The legumes include clover, alfalfa, soy beans, cow peas, velvet 
 beans and vetch. The most important of these are clover and alfalfa. 
 They are of great value to the farmers, as they enrich the soil by 
 depositing nitrogen therein. The value of alfalfa as a forage crop 
 cannot be overestimated. It has been demonstrated that a ton of 
 alfalfa hay contains as much food value as a ton of wheat bran ; also 
 that an acre of alfalfa will produce more digestible food than an 
 acre of any other farm crop, including shelled corn and corn silage. 
 The above facts are cited to illustrate the necessity of instruction 
 along the lines of alfalfa cultivation. The West Virginia Farm Bul- 
 letin, Vol. I, No. 4, will be sent to teachers upon application. 
 Teach: 
 
 1. The meaning of the terms leguminous, bacteria, nodules, and 
 ferment. 
 
165 
 
 
 
 2. The more important leguminous plants and their characteris- 
 tics. 
 
 3. The necessity of growing alfalfa in West Virginia, 
 
 a. Soil requirements. 
 
 b. Inoculation. 
 
 c. Seeding. 
 
 d. Cutting and curing alfalfa. 
 
 Exercises : Have the pupils bring to school plants showing nod- 
 ules. Study them as to size and shape. Explain that the nodules 
 contain bacteria which take the nitrogen from the air and through 
 a chemical change render it available as plant food. Discuss the 
 yeast bacteria, vinegar, sour milk, and cheese ferments. Plant seeds 
 in soil that has been inoculated and in soil that has not been inocu- 
 lated. Conclusions. 
 
 Farm Animals. 
 
 The farm animals cattle, sheep, hogs, horses and poultry should 
 be studied during the winter months. The following outline for 
 the study of cattle is suggestive for the study of the other farm 
 animals. 
 
 Cattle. 
 
 Classification. There are three classes : 
 
 a. Beef Shorthorn, Aberdeen Angus, Durham, Hereford and 
 
 Galloway. 
 
 b. Dairy Jersey, Guernsey, Holstein, Ayreshire and Brown 
 
 Swiss. 
 
 . c. Dual Purposes Devon, Eed Polled and Brown Swiss. 
 Characteristics of each : 
 
 a. Beef Animals. Such an animal should be well developed in 
 loin, back, thighs and rump. Smooth outlines, short, stout legs, with 
 a broad back. Fine hair, pliable skin and small bones. 
 
 b. Dairy Animals. The dairy cow has a large stomach, udder 
 is wide and full, milk veins large and branching. When looked at 
 from the front, the animal has a wedge shape. The hip bones are 
 prominent, neck small, head small, skin clear, hair fine and soft. 
 Such an animal must produce at least 250 pounds of butter per year. 
 
 c. Dual Purpose Animals. These animals are used for both beef 
 and dairy purposes. They should have some of the most marked char- 
 acteristics of the other two. For the small farm these are well 
 adapted. 
 
166 
 
 Topics for Study: Each of the above named beef, dairy and dual 
 purpose breeds should be taken up in the following manner: (a) 
 origin and history; (b) appearance; (c) adaptability to the state; 
 (d) milking and beef qualities; (e) other interesting points. Visit 
 a farm, if possible, where cattle may be judged according to the above 
 points. Milking, cleanliness about the barn, pails, churn, quantity 
 and quality of milk from different cows compared, should be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 Exercises: Make a special study of the dairy cow as outlined in 
 West Virginia School Agriculture, Vol. IV, No. 4, and the accom- 
 panying chart. Make an animal survey of the neighborhood. Out- 
 lines for this survey will be supplied by the Supervisor of Agricul- 
 ture. Have pupils figure out the cost of keeping and feeding a steer ; 
 the same in rearing a calf. Compute the profit in raising a hog. 
 Have pupils visit a hog-butchering and write compositions describing 
 what they saw. Have each pupil describe how milk and butter are 
 handled at home. Emphasize the necessity of keeping milk free from 
 bacteria. Test the milk in the community with the Babcock tester. 
 Judge several cows according to the following characteristics : 
 Parts. Points 
 
 1. Head Lean and long. Muzzle clean cut, mouth large, 
 
 eyes large and bright 4 
 
 2. Neck Fine, medium length and thin 2 
 
 3. Forequarters Withers, lean and thin; shoulders angu- 
 
 lar and oblique; legs short and straight; shank fine; 
 feet well placed 4 
 
 4. Chest Deep and thick, giving large lung capacity .... 10 
 
 5. Barrel Deep, wide, full, and medium long; ribs broad 
 
 and far apart; back straight and open jointed 14 
 
 6. Hind Quarters Rump long, wide and level; thighs thin 
 
 and roomy, hips wide apart, on level with back; legs 
 straight and short, and feet well placed 5 
 
 7. Udder and Milk Veins Udder large, full, wide, extend- 
 
 ing far front and back, covered with loose, pliable skin 
 
 and fine hair. Not fleshy 20 
 
 Teats convenient size, evenly placed and far apart ... 5 
 Milk veins large, branching, crooked and long, enter- 
 ing large and numerous milk wells 8 
 
 8. General Form Wedge shaped as viewed from front, 
 
 side and top, prominent joints and clean bones 10 
 
167 
 
 Quality Loose mellow skin, medium thickness, cov- 
 ered with fine soft hair 8 
 
 9. Symmetry and Beauty of Form Alert, powerful, vigor- 
 ous, not easily excitable 10 
 
 Total 100 
 
 Teacher's Corrections. 1 ; 2 ; 
 
 3 ; 4 ..; 5 ; 
 
 6 ; ? ; 8 ; 
 
 9 ; Total 
 
 Student ., 
 
 Date 
 
 Orchards. 
 
 Certain sections of the state are well adapted to fruit growing. In 
 these sections special emphasis should be placed upon this phase of 
 agriculture. Small fruits are adapted to all parts of the state. 
 Teach : 
 
 1. The location of the orchard as to soil, sunlight, and drainage. 
 
 2. Preparation of the soil. 
 
 3. Transplanting the young trees. 
 
 4. Management. 
 
 a. Cultivation. 
 
 b. Pruning. 
 
 c. Spraying. 
 
 d. Thinning, gathering, storing and marketing the fruit. 
 
 5. Care of bush fruits such as raspberry and blackberry. 
 
 Exercises: Prepare the Bordeaux mixture and lime-sulphur solu- 
 tion. Teach the children to recognize the common "garden and 
 orchard pests. Give demonstrations in spraying. Call for reports of 
 home orchards and their yields. Select apples suitable for market 
 purposes. See West Virginia Experiment Station Bulletin on Fruit 
 Growing. 
 
 Enemies of Plants. 
 
 All plant life is likely to be attacked by insects or diseases, which 
 will lessen the vitality of the plant, and in cases of fruit bearing 
 plants, the crop is likely to be completely destroyed. Children should 
 be able to recognize the common insect pests and fungus diseases 
 and know how to combat them. 
 
168 
 
 Study: 
 
 1. Insects. 
 
 a. Those that bite such as the potato beetle, cabbage 
 
 worm, etc. 
 
 b. Those that suck such as the chinch bug, plant lice, 
 
 squash bug, San Jose scale, etc. 
 
 2. Fungus diseases as potato scab, brown rot on peaches, rusts 
 
 on cereals. 
 
 3. Bacterial diseases as fire blight in pear and apple trees. 
 
 4. Study the remedies. 
 
 a. Fungicides Bordeaux mixture, lime-sulphur. 
 
 b. Eemedies for biting insects Paris green, arsenate of 
 
 lead. 
 
 c. Eemedies for sucking insects lime-sulphur, kerosene 
 
 emulsion, tobacco. 
 
 The College of Agriculture will supply bulletins which will be of 
 service in teaching the above subjects. 
 
 Farm Accounts and Records. 
 
 This subject can be taught as a part of practical bookkeeping. 
 Teach : 
 
 1. How to make a farm inventory. 
 
 2. A debit and credit record with each field or crop. 
 
 3. A debit and credit record of live stock. 
 
 4. A debit and credit record of the poultry. 
 
 5. How to keep a breeding record of animals. 
 
 6. The cost of insurance, taxes and depreciation in value of farm 
 
 equipment. 
 
 7. Cost of living on a farm. 
 
 8. Amount of capital needed. 
 
 Problems of Agriculture. 
 
 The following topics are given as supplementary to the regular 
 outline. They should receive attention from time to time, not as 
 assigned work, but as topics to be discussed between teacher and 
 pupils : How the farmer spends his time during the different months 
 of the year. The leading crops raised in the community. The suc- 
 cess of the farmer depends upon his education, liking for the work, 
 energy, economy, past experiences, use of improved methods, selling 
 at the right time, and planting what is demanded. What are some 
 of the improvements in farming? Compare farming today with 
 
169 
 
 that of twenty years ago. How can farm life be made more attract- 
 ive ? Compare farm life, under the present conditions, with the life 
 of an ordinary boy in the city. Do country boys and girls find life 
 in the city attractive ? Give a summary of all the advantages of life 
 in the country. Study West Virginia as one great farm, considering 
 its climate, soil, and methods of transportation in different parts of 
 the state. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 In the above outline only those phases of agriculture are ^selected 
 which apply to West Virginia conditions. It is most profitable to 
 study a few things in^ which the boy is interested and in which he 
 can secure definite results and relate all other work to these main 
 projects. Teachers who find that they hare time to study more than 
 is outlined above should consult the State Supervisor of Agricultural 
 Education for further assistance. 
 
GEOGRAPHY 
 
 GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 Statement. 
 
 The course in geography as here outlined is limited to the fourth, 
 fifth and sixth grades. If geography is properly taught in these 
 grades the fundamentals can be intelligently acquired within this 
 time. 
 
 In the seventh and eighth grades the geography will be taught only 
 in connection with other subjects, such as history, civics, and agri- 
 culture, the textbook being used as a reference book only. Example : 
 
 Suppose the history class is studying the Spanish-American War. 
 The pupils should turn to their geographies and fix in their minds 
 the location of the places mentioned in the history and review the 
 geography of the West Indies and Philippine Islands as to physical 
 conditions, occupations, customs, governments, etc. Or, suppose the 
 class in agriculture is studying wheat. It would be a good plan to 
 compare the wheat crop of the United States with the other wheat 
 producing countries of the world as to yield, methods of production, 
 cost of production, markets, etc. 
 
 The work in the first three grades has been provided for in con- 
 nection with nature study. 
 
 FOURTH GRADE. 
 
 OUTLINE (FIRST HALF YEAR). 
 Method and Purpose. 
 
 Method: No book is to be used. The knowledge in this grade is 
 to be gained from actual observations in the region of the home. 
 
 Purpose: To furnish the child through observation and experience 
 with such fundamental ideas as will help him to form correct notions 
 of the countries or regions which he has not seen. 
 
 It is expected that nature study in the lower grades will have 
 contributed to home geography so that certain sections of this por- 
 tion of the subject may be passed over rapidly. 
 
171 
 
 Seasons. 
 
 Observations: Beginning in September with the autumnal equi- 
 nox, a series of weekly or monthly observations should be started and 
 carried on through the year with the purpose of determining: 
 
 (1) Time of sunrise and sunset, with varying lengths of day and 
 night. 
 
 (2) The altitude of the sun at mid-day, or angle of sun's rays. 
 as shown by the length of shadow cast by a vertical post. 
 
 A record should be kept of these observations. Special care should 
 be taken to make accurate observations on the vernal and autumnal 
 equinoxes (March 21st and September 22nd), and the winter and 
 summer solstices (December 21st and June 22nd). 
 
 While making these observations, the directions, north, south, east 
 and west, should be taught. The expressions "up" for north and 
 "down" for south, should never be used. As the observations pro- 
 ceed, the pupil will see that the sun rises exactly in the east and sets- 
 exactly in the west only at the time of the equinoxes. He should 
 learn to think of north as the direction in which the shadow of a 
 vertical post falls at noon. 
 
 At the end of the school year these observations should be sum- 
 marized and a conclusion reached as to the cause of the change of 
 seasons. The pupil should be able to see that summer is warmer 
 than winter because the days are longer, the nights shorter, and the 
 sun's rays nearer vertical, and that change of season is due to the 
 changing length of day and night and the changing angle of the- 
 sun's rays. That vertical rays heat more than slanting rays will usu- 
 ally be demonstrated by a single day's observation of the difference 
 in temperature between sunrise and noon. The above explanation 
 of seasons is the only one that can be made in the child's experience 
 and the only one that should be attempted in this grade. The shape- 
 and motions of the earth should not be mentioned in this grade in 
 connection with the season, and the explanations which involve this- 
 use should be postponed until the advanced text is introduced. 
 
 Weather Observations. 
 
 Parallel with the above observations, a simple record of weather 
 observations should be kept. This should include the condition of 
 the sky, temperature, precipitation, direction of wind, etc., for each 
 day in the school year. 
 
173 
 
 The following table is suggestive: 
 
 Date. Sky. Temperature. Precipitation. Wind. 
 
 Sept. 20 Clear Warm 75 None S. E. 
 
 Sept. 21 Cloudy Cooler 60 Rain S. to S. W. 
 
 Sept. 22 Fair Cold 40 Light Frost N. W. 
 
 Remarks : 
 
 Under remarks, a record of many interesting phenomena may be 
 kept, such as first snow, first robin, wild geese flying north, first vio- 
 let, etc. 
 
 Aim to associate wind directions with condition of the sky, tem- 
 perature, moisture and rainfall, and to determine what winds give 
 us clearest skies and coolest weather; or warmer temperature, cloudy 
 skies and rain, or our heavy snow storms. The explanation of all 
 this will come in the later grades. 
 
 Note: See "First Notions of Geography" D. C. Heath & Com- 
 pany, New York, for valuable suggestions and directions for weather 
 observations and the seasons. 
 
 The Surface of Land. 
 
 These are to be studied through field trips and excursions. 
 
 The teacher should plan each trip in advance. Several recitations 
 may be based upon one field trip or excursion. 
 
 Note: See McMurr/s "Special Method, in Geography," for sug- 
 gestions on field trips and excursions, etc. 
 
 Study the slopes between the school house and the pupils' homes. 
 Have the children decide which is easiest to travel over. Hence the 
 relation of slopes to roads. 
 
 Study the view to be seen from the schoolhouse windows, or in the 
 nearest playground or field. Emphasize irregularity of surface. 
 
 Learn the names of the local features. Give terms like hill, plain, 
 valley, gully, gorge or canyon, divide, alluvial fan, after the form 
 has been studied. 
 
 Show as fully as possible how people depend upon slopes. 
 
 Study the location of towns with reference to slopes. Pick out cer- 
 tain buildings and study their location, as the church on a hill, a 
 store where roads meet. 
 
 Study distribution of trees and note the relation of occupations 
 to slopes in local landscapes. 
 
 As far as possible, give illustrations of variety of forms from your 
 home state by means of photographs to be found in railroad time 
 tables and folders. 
 
173 
 
 Show views from other illustrations to bring out the point that 
 similar forms are found in other distant regions. 
 
 Have the children summarize the local landscape features by 
 means of definitions made by themselves. 
 
 The Water on the Surface of the Land. 
 
 Xote the necessity of water for plants,, animals and people. 
 
 Tell how drinking water is obtained in your home locality. Ex- 
 plain wells, or springs, or city water supply. 
 
 Study the water of a stream and note the sediment contained. Dis- 
 cuss the origin of sediment. 
 
 Follow changes of surface form due to running water; study a 
 local valley as to width, depth, quality of slope ; study the rapidity of 
 flow on different slopes and note falls, rapids, and lakes, if any are 
 to be seen in the neighborhood. 
 
 Study parts of a stream and develop definitions associated with 
 local water courses and valleys. 
 
 Study uses of water in commerce, manufacturing, and irrigation. 
 
 The Soils. 
 
 Observe the weathering of rocks, the crumbling banks, the rusting 
 of tools to show how rocks decay and form soil. 
 
 Have a box of soil in the room and study its fineness, color, feel- 
 ing and the way it takes up water. 
 
 Test different kinds of soil by having the children plant seeds and 
 compare results. 
 
 If possible, study a soil section out of doors. Notice the layers 
 of soil and subsoil in excavations and railway cuts. 
 
 Show how soil is necessary to plants and study effects of running 
 water on soils. 
 
 Discuss means of retaining the soil on slopes. 
 
 Occupations. 
 
 Find out the leading industries of the locality, their location and 
 importance. 
 
 Study the need of division of labor in families and communities. 
 
 Have the pupils work out the number of different occupations that 
 contribute to their needs. 
 
 Illustrate agriculture by window gardening or school plots. 
 
 Make a study of the various crops raised in the neighborhood, the 
 soil upon which they grow, the manner of harvesting these crops, and 
 the uses to which they are put. 
 
174 
 
 Illustrate grazing by observation of cattle, sheep or horses. 
 
 What lands are suitable for grazing and the best grasses for this 
 purpose. 
 
 Study manufacturing in any factory to be found in the neighbor- 
 hood. The grist mill, saw mill, creamery, brick yard, and foundry, 
 are typical in that the manufacturing plant is stationary and the 
 raw material must be transported to the power or the factory. 
 
 Lead the pupils to see that the conditions necessary for manufac- 
 turing are: 
 
 (a) Power, such as water power, steam, gasoline and electricity. 
 
 (b) Raw material. 
 
 (c) Food supply for employees. 
 
 (d) Labor. 
 
 (e) Commercial facilities, wagons, freight cars or vessels which 
 'bring raw material to the factory and take away the manufactured 
 product. 
 
 Bring out the advantage of money as representing wealth and 
 -as an aid to commerce. 
 
 Transportation and Commerce. 
 
 Study local trade. 
 
 Lead the pupils to see that commerce grows out of diversity of 
 needs which in turn grows largely out of diversity of occupations. 
 
 Show how transportation involves distance and direction. 
 
 Have the pupils prepare lists of raw materials and manufactured 
 .articles exported from and imported into the neighborhood. 
 
 Have pupils find out the kind of plows, buggies, binders, sewing 
 machines, and other articles of farm and household use, and where 
 they are made. In this way the connection may be made between 
 the home section and distant sections. 
 
 Study means of transportation and the effect of good roads as an 
 ;aid to commerce and happier living. 
 
 Products of the World Brought to us Through Commerce. 
 
 Have the children make lists of food products used by them that 
 come from a distance. 
 
 Tell the children stories about some of the distant regions of the 
 earth that supply them with necessities, such as coffee from Brazil, 
 tea from China and Japan, rubber from the Amazon valley. 
 
 Rice, bananas, coffee, cocoa, valuable woods, rubber, and quinine 
 will show the relation of home locality to southern North America 
 and northern South America. 
 
175 
 
 Hides and meat products will illustrate our relation to southern 
 South America; furs the colder parts of North America and Eurasia; 
 olives, olive oil, cheese, embroidery, and linen from Europe; silt, 
 spices, pepper, tea and rugs from Asia; ivory and diamonds from 
 Africa; and wool from Australia will show the relations to these 
 countries. 
 
 Select the products the children have seen or heard about. Make 
 a brief study of the lives of the people, of climate and of plant and 
 animal life in each region considered. 
 
 Compare with home locality. 
 
 The pupils have found that the home region is dependent upon, 
 and contributes to, many other regions in furnishing man with food, 
 clothing and shelter. It is because of this mutual dependence that 
 these distant regions should be known. 
 
 On a globe have the children locate distant places which they have 
 heard about and compare in distance and direction with home 
 locality. 
 
 Note: Follow the manual as the topics are presented, organize it, 
 make your observations with the pupils, and have them draw their 
 conclusions. 
 
 Maps and Mapping. 
 
 The ability to read and use a map is of permanent value to the 
 pupil. A map is not a picture. The features presented on a map 
 are represented by means of symbols which often have no resemblance 
 to the features, themselves. The map work in this grade should make 
 the child familiar 
 
 (1) With the things and geographical features themselves. 
 
 (2) With the use of symbols by which these features are repre- 
 sented upon maps. The pupil should not be required to use a symbol 
 in mapping until he has become familiar through observation, ex- 
 perience or pictures, with the thing symbolized. 
 
 The first maps made by the child should be of things and places 
 so familiar to him that neither time nor attention need be spent 
 upon the things themselves but upon the idea of representing them by 
 symbols. A map or plan of the school room and the school yard 
 should first be drawn. From the first let the maps be drawn to a 
 scale a half or quarter of an inch on the paper representing a foot, 
 yard, or rod on the region mapped. As the observation work is ex- 
 tended so as to include streams, valleys, hills, alluvial fans, etc., the 
 mapping of these various features should be extended until -the child 
 is familiar not only with the region and its map, but with the general 
 
176 
 
 idea of mapping. The idea of direction should be introduced early. 
 Maps drawn in this grade should always contain some symbol to 
 iridicate directions, such as an arrow which points north, or some 
 other symbol. It is not necessary to have pupils make maps with 
 north at the top, but it is necessary that north be indicated by some 
 symbol, so that the pupil may early acquire the habit of looking for 
 the direction symbols on every map. 
 
 When desirable use colors to distinguish features on the map. 
 
 References for Comparative Home Geography. 
 
 1. Big People and Little People of Other Lands Shaw. Ameri- 
 can Book Co. 30 cents. 
 
 2. Children of the Cold Schwatka. Ed. Pub. Co. 50 cents. 
 
 3. Children of the Palm Land Allen. Ed. Pub. Co. 50 cents. 
 
 4. Each and All Andrews. Ginn & Co. ' 50 cents. 
 
 5. Northern Europe. Ginn & Co. 30 cents. 
 
 6. Seven Little Sisters Andrews. Ginn & Co. 50 cents, 
 
 7. Strange Lands Near Home. Ginn & Co. 30 cents. 
 
 8. The Wide World. Ginn & Co. 30 cents. 
 
 9. Toward the Eising Sun. Ginn & Co. 30 cents. 
 
 10. Under Sunny Skies. Ginn & Co. 30 cents. 
 
 11. The Little Folks of Other Lands Chaplin. Lathrop Pub. Co. 
 60 cents. 
 
 12. Excursions and Lessons in Home Geography McMurry. 
 Macmillan. 50 cents. (For Teachers.) 
 
 13. How We Are Clothed Chamberlain. Macmillan. 40 cents. 
 
 14. How We Are Fed Chamberlain. Macmillan. 40 cents. 
 
 15. Around the World, Geographical Headers, 3 Vol. Silver, 
 Burdett & Co. 
 
 16. The Snow Baby Peary. F. A. Stokes & Co. $1.20. 
 
 17. Home Life in All Lands Morris. Lippincott. $1.50. 
 
 18. Fairbank's Home Geography. Ed. Pub. Co. $1.00. 
 
 19. How We Are Sheltered. Macmillan Co. 45 cents. 
 
 (SECOND HALF YEAR). 
 General Geography. 
 
 I. Globe study, three weeks. (General directions for carrying- 
 on this work given below.) 
 
 II. Transition from globe to map. 
 
 III. Elementary textbook taken up and completed to page 98. 
 
177 
 
 IV. Regional study of North America and the United States. 
 I. Globe study. 
 
 (1) Form and size of the earth. 
 
 By enlarging the conception given by the globe, try to give some 
 idea of the immense ball on which we live, how it is composed of 
 rock, mantled over with loose material and soil of varying depth ; that 
 immense depressions are filled with water forming oceans and sepa- 
 rating the larger land masses or continents. Instead of having diam- 
 eter and circumference committed to memory as such, let them be 
 used as data for simple problems, such as "How long would it take a 
 man to travel around the earth on the equator, traveling at an aver- 
 age rate of ten miles an hour?" At best the globe must stand as a 
 symbol for ideas and facts too large for the comprehension of the 
 child. 
 
 (2) Motions of the earth. 
 
 (a) Revolution around the sun. Little can be done to make 
 this motion mean much to the child because he cannot experience it. 
 He may learn that it is the time required to make one such revolu- 
 tion that determines the length of one year. This revolution is only 
 one of four or five factors which, combined, produce seasons. Review 
 the observations on seasons made in the first half year and the 
 conclusions thus reached. 
 
 (b) Rotation and some of its consequences. 
 
 (c) Succession of day and night. 
 
 (d) Directions, north, south, east and west, are due to rotation. 
 North is toward the north pole. The north pole is one end of the 
 axis, and the axis is due to rotation. Do not use the expressions "up" 
 and "down" for north and south. 
 
 (e) Show how directions are indicated on the globe by meridians 
 and parallels; the former run north and south, the latter run east 
 and west. Give much drill in using these direction symbols. 
 
 (f) Locations of places on the earth. Show how meridians are 
 numbered east and west from a given prime meridian, and the par- 
 allels north and south from the equator, and how from numbers on 
 the lines which intersect at a given place it is possible to tell the 
 location of places on the globe. Give abundant drill in thus locat- 
 ing places until the child can readily tell the approximate latitude 
 and longitude of any point on the globe. 
 
 (3) Distribution of land and water, continents and oceans. 
 
 (a) Positions of continents on the globe, their direction from 
 
178 
 
 each other, the bounding and intervening oceans. Explain these great 
 land and water bodies to the child before introducing their symbols. 
 The idea should always come before its symbol. 
 
 (b) General shape and form of continents, with a few of the most 
 important capes, peninsulas, islands, seas, gulfs and bays. 
 
 (c) Relative size of continents as estimated from globe. 
 
 Note: For this work, an eighteen inch globe is almost a neces- 
 sity. One of the best is the pendant globe, sold by me Caxton Com- 
 pany, of Chicago. 
 
 (4) Climatic conditions 011 the earth. 
 
 Review what the pupils learned in the First Half Year as to the 
 relation of high sun and low sun to the warm temperatures of sum- 
 mer and the cold, ones of winter. Let the teacher go in imagination 
 with the class to the equator, and tell them where the sun rises and 
 sets and where it is at noon at various times during the year, empha- 
 sizing the steep rays which always fall at that parallel, so that the 
 pupils from their own experience with steep rays and a high sun 
 ought to infer the hot temperature of this region. Then go with them 
 to the "Land of the Midnight Sun," with its slanting rays and low 
 sun and let them infer the conditions of temperature there. Locate 
 the doldrum belt near the equator with its hot, moist climate, with 
 its daily rains. Contrast with this rainy belt the hot dry regions on 
 either side, over which the trade winds blow making such deserts as 
 the Sahara, Kalahara and the one in Australia. Now contrast with 
 the uniformly hot dry climate of the deserts or the uniformly hot and 
 moist climate of the doldrum belt, the variable weather of the tem- 
 perate zone as it has been observed by the child. 
 
 II. Transition from globe to map. 
 
 The pupils should have become so familiar with the globe that 
 ^hey are able 
 
 (a) To locate any place in approximately its correct latitude and 
 'longitude. 
 
 (b) To tell directions on the globe. 
 
 (c) To know at a glance the names of the Tarious continents 
 irom their shape and outline. 
 
 It now becomes necessary to represent Tarious features of sur- 
 face and drainage, etc., with greater detail than can be done on the 
 globe, so that the map must be introduced. In order that the pupils 
 do not form wrong conceptions, owing to the flat surface upon which 
 
179 
 
 a map is made, the use of the sand table is recommended. Here the 
 relief form may be represented and the concept transferred to the 
 map. When the pupil knows the meaning of all the various symbols, 
 can tell direction on the map, locate places when their latitude and 
 longitude are given, and knows how to use the scale, he is then pre- 
 pared to read and study the map. 
 
 The use of the map. In studying a region, there is much informa- 
 tion concerning position, form and boundries, size, surface and drain- 
 age that can be much better read from the map than it can be from the 
 text. This work should be done in the class and from good wall maps 
 that show the physical features of the region studied. The work of 
 map reading should be done at first under the direction and question- 
 ing of the teacher. Organize your class into an imaginary exploring 
 party, and as you sail in imagination up the Mississippi, Amazon or 
 Xile, tell them by word and picture of the wonderful sights that would 
 greet their eyes were they really sailing up those rivers. Make the 
 symbols on the map speak of real rivers, mountains and plains. 
 When the map has told all it can in this way, let the pupils read 
 what the text has to say. What it does say will mean something 
 because they are prepared to understand it. 
 
 The atlas habit. It is suggested that the teacher start tfte pupils of 
 this age in the formation of right habits. Whenever, tn the prepara- 
 tion of a reading, history or geography lesson, the pupils read of a city, 
 river, mountain or other geographical feature, the teacher should in- 
 sist that he stop and look up in his atlas the location of the place. 
 Places located in this way have something with which they can be 
 associated and will be remembered the longer because of this associa- 
 tion. 
 
 Map drawing. Map drawing is a means to an end, and this end is 
 the better understanding of the position, form, size, surface, drainage, 
 etc., of the regions studied. The sand table should be used only as a 
 means of expression by the child, as a means of teaching new ideas. 
 If the child has studied at first hand some gully or valley, the repro- 
 duction of his conception of it is an excellent means of fixing the 
 concept in his mind. 
 
 III. Eegional Geography, see II above. 
 
 Outline for Continental Study of North America. 
 I. Position. Consult and locate on globe. 
 
 1. In zones, pp. 24, 25. 
 
 2. In hemispheres, p. 25. 
 
180 
 
 3. In relation to bordering waters, p. 41. 
 
 4. In relation to other continents, p. 20. 
 
 II. Form. 
 
 1. General: Roughly triangular, pp. 40, 41. 
 
 2. Actual, determined by: 
 
 (a) Its more important indentations, pp. 40, 41, 43. 
 
 (b) Its more important prolongations, pp. 40, 41, 43. 
 
 III. Size. 
 
 1. As compared with other continents. This should be done 
 only approximately. No area in square miles is to be given. 
 
 2. As shown by the fact that North America stretches entirely 
 across the temperate zone and reaches into the Frigid zone of the 
 north and the Torrid zone of the south. 
 
 3. How long would it take to journey in various directions 
 across it at different rates? Give problems to be solved. 
 
 IV. Relief. (Data to be secured largely from map.) 
 
 1. Highlands : 
 
 Rocky Mountain highlands, pp. 40, 41, 43. 
 Appalachian highlands, pp. 40, 41, 43. 
 
 2. Lowlands : 
 
 Plains : 
 
 The Great Central plain, pp. 40, 41, 43. 
 The Atlantic Coastal plain, pp. 40, 41, 43. 
 The Gulf Coastal plain, pp. 40, 41, 43. 
 
 V. Drainage. 
 
 Gulf drainage. ppV 40, 41, 43. 
 Atlantic drainage, pp. 40, 41, 43. 
 Pacific drainage, pp. 40, 41, 43. 
 
 VI. Distribution of people : Where dense, where sparse, as deter- 
 
 mined by the occupations of the people and the food pro- 
 ducing capacity of the various sections. Supplement text. 
 
 VII. Political divisions, p. 43. 
 
 1. United States and Alaska. 
 
 2. Dominion of Canada. 
 
 3. Mexico. 
 
 4. Central America. 
 
 The order of topics in the study of North America is followed in 
 the study of the United States as a whole. VIII (Relief), IX 
 
181 
 
 (Drainage), X (Climate), and XI (Possibilities of Occupation), are 
 to be treated with greater fullness because of their greater impor- 
 tance. It is the large general truths of relief, climate, natural re- 
 sources and industry which are wanted, not isolated evidences of 
 geographical relationships. 
 
 VIII. Eelief: 
 
 1. This includes a study of the differences in character, eleva- 
 tions and extent between the two great highland masses. In this 
 connection the chief ranges should be named, located and character- 
 ized. 
 
 IX. Drainage. 
 
 Chief drainage lines and their relation to the relief forms. Drill 
 most upon the streams which are commercially important. 
 
 X. Climate. 
 
 Show the position of the United States on the globe. It will be 
 seen that the northern part is near the Frigid zone. Locate the' home 
 state and the city or village nearest to the school. Have the chil- 
 dren recall the usual weather conditions during the summer and 
 winter in their own home region. Show pictures of southern scenes 
 and let the children tell how the northern and southern seasons dif- 
 fer. The children, through their nature study should be familiar 
 with the processes of evaporation and Condensation of moisture. : 
 
 Explain how moisture evaporates over the sea and is borne into 
 the interior to be condensed and fall as rain over the land. Show 
 upon maps the distribution of rainfall in the United States. Have 
 pupils locate on wall maps regions of 
 
 1. Abundant rainfall: 
 
 (a) Where the rain is well distributed and where the tem- 
 perature is warm enough to produce abundant vegetation, and 
 
 (b) Where the rain is abundant in amount and in a warm 
 region, but where not well distributed, resulting in arid or semi-arid 
 wastes, and 
 
 (c) Where the rain is abundant; but in cold regions, result- 
 ing in snow. 
 
 2. Medium rainfall, enough so that crops will grow. 
 
 3. Slight rainfall, result, deserts. 
 
 XI. Possibilities of occupation. 
 
 As a result of the relief, temperature and rainfall, it will be found 
 that certain parts of the United States are suited to certain indus- 
 
tries, so that it is possible to divide the states into groups in which 
 the same industries are carried on. In this way locate: 
 
 1. The chief agricultural and grazing sections and their chief 
 productions. 
 
 2. The mining regions and the most important minerals. 
 
 3. The lumbering regions and the most important trees. 
 
 4. The manufacturing regions. 
 
 5. The fishing grounds and the chief catches. 
 
 XII. States. 
 
 Give the pupils an idea of what is meant by a state; point out 
 physical regions and state groups and have them identify these groups 
 by their leading industries. 
 
 Only a few of the leading industrial and commercial cities should 
 be studied, and these should be closely identified with the industrial 
 region in which they are situated and with their leading productions. 
 
 Alaska should be considered with the United States. 
 
 FIFTH GRADE. 
 (First Half Year) . 
 
 The first half of the year should be spent upon the following coun- 
 tries : 
 
 South America. 
 
 Europe. 
 
 Asia. 
 
 Africa. 
 
 Australia. 
 
 The chief points to be covered are : 
 
 1. Position. 
 
 2. Form. 
 
 3. Size. 
 
 4. Eelief. 
 
 5. Drainage. 
 
 6. Climate. 
 
 7. Occupations and industrial regions. 
 
 8. Centers of population and chief cities. 
 
 Simplify the work. Confine the work to the study of geography. 
 Do not go into too many details. 
 
 (Second Half Year.) 
 
 West Virginia and the first 60 pages of Frye's Higher Geography. 
 The study of the state should be thorough. It is more easily com- 
 
183 
 
 prehended, both physically and industrially, than more distant coun- 
 tries; even more so than distant parts of the United States. 
 
 Outline for West Virginia. 
 
 I. Position. 
 
 II. Form. 
 
 III. Size as indicated by (1) the latitude, (2) distance by scale 
 of miles east and west, north and south, (3) area as compared with 
 other states. 
 
 IV. Belief: 
 
 1. The Alleghany mountains. 
 
 2. The Plateau section. 
 
 3. The rounded hills. 
 
 Draw map of state to simple scale showing these regions. 
 
 V. Drainage : The sources of rivers, their courses and directions. 
 
 1. The Potomac system. 
 
 2. The Ohio system. 
 
 VI. Climate. j 
 
 VII. Soils : Uplands, and flood plains. 
 
 VIII. Vegetation. 
 
 1. The forests and the lumber and paper industries. 
 
 2. The general diversified agriculture of the state. j 
 
 3. The grazing regions and the cattle industry. j 
 
 4. The market gardening and truck raising regions. 
 
 IX. Animal Life. 
 
 X. Mineral wealth and mining industries. 
 XL Manufacturing. 
 
 XII. Distribution of population. | 
 
 XIII. Transportation and trade routes. 
 
 First 60 pages of Frye's Higher Geography. 
 
 If the work has been well done in the fourth grade, the first 60 
 pages can be quickly covered. It will be mostly a review with mo-re 
 intensive work on seasons, winds and rainfall, land forms, and physi- 
 cal conditions. 
 
184 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 
 South America, Europe, North America, the United States and 
 West Virginia, should have been studied in the order mentioned, with 
 special reference to their great industries and the physical and social 
 conditions influencing them. 
 
 Colonies, no matter where located, if important enough to be noted, 
 are to be studied in connection with the mother country. The com- 
 .mercial relations existing between the home countries and their sev- 
 eral colonies are to be emphasized. 
 
 Begin text on page 137. After the study of South America and 
 Europe as indicated above, return to page 61 and make an intensive 
 study of the United States and West Virginia. 
 
 Note the Special Topics given below for development and compari- 
 son with like conditions in other lands. These topics should lead to 
 general truths. These topics will furnish material for reveiws of 
 other places on the globe, and should be studied in connection with 
 the geography of the United States. 
 
 The outlines below are suggestive, but the teacher should empha- 
 size the topics from VII-XV rather than those from I-VI. 
 
 I. Position. 
 
 (1) Relative. 
 
 (2) Absolute. 
 
 II. Form.. 
 
 (1) Relative. 
 
 (2) Actual. ; . 
 
 (a)' As shown by map. 
 
 (b) Indentations. 
 
 (c) Prolongations. 
 
 (3) Continental shelf. 
 
 III. Size. 
 
 (1) Relative. 
 
 (a) Compared with other continents. 
 
 (b) In relation to oceans. 
 
 (c) What part of the whole earth. 
 
 (2) Actual. 
 
 (a) Extreme breadth and length of time it takes to make 
 
 the journey. 
 
 (b) Number of square miles. 
 
185 
 
 IV. Eelief. (Data secured largely from map.) 
 
 (1) Highlands including plateaus. 
 
 (a) Position. 
 
 (b) Extent. 
 
 (c) Elevation. 
 
 (d) General character. 
 
 Broken with numerous passes, or 
 Continuous, with few peaks or passes. 
 Structure, mountain folds, or blocks, 
 Chief passes. 
 
 (e) Arrangement : 
 
 Parallel ranges. 
 Cross ranges. 
 
 (2) Eelations of the highlands to the great continental slopes, 
 
 great drainage systems, interior basins and the nature 
 of coast lines. 
 
 (3) Lowlands. 
 
 (a) Position. 
 
 (b) Extent. 
 
 (c) Structure. 
 
 (d) Kinds: 
 
 Rolling plains. 
 Coast plains. 
 Flood plains. 
 Delta plains. 
 
 V. Climate. 
 
 (1) As indicated by angle of sun's rays or latitude. 
 
 (2) As modified by elevation. 
 
 (3) As influenced by winds from ocean. 
 
 (4) As shown by isothermal map. 
 
 VI. Rainfall: 
 
 (1) Region of moderate and heavy rainfall. 
 
 (2) Influence of highlands upon winds and rainfall. 
 
 (3) Location of rainless areas and reason therefor. 
 
 VII. Drainage : 
 
 (1) Chief rivers and their relation to the land forms which 
 
 they have been instrumental in creating. 
 
 (2) Lakes: 
 
 (a) Fresh water lakes. 
 
 (b) Salt water lakes. 
 
186 
 
 VIII. Soil: 
 
 (1) That which has been formed in place. 
 
 (2) That which has been transported. 
 
 IX. Zones of vegetation, as dependent upon 
 
 (1) Temperature, as determined by latitude, altitude, proxim- 
 
 ity to water, and influence of ocean currents. 
 
 (2) Rainfall. 
 
 (3) Character of the soil. 
 
 X. Zones of waste, as dependent upon 
 
 (1) Lack of moisture. 
 
 (2) Altitude. 
 
 (3) Latitude. 
 
 (4) Too much moisture. 
 
 (a) Swamp. 
 
 (b) Jungle. 
 
 (c) Bad lands. 
 
 (5) Poor soil. 
 
 XL Distribution of animal life. 
 
 XII. Distribution of mineral resources. 
 
 XIII. Distribution of population, as dependent upon possibilities 
 of occupation, resources, supply and demand and commercial advan- 
 tages. 
 
 XIV. Development and location of centers of population as show- 
 ing the needs of the people for commercial centers, manufacturing 
 centers, and government centers. 
 
 XV. Development of commercial and trade routes, resulting from 
 the effort to obtain the products and the patronage of the other peo- 
 ples of the world. 
 
 Harbors. 
 Eiver systems. 
 Railways. 
 
 XVI. Political divisions and government. 
 
 Special Topics. 
 
 Special topics suitable for development and comparison with like- 
 conditions in other lands. These topics should lead to general truths. 
 They will furnish material for reviews of other places on the globe* 
 
187 
 
 They should be studied in connection with the geography of the 
 
 United States. 
 
 I. Northeastern Section and North Central Section. 
 
 1. In a cotton factory at Lowell, Mass. 
 
 2. The arsenal and gun factory at Springfield. 
 
 3. The woolen factories at Fall Eiver. 
 
 4. Watches and watch makers at Waltham. 
 
 5. In a shoe factory at 'Lynn. 
 
 6. The granite quarries of New Hampshire. 
 
 7. Among the light houses along the coast. 
 
 8. New York harbor and Ellis Island; landing of immigrants. 
 
 9. Garden farming in New Jersey. 
 
 10. In a West Virginia coal mine. 
 
 11. A blast furnace at Pittsburg. 
 
 12. The oil fields of West Virginia. 
 
 13. The peach orchards of West Virginia, Maryland and Dela- 
 
 ware. 
 
 14. The oyster beds of the Chesapeake. 
 
 15. Tobacco culture of Virginia and Kentucky. 
 
 16. The hard and soft woods of West Virginia. 
 
 17. The prairies of Illinois. 
 
 18. Chicago as a trade center. (McMurry, pp. 63-73.) 
 
 19. Pineries of Michigan. (McMurry, pp. 73-85.) 
 
 20. Copper mines of Michigan and lead mines of Wisconsin. 
 
 21. The wheat fields of Minnesota and the Dakotas. 
 
 22. The flouring mills of Minneapolis. 
 
 23. The corn and live stock of Indiana. 
 
 II. Southern Section. 
 
 1. The rice fields of the Carolinas. 
 
 2. Semi-tropical fruits of Florida. 
 
 3. Cotton culture in Georgia and Mississippi. 
 
 4. The levee at New Orleans. 
 
 5. A sugar plantation in Louisiana. 
 
 6. A cattle ranch in Texas. 
 
 III. Plateau Section*. 
 
 1. Farming by irrigation. 
 
 2. A mining camp in Colorado. 
 
 3. Gold and silver smelting at Denver. 
 
 4. A trip to Yellowstone Park. 
 
188 
 
 5. Fruits and flowers of California. 
 
 6. Salmon fishing on the Columbia river. 
 
 Encourage home reading. The school library should have a num- 
 ber of supplementary readers, geographies and aids to the study of 
 this subject. 
 Books suitable for the use of students: 
 
 Brigham From Trail to Railway. 
 
 Carpenter Europe. 
 
 Carpenter How the World is Fed. 
 
 Carpenter How the World is Clothed. 
 
 Chamberlain How We Are Clothed. 
 
 Chamberlain How We Are Sheltered. 
 
 Books for the Teacher : 
 
 Roschelau Great American Industries. 
 
 McMurry Special Method in Geography. 
 
 Mill Choice of Geographic Books for Reference. 
 
 Nichols Topics in Geography. 
 Geographic Journals: 
 
 The Journal of Geography. 
 
 The Bulletin of the American Geographical Society. 
 
 The National Geographic Magazine. 
 
UNITED STATES HISTORY 
 
 GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 Material, Purpose and Method. 
 
 All the material used in the lower grades, whether classed under the 
 head of literature or history, should tend to develop in children an 
 interest in men and their achievements, either real or fictitious. 
 
 The material used in the grades below the fifth should include : 
 
 (1) Folk stories, fables, fairy tales and nature myths. 
 
 (2) Stories of the Indians, Eskimos, and Northmen. 
 
 (3) Facts in local history. 
 
 (4) Essential facts concerning holidays and anniversaries. 
 
 (5) Patriotic songs and poems. 
 
 If this material is presented to the children in the right way the 
 following results should be attained: The pupils will acquire the 
 power to imagine events in the past ; they will appreciate heroic char- 
 acters and noble deeds; they will gain a knowledge concerning some 
 of the simpler facts of American history, particularly as related to 
 places of local interest. 
 
 If these results are to be secured care must be exercised in the 
 method of treatment and presentation. Story telling by the teacher 
 is an excellent method of presenting history to young children. In 
 fact, it is the only satisfactory method of presenting stories to chil- 
 dren. Therefore, the teacher, if he does not already possess it, should 
 acquire the art of telling stories. "He must acquire skill in making 
 facts and situations vivid to children." That is, he must arouse and 
 cultivate their imagination so that they will construct mental pic- 
 tures that approximate the distinctness of reality. 
 
 "The previous knowledge of children, their home experiences, as 
 well as facts remembered from books, must be called out in the devel- 
 opment of the topic or story under discussion/ 3 That means, of 
 course, that the teacher must keep within the experience of the child 
 even in such simple work as story telling. 
 
 By the time the children reach the third and fourth grades oral 
 and written reproduction may be required of them, leading to com- 
 plete stories. These exercises, if conducted properly, will provide 
 excellent drill in oral and written language. 
 
190 
 SECOND GRADE. 
 
 Indian Life provides excellent material for children in this grade. 
 It is the time in the life of the child when he is most interested in 
 the subject and if he is taught properly he will acquire much infor- 
 mation which will prove helpful when a more serious study of the 
 subject is taken up later in the course. 
 
 Stories suitable for this grade will be found in (1) Pratt's Legends 
 of Red Children; (2) Husted's Story of Indian Children; (3) Hus- 
 ted's Story of Indian Chieftains; (4) Burton's The Story of the 
 Indians of New England. 
 
 In connection with Thanksgiving day the story of the Mayflower 
 and the Pilgrims would be interesting. Study : The Landing of the 
 Pilgrims ; Story of the Mayflower ; Plymouth Rock ; the First Thanks- 
 giving Day ; Miles Standish ; Samoset and Squanto ; the First Winter. 
 
 References : 
 
 Tiffany: Pilgrims and Puritans. Pratt: Colonial Children. 
 Lane and Hill : American History in Literature. 
 
 Later in the year birthdays of great men may be celebrated. Since 
 Washington is one of the first men in which the children become in- 
 terested, his life may be studied in this year. Suitable material may 
 be found in any of the following: Pratt: American Stories for 
 American Children. A First Book in American History, by Eggles- 
 ton. Hart: Colonial Children. 
 
 During the latter part of the year local events may be studied. In 
 every community there are some things of interest which will appeal 
 to the children. Such things as naming the district, the first set- 
 tlements in the community, local railroad, the town, the school house, 
 and the church. 
 
 THIRD GRADE. 
 
 Continue the work begun in the second year; that is, make a more 
 extensive study of the life of the Indians, of great men and women, 
 great events in the making of our country, which are within the com- 
 prehension of the children; the early history of the neighborhood 
 should receive some attention in this grade. 
 
 Material suitable for this work may be found in such books as: 
 Stories of Pioneer Life, Florence Bass; Great Americans for Little 
 Americans, Eggleston. (See reference in Grade Two for material 
 on Indians and Indian Life.) 
 
191 
 FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADES. 
 
 The work in these grades should include, in addition to that 
 suggested for the third grade stories of great discoverers, explorers, 
 inventors, and other persons distinguished in American history. The 
 pupils are now able to read stories for themselves, and should be en- 
 couraged to do so. Although the teacher should continue to tell and 
 to read stories to the children. 
 
 In these grades the scope of treatment should be enlarged, especially 
 as to local history and holidays. Also, a more detailed study should 
 be made of great men and women in history. 
 
 The following books will furnish excellent material for study in 
 these grades : American History for American Children, Pratt ; First 
 Book of American History, Eggleston; Ten Great Events in History, 
 Johonnot; American History in Literature, Lane and Hill; Heroes 
 of Discovery in America, Morris. 
 
 It will probably be necessary to correlate history with other sub- 
 jects in all grades below the fifth. But where the work is properly 
 organized this can well be done. The subject is one of importance and 
 should receive as much attention as conditions will permit. In the 
 lower grades the subject can best be taught in connection with lan- 
 guage and literature. The stories used in the language lesson can 
 often be selected from history. Also, subjects for composition may 
 be selected from the field of history. In fact, when the work is well 
 planned, all three can be taught successfully together. 
 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 
 Textbook: Montgomery's Beginner's American History. Note 
 that the story of our country is presented in this book by giving the 
 biographies of many of the prominent men of our country. The story 
 element predominates over the cause and effect idea of history. The 
 principal facts in the history of a colony, or of a period, are grouped 
 about the life of some prominent men of the time. Have pupils note 
 the strong traits of character in each of these men, as they serve as 
 examples and ideals to arouse enthusiasm, and have an unestimated 
 power in giving the initial impulses toward the formation of charac- 
 ter in children. Furthermore, "such biographies disclose to a child 
 the broad arena of possible action, and at the same time give an im- 
 pulse to the full stretch of his own best powers. So far as biographies 
 are typical or representative, they give insight into the common inter- 
 ests of society and are the natural introduction to public concerns/' 
 
193 
 
 Since the time allotted to the text is limited do not try to supple- 
 ment it too much except by material of the same kind. 
 
 Train in topical recitations so that pupils will acquire good oral 
 expression. Have some of the stories reproduced in writing, as this 
 exercise will furnish training in the art of composition and will at 
 the same time make a deeper and more lasting impression on the pu- 
 pil's mind of the event studied. Make special occasions prominent 
 by relating some story, well founded, in regard to Thanksgiving day, 
 Fourth of July, Memorial day, birthdays of men ana women. 
 
 Encourage inquiry into local history naming of districts, settle- 
 ments, the local railroad, the town, and any other things that may 
 be of interest. In history as in other subjects the material used must 
 be within the range of the child's experience. 
 
 SEVENTH GRADE. 
 
 (First Half Year.) 
 
 Textbook: Montgomery's Leading Facts of American History. 
 During the first half of the year complete the text to Chapter IV. 
 This part of the book includes the story of the discovery of America, 
 its exploration, the settlement and growth of the colonies up to the 
 close of the French and Indian Wars, together with an account of 
 the lives, customs, and civilization of the American Indians. 
 
 In teaching the chapters on the Discovery of America and on Ex- 
 ploration and Colonization, it should be made clear that from the 
 beginning American History has been closely identified with the his- 
 tory of Europe; also, that the settlers who came here in the 17th cen- 
 tury brought with them the ways of living and the inventions known 
 to Europeans at that time. In this connection it would be well to try 
 to estimate the value to mankind of such inventions as gunpowder, 
 the mariner's compass, and the printing press, and compare them as 
 to usefulness with more recent inventions like the steamship, the rail- 
 road, the telegraph, and the telephone. 
 
 Discovery of America : At this point it would be well to show how 
 conditions in Europe led to the voyage of Columbus. Make a brief 
 study of the Crusades and their effects on Europe; the commercial 
 interests of southern Europe during the last half of the 15th century; 
 eastern trade, means of travel, difficulties of the journey; the effect 
 of the fall of Constantinople. Also, give some attention to the life 
 and activities of some of the leaders in the movements which resulted 
 in the discovery of the New World. If pupils are to get a clear un- 
 
193 
 
 derstanding of this period, constant use must be made of maps and 
 globes. As far as possible pupils should be encouraged to examine 
 maps which show the ideas held relative to the size and shape of the 
 earth at the time of the discovery of America. 
 
 Exploration: The lively, picturesque, and adventurous phases of 
 life during this period appeal to children and furnish material well 
 adapted to instruct them. In the study of this period show how 
 claims of different nations to portions of the New World were based 
 on discovery and explorations. As far as possible pupils should be 
 made to understand the nature of the explorations, the objects and 
 methods of the explorers, and the reasons for the success or failure 
 in planting the colonies. Of course, such explanation involves some 
 knowledge not only of the national traits of character of the Spanish, 
 the English, the Dutch, and the French, but also the relations which 
 existed among them as nations. Aim to have the pupils understand 
 the significance of the various discoveries and explorations of the time 
 and show how they influenced colonial history. 
 
 In studying the Indians aim to discover their influence on the early 
 history of the country. Note the relation of the Indians to (a) the 
 English settlements, (b) the French settlements. Account for the 
 differences. 
 
 Colonization : The colonial period is of transcendent importance 
 as the seed time of ideas and institutions. Note the conflict of ideas 
 in Europe in the various lines that led to the migration and coloniza- 
 tion in the New World. Note what ideas are most prominent in the 
 different colonies, and observe that no one idea so completely tri- 
 umphs over the others as to make them entirely subordinate, as had 
 to be the case in Europe. Note also the character of the men who 
 wen? leaders in the several lines of institutional growth. And espe- 
 cially observe the inter-relations of ideas and institutions; how, for 
 example, in New England the church tinged with its coloring, the 
 social, industrial, political and educational life of the people; how in 
 New York business in a large measure controlled all other lines of 
 growth ; how in the South the social element was prominently active. 
 But observe that by the time the colonial period merges into the 
 period of union, all the institutional ideas are practically on a foot- 
 ing of equality. 
 
 Politically, the most important idea of this period is, perhaps, that 
 of local self-government. Its growth and influence in each colony 
 should be carefully watched. It accounts for numerous conflicts be- 
 tween the colonists and their royal governors, and in a great measure 
 
194 
 
 explains the larger conflict that resulted in American Independence. 
 Before taking up the chapter on Permanent English and French 
 Settlements it would be well to review briefly Kaleigh's attempts to 
 colonize the New World. Observe how his methods differed from 
 those used later, and, if possible, account for his failure. 
 
 On page 42 of the text is shown the influence physical geography 
 has had on the history of our country. This topic is important and 
 should receive special emphasis in passing over it and should be 
 referred to from time to time while studying other topics. Nowhere 
 in the text is the relation between history and geography so clearly 
 brought out. 
 
 After studying the main events in the history of each of the colo- 
 nies, give special attention to the following typical colonies: Vir- 
 ginia, as representing the Southern group; Massachusetts, as repre- 
 senting the New England group; and New York, and Pennsylvania, 
 as representing the Middle group. Other colonies, especially Mary- 
 land and Connecticut, should receive some consideration, as they both 
 played a rather prominent part in the early history of the country. 
 
 Before beginning the study of Massachusetts the pupils should 
 understand who the Pilgrims and Puritans were and why they came 
 to America. 
 
 Compare Massachusetts and Virginia as to religious affairs, types 
 of government, character of colonists. Show how life in each of these 
 colonies was influenced by geographic conditions. A similar com- 
 parison may be made between the other colonies, as there is probably 
 tno better way of studying them. 
 
 In the general study of the colonies give attention to the different 
 modes of government prevailing at different times, the introduction 
 of slavery, representative assembly, the relation 6f the colonies to 
 ^ach other, and to the mother country. Show influences that tended 
 to keep the colonies apart, others that tended to unite them. 
 
 French and Indian Wars. It should be carefully noted here that 
 the two great European nations, France and England, are intensely 
 jealous of the colonial development of each other and are anxious to 
 possess the Hudson valley the key to all the possessions on the At- 
 lantic coast. Only the last of the series of wars between these nations 
 should be studied intensively, as it was the only one in which all the 
 colonies took part and the one which brought to a close the long 
 struggle for the possession of the New World. It is also important 
 because of the influence it had on the development of the English 
 colonies. 
 
105 
 
 "In studying -the last great conflict between the French and Eng- 
 lish for colonial empire, we have an excellent opportunity to review 
 broadly the whole course of colonial settlement by these two 'nations, 
 to contrast the characters of the French and the English in America^ 
 and to get a clearer understanding of the quality of the English col- 
 onists as a whole. This is a very good illustration to show how the 
 long series of historical facts summarize themselves in a single 
 event." 
 
 In this war as in all others the results are more important than the 
 military campaigns. Therefore, do not fail to emphasize those topics 
 which show what the war settled and its results on the later history 
 of the country. 
 
 Do not fail to make some study of the internal growth and develop- 
 ment of the colonies during this period, as the life and activities of 
 the common people are always an important part of a nation's his- 
 tory. 
 
 The Revolution and the Constitution: "A detailed description of 
 battles and campaigns is profitable only to experts in military service, 
 whereas the causes that lead a country into war, especially into a war 
 for independence, are most important stages in the evolution of a peo- 
 ple's political and moral life." Therefore, after a rather full study 
 of the causes and conditions leading up to the American Revolution, 
 dwell but briefly on the actual conflict. Only the significant move- 
 ments should receive special consideration. Campaigns are more 
 important than battles. 
 
 In the study of the causes of the Revolution, the personality of 
 such leaders as William Pitt and George III in England and of Sam- 
 uel Adams and Patrick Henry in America deserve marked attention. 
 In the study of the war itself it will be seen that many of the most 
 important events may be centered about the commanding personality 
 of Washington. 
 
 Aim to have the pupils appreciate the significance of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. These docu- 
 ments are the expression of a great change in sentiment among the 
 colonists. Make an effort to discover the causes of this radical change 
 in public sentiment. From 1776 note the rapid growth of the idea 
 of independence and union among the colonies. During the Critical 
 Period of American history note the influences that tended to unite 
 the colonies; also, those that tended to keep them apart. 
 
 In studying the breakdown of the Confederation and the adoption 
 of the Constitution, be sure that the pupils understand the weakness 
 
196 
 
 of Congress under the Confederation; the commercial war between 
 the states; money troubles of the Confederation and the conflicting 
 claims of the Northwest Territory, with the real result of their set- 
 tlement. 
 
 If the causes of the breakdown of the Confederation are made clear,, 
 the pupil is prepared to understand why the Constitution was neces- 
 sary. As steps leading to the adoption of the Constitution the fol- 
 lowing topics should be studied or reviewed : New England Confed- 
 eration; Franklin's Plan of Union; Stamp Act Congress; Commit- 
 tees of Correspondence; First Meeting of Continental Congress; the 
 Declaration of Independence ; Adoption of the Articles of Confedera- 
 tion; Annapolis Convention; Constitutional Convention. If these 
 topics are treated in the right way the pupil will not only understand 
 the growth toward union, but also the causes of such growth. 
 
 At this point note carefully the character of the men who made 
 the Constitution; the different plans proposed; compromises on the 
 most important questions at issue; what the Constitution did for the 
 country. 
 
 Before taking up the chapter on organizing the new government 
 the pupils should draw a map showing the territory belonging to the- 
 United States after the ratification of the Constitution. They should 
 also know something about the population, domestic life, social, politi- 
 cal, and industrial life in this territory. 
 
 (Second Half Year.) 
 
 The Union and National Development. The expansion and devel- 
 opment of our country under the Constitution is the theme of this- 
 half year's' work. It will be observed that as we approach the more 
 recent topics of our history the subject grows more and more complex 
 and difficult. That means, of course, that the teacher must employ 
 the best methods in presenting the material to the pupils. Many of 
 the pupils are now completing their education for citizenship, in the 
 common schools, and history should be so taught as to bring the chil- 
 dren in touch with our modern problems and into sympathy with 
 our present social and economic conditions. 
 
 In the short time allotted to it, it will be impossible to study thor- 
 oughly all the important events in this period. Therefore, it would 
 be better to select the most important and most typical phases and 
 events of the period and group about them such illustrative material 
 a-s time and conditions will permit. 
 
 It will be observed that the time from 1789 to 1861 was one in 
 
197 
 
 which the ideas of State and National supremacy were almost con- 
 tinually in conflict, and numerous compromises were resorted to as 
 a means of temporary adjustment. These form a kind of backbone 
 of our national politics during the time, and a tracing of them in all 
 relations will cover a large part of history. 
 
 The following topics are suggested upon which to focus the atten- 
 tion: Organization of the government and finances; growth in ter- 
 ritory; internal improvement; history and extension of slavery; lead- 
 ing inventions and inventors; immigration; the rise and influence of 
 political parties; the three departments of our government; our sys- 
 tem of revenue; our relations with other countries. 
 
 Most of the topics selected for this period have a continuous chrono- 
 logical, and causal sequence extending, in some cases, through the 
 whole constitutional period. The growth of slavery until it cul- 
 minated in the Civil War and reconstruction, is an illustration of 
 this long-continued sequence of causally related facts. 
 
 EIGHTH GRADE. 
 (First Half Year.) 
 
 From the beginning of the Civil War to the present. Keview 
 briefly the course of events leading up to the Civil War. Compare 
 the strength of the two sections as to population, wealth, natural 
 resources, military training, strategic positions. Show attitude of 
 the border states, plans of campaign, lines of attack and defense, and 
 blockade of the Southern ports. Trace various campaigns noting 
 principal leaders and successes of either side; trace the progress of 
 the war on the sea; the final great campaigns; the outcome of the 
 struggle; situation in the North, situation in the South. Note the 
 losses of life and property of the war and its cost. Show the condi- 
 tion of the freed negroes. Call attention to the plans of reconstruc- 
 tion proposed, the readmission of the seceded states, the amendments 
 to the Constitution, and the end of the reconstruction period. 
 
 Following the close of the Civil War is the period of national devel- 
 opment. It is characterized by great expansion in industrial agencies, 
 manufactures and commerce. The period is a very complex one, and 
 perhaps the most difficult of all to teach satisfactorily. There is a 
 great deal of legislation. The main topics for special attention are 
 the laws regarding money and banking; the successive tariff enact- 
 ments ; the relations of labor and capital ; the growth of corporations 
 and trusts on the one hand and of labor organizations on the other, 
 strikes, boycotts, lockouts, etc.; great increase in manufactures; in- 
 dustrial expositions; occupancy of public lands; organization and 
 
198 
 
 admission of new states; rise of the doctrine of conservation of nat- 
 ural resources; irrigation of arid lands; establishment of forest re- 
 serves and reservation of water power sites; the Spanish-American 
 War and the new position of the United States among the nations 
 of the world as a result of it. These are some of the subjects which 
 must be treated. 
 
 Teachers will doubtless find it an aid in presenting the work in 
 history to divide it into periods which can be characterized by some 
 general statement. Consult the Table of Contents as to what these 
 divisions are in the text used. The following divisions taken from 
 Adams & Trent's History of the United States may also be helpful : 
 
 1492 to 1765. Discovery and Settlement. 
 
 1765 to 1789. Revolution. 
 
 1789 to 1825. Organization of Political Parties. 
 
 1825 to 1850. Spread of Democracy and Extension of Territory. 
 
 1850 to 1861. Eve of the Civil War. 
 
 1861 to 1869. Civil War and Reconstruction. 
 
 1869 to . Period of National Development. 
 
 Books Suitable for School Libraries. 
 
 McMurry Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley. The Macmillan 
 Company. 
 
 Catherwood. Heroes of the Middle West. Ginn & Company. 
 
 Eggleston. Stories of American Life and Adventure. American 
 Book Company. 
 
 Andrews. Ten Boys on the Road from Long Ago. Ginn & Co. 
 
 Fiske. The War of Independence. Houghton Mifflin Company. 
 
 Elson. Side Lights on American History. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 Guerber. Story of the Great Republic. American Book Co. 
 
 Franklin. Autobiography. Houghton Mifflin Company. 
 
 Hart. Camps and Firesides of the Revolution. The Macmillan 
 Company. 
 
 Judson. The Growth of the American Nation. The Macmillan 
 Company. 
 
 Coffin. Boys of '76. Harper Brothers. 
 
 Coffin. Boys of '61. Harper Brothers. 
 
 Caldwell. American History Studies. Ainsworth & Company. 
 
 Fiske-Irving. Washington and His Country. Ginn & Company. 
 
 Andrews. The United States in Our Own Times. Scribner's. 
 
 Hart. Source Book of American History. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 Sparks. Expansion of the American People. Scott. Foresman k, 
 Company. 
 
199 
 
 Roosevelt. Winning of the West. Putnam. 
 
 Coneau. Industrial History of the United States. The Macmil- 
 lan Co. 
 
 Brigham. Geographical Influences in American History. Ginn 
 & Co. 
 
 Channing. Student's History of the United States. The Macmil- 
 lan Co. 
 
 Jackson. A Century of Dishonor. Roberts Bros. 
 
 From a study of the history of the United States the pupil should 
 gain a knowledge of the facts of the discovery and exploration of our 
 country, of the settlement and growth of the colonies, of our separa- 
 tion from the mother country, and of the formation of our national 
 government. It should enable him to trace our growth and develop- 
 ment as a nation since our separation from Great Britain and to 
 learn in what respects our development has been notable. Further- 
 more, it should explain prevailing conditions and institutions by 
 showing how they have come about. This is our best way 
 of understanding the present and of placing ourselves in a posi- 
 tion to participate intelligently in the solution of the great problems 
 of social and political betterment which it is the duty of all of us 
 to face. 
 
 It is also to be hoped that the study of the history of our country 
 and its great men will not merely acquaint the pupils with important 
 facts, but will serve to develop in them a true patriotism and to cul- 
 tivate those moral qualities which they see have made men famous 
 and our country great. 
 
 The foundation for the study of history should be laid in the lower 
 grades. This foundation work should not be entirely incidental, but 
 should have a definite purpose which should be to furnish a body of 
 facts and knowledge by which to interpret the new series of facts now 
 to be presented ; to train the imagination to construct mental pictures 
 of events described, and to create an interest in the subject. If this 
 preparatory work is done properly, the difficulties attending the first 
 attempt at the study of history will be greatly lessened. 
 
 The approach to history in the lower grades should be through the 
 story and through biography. The early interest of the child is not 
 in history as a scientific study, but in the stories of heroic men and 
 their noble deeds. 
 
 The pupil begins the acquisition of historical knowledge as isolated 
 facts. He organizes these into series later, and constructs his phil- 
 osophy of history last. He should observe carefully this order of de- 
 velopment. 
 
200 
 
 Cultivate the imagination; that is, make use of pictures and maps 
 to assist the mind to image things which are described. 
 
 The recitation period in history should give time for the .same 
 classes of exercises as are essential in any other subject. These exer- 
 cise may be termed (1) testing, (2) teaching, (3) preparation. 
 The first part of the period may be given up to testing the class upon 
 their work on the lesson assigned the day before. This test should be 
 more than a verbal test. The second part of the period may be used 
 by the teacher in giving new illustrations, citations, and statements 
 to add to the knowledge of the class. The third part may be used 
 in carefully going over the lesson of the following day, making clear 
 just what is expected, what helps are to be used, and where they are 
 to be found, and by giving such other suggestions and instructions as 
 may seem necessary to enable the pupils to study the lesson intelli- 
 gently. 
 
 The topical method is strongly recommended whenever it can be 
 used. More attention should be given to subjects and less to para- 
 graphs and pages. Events will thus follow in logical sequence and 
 will "live before the pupils/' instead of being disconnected and un- 
 interesting facts. . 
 
 From the beginning of the study of formal history in the fifth 
 grade, constant use should be made of maps and charts. The maps 
 may be made by the pupils themselves or outline maps may be pur- 
 chased and filled in by the pupil. The teacher should be guided by 
 his own judgment as to what should be put on the maps. Pupils 
 should also study carefully the maps in the book. 
 
 All writers do not agree as to the importance of various facts and 
 events, hence some material is found in some books that does not 
 appear in another. It can be made a matter of interest for pupils 
 to compare different books as to the material used and method of 
 treatment. In fact the teacher should have more than one text on 
 her desk and the pupils should be encouraged to consult them as 
 much as time will permit. 
 
 Where teachers have no special preparation for teaching history 
 they will secure valuable suggestions -regarding its purposes and 
 manner of presenting material by reading some one or more of the 
 following books : McMurry's Special Method in History The Mac- 
 millan Company; Methods of Teaching and Studying History (edit- 
 ed by Hall) IX C. Heath & Company; Hinsdale's How to Study 
 and Teach History IX Appleton & Company: Mace's Method in 
 History for Teachers and Students Ginn & Company, Bourne's 
 The Teaching of History and Civics Longmans, Green & Company. 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT 
 
 EIGHTH GRADE. 
 
 Material and Method. 
 
 Text: Peter-man's Elements of Civil Government. 
 
 The study of civil government, or civics, has generally been re- 
 garded a dry, difficult subject, especially for girls. If such be the 
 case we believe that method, not subject matter, is at fault, for in 
 a republic such as ours the study of our relationships one with anoth- 
 er in society should be extremely interesting. Teachers are expected 
 to use the textbook in the teaching of civics, to be sure, but those 
 teachers who depend wholly upon the text-book will come far short 
 of meeting the possibilities of teaching civil government in our 
 schools. The mere teaching of the text-book by assigning lessons and 
 hearing the pupils recite what they have learned, or committed, 
 without its application to actual government as found in the home, 
 the school, the district, the town, the county, the state and the nation, 
 will result in scant knowledge of the subject of civics. 
 
 For example, the statement, "The functions of the civil district 
 are judicial and executive, and lie within a narrow range," will mean 
 very little to the pupil. He must understand the meaning of "func- 
 tions," "civil district/' "judicial," "executive," and why they "lie 
 within a narrow range." He must understand that he lives in a civil 
 district, just what it is, who are its officers, how they are elected or 
 appointed, what their powers and duties are, by whose authority they 
 act and the need of a civil district as a means of government. If 
 there happens to be a civil suit in the justice's court in the com- 
 munity, the class in civics should be allowed to attend the court so 
 that they may see just what is done. By so doing they will learn 
 more in an hour or two by observation than they could learn from 
 books in a much longer time. If the school happens to be located in 
 a town where there is a town council, the children should be allowed 
 to attend some of the meetings of the council. It would be an excel- 
 lent opportunity to learn how our schools are managed if pupils could 
 attend a meeting of the board of education. Pupils should be re- 
 quired to make a written report of such visits, which reports may be 
 
202 
 
 used as regular class work in language in addition to the discussions 
 in the civics class. 
 
 The study of civil government should begin with the home, pro- 
 ceed to the school, then to the district, the county, the state and the 
 nation. Fortunately the adopted text follows this order of treatment, 
 but no teacher should be satisfied with teaching merely what is given 
 in the text, because the textbook is only a brief general outline of 
 the most common forms of governmental control found in this coun- 
 try. Of course, the national government is the same over all the 
 states. But beginning with the school the pupils should understand 
 thoroughly what constitutes the school, or sub-district, who are its 
 officers, by whom appointed, how the teacher is appointed and the 
 duties and powers of both the trustees and the teacher. Are there 
 any other officers in this, the smallest governmental district? 
 
 Town OP City. 
 
 What is an incorporated town or city? How may a town or city 
 become incorporated? What control does the state exercise over in- 
 corporated towns and cities ? If you live in an incorporated town or 
 city, name all the officers of the town or city government. What is 
 an independent school district? How may an independent school 
 district be created ? What special privileges does such district usually 
 have? 
 
 Magisterial District. 
 
 Then the class should begin the study of the magisterial district. 
 Note that the magisterial and school districts are the same. How 
 many school or magisterial districts in the county? Who constitute 
 the board of education? How do they get their office? What are 
 their duties? The length of term? Who is the truant officer? What 
 are his duties ? How appointed ? Who are the justices of the peace and 
 constables? How elected? Their duties? Term of office? Are there 
 any other officers in the magisterial district? From what sources are 
 the school funds derived? What is the taxable valuation of the dis- 
 trict ? What rate of levies is laid on this valuation ? How much money 
 is raised? What is the total cost of running the schools of the district? 
 The total cost of maintaining your school ? Are any other levies made 
 upon the district, and if so, for what purposes? 
 
 The County. 
 
 Name of the county officers. How are they elected ? What are the 
 duties of each? How is the county court elected? What are the 
 
203 
 
 duties of the county court? What levies are made by the county 
 court? The rate of these levies and the amount of county funds 
 raised? For what purposes are these funds expended? To what 
 extent does the county exercise control over the schools? How are 
 the roads in the county maintained ? Is there a county health officer 
 and if so who is he? How does he receive his appointment? What 
 are his duties ? Suppose the county needs a court house or a bridge, 
 whose duty is it to provide these? 
 
 The State. 
 
 Names of the state officers. Which are elected and which appointed ? 
 If appointed, by whom? What are the duties of each state officer? 
 Learn how the following boards are elected or appointed, who con- 
 stitute these boards, their term of office and their duties: 
 
 The State Board of Public Works; State Board of Regents; State 
 Board of Control; State Board of Education; Public Service Com- 
 mission; State Board of Pharmacy; State Board of Health; State 
 Board of Public Accountants. 
 
 Name and give the location of each of the state institutions. Under 
 whose control is each of the state institutions? What is the purpose 
 of each ? What is the financial cost of each to the state ? 
 
 The State Legislature. 
 
 What is the State Legislature ? How many senators and how many 
 delegates ? How are these senators and delegates chosen ? How many 
 delegates from your county? What counties constitute your sena- 
 torial district? Who are your senators? How often does the State 
 Legislature meet? What are its duties? 
 
 Judicial Circuits. 
 
 How many judicial circuits in West Virginia? What county or 
 counties constitute your judicial circuit? Who is your circuit judge? 
 What are the duties of the circuit judge ? What are grand and petit 
 juries and what their duties? Does your county have an intermedi- 
 ate or criminal court? If so, who is the judge and what are his 
 duties? Who constitute the state supreme court? What are their 
 duties? Are they elected or appointed and by whom? 
 
 Federal Courts. 
 
 What control does the United States exercise over West Virginia? 
 Name of the federal officers assigned to West Virginia. Of what 
 federal courts is West Virginia a part, and who are the judges ? Are 
 these judges elected or appointed, and if appointed, by whom? 
 
204 
 
 Postoffices. 
 
 Under whose control are our postoffices? How are postoffices 
 classified. How many first class postoffices in your country? How 
 are post masters appointed? Does the state have anything at all to 
 do with postomces? Who bears the expenses of postoffices? What 
 are the rates for sending various classes of mail through the post- 
 offices? What is the parcel post? 
 
 The United States. 
 
 What has been given relative to district, county and state govern- 
 ment may be applied by the teacher to the study of United States 
 government. The object of all this study should be to familiarize 
 the pupils with what is actually done, making the study as practical 
 as possible so that the pupils will not be content with merely learning 
 forms of government. 
 
 Teach Civics in Terms of Everyday Life. 
 
 The teaching of civics should lead the pupils to understand both 
 their civic environment and their civic duty; that is, how govern- 
 ment of whatsoever sort affects them personally and at the same time 
 how they are expected as young citizens to contribute to the general 
 welfare of the group, the community, the district, the county, the 
 state and the nation. They should be led by skillful teaching to see 
 that government as expressed in laws is but the statement of the 
 ordinary rules of conduct towards civil authority that they are ex- 
 pected to observe in the home and in the school; that is, that obedi- 
 ence to law is nothing more nor less than the observance of common 
 manners and morals in every day life, as applied to government of 
 larger groups. Eules and regulations in the home and in the school 
 are usually oral, their enforcement is by the parents or the teacher. 
 Laws are written rules and regulations for the larger group, their 
 enforcement by civil authorities. 
 
 As an introduction to being good citizens the civics class should 
 not only be made acquainted with what government does, as sug- 
 gested in the first paragraphs of this outline. They should also be- 
 come familiar with what government does not do. For example, the 
 pupils should study the school to see wherein it falls short of what 
 it ought to he. Wherein is the school weak? Is it weak for lack of 
 funds? Is the board of education at fault? Wherein do the laws 
 of the state handicap the progress of the school? What could the 
 pupils themselves do to improve the school? Why do some children 
 fail t-> Mtten.l school? Who is at fault? What are the requirements 
 
205 
 
 of the Compulsory Attendance Law? Should there be a medical in- 
 spector appointed? Why? Would the results justify the expense of 
 maintaining a medical inspector? Take another example: What is 
 the condition of the roads? If poor, why? Who is responsible for 
 maintaining passable roads? Who bears the expenses of improving 
 roads ? What would be the cost of building good roads in your com- 
 munity? What financial gain would come from maintaining good 
 roads. Does the county or the state aid the district in maintaining 
 good roads? To what extent ? How may this aid be obtained ? What 
 responsibility do the citizens have in improving roads? What may 
 the pupils do? 
 
 After this manner the teacher may work out in detail the various 
 other problems that confront the people in improving conditions gen- 
 erally, not only in the local communities, but also in the county and 
 in the state. Such teaching will acquaint the children with actual 
 conditions and also with ways and means of improving these condi- 
 tions. The children will discuss these questions with tkeir parents, 
 thus making them better citizens, and the children themselves will 
 grow up to become much better and more intelligent citizens. 
 
 The study of civil government with a textbook begins with the 
 eighth grade and extends through the year, the class reciting three 
 times a week. The major part of the time should be given to Part I 
 and to the Supplement on History and Government of West Vir- 
 ginia. The study of the United States Constitution should be de- 
 ferred to the high school. Pages 227-235 should be omitted entirely, 
 since all pupils study State History as a separate subject. 
 
STATE HISTORY 
 
 EIGHTH GRADE. 
 General Directions. 
 
 Text: Lewis' History and Government of West Virginia. 
 Suggestions to teachers: 
 
 1. State history should be taught only in the second half of the 
 eighth grade. 
 
 2. Select the essential facts of West Virginia history and teach 
 these thoroughly. 
 
 3. Correlate state history with United States history and civil 
 government wherever possible to do so. 
 
 West Virginia is yet in her youth. She has not made enough 
 history to merit a full year's study by elementary grade pupils. Here- 
 tofore, a great deal of time has been wasted in the study of the lives 
 of men of no great historical importance and in the study of events 
 and dates that have had little bearing on West Virginia history. 
 Since all eighth grade pupils study civil government, that part of the 
 text from page 274 to the end need not be considered at all. 
 
 The teacher should be the judge as to what part of the text, 
 pages 1-274, should receive emphasis. She must select the topics 
 which have the greatest historical significance and then supplement 
 these by references to other books and to other sources of informa- 
 tion, such as local records and state documents. 
 
 Chapter I may be studied in connection with state geography. 
 Chapter III may be omitted, since this information can be obtained in 
 connection with United States history. Only the most important 
 events outlined in Chapters IV and V should be studied. Chapters 
 II, VI and VIII should be studied as a unit and correlated with 
 United States history. Chapters IX to XIV inclusive should be 
 studied in connection with United States history, or as a review of 
 such events of our national history as have affected the history of 
 West Virginia. 
 
 West Virginia history really begins with Chapter XVI and ex- 
 tends through Chapter XXV. However, even these chapters have 
 many events and items recorded that are of small historic interest 
 or value. The aim of the teacher should be to teach the pupils what 
 
207 
 
 conditions led to the formation of West Virginia as a separate state, 
 what made its formation and admission possible, and how it organ- 
 ized a separate state government,, all of which must be closely corre- 
 lated with United States history at the time of the Civil War. 
 
 The history of any state is for the most part merely incidental to 
 national history. By reading the text carefully you will note how 
 true this is in the case of West Virginia. Hence, the importance, 
 even the necessity, of correlating closely tate history with United 
 States history'. 
 
 Take, for example, Chapter IV of the text, Exploration and First 
 Permanent Settlement. The events outlined in this chapter will have 
 little meaning to the class unless they are led to understand that what 
 happened here in West Virginia was only a part of a single great 
 movement namely, the extension of white settlements westward all 
 along the eastern coast of the colonies. Or, when the class study the 
 Indians, and the struggle of the white man in driving them farther 
 and farther westward until after the great battle of Pt. Pleasant they 
 gave up further attempts to occupy West Virginia territory, unless 
 the class understand thoroughly that this struggle of the white men 
 of West Virginia with the Indians was merely a part of the general 
 movement all along the eastern border of the colonies to drive the 
 Indians westward so that the white men could possess the lands then 
 occupied by the Indians, the pupils will not get an exact conception 
 of what was going on even here in West Virginia at that time. Fur- 
 thermore, it is impossible to lead the pupils to a correct understand- 
 ing of the situation which made West Virginia a separate state un- 
 less the class correlate their study at this point closely with United 
 States history. 
 
 Since June 20, 1863, West Virginia's history may be best studied 
 by grouping all events under two main lines of development indus- 
 trial and educational. 
 
 If the study of our state history is directed as indicated here, the 
 children will 'be enabled to learn much more in much less time than 
 heretofore. 
 
PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD GRADES. 
 
 Time: Fifteen minutes once a week at the nature study period. 
 
 Course: Simple facts concerning the body, its growth and care, 
 divided into topics as follows: 
 
 Note: Teachers wishing information on these topics will find at 
 the end of each topic the chapter or page designated in Hygiene and 
 Sanitation the adopted text. 
 
 The Body. 
 
 Composed of flesh, nerves, and bones. Location, name and use of 
 the chief parts and organs head, brain, trunk, heart, lungs, stom- 
 ach, etc. 
 
 Principal uses are motion, respiration, nutrition, excretion and 
 sensations, or to enable us to move, breathe, eat in order to grow, to 
 cast off impurities, and to hear, see, feel and think. Chapter II Prim- 
 er of Hygiene. 
 
 The Growth of the Body. 
 
 In order that the body may grow it needs good food, pure air, pure 
 water, exercise ard rest. 
 
 Develop these in the order given and contrast good and bad foods, 
 etc., so as to make clear to the child the necessity of each. Chapter 
 III Primer of Hygiene. 
 
 General Note to the Teacher. 
 
 Though the work is here definitely outlined it does not preclude the 
 teacher's giving hygienic instruction when the opportunity presents 
 itself. 
 
 Examples : Headache caused by late hours. A sick stomach caused 
 by over-eating. 
 
 Should a pupil come to school with wet feet, the teacher should 
 not only see that this condition is removed, but show the bad effects 
 of same. Or, 
 
 Should a pupil accidentally cut or tear his flesh, the teacher should 
 not only be able to dress the wound properly, but make this an occa- 
 sion for an object lesson for the school. 
 
209 
 Food and Its Uses to the Body. 
 
 Talk about the necessity of food for growth and repair; cause of 
 hunger; digestion, absorption and assimilation of food; how to aid 
 digestion; importance of such foods as milk, eggs, bread and butter, 
 meat, fruits, vegetables, salads, oils and nuts; dangers of tea, coffee 
 and alcoholic drinks; unsanitary soda fountain and drinks. 
 
 Hygiene; need of eating slowly and chewing thoroughly; why we 
 should not over-eat, especially of such foods as pie, cake, candy, 
 pickles, etc., of green or decayed fruit, of tainted and adulterated 
 foods; regularity of eating, sleeping, studying, movement of the in- 
 testines to get rid of waste matter, neglect of which may cause appen- 
 dicitis and other intestinal trouble. Chapter III and VIII, Primer 
 of Hygiene. 
 
 Care and Preparation of Food. 
 
 The Care of Milk: Why milk delivered in bottles is cleaner than 
 milk delivered in cans; why it should be cooled and kept cool; need 
 for cleanliness at the dairy ; how to keep it clean and pure at home ; 
 how eggs, butter, meat, bread, berries and fruits should be handled 
 and kept; why food is cooked ; why fried foods are not the best; why 
 simply prepared foods are best. Chapter V and VII, Primer of 
 Hygiene. 
 
 Our Meals and When to Eat. 
 
 Breakfast: Fresh fruit (apple, orange, bananas), some cereal with 
 milk or cream, eggs, toast and a glass of milk; bread and coffee are 
 not sufficient, the latter being injurious to children. 
 
 Noon Meal : Lettuce, egg or meat sandwiches, fruits, nuts, milk 
 chocolate or cheese make an appetizing and nutritious lunch ; a lunch 
 containing much pie, cake, pickles, etc., is not a good one. 
 
 Evening Meal: Soup, meat or fish, bread, vegetables, fruit, with 
 ices or light pudding for dessert, make an excellent dinner. 
 
 Strong, healthy and beautiful bodies depend largely upon the right 
 choice of food at daily meals. 
 
 Do not eat between meals to keep from getting hungry. Wait until 
 you are hungry. 
 
 Necessity for clean face and hands when eating. 
 
 How to care for the dishes ; proper method of washing dishes. 
 Chapters V and VIII, Primer of Hygiene, and chapter XXX Primer 
 of Sanitation. 
 
210 
 
 Pure Air and Its Use to the Body. 
 
 Why we need a constant supply of air; out-door air the best; ways 
 of ventilating occupied rooms to secure pure air; why the air in an 
 unventilated room is not pure; the need of a thermometer; why the 
 heated room should be kept at from 65 to 70 degrees ; why air should 
 not be allowed to become too dry. 
 
 The need of keeping the windows of one's sleeping room open at 
 night. Pure cool air is a great aid in keeping good health and good 
 appearance. 
 
 Breathing. 
 
 Correct position best for breathing and for good appearance as 
 well; why breathe through the nose and keep both nostrils open; the 
 value of exercise to improve posture and increase lung capacity ; harm 
 from tight clothing; why over-exertion, such as long runs, and vio- 
 lent exercise is not good for the growing child. Chapters X and XI, 
 Primer of Hygiene. 
 
 Water and Its Use to the Body. 
 
 Necessity for pure water; why the body needs plenty of water; 
 when drinking water should be boiled; why drinking much at meals 
 is not advisable; why it is needful to bathe and when; use of soap; 
 hot water bottle and its use in relieving pain ; necessity for individual 
 drinking cups. Chapter XX, Primer of Sanitation. 
 
 Care of the Body. 
 
 Uses of the skin, hair and finger nails and care of each. Chapter 
 XV, Primer of Hygiene. 
 
 Teeth: Value in preparing food for digestion; causes and cure 
 of irregular teeth ; causes of decay ; when and how to clean the teeth ; 
 necessity for taking care of the temporary teeth ; the first permanent 
 teeth; why the teeth should be examined by the dentist and filling 
 done at least twice a year. Chapter IX,, Primer of Hygiene. 
 
 Eyes: Ways of protecting the eyes; evidences of the need of 
 glasses; why spectacles are preferable to glasses; care of glasses; 
 examine for trachoma. Chapter XXIV, Primer of Hygiene. 
 
 Ears: Care of, common injuries to; signs of defective hearing; 
 why consult a physician when symptoms are recognized. Chapter 
 XXV, Primer of Hygiene. 
 
 Clothing: Kinds and advantages of each; differences for cold and 
 warm weather; need for underclothing; kinds and advantages; need 
 for rubbers in wet weather, should not be kept on while indoors ; im- 
 
portance of keeping the body dry and free from colds. Chapter XVI, 
 Primer of Hygiene. 
 
 Cleanliness : Necessity for clean homes, clean yards, clean streets ; 
 why rugs are better than. carpets; advantages of vacuum cleaner and 
 moist cloth for dusting; vigorous -health the best preventive of any 
 disease; how the house-fly spreads disease and how to combat it; 
 dangers in handling the dirty cat or dirty dog. Chapter XXIX, 
 Primer of Sanitation. 
 
 Accidents : What to do in case of cuts, bruises, burns ; why cuts 
 should be cleansed and covered; danger of scratching off scab with 
 finger nails; necessity for using clean cloths; possible danger from 
 rusty nails ; what to do if clothing catches fire ; why boys and girls 
 should learn to swim; dangers from electric wires; danger from dog 
 bites. Chapter XXVI, Primer of Hygiene. 
 
 Accidents and Emergencies. 
 
 In every schoolhouse there should be the following emergency out- 
 fit and every teacher should know how to use its contents. The reme- 
 dies should be placed beyond the reach of anxious children. 
 
 4 oz. bottle of camphor. 
 
 4 oz. bottle of arnica. 
 
 4 oz. bottle of witch hazel. 
 
 1 oz. bottle of collodion. 
 
 1 pair of sharp scissors. 
 
 Package of absorbent cotton. 
 
 Roll of clean linen or soft cotton for bandages. 
 
 Sheet of surgeon's rubber adhesive plaster. 
 
 Needle and thread. 
 
 An antiseptic plaster or dressing for a wound may be made as fol- 
 lows: After cleansing the wound thoroughly with cold water, put 
 enough of the absorbent cotton over the wound to cover it completely. 
 Drop collodion on the cotton until it % saturated. With the fingers 
 press the cotton gently but firmly upon the wound and let it dry 
 there. This is one of the most satisfactory of antiseptic plasters. A 
 clean linen or cotton bandage may be wrapped about the wound if it 
 is severe. 
 
 
 
 Exercise, Rest and Sleep. 
 
 Exercise : Why needed, kinds and advantages of out-of-door exer- 
 cise. 
 
 Rest and Sleep : Why needed ; illness often avoided by taking reg- 
 ular and proper amount of sleep; best time to sleep; amount of sleep; 
 
212 
 
 why students should not keep late hours. Chapter XX, Primer of 
 Hygiene. 
 
 The joy of health and strength, happiness and satisfaction, ability 
 to look, do, and be our best. 
 
 Health and strength the natural result of the wise use of food, air, 
 water, exercise and rest; individual responsibility of clean, pure, 
 healthy bodies. Chapter XXXII, Primer of Sanitation. 
 
 Suggestions oil Exercise. 
 
 It is impossible to outline a course on physical exercise within the 
 space allotted here, but it is suggested that the teacher make a spe- 
 cial effort to enter into and direct the play of her pupils. Especially 
 should the teacher be prepared to direct the play on rainy and bad 
 days when the pupils must stay within doors. The teacher also needs 
 the exercise. She can do better work together with her pupils after 
 participating in a game that calls into use the muscles of the body. 
 
 There are many indoor games which are full of action. See to it 
 that the children get some vigorous play at the recesses and at such 
 other times as the teacher thinks best. 
 
 For a complete list of indoor as well as outdoor games with com- 
 plete instructions for playing, see "Games for the Playground, Home, 
 School and Gymnasium/' by Jessie H. Bancroft. Price $1.50. The 
 Macmillan Company, New York. Or, Johnson's "What to Do at Ke- 
 cess." Price 25 cents. Ginn & Co., Boston. 
 
 As a rule the calisthenics given in the school room is not enjoyed 
 by the pupils and is of very little benefit to them. Play is the natural 
 exercise for the child. Chapters XVII, XVIII and XXVII, Primer 
 of Hygiene. 
 
 FOURTH GRADE. 
 
 The Ritchie-Caldwell Primer of Hygiene is introduced. The text 
 adopted has Primer of Hygiene and Primer of Sanitation bound in 
 a single volume. The fourth year's work should cover the first twenty- 
 one chapters, or pages 1-102 inclusive. 
 
 One lesson a week should be given at one of the nature study 
 periods, and it should be given on the same day each week. 
 
 The pupil need not be required to purchase a textbook, but the 
 teacher should have one. 
 
 The teacher should be so familiar with the subject matter that she 
 can lay aside the text and give a talk or conduct an oral lesson. 
 
 Supplement the text from other sources when possible. Make the 
 
213 
 
 work as concrete as possible by demonstrations. Have the children 
 participate in these lessons. 
 
 The textbook is simple and suggestive as to the method of presen- 
 tation, so that the teacher can follow its plan without further sug- 
 gestions. 
 
 Try to have the pupils practice what they find out to be necessary 
 in order to be strong and happy. 
 
 FIFTH GRADE. 
 
 The Primer of Hygiene should be completed in the fifth year, Chap- 
 ters XXII to XXXIV. pages 103-179 inclusive. 
 
 One lesson per week at the period assigned to nature study. 
 
 Whenever references are made to parts of the body, or other things 
 which the child may not understand, the teacher should make careful 
 explanations. 
 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 
 Primer of Sanitation is the text. First half year, pp. 1-100, sec- 
 ond half year, pp. 100-194. One lesson each week. 
 
 Care should be taken here, as before, that pupils have an oppor- 
 tunity to see pictures, drawings, diagrams, etc., that will help to 
 make clear the subject matter. When possible bring in objects illus- 
 trating the lesson or take the pupils out to observe sanitary or unsani- 
 tary conditions. Have the pupils make observations and investiga- 
 tions and make written reports. 
 
 The aim is to get the pupil to apply the principles learned so that 
 his health and that of his associates at home and elsewhere will 
 show improvement. Stimulate the desire of the pupil to be well, to 
 apply hygienic principles to his own living, so that it will result in 
 fixed habits of right living. 
 
 EIGHTH GRADE. 
 
 Ritchie-CaldwelPs Human Physiology, complete, five times a week. 
 
 Topics that are already understood from the lessons of the two 
 Primers should be given less time, otherwise the book cannot be com- 
 pleted. 
 
 A fairly strong drill on anatomy and physiology as given in the 
 textbook should be required. 
 
 It is very desirable that the teacher should be familiar with some 
 more comprehensive texts on the subject. 
 
 Pupils from the seventh grade may be allowed to take this work, 
 thus eliminating physiology from this grade every other year. 
 
DRAWING 
 
 GENERAL. DISCUSSION. 
 Aims and General Methods. 
 
 The aim of art in the elementary school is to afford esthetic and 
 artistic development, which involves the appreciation of art as well as 
 expression. Since art, from its very nature, expresses the interest of 
 the artist, the subject matter and method must grow out of the organ- 
 ized life and experiences of the individual school. 
 
 The planning of a course of art instruction will involve such ques- 
 tions as age, motive, subject matter, method, technique. The first 
 four may be left to the school, or the- teacher, but certain .phases of 
 "art expression must be emphasized throughout the grades so as to 
 insure continued growth and satisfactory control. 
 
 Rules and principles have no place in the primary 'grades. Do not 
 expect accuracy or try to force it. The chief purpose of drawing for 
 children is accomplished if the work develops facility in expressing 
 ideas, a ready response of the hand to the thought. This is gained 
 only by much drawing. 
 
 FIRST GKADE POSTER CUT FROM SAMPLES OF WALL PAPER. 
 
215 
 
 A well balanced course of study should include (a) Representa- 
 tion, (b) Construction, (c) Design. For convenience we will treat 
 these separately, although they may be closely correlated in teaching. 
 
 Representation: Should include: 
 
 (a) Drawing from type solids and common objects of similar 
 shape. 
 
 (b) Theory of perspective. 
 
 (c) Drawing from memory and dictation. 
 
 (d) Drawing from plant and animal forms. 
 
 (e) The principles of arrangement. 
 
 Representation includes the study of the appearance of objects in 
 regard to size, form, proportion, position, texture, tone and color, also 
 such qualities as growth, construction, and action. Its aim is to cul- 
 tivate accurate observation and memorizing of common forms in their 
 ordinary positions and surroundings. 
 
 F,<j I 
 
 FIG. 1. INCORRECT SPACE RELATIONS OR ARRANGEMENT. 
 FIGS. 2 & 3. CORRECT SPACE RELATIONS AND ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 The problems involve the foreshortened circle and the perspective 
 of surfaces. 
 
 Design: The purpose of all design in its broadest sense is two- 
 fold : It must produce an article and make it as beautiful as possible. 
 
 Construction : This branch of the subject in the elementary school 
 should be confined to the planning of a few simple objects of interest 
 and use to the child, such as a pencil box, bird house, envelope, book 
 cover or booklet. 
 
 The accurate use of the ruler should be taughtappropriate and 
 beautiful shapes and proportions materials. 
 
 FIRST GRADE. 
 
 Representation: In plant life observe the simpler types of trees, 
 such as the maple, apple, cedar, poplar. Compare their shapes and 
 
216 
 
 proportions. Study leaves of the peach, apple, nasturtium for their 
 form and proportion. Study plants and grasses for their direction of 
 growth; study flowers of simple construction, for form and color; 
 study also fruits and vegetables, for form and color. 
 
 Animal drawing should include the general characteristics of ani- 
 mals: Shape of body, head, feet, tail, ears, nose. 
 
 In drawing the human figure begin with the manikin, or "stick 
 man." In this, proportion of the body and action are represented. 
 Follow with poses illustrating action, walking, running, jumping. 
 Illustrate games and stories with these illustrations. 
 
 Construction: The problems in this grade should involve measur- 
 ing to the inch. The subjects should be simple articles for the play- 
 house, to be done in paper folding, without pasting. 
 
 Booklets may be tied together, and mats woven and folded into hair 
 receivers, handkerchief cases, etc. 
 
 The Progressive Drawing Books are rich in material and directions 
 for this work. 
 
 CONVENTIONAL DESIGN FOE CUSHION. 
 
 For an illustration let us make a handkerchief case. First lead 
 the children to determine the size : six inch ; shape, square. Take a 
 square piece of paper, find the center, fold each corner to the center 
 which may be found by fold on the diagonals. Now estimate the size 
 of the square of material required to make it. Use plain material, 
 such as cambric, linen,chambray of grayish color and not too dark. 
 Cut it the desired size and mark off each inch around the edge. (This 
 is to space it for the decoration, which may be done by stick printing, 
 cross stitch, or an embroidered dot.) 
 
217 
 
 If you are teaching sewing, this will afford a lesson in hemming 
 arid cross stitch. 
 
 Decorative Design : Measure inch spaces for borders. This may be 
 done both by folding and by measuring with the ruler. Units to be 
 placed at these measurements or in spaces between may be spots of 
 any shape, straight lines, or nature forms. 
 
 SECOND GRADE. 
 
 Representation : This should be a continuation of first grade. 
 Lead the child to more accurate representation of objects, but the type 
 of objects should be kept quite as simple and no more problems added. 
 Let the composition work be simply the selection of paper, the cor- 
 rect size and shape for the object to be drawn. 
 
 Construction : This work may be the same as the first year, with 
 the addition of half inch measurement. Instead of the handkerchief 
 case, an envelope or folder for drawings may be made in a similar 
 way. 
 
 DESIGNS MADE BY FOLDING PAPER AS IN THE DIRECTIONS FOR BOOK-ENDS. 
 
 The amount of work and the variety will not depend on the num- 
 ber of things taught, but on the kind of school and the interest taken 
 by the teacher. A few essential things well done with lots of drill and 
 variety of application will be worth far more than an abundance of 
 unrelated things that make merely a showing. 
 
 Design: Continue borders; using simple units in "repeat" pat- 
 >erns. Try to get an orderly arrangement. The units must not be 
 crowded in nor yet too far apart. The border must be kept in good 
 proportion, that is, in relation to the size of the object to be decorated. 
 It must show that it is a border and not an "all over" pattern. Sim- 
 
218 
 
 pie, straight-line letters may constitute the entire decoration of some 
 of the book covers. 
 
 UNIT FROM NURSERY RHYMES SHOWING THE SIMPLE REPEAT BORDER. GOOD 
 SPACE RELATIONS AND RYTHM. 
 
 One of the primary colors or any one of the standard colors (red, 
 yellow, green, blue, violet) may be used with a gray (not too dark 
 or too light) of harmonious tone. 
 
 (Use border of pigs, suggesting unit from nursery rhyme, and 
 illustrating good spacing and rhythm.) 
 
 THIRD GRADE. 
 
 Eepresentation : In plant life study characteristics of growth and 
 the relative size of parts, tones. Show dark, stem and leaves with 
 lighter flower. The same subjects should be used as in first and 
 second grades, but varying with the interests of the class. 
 
 Construction: Teach accurate measuring to the half inch. Plan 
 articles to be made that will involve the half inch. A booklet with 
 the cover to extend beyond the pages one-half inch, or a box for pen- 
 cils with one-half inch lap to be pasted at corners. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR BOOKLETS. 
 
 Children can in very early years be led to exercise judgment in the 
 selection of appropriate materials as well as size, shape and propor- 
 tion. Even though all these be dictated by the teacher, the child can 
 be led to see why they are chosen. 
 
 Design: The problem for decoration in grade three should be a 
 surface pattern for the box and book cover. Select a material of 
 
soft gray color or a neutral. Decide upon the space to be decorated 
 and mark the entire space with dots one half inch apart. Place the 
 
 A WELL BALANCED CALENDAR. 
 
 unit in alternating squares, or upon each alternating spot. Use only 
 one color with gray or two tones of one color. 
 
 FOURTH GRADE. 
 
 Representation: Study plant life for the appearance of form. 
 Draw in large masses plants showing turned leaves and flowers rep- 
 resenting them just as they appear. 
 
 Type solids and similar objects may be drawn for form and pro- 
 portion in two dimensions only, pleasing shapes of bowls and vases 
 may be used. These may show light and dark against a background 
 of a third tone. 
 
 Tones in landscape may be studied. Draw sky light, ground mid- 
 dle tone with dark trees. An outline of good composition may be 
 given to the class from the board to be worked out in flat washes. 
 
 Construction : Measure to one-fourth inch and the foot. Measure 
 the room, articles of furniture. Teach the symbols for foot (') and 
 inch ("). Drill in measuring accurately with the eye. 
 
 A nice problem for this grade is construction of frames for weav- 
 ing. These should be of card board, with notched ends or holes 
 
220 
 
 EXAMPLES OF THE DECORATIVE LANDSCAPE AND PLANT. 
 
 punched, or of wooden frame with tacks at each end. The article 
 to be woven will determine size and proportion. If sufficient equip- 
 ment can be had, kites or sleds may be planned. 
 
 to bt Ipta at 
 
 dote jje ti$M*l 
 o{ 
 
 DECORATIVE PAGE SHOWING PROBLEM IN ADAPTING A FLOWER STUDY FROM 
 NATURE TO A DECORATIVE COMPOSITION. 
 
 Design : The design in each grade is to be closely related to repre- 
 sentation and construction. If the class is interested in weaving, the 
 problem may be matching colors to be used, and border ends for rugs 
 
221 
 
 or mats; bags for books or change. Again use a grayish color for the 
 body and brighter colors for the stripes. 
 
 Decorative landscapes or flowers to be used in decorating the book- 
 let, calendars or cards may be made. For the landscape, select a com- 
 position of few elements: sky, ground, trees, but with good lines- 
 and space relations. Paint in flat tones with water color or crayons. 
 This may be done in two or three tones of gray or of one color. If 
 all the forms are outlined with a dark uniform line, called the "deco- 
 rator's line," the work will be more effective. 
 
 FIFTH GRADE. 
 
 Representation: In plant life continue the observation of form 
 proportion, relative size of parts. Introduce in outline the charac- 
 ter of joints, bracts and sheaths. Flowers and trees may be drawn, 
 showing individual character : flowers and leaves may show for short- 
 ened position; trees may show character of branching. 
 
 Object drawing should involve the study of the circle at different 
 elevations and positions. Type solids should be used first, then simi- 
 lar objects without handles, spouts, etc. Large objects should be 
 used and exercises or "seeing" lessons before attempting to draw. 
 
 Construction : Make a working drawing for an object of two di- 
 mensions : a calendar or book cover, blotter pad, portfolio. 
 
 Design : This work may be a continuation of grade four. If you 
 select the decorative flower and landscape, vary the work just enough 
 to insure interest. It is quite hard enough to adapt the arrange- 
 ments used to be colored. If you know color well, the complimentary 
 colors could be introduced, as orange and blue for an autumn scene 
 or gray blue background for a yellow chrysanthemum. 
 
 SIXTH GRADE. 
 
 Representation: Continue plant life from the fifth grade, intro- 
 ducing "accent/' Work for quality of line in pencil, keeping the lines 
 in gray tones, accenting where the shadows appear. Shade the leaves 
 and flowers. 
 
 In object drawing, look for shadow on the object, also the cast 
 shadow on the table by its side. Remember it is foreshadowed as well 
 as the circle, and always represent it with a horizontal stroke. 
 
 (Use drawing of rose to illustrate, quality of line, accent, shading 
 and position on paper. A simpler type of flower could be used, how- 
 ever.) 
 
 Construction : Measure to one-eighth inch. Draw to scale. Con- 
 
i T ES 
 
 A NUMBER OF WAYS TO TIE AND DECORATE A BOOKLET. 
 
 tinue the work of grade five, insisting on more and more accurate 
 drawing. 
 
 Plan a box or bird house and make a drawing of each side on a 
 small scale. A portfolio or book cover could be planned and drawn 
 to scale. 
 
223 
 
 Plans for these may be dictated by the teacher or designed by the 
 pupils, depending upon the amount of time given to the subject. 
 
 Design: Continue the work in decorative arrangement to be ap- 
 plied to the special interest of this grade. 
 
 Conventional units may be adapted to corners for portfolio. Leaves 
 are perhaps the simplest subject, but remember to subordinate all 
 detail and proportions to the shape of the space to be decorated. Ex- 
 cellent directions for formal decorations for corners by paper cutting 
 are given in the Prang Books. 
 
 A more formal study of lettering may be taken up in this grade. 
 Teach correct spacing and unity. Often an object well lettered is 
 far more beautiful than one too elaborately decorated. 
 
 A VAEIETY OF CORNERS DESIGNED BY FOLDING AND CUTTING THE TRIANGLE. 
 
 Monograms and personal marks can be made by changing the pro- 
 portions of the initials to fit different proportions of the rectangle, 
 -circle and triangle. 
 
 SEVENTH GRADE. 
 
 Eepresentation : Continue practice in outline drawing, strengthen- 
 ing the work with accented lines where necessary. More complex 
 forms may be introduced giving a special study to spouts, handles 
 and rims. Where a great deal of time is given to drawing, and equip- 
 ment may be had, a study of the arch could be incidentally iritro- 
 
224: 
 
 duced. Form and proportion must be continually kept in mind. 
 There should be no drawing of details without a correct foundation. 
 Construction: Without tools, objects of the same construction as 
 in grade six, or articles involving the circle, such as lamp and candle 
 shades, may be made. These may be constructed of heavy paper, or 
 card board with the decoration cut out and lined with thin material 
 or oiled paper. 
 
 C0 
 
 OLD HARPER'S FERRY RIFLE. 
 
 SUGGESTION FOR HISTORY. 
 
 The introduction of tools, the compass, tee-square, and triangles 
 should be made here, and the lines of the working drawing well un- 
 derstood. 
 
 Design: Make a neutral scale with about nine steps from black 
 to white. These will be named white, high-light, light, low- 
 light, middle tone, high-dark, dark, low-dark, black. In making your 
 decorations, select harmonious tones from this scale. Use both neu- 
 tral washes and monochrome. 
 
 FELLOWSHIP. 
 
 ABG. 
 
 no 
 
 BV 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 A SUGGESTIVE POSTER. 
 SEE How MANY THINGS CAN BE MADE FROM THE SAME ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 Make flower composition in silhouette. Make studies of vases and 
 bowls arranged in circular or rectangular frame and painted in flat 
 
225 
 
 washes of gray, or monochrome. These arrangements can be adapted 
 in panels and borders to the candle shades. 
 
 ALII 
 
 ADAPTATION OF FLO WEB FORMS TO DECORATION. 
 EIGHTH GRADE. 
 
 Representation: If the pupils in this grade have had sufficient 
 experience in the principles planned for the lower grades, they 
 may be given more freedom and variety. Plants may be studied for 
 their beauty of line and form, with close observation and rendering 
 of color and texture. However, the rendering of texture is more 
 easily taught in drawing the tree. Compare the bark of various trees. 
 Compare the texture of the trunk with the mass of foliage. 
 
 Construction: Continue the work of sixth and seventh grades. 
 Become more familiar with tools and more accurate in execution. 
 Experience in designing objects to be made may be the special work 
 of this. grade. Forms for pottery and basketry or anything to be 
 made in the manual training shop are good. 
 
 The book-end and paper knife offer an opportunity for individual- 
 ity. The paper knife is made of any wood not too hard to whittle. 
 To develop the design, make a few sketches on paper or cut patterns 
 directly with the scissors. Decide on a definite size, then proceed 
 with shape and proportions. Try a variety of lengths for handle and 
 blade, then more subtle variety in the contour of the handle. 
 
 A pair of book-ends are made from a piece of tin, oblong in shape, 
 
bent at right angles so that about two-thirds of the length will stand 
 upright. The shape and proportions and contour may be determined 
 by the pupil. These same principles and problems are involved in the 
 
 BOOK-ENDS SHOWING BI-SYMMETRICAL UNIT. 
 
 brass, copper, and wood work. The only difference being the process 
 of application. The book-ends are to be covered with linen and 
 decorated. 
 
 PAPEB KNIFE PATTERNS SHOWING VARIATION 
 
 SAME FORM. 
 
 OF FINISH FROM THE 
 
Design: The decoration for the book-ends and the paper knife 
 should be formal in character: conventional nature units or abstract 
 
 \\ 
 
 OUTLINE FOB PENCIL OR PEN. 
 
228 
 
 spots. If the class be well acquainted with simple bands and corner 
 spots, something more difficult may be attempted. Try a bi-symetric 
 unit for the entire surface. Cut a pattern of the form to be 
 decorated, fold through the center vertically. Take a soft pencil or 
 crayon and break this space, drawing lines and spots similar to the 
 half space. Fold over on the other half and rub hard. This will 
 give a pleasing and harmonious pattern for the entire surface. This 
 may be stencilled on the book*end, and stained or carved on the 
 knife handle. 
 
MUSIC 
 
 GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 
 The Value of Music. 
 
 Music holds an important relation to schools on account of its 
 moral power. Among all classes of people in all periods and condi- 
 tions of life, we recognize the mysterious influence of music. We see 
 how it calms the troubled mind, how it sheds cheerfulness upon daily 
 toil, how it revives the drooping spirit, how it adds zest to social 
 amusement, how it carries the sweetest pleasures into the family cir- 
 cle, how it lifts the rapt soul from the dull plains of earth to the 
 celestial mountains. The mother's lullaby that soothes the restless 
 infant, the trumpet and drum that summon a crowd in the street, 
 the merry glee that scatters joy amid the social gathering, the sere- 
 nade that floats so sweetly on the evening air, the thrilling song that 
 fires the patriot's soul amid the din of battle, the solemn hymn that 
 soars to heaven wherever Christians meet, all reveal the mighty pow- 
 er of music. It saves the people from boistrous and riotous passions ; 
 pervading all classes it softens and refines the national character. 
 Nowhere can its power be exerted more happily than in the school 
 room. 
 
 Singing has a place in the school not only because of its cultural 
 and disciplinary value, but also because it furnishes the child a 
 means of expression and enjoyment that it unexcelled. 
 
 The child is a creature of impulse rather than of reason, and possess- 
 es a strong emotional nature. Music meets the demands of that 
 nature, it infuses itself into his life, entwines itself around his heart 
 and becomes a law of his being. Hence his songs may give tone and 
 directiori to his moral character. Some one has noticed that upon the 
 introduction of music into the public schools of a certain town, the 
 number of low and trashy songs heard among children on the streets 
 sensibly decreased. 
 
 Music aids in school discipline. In opening exercises it overcomes 
 the turbulence of the boy and acts as a safety-valve; it brings the 
 interval between muscular and mental activity; it calms the irrita- 
 bility following confinement and protracted study, and prepares the 
 way for more study ; it furnishes the child a means of expression and 
 enjoyment not offered by any other branch of instruction. 
 
330 
 
 The Method of Teaching Music. 
 
 No method of musical instruction in public schools is worthy of 
 commendation which does not lead directly to the attainment on the 
 part of the pupil of five objects, viz: a desire to sing; the ability to 
 read music readily at sight; the improvement of the singing voice; 
 a knowledge of good music by the best composers; and the ability to 
 sing with feeling and expression. Musical instruction in the schools 
 is not intended merely as a pastime. Although much pleasure is de- 
 rived from spontaneous singing, unless the children learn to read 
 music intelligently, the work is in a great degree a failure. Thous- 
 ands of people give up the practice of singing because they cannot 
 read music. The rote singer is obliged to spend much time in learn- 
 ing each piece before he arrives at the beginning place of the sight 
 singer, to whom fresh fields are ever open, and higher and better 
 music is always at his command. To borrow an illustration: Sup- 
 pose two persons recite equally well a poem in German. The one has 
 merely learned this one piece and may be ignorant of its meaning; 
 the other is a German scholar, and has at his command all the 
 treasures of knowledge that are stored in the vast literature of the 
 German language. 
 
 Children can be taught in the public schools to read music as skill- 
 fully as they read language. If this has not been accomplished in 
 schools where music has been taught for years, it is due either to 
 poor teaching, or to wrong methods. 
 
 Music should have a place in every school curriculum, and form a 
 continuous prolonged course, beginning with the simplest rudiments 
 and leading the child on by successive steps, systematic drill and 
 much practice, until he can render and appreciate the highest grade 
 of music of the best composers. 
 
 Music cannot reach its highest efficiency in the school unless the 
 children learn to read it. The best singing is found in schools where 
 the children read music well. Teaching the children to sing at sight 
 does not defeat the real object for which music is taught, in fact, the 
 ability to read music makes the pupil independent of his teacher and 
 facilitates rather than retards his musical development. 
 
 Some people contend that the child's music sense is dulled by 
 learning to read music, and therefore they put slight emphasis on 
 music reading with the result that the children who are taught by 
 their methods do not learn to read music at all. It is true that the 
 child's music sense is first developed by the spontaneous singing of 
 songs learned by imitation but it does not follow that imitative sing- 
 
231 
 
 ing gives the child the ability to sing by note. It is true that rote 
 singing is a necessary preparation for music reading just as learning 
 to talk is a necessary preparation for language reading, but either case 
 when the symbols are introduced there should be no doubt left in the 
 child's mind as to their significance. 
 
 Reading is a matter of knowing and doing as well as feeling and it 
 is foolish to contend that a child can learn to read solely through the 
 exercise of his feelings and emotions. While imitative singing awak- 
 ens the music sense and leads directly into sight singing, the latter 
 employs mental processes that are not employed when the child sings 
 by ear, and unless he is trained in these particular processes he will 
 never be able to interpret the printed page. 
 
 Music reading is not the ultimate end to be attained in school sing- 
 ing but it is a means of hastening the child's progress toward that 
 end. The teaching of music reading holds the same relation to music 
 education as the teaching of language reading holds to general educa- 
 tion. It is, therefore a legitimate function of the public schools, 
 which demands the teacher's most thoughtful and active attention. 
 
 Learning to read music is not, primarily, a reasoning or a prob- 
 lem solving process, it is a performance to be reduced to automatism 
 by a great deal of practice. It involves principally the memory, the 
 imagination, the music sense and the perceptive faculties. Children 
 cannot learn to read music by the lecture method, nor by laborious 
 and protracted drill on the separated elements of melody. "They 
 learn to read by reading." 
 
 In teaching children to read music, the practice of singing songs 
 directly from the notation is the best kind of drill for both the ear 
 and the eye that can possibly be given. Such practice gives them a 
 mastery of tone relation that cannot be obtained by merely practicing 
 skips abstractly from the scale melody. The soundness of this prin- 
 ciple has been demonstrated not only in music reading but in word 
 reading. Instead of teaching the alphabet first and then drilling 
 the children on the various combinations of elementary sounds, before 
 permitting them to read words, as reading used to be taught, entire 
 words in the form of sentences are presented at the beginning. 
 
 In school singing, the child's first musical experience should be 
 with the song, his study of music should be based on the song, and 
 song should be the object of his musical training. The success of 
 music in the schools depends more on this principle than on the arbi- 
 trary practices of any particular "system." Children will work harder 
 with songs than they will with exercises. Songs stimulate the music 
 
23% 
 
 sense, hold interest and leave lasting impressions. A dreary page of 
 barren exercises makes no such appeal. 
 
 The preliminary practice of singing by syllable songs already learn- 
 ed by ear while looking at the notes, is for the purpose of familiariz- 
 ing the child with the staff notation and leading him to recognize 
 tone 'relation in the song where it was originally discovered. 
 
 The song method presents the symbols of music in direct connec- 
 tion with the song just as the symbols of words are presented in direct 
 connection with spoken language. ''Children learn to read by read- 
 ing," and they begin to read by beginning. It is unnecessary to de- 
 lay them by dreary drill on dissociated elements in order to "lead up" 
 to music reading. 
 
 The teacher should not stop to explain the notation in advance of 
 the child's experience. As soon as he learns to see scale relation in 
 melody, he has discovered the secret of reading music and he will 
 learn the notation as he goes along. 
 
 Music reading should not be made a forced process with young 
 children. They should grow naturally in learning to read just as they 
 do in learning to talk. The songs should be so well adapted to the 
 child's capabilities at any given stage that his progress is possible 
 without frequent and discouraging interruptions. 
 
 Eote singing should not be discontinued when note singing begins. 
 The children should be given an opportunity daily for spontaneous ex- 
 pression in song. This is the spirit of the song method, but rote sing- 
 ing and music reading should be so well balanced that rote singing 
 will not prevent music reading as it often does when the teacher has 
 no definite aim in view. 
 
 When the children are shown the way clearly they will work as 
 hard in learning to read music as they do in learning to read language, 
 provided they have interesting material to read. With good songs 
 they can cultivate good tone, good expression and learn to read, all 
 at the same time. 
 
 Material and Method. 
 
 A music course is best represented by the textbooks used. Schools 
 vary to such an extent, even in cities where music instruction is well 
 established, that a rigid course of study often proves to be a handi- 
 cap to the teacher. With a well graded book the way is made plain 
 to the teacher who can read music. 
 
 The Congdon Music Keaders, which are the adopted text, 
 to be used by the pupils, may be followed by any of the higher books 
 
233 
 
 suggested below, which together with the Song Book issued by the 
 State Department of Schools, furnish not only an abundance of 
 material for study by note but also songs for all occasions as well as 
 for daily exercises and spontaneous singing. 
 
 In schools where music reading is not well established, The Congdon 
 First Reader (Primer) can be used as high as the fourth grade; the 
 Second Eeader as high as the sixth grade and the Third Reader as 
 high as the eighth grade. 
 
 As these books are mastered in the higher grades they will gradually 
 settle into the lower grades but in no instance should the Primer 
 be used below the second grade. This elasticity of plan which is in 
 harmony with the principles already stated, will prove to be the only 
 practical method of adopting the music material to the needs of the 
 schools. It opens a progressive road to music study without the limi- 
 tation of a "cut and dried" course of study that holds some of the 
 teachers back while, at the same time, it crowds others along faster 
 than they can go. 
 
 With the ability to sing at sight music of the same difficulty as 
 ordinary hymn tunes, the teacher is master of the situation ; provided, 
 -of course that the school is properly equipped with the necessary books. 
 The teacher who cannot read music should make it her business to 
 learn as soon as possible, the daily lesson with the children is the 
 teacher's opportunity for self-improvement. 
 
 The children are always ready to do their part, but from the very 
 beginning and in all grades the teacher should insist on a perfectly 
 smooth, light, pleasant tone. Forced tones are not only discordant 
 but very injurious to the voice. The "head tone" quality should be 
 learned by both teacher and pupils and established in every school- 
 room. 
 
 In giving a lesson in music reading, the teacher should be on the 
 guard constantly to prevent the children from singing by ear. If the 
 class is not properly directed and the teacher does not hold them to 
 singing by note, ear singing will prevail. Rote singing has its place 
 but it should not occupy the period set apart for note singing. 
 
 The teacher will find it necessary to start the tunes often, but let the 
 impluse of one phrase sung by the teacher (or a few bright pupils) 
 carry the class through the next phrase by note. Or, let the impulse 
 of one song learned by ear, carry the class through the next song 
 by note. 
 
 All singing whether by note or by rote should be musical and mel- 
 odious and in order to do this the teacher must '"boost" frequently. 
 
234 
 
 But too much boosting defeats music reading. It is so easy for both 
 teacher and pupils to lapse into ear singing that effort in the right 
 direction by the pupils is often hard to secure. Individual singing 
 is necessary in order to secure good music reading. A dozen or 
 more pupils can sing individually in two or three minutes, if the work 
 is properly handled. Occasional songs and spontaneous singing as 
 well as singing for pure enjoyment should be interspersed frequently 
 in the daily program, but all classes above the first grade should sing 
 by note for ten minutes each day without interruption. 
 
 Supplementary Books. 
 
 The following books are recommended to follow the Congdon 
 Music Readers: 
 
 Book Two, Eleanor Smith Music Course, American Book Com- 
 pany, Boston, Mass. 
 
 or 
 
 Book Two, Progressive Music Course, Silver Burdett & Co., New 
 York, 
 
 or 
 
 Book Two, The New Educational Music Course, Ginn & Co., 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 Following the above for upper grammar grades and High Schools : 
 
 The Laurel Music Reader or The School Song Book, C. C. Birch- 
 ard & Co., Boston. 
 
 For rote singing in the primary grades: 
 
 Songs of a Little Child's Day by Eleanor Smith, Thos. Charles 
 Co., Chicago. 
 
 Jessie Gaynor Books One & Two, Clayton F. Summy, Chicago, 111. 
 
 The Songman's Pack by Nellie Poorman, Clayton F. Summy, Chi- 
 cago, 111. 
 
BOOKKEEPING 
 
 Text: Montgomery's Modern Bookkeeping Single Entry Part 
 
 Time: Second half of eighth grade. 
 
 Bookkeeping can be taught best in connection with 7th and 8th 
 
 grade arithmetic. However, if teachers think it necessary, they may 
 
 teach it as a separate subject in the second half of the eighth grade. 
 
 A set of blanks of five numbers to accompany Part I has been adopted. 
 
 GENERAL HISTORY. 
 
 Text: Myers' General History (Eevised). 
 
 General History should not be taught in the elementary grades un- 
 less there is a strong demand for it. If taught at all the teacher 
 should, if possible, teach it out of regular school hours, in the eighth 
 grade. 
 
 If necessary to teach this subject the following suggestions may 
 be found helpful. 
 
 (If general history is attempted in this grade, the course in United 
 States history should be begun in the sixth grade and completed in 
 the seventh, the manner of presenting it being simplified because of 
 the younger age of the pupils.) 
 
 It will be best in general to follow the order of subjects as pre- 
 sented in the text used. The same general suggestions as to the 
 subjects to be emphasized in the study of U. S. History will apply 
 in this work. Also the suggestions as to the teaching of the history 
 in the high school course. Social, industrial and economic con- 
 ditions are as important as the progress in forms of government and 
 the methods of warfare. 
 
 The manner of life of the people, their homes, dress, social diver- 
 sions and amusements, family life, education, literature, art, re- 
 ligious beliefs and observances, agriculture, ownership of land, agri- 
 cultural products, slavery, position of women, manufactures and com- 
 merce, all. these topics will be found very fruitful and will well re- 
 pay investigation. 
 
 Pupils should outline lessons and recite in the main by topics. 
 Notebooks may be kept in which material gathered from other 
 sources should be entered; maps should be studied carefully and 
 
236 
 
 important events fixed definitely both in place and time. Study the 
 illustrations in the book, they are meant to aid in the understanding 
 of the text. 
 
 Compare one nation with another as to its development in civili- 
 zation and note the constant progress of civilization toward a higher 
 state. Trace the elements of our own civilization which have come 
 to us from the various nations of the past. Show in what way the 
 present is better than the past and what we may learn from the 
 past of value to the present. 
 
lord Bro> 
 Makers 
 
 case 
 
 N. V. 
 
 JftN. 21, 1908 
 
 YC 83834 
 
 RY