BY FRANCES JENKINS How to Teach Reading A MANUAL FOR TEACHERS USING THE RIVERSIDE READERS BY FRANCES JENKINS Formerly Supervisor of Elementary Grades Decatur, Illinois BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY (gfte liiUcrgibe prcstf Cambridge CONTENTS I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RIVERSIDE READERS ... i II. GENERAL SUGGESTIONS 7 Thought as a basis for reading How words are recognized How to conduct a drill Types of drill How to plan a reading lesson How to conduct a reading lesson Sup- plementary reading Seat work related to reading Training in the use of speech organs Rate of reading Expressive oral reading Silent reading and study lessons The lower-grade pupil who does not learn to read The upper-grade pupil who cannot read. III. TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER 24 Plans for each story group Lists of words and word groups for drill. IV. TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE FIRST READER 65. Plans for each story group Lists of words and word groups for drill. V. TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE SECOND READER .... 75 Types of lessons Poems, the short story, the informa- tional lesson, the dramatization, the long story Illus- trative lesson plans Lists of words for drill. VI. TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE THIRD READER 88 Types of lessens Illiis f .rfit"vf lesson plans Lists of words for drill. VII. TEACHING THE, U?ER GRADE READERS 93 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY FRANCES JENKINS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED HOW TO TEACH READING I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RIVERSIDE READERS THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER READING is one of mankind's greatest delights, as well as a main source of information. The Riverside Primer is written with the belief that the very first reading may give delight to the beginner, besides furnishing him much information about many interesting things in his ever-expanding world; that in his very first book the child should find the game and the rhyme, the dolly and the drum, loving thoughts of home, appreciative glimpses of the nature and community worlds surrounding him. The approach to a reading lesson must focus the child 's\ attention upon the central thought, helping him to find in the thought an expression of his own needs, desires, or interests. Unless he becomes seriously absorbed in the thought because j of this inherent interest, the lesson lacks that which is of great-y est value, that which makes it really a reading lesson. The lessons in the Riverside Primer are so closely related to child life that it is an easy matter to make a worthy approach ; many lessons offer a choice of approaches ; so that the teacher has an opportunity to vary her work as lessons are reviewed, or from year to year. New ideas, or reorganization of familiar ideas, form the basis of all informational reading. This primer takes advantage of the intense curiosity and eager observation aroused during the HOW TO TEACH READING beginning school Work, when for the first time the child finds a group of his own age ready to hear appreciatively of his observations. Simple facts of his nature and community worlds, poetic interpretations of facts already familiar, are given, that his reading material may be worth while from the thought standpoint, that he may find in his primer lessons another opportunity to share his observations, which is always a stimulus to further thought. Word work is a fundamental part of all reading, but the Riverside Primer is unique in its treatment of the work with words. It provides for the individual differences of children, giving a fundamental vocabulary which all must learn, a com- plete vocabulary for all of which only the strongest pupils are held. This distinction permits the slower pupils to have the stimulus of stronger pupils in the group, while at the same time the stronger pupils have ample work to keep them busy ; thus doing away with the need for making distinct groups of slow pupils. From the first there are certain words for which the slow pupil may be held, certain sentences which he can read with little help. Context relation is recognized as an important factor in word recognition. The natural expressions and the simple style of this primer are strong aids in getting words through the con- text; the sentence says what a child would expect it to say. This importance of the context is carefully guarded also in that no meaningless repetitions are used. Each lesson is a literary unit, every review lesson has some especial charm. From the first the pupil is kept alive in thought; so that the compelling force of thought helps him in his word mastery. Repetition is amply provided for, words of the fundamental vocabulary especially being used over and over again. Slow pupils are not held for a word until the page is reached where the word is used most frequently. 2 CHARACTERISTICS OF RIVERSIDE READERS Phonic drill with the simpler sounds and phonograms is reached through the fundamental vocabulary; recognized in the work with rhymes (see pp. 50, 51, 119) ; made delightful by the use of imitative words which the child so dearly loves to repeat and in which his hunger for sound, his delight in voice- play, are met: tinkle, buzz, cluck, woo-oo, babble -bubble. The fundamental vocabulary contains the simpler words related to the child's own experience, father, mother, baby, boy, girl, no, yes; the necessary but colorless common words, am, and, by, when, you; comprising a list of words adapted to the early writing and language work. These are the words used most frequently in supplementary readers, so that the children may begin to use supplementary work very early in the year. Expressive reading is a natural outgrowth of the use of the Riverside Primer. The wealth of thought presented, the short, childlike sentences, the varied style, the natural vocabulary, all help in getting good expression. Emphasis upon expression is given in the frequent use of action words and imitative words. What child can read monotonously, " Come, Kitty, Kitty " (p. 13), or, "' Tweet, tweet! ' said the little bird " (p. 45)? Varied activities as the accompaniment and outgrowth of the reading lessons have received careful attention in planning the Riverside Primer. Action sentences call for movement in their interpretation ; dialogue and dramatization appear frequently. There are games which may be played, rhymes which may be sung, or with which rhythmic movements may be given. Many of the lessons lead to illustration by drawing, coloring, or cut- ting. Every activity utilized in this way carries added interest into the reading lesson, gives greater value to the hard work involved in mastering the difficulties; the effort in getting the thought is thus made a means to a worthy end. The wealth of activity provided makes interesting review work an easy 3 HOW TO TEACH READING matter : the lesson read to-day as a dialogue may be read next week for the sake of illustrating ; the lesson read first as a story may be read again as a dramatization. The serial arrangement of lessons provides for using an awak- ened interest long enough to get the most from it. Repetition is thus provided for naturally at the time when interest is intense. Review becomes a desirable occupation; for it is natural to read all the lessons of a series together after each has been read separately. Method, although carefully provided for, is made subordinate to literary quality and richness and suggestiveness of material. There are many ways of helping children to connect the printed word with the spoken word. The authors do not believe in confining teachers to any one method in teaching children to read. There are many methods and most of them have something good in them, but when used to the exclusion of all others each becomes bad. These readers combine all the good methods of teaching reading, such as the phonic method (see outlines on the last pages of Primer, First, Second, and Third Readers), the method of approach through nursery rhymes (see Primer, pp. 30, 32, 86, 88, 90; First Reader, pp. 8, 12, etc.), the story approach (see Story Groups, Primer, p. 2; First Reader, p. 2), the approach through action sentences (see Primer, pp. 57, 93), the picture method (see the beautiful and useful pictures throughout the series), the experience method (see Primer, pp. 31, 33, 35, 80). This manual has been prepared to help teachers in establishing their teaching of reading by making use of the experience of other successful primary teachers. THE RIVERSIDE FIRST READER The Riverside First Reader in its first lessons recognizes the companionship found in books and the pride of the small 4 CHARACTERISTICS OF RIVERSIDE READERS reader. " Sometimes Grandpa reads me a story. Sometimes I read a story." The old rhymes form a basis for dramatiza- tion (pp. 9, 13^".) and for charming dialogue (pp. 14-20). The companionship of the game appears (pp. 42-47), with nature poems which fit into the surroundings of the game. The old stories bring in the repetition element, such illustrations as portray " The Little Red Hen " and " The Gingerbread Boy " making them very realistic. A group of stories about " The Toilers " appeals to the desire to discuss the mysterious prob- lem, " What I want to do when I grow up." Rhymes and riddles are so presented (pp. 86-91) as to give the best type of review, a new view based on the recall of ideas already known, while giving needed repetition of words. THE RIVERSIDE SECOND READER The story long enough to be worth while occupies the greater part of the Second Reader. Such attractive stories as they are, too! The animal world furnishes many, but the weather-cock and the steam-engine also appear, and folk-tales from other lands are used. The dramatizations given are valuable in them- selves, and they may well serve as models for dramatizations which the children will plan from other stories read. Children's love of humor will help in the appreciation of the nonsense poems and stories scattered throughout, while the nature poems are most musical. A few informational lessons are given for silent reading leading to observation. The teacher will appreciate the list of words requiring special drill, given at the back of the book. THE RIVERSIDE THIRD READER Like the other books of the series, the Third Reader presents material of intrinsic interest, graded carefully so as to be within the ability of third-grade children. The long story is still the 5 HOW TO TEACH READING main type of selection, but occasional short stories of unusual value are given. Ethical qualities are strongly portrayed in "Peasant Truth " (p. 55), "A Lesson in Politeness " (p. 90), and many others. Fanciful poems and nonsense verses have their place, and there are many dainty poems dealing with the child's own activities and relationships, " Our Mother " (p- 37) an d "A Song of Our Flag " (p. 104) being among these. The Table of Phonograms and Consonant Sounds (p. 255) will be especially helpful in the formal work. II. GENERAL SUGGESTIONS THOUGHT AS A BASIS FOR READING THE experiences which a child has had are the best basis for his early reading. His thoughts are busy with these experiences, he has words to express them, he is interested in them. The teacher needs to make the most of these experiences, trying to realize their importance to the children. The prosaic hen of the barnyard is closely related to " The Lost Chick " (Primer, p. 68) and to " The Little Red Hen " (First Reader, p. 48), the bird and the kitten attract to " The Three Birds " and " The Three Kittens " (Primer, pp. 3-17) and to " The Cat that Waited " (First Reader, pp. 114-118). The teacher needs to give watchful care to the new ideas/ which the child is getting. Sometimes the emotional tone involved in a new experience is strong enough so that the reading lessons may be selected upon the basis of that experi- ence alone, regardless of apparent difficulties. A military parade will lead directly to " Marching " (Primer, p. 78), while the veriest beginner will enjoy " The Circus is Coming " (Primer, p. 94) when that is what the bill-boards announce. 41 All normal incentive in reading rests in the promise that the thing read will have significance for the reader." 1 Cattell has found that words in context are read twice asr fast as isolated words. ' Even the sound of a letter depends to some extent upon the context in which it occurs. This shows how important it is that the child shall come to his task of reading with a thought content which enables him to master the thought there presented, that thought content itself deter- mining the ease with which he can master the words involved. * 1 Laing, Reading: A Manual for Teachers, p. 157. 7 HOW TO TEACH READING " New words are best learned by hearing or seeing them used in a context that suggests their meaning and not by focusing the attention upon their isolated form or sound or meaning. . . . The best way to get a reading vocabulary is just the way the child gets his spoken vocabulary, by having the new words keep coming in a context environment that is familiar and interesting and by trying to use them as they will serve his purposes." 1 HOW WORDS ARE RECOGNIZED Prompt recognition of words is essential to intelligent read- ing. We do not yet know the processes by which a child recog- nizes a word. Valuable studies, however, have been made of the way in which words are recognized by adults and we may learn something from these. The word as a whole makes an appeal to the eye. The length of the word and the arrangement of letters in it help to give it a general form by which it may be recognized. Letters which extend above and below the line seem to aid in recognition. The upper half of a word or letter is more important than the lower half. The first and last sylla- bles in a word are also especially helpful. " The dominating letters and syllables in words and the dominating words in a sentence give individual character to the whole. The eye seizes on that in the given whole which gives it a distinctive character." 2 Phonic analysis is most helpful with a large number of words. By it alone a child may get a new word, or the initial sounds may give him a key to a word suggested by the context: e.g., he may get the word men by phonic analysis m-e-n ; or the sounds m-e-n may give him the cue to the word mended in such a sentence as, The toy was mended. 1 Huey, The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, p. 348. 2 Laing, Reading: A Manual for Teachers, p. 129. 8 GENERAL SUGGESTIONS HOW TO CONDUCT A DRILL The essentials of drill are (i) focalization upon the work, (2) repetition with attention, (3) permitting no exceptions. Drills need to be short, varied, definite, rapid. Two five- minute drill periods a day at first will count for more than one longer drill. Train children to attend promptly as you present word after word, or phonogram after phonogram. In rapid work with words, a half-second or less gives time enough for them to recognize a word which they know, a longer time is needed if the word has to be sounded. When a child gives a wrong answer, have the class tell the right answer immediately. Get back again and again to the word or sound which gives trouble. Certain words (see pp. 181-182 in Riverside Second Reader) give trouble for a long time and require special attention. Be sure that children know and make use of all phonograms and consonant sounds developed in the lists. (See Primer, p. 128; First Reader, p. 128; Second Reader, p. 192; Third Reader, pp. 254-256.) Push toward independence by this means. Learn to give drills in many ways, but always hold to one type of drill until the class has learned how to work rapidly. In two minutes you should get from fifty to one hundred responses when working with lists or groups of words which contain no special difficulties. In general drill on a very few new words in a lesson, presenting each a number of times, adding a larger number of well-known words. HOW TO TEACH READING TYPES OF DRILL 1. Words or phonic elements (from 6 to 20) written clearly on blackboard, each new word or sound appearing several times ; class grouped near Teacher points ; pupils name or sound in turn ; at close class name or sound in concert. Teacher points; calls on pupils not in turn; at close one or two children name all words in list. Teacher calls for word; child points; each child has a turn. Child points ; calls on one pupil for three words in succession ; if all are right, successful child takes his turn pointing and calling. Child sent out of room ; class select a word ; pupil returns and tries to guess word chosen, pointing to each word and naming it ; when he succeeds, another child is sent out. Child points; names three words which he knows; each child has a turn. 2. Words or phonic elements listed in book (See Primer, pp. 119, 121-124, 128; First Reader, pp. 121-124, 128; Second Reader, pp. 181-189, J 9 2 ; Third Reader, pp. 247-252.) Every child points, teacher moves about rapidly to see that each finds words, helping those who have difficulty. Teacher names word or phonic element; children find and name. In naming phonic element give both element and key- word, having children point to both; e.g., ing, sing. This same type of drill may be given with the words on any page, a review page or a new one. Children are helped by knowing that words already mastered will be useful in new work. 10 GENERAL SUGGESTIONS Child names word or phonic element ; others find and name. Children point to words in order as listed, naming in turn. Where words are given in pairs, have child give pair. (See Primer, p. 119; Second Reader, pp. 181-182.) j. Words or phonic elements printed on cards 1 Teacher shows cards rapidly ; pupils name or sound in turn ; at close class name or sound in concert. Teacher shows cards ; calls on pupils not in turn ; at close one or two children name all. Cards on blackboard ledge ; teacher calls for word ; child finds word card ; each child has a turn. Cards on blackboard ledge; words written on board; child selects and names word card which he knows, matches it with same word on blackboard. Cards distributed among children ; teacher or child calls for word ; child brings card containing word. 4. To emphasize dominant letters and syllables Teacher writes list of well-known words on blackboard, erases lower half of each word. Pupils try to name words. Teacher prints dominant letters or syllables of well-known words listed in back of book, indicating omitted letters; children find words in list, point and name; e.g., k-tt~-s, pi-y- Teacher holds word cards so that only upper half of word is shown, children name words. 5. To emphasize word groups Teacher arranges a word group with cards: e.g., in the tree; changes the final word, in the song, in the morning; changes the initial word, the middle word, etc. 1 These cards may be made by the teacher or older pupils. Be sure that the printing is even, the letters large and well-spaced. C. H. Cong- don, 623 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111., furnishes satisfactory word cards. II HOW TO TEACH READING Teacher writes word groups on blackboard; erases lower half of words ; children name word groups or find them in primer. HOW TO PLAN A READING LESSON i. Determine the thought values Plan each series of lessons in a general way; plan the lesson for the day in detail. Look ahead for new ideas which the child is to meet; occasionally the concrete experience which will be most valuable in starting him to think may come before the reading lesson is reached ; the sight of a rainbow is such an experience. Look ahead also for new words which may be taught incidentally before they are needed in a lesson ; yes and no are such words; they may be written frequently in answer to children's questions. Determine what the approach to the lesson is to be. Make it short, beautiful, and full of meaning. Plan to use in this conversation some words and phrases which appear in the text, especially those which help focus the thought. Think over the experiences the children have had with the topic under discus- sion. Think what use may be made of the picture. New ideas must be made clear before the reading of the text begins, the twinkling of the stars, the singing of the wind, the hive of the bee. What are the new ideas in the lesson? How may each be illustrated? Plan such questions and directions as will focus attention upon each sentence. These should help the pupil to establish relationships, to get more from the thought than he can get unaided. In the later work, the paragraph is the unit about which such questions and directions should center. 12 GENERAL SUGGESTIONS 2. Classify the words in each lesson Known words of fundamental vocabulary. Hold every child responsible for these. If a child fails on one, come back to him for it again and again ; list it for future drill. of complete vocabulary. Hold strong children responsible for these. If such a child fails on one, come back to him for it at least twice during the lesson. Unknown words To be reached through context: all words representing ideas or relationships familiar to children. When such a word is called for, ask a question which will be answered by using the word. A child may give a synonym instead of the word used in the text ; substitute the required word promptly without comment. To be reached through sounds or families : the initial or final sound will be sufficient many times to help the chil- dren in getting a word. Hold children responsible for the simple sounds and phonograms which have been taught, making frequent use of them. To be told unless they can be reached readily in one of the above ways : words of the fundamental vocabulary which have not yet been used often enough to drill upon ; words of the complete vocabulary which have not yet been used or are used infrequently. To be drilled upon From fundamental vocabulary : the word or words of this vocabulary listed for drill in the lesson. The word drill should center here. From complete vocabulary: the words used most fre- 13 HOW TO TEACH READING quently in the lesson, especially those which contain the heart of the thought. Words to be used for sound values Through voice play (imitative sounds): woo-oo, buzz, cluck. Recall how these natural sounds have sounded to you, listen for them, practice them, dwell on the sound values. Give monotones much opportunity to use them. Through analysis of sounds. Phonic elements and phonograms are to be derived from these as listed. j. Arrange for resulting activities / Plan definitely for the lesson to work over into a game, a song, a dramatization, drawing, or painting. Determine what activity fits in best with the needs of the class ; this depends in part upon the nature of the reading lesson, in part upon the program for the rest of the day. Sometimes the children may choose what they would like to do with the story. Encourage freedom in this resulting activity; let them dramatize in their own way, plan their own game, compose tunes for some of the little rhymes. HOW TO CONDUCT A READING LESSON i The leading thought or sequence of thought in the lesson is the center upon which the attention of the class must be concentrated. Experiences the children have had which will help them in apperceiving or interpreting this thought should be brought out as the lesson progresses. The teacher needs to keep herself in the background; the children need to be taught to do the work. The teacher has three lines of work to carry on: (i) to question the children to see if they are getting the thought; (2) to get from the class GENERAL SUGGESTIONS illustrative experiences relating to thoughts which are not clear ; (3) to aid with mechanical difficulties. Even the introductory questions and suggestions may direct the class attention not only to the thought of the lesson, but to the text itself. (See First Reader, p. 55.) Who is this man? What is he doing? Show where the lesson says the farmer. Show where it says the wheat. Can you find the word group the farmer's wheat? Insist that a child work through a sentence before he reads ^ it to the class. Select carefully the sentence which the slow child is to read. Train a child to attack a sentence with energy, to work rapidly, to be proud of knowing the words, to ask promptly for the word he does not know the word after him, the word before boy, the third word. Help him to get the un- known word from its context relation or from its sounds, if possible ; if he cannot get it in this way, call on another child for it; as a last resort, tell the word. No part of the reading work requires greater tact and judgment than this; it is a diffi- cult matter to keep the lesson moving rapidly and yet to train the pupils to independence in word mastery. Praise good work, encourage children frequently. When several related sentences have been read singly, have them read as a group. Later this may be done with related paragraphs. The standard for oral expression is the worthy interpretation * of the idea. The text lends itself to naturalness and variety of expression. Work for clear, sweet tones. Dwell on the sen- tences which have special sound values. Be careful not to demand exaggerated expression in sentences which have no elements requiring special interpretation. Center the expres- sion work upon sentences containing voice play or emotional elements: The bell says, "Tinkle, tinkle" ; There comes a cloud! O, one little chick is lost! Many times the children may show by action that they are interpreting the thought. Show IS HOW TO TEACH READING how an engine goes forty miles an hour. How is it that the wind rocks the nests ? Be certain that sentences which express much are read so as to show their meaning. The child must have the thought before he can do this. Finish a story or a main section within the recitation period. If possible spend a moment or two at the close in reading an especially good sentence, in discussing the events of the story, in comparing characters with one another. Never close a lesson with a few sentences remaining unread, read them yourself or call upon a strong pupil to read them. SUPPLEMENTARY READING To give variety to the work and to encourage children to use the ability gained in the basic reading, the teacher needs to use supplementary reading material from the first. Incidental reading makes use of the words which pupils see frequently : Street names and signs ; names of street-cars seen daily; names of public buildings, post-office, bank, library, church; names of seeds, of farming implements, the children's own names and those of their parents. Directions may be given by writing them on the blackboard : Run to your seats. Take your letter cards. Make these words. The experiences of the children may be made the basis of a lesson related to the regular lesson but giving a different view- point. In connection with the lesson on p. 18 of the Primer a Monday lesson might well grow out of a simple talk as to what the mothers are doing. Such sentences as this will be developed : This is Monday. See mother wash. See her wash the clothes. Splash, splash, splash! 16 GENERAL SUGGESTIONS Even in such simple work there needs to be a central thought, no matter how briefly expressed. There must be natural se- quence in the sentences and a variety of expression to call for natural voice control. Keep the sentences childlike in dic- tion. Whenever possible, have older pupils copy these lessons, then bind them into booklet form with the children's own illustra- tions. Each child then has his own book which he has made, and the lessons can be re-read many times. Encourage children to bring picture books from home to read to the class. Make use of supplementary school readers from the first. SEAT WORK RELATED TO READING There are two important lines of seat work to be carried on from the first : seat work which leads to thought mastery and helps children to develop a method of study, and seat work which leads to word mastery, stressing the mechanics of reading. Either may be used to emphasize a lesson already given or to prepare for a new lesson. Give clear, concise directions; supply needed material promptly ; train children to work independ- ently; examine and commend results. Leading to thought mastery Pictures in the story Draw on paper or at blackboard, cut, lay with sticks or lentils. Copy with letter cards a sentence which gives a picture. People in the story Draw, cut, lay with sticks. Copy names with letter cards, copy one thing each said, one thing each did. 17 HOW TO TEACH READING Find and lay with letter cards words or word groups which give color, sound, movement, time, place. When children have gained some independence in reading, they can find in the story answers to questions. (See First Reader, p. 34.) What does the wind sing ? What do the birds sing ? What do the bees sing ? In second grade they may draw a picture from the story, the class to guess and read the sentence or para- graph illustrated. Leading to word mastery Associating idea with word Material pictures of common objects, names of objects on small cards. Children place names beside pictures they represent. Associating isolated word with word in sentence Material words of lesson on small cards. 1 Children arrange words to make sentences of lesson. Emphasizing phonic elements Material letter cards. 1 Children find and copy with letter cards rhyming words in lesson; words whose sounds they enjoy giving; words beginning with a certain sound ; words containing a cer- tain phonogram. Emphasizing dominant letters or syllables Material letter cards. Teacher writes words on board, erasing lower half of each word ; children find words in reading and lay with 1 Word and letter cards may be prepared by the teacher or older pupils. They may be obtained also from The Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111., or from C. M. Parker, Taylorville, I1L 18 GENERAL SUGGESTIONS letter cards. Teacher writes dominant letters or syllables of words, using dashes for letters omitted ; children find words in readers and lay with letter cards. TRAINING IN THE USE OF SPEECH ORGANS All children need exercises to develop flexibility of jaws, lips, and tongue; many children need special help with specific sounds. In cases where speech defects are caused by deafness, deformities of teeth or palate, the teacher can do little except to suggest consultation with physician or dentist. Often chil- dren are permitted or encouraged at home to talk " baby talk," the parents having the wrong idea that in time this will be out- grown. The teacher can do much to secure cooperation in these homes by explaining how habits are formed, and that such a habit interferes not only with a child's oral reading and speech, but also with his spelling. The teacher can do little for difficult cases of stammering except to give the child con- fidence in himself. As a sound is discovered with which children have difficulty, select an imitative word through which to teach the sound pit-a-pat, tick-tock, woo-oo. Let the play element enter here as much as possible. Be sure that the child hears the sound clearly and correctly and gives it distinctly. It may be neces- sary to show him where to place his tongue, how to hold his lips, but his main attention should be centered on being a big or a tiny raindrop, a strong wind, something which helps him to for- get himself. The work may be with the class or with the indi- vidual, but it should center upon troublesome sounds and should give the children opportunity for hearing and making the sound repeatedly. Wise commendation for sounds made clearly will help materially. HOW TO TEACH READING RATE OF READING The best readers are the most rapid readers. They not only get the thought most clearly, but remember the best. " Dear- born found that for a given class of reading matter the fastest reader read more than three times as fast as the slowest" This means that teachers need to give more attention to training for speed in reading. Each child should work at his maximum, but he should not be hurried. Reading is a process of thinking. Training in rapid reading means training children to read for meaning. Silent reading is most important in establishing a rapid rate. Impelled by inter- est in the story, led on by the teacher's question or suggestion, the pupil hastens to find the conditions of the next important event. Drill with word groups or phrases helps in training the eye to grasp more than one word at a time, thus training for speed. The hygienic type, length of line, and careful division of lines in the Riverside Primer and First Reader lead to speed in reading by diminishing mechanical difficulties. About the time the pupil enters the fourth grade his silent reading rate gains on his oral reading rate, his eye hurries on ahead of his voice. From this time on more attention should be given to establishing a rapid rate of silent reading; less oral reading should be called for. EXPRESSIVE ORAL READING Train children to get the thought, then to give it naturally. Avoid exaggerated expression except when working with those foreign children who have monotonous voices. Expect children to express emotion every time that they read a sentence por- traying joy, grief, anger, surprise. Oh, one little chick is lost. 1 Laing, op. cit., p. 139. 20 GENERAL SUGGESTIONS (Primer, p. 68.) / spy Betty under the tree. (Primer, p. 83.) Descriptive passages should be read in a simple, natural style. Work with dialogue and dramatization will help in getting satisfactory expression. Children appreciate the power to show rapid or slow move- ment, loud or soft sounds by varying the voice control. Com- pare the rate of the Tick-tock! in the rhymes on pp. 59 and 61 of the Riverside Primer. They readily learn to express sus- pense in the same way. " Will it be a Christmas tree? " asked the wind. (Primer, p. 112.) The silent reading of a lesson in class or a study lesson with the teacher may many times well precede the oral reading. We are too desirous of having all reading oral ; if we recognize the oral reading as the culmination rather than the beginning of work with a lesson, we shall get more expressive oral reading. SILENT READING AND STUDY LESSONS Many silent reading exercises are introduced from the first (see Primer, pp. 25, 48, 53, 57, 77, etc.) for the purpose of giving pupils practice in getting the thought without calling the words. This will break pupils of the halting method of calling words without bringing out the thought of the sentences read. Definite silent reading lessons later will help the pupils to establish good habits of study. Under the guidance of the teacher the pupils will attack a story with the purpose of find- ing whether it is interesting, who the characters are, what kind of people they are, whether they do sensible, funny, or foolish things, and other problems which are worth while. Children may point to words or sentences which give the answer to the question, may copy them, or read them quietly to the teacher as she moves about the class. In a silent reading lesson each pupil may well work at his own rate of speed. In a study lesson the class works as a unit 21 HOW TO TEACH READING in discovering points of interest similar to those named in the preceding paragraph. One pupil may read the sentence which he thinks answers the question, another pupil may read a differ- ent sentence which he believes answers the same question. Such differences, the need for explaining new ideas, the dis- covery of relationships between parts of the story, lead to discussion. The words of the story are bandied back and forth, both their pronunciation and meaning appearing in this natural way. The crucial points of a story, the climaxes, the key sen- tences are discovered during this study lesson. Better oral reading as well as good study habits will be assured by this method of attack. THE LOWER-GRADE PUPIL WHO DOES NOT LEARN TO READ Most children learn to read readily enough when the teacher is faithful, though much hard work on the part of teacher and class is involved. An occasional child has special difficulty, however, and only careful study will discover what causes the trouble. Try various means until one is found which really helps. Let him read the simpler lessons in the primer many times. Have him bring story books from home. Drill upon the earlier words in the fundamental vocabulary. Allow one of the other children to help him. Some children are lacking in self confidence and may be helped by telling them the unknown word as soon as possible, giving no opportunity for hesitation. These pupils stand in especial need of wise commendation. The very immature pupil may need to repeat the grade work; all others should be expected to complete it on time. THE UPPER-GRADE PUPIL WHO CANNOT READ One of the greatest problems which a teacher meets is the pupil of this type. He belongs in the upper grade by reason of age, social relationships, ability to think, but he is handicapped 22 GENERAL SUGGESTIONS by his inability to read. Discover first what he can do in read- ing. Let him make lists of the words which he knows from the lesson, no matter how simple these may be. Sometimes he may well join the lower grade for word drills. Assign him a very short portion of the lesson to prepare for class, giving him all the help on it which he needs, perhaps letting another pupil help him. If this portion can be a bit of conversation or a key sentence, so much the better. Insist on this being prepared. Commend him when he reads it. Give him much opportunity to contribute in the study lesson, watch him in the silent read- ing lesson. Let other pupils help him. Do not expect to make a good reader of such a pupil, but be thankful for every sign of improvement. III. TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER THE editors believe that children learn to read most readily when their interest is continuously aroused by reading ma- terial which appeals to their experiences and activities. To help the beginning teacher to grasp the spirit of the text, these suggestive lesson plans are presented. They show one way in which certain lessons may be attacked ; as a teacher gains experience, she will find other modes of attack. Every device which helps in centering attention upon the thought of the lesson, every method which aids word mastery, simpli- fies the children's problem. Children entering school have an intense desire to read. They have an interest in many things about them. They know many words and many common English idioms. Four great problems confront them : I. Learning the printed words which are symbols of spoken words. II. Getting control of the nerves and muscles which govern the smaller eye movements. III. Analyzing words to find elements with which to discover new words. IV. Learning to respond to the thought presented by the printed page. All early reading is a combination of reading by the teacher and by the pupil, for whenever a teacher tells a word she is really reading. The words read may be divided into three classes : (i) The words which the teacher tells or suggests, a large number at first, gradually growing less. 24 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER (2) The words which the pupils attempt to name because of the context, but of which they are not sure a much more valuable source of mastery than is generally recog- nized. Each attempt must be confirmed or corrected immediately, but the pupils should be encouraged to make these attempts. (3) The words which the pupils know gradually growing in number. Pupils need much praise for mastering words. Drill on the words of the fundamental vocabulary (Primer, p. 121), singly or in word groups as soon as they have been used in a lesson. These must be mastered. Later use the complete vocabulary. (Primer, p. 122.) Word difficulties during the reading of a lesson need to be met promptly. Train children to help themselves, to ask for needed help, to be ready to help one another. If a child seems too dependent, ask: How have you tried to get that word? What is the sentence about ? Does the word look like any word you know ? Have you sounded it? Push the lesson through, however, not allowing too much delay. It would be better to tell a number of words than to let the lesson drag. Then these words may be drilled upon at another period and the lesson re-read the next day. These lesson plans emphasize many ways of attracting chil- dren's attention to significant or well-known words in the lesson. This helps in rapid silent reading. The new words are not given at the head of each page because it is better for the children to get them with the context in sentences. The teacher can find all the new words on each page grouped in the com- plete vocabulary at the end of each book. Such word lists mar the appearance of the page and tend to decrease the child's pleasure and interest in his book. Since the Riverside Readers are books for children, the teaching devices are not allowed to be conspicuous. 25 HOW TO TEACH READING There are three special eye movements in which children need training: (1) The movement from left to right in reading words and in reading lines. Careful pointing from left to right aids here greatly. This movement is established in a few weeks. (2) The movement from the right end of one line to the left end of the next line. By using a plain strip of paper, four inches by one inch, the child may cover the lines below the one which he is reading. When he finishes reading one line, the moving of the marker exposes the next and confusion is avoided. This movement is established by the end of the first half year. (3) The grasping of two or more words in a single eye move- ment. This helps to establish a rapid rate of reading. It is helped by work with phrases or word groups. The analysis of words into their elements is a great help in mastering new words, but it should not be depended upon too much during the first half year. During the second and third years it should become a strong tool. Phonic work should be used for its values in voice training and ear training as well as for word analysis. (i) Rhyming Words. Use the rhyming words given in the rhymes (Primer, pp. 9, 15, 25, etc.) to call attention to the likeness of the sounds. Repeat tree, me; you, mew; fly, by, rock-a-bye, dwelling on the sounds. Have the children repeat these. Let them give other words which rhyme. Instead of telling a new word in the lesson, say some- times, // rhymes with : e.g., Primer, p. 41 . The children know nod; ask, Who can find a word in the lesson which rhymes with nod? The pleasure in the sound value inter- ests the children in learning the words. (See Primer, pp. 50, II9-) 26 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER (2) Imitative Words. Use the words which imitate sound or action mew, twinkle, moo, rock-a-bye, peek-a-boo to arouse interest in making sounds. Children enjoy repeating these sounds over and over. Babble-bubble is a word in which they delight, it gives much practice on b, yet this sound is difficult to give by itself. Work for different ways of playing with these sounds loud, soft, near, far away, in different tones of voice. This will lead to better voice control as well as train the ear to sound values. (3) Phonograms and Consonant Sounds. These are selected from the words which the children are using frequently in their reading. The essentials are for a child to hear the sound clearly, to repeat the sound distinctly, to associate the sound with the written symbol, to use the knowledge thus gained in attacking new words. Many suggestions for this work are given on p. 127 of the Riverside Primer and in the lesson plans given in this manual. The teacher should study these helps carefully and constantly. Work for clear sweet sounds ; b should be mellow ; s sibilant ; m, n, p, and t delicate. Watch the placing of the tongue, the use of lips and teeth ; many defects of articulation come because children do not use these organs properly. The children use the Primer from the first day, this plan assuming no previous blackboard work. The teacher should use the blackboard constantly as a help, however. Use chil- dren's experiences for supplementary lessons; print (or write) words and word groups, have children find these in the text; print the rhymes as the children learn them ; use in other ways. HOW TO TEACH READING PLAN FOR STORY GROUP THE THREE BIRDS General preparation: Nature-study lessons on birds need to precede or accompany this series of lessons. Be sure that children are really observing birds, not repeating what the teacher says about them. Encourage a child to tell definitely where he saw the bird about which he is telling, what the bird was doing, how it hopped or flew or sang. Let him play that he is a bird and imitate its movements. This brings into use the directions hop, fly, sing, and the written form may be intro- duced to give the direction for the action. Lesson i. The first day with the book. Enjoy with the children their possession of a new book. Talk with them about it. Examine the cover design. Perhaps some day one of them will sit under a tree beside a river and read a fine book. Show the space for the child's name. Write some child's name in his book. Later do this for the others. Find the picture of Betty and Harry (p. 3). What are they looking at? What are the kittens doing? Show the children how to turn each page carefully. Enjoy some of the other pictures. Lesson 2. (P. 4.) Teacher says: Betty and Harry are up in the apple tree. What have they found? This says Three Little Eggs; teacher points to title. Show me where it says Three Little Eggs. What does this say? Child points and repeats. What did the children find? How fine it would be to find three little eggs! Do not attempt to discriminate between the words yet. Lesson j. (P. 5.) In a few words tell of continued visits to the nest until three little birds appear. This says Three Little Birds, 28 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER teacher points to title. Show me where it says Three Little Birds. What does this say? Child points and repeats. What did the children find in the nest at first ? Show where it says Three Little Eggs, same for Three Little Birds. Print (or write) the word groups on the blackboard in several places. Children point and read. Lesson 4. (P. 4.) Enjoy the picture. Find where it says Three Little Eggs. Betty and Harry did n't wish to hurt the eggs. What do you suppose they did ? They counted the eggs. This tells us how they counted them. Arrange the paper markers 1 so that only the first line shows. How would they begin to count ? The chil- dren will probably say " one " or " one egg." The teacher accepts this and answers in the words of the book, This says One little egg. Children repeat. What do they say next? Chil- dren may say " two," " two eggs," or " two little eggs." Teacher says, Find where it says Two little eggs. Children move markers and read. In the same way work for Three little eggs. Betty tells what she sees. What do you suppose she says ? I see the children may guess from the context how to finish the sen- tence ; if not, the teacher tells. Show the word little in each line. Have children point to it and name it. Rely on the idea of counting to suggest one, two, three, and on the idea of eggs to suggest egg, eggs. Tell them / see. In later lessons they will make all these discriminations. As children comment on this lesson, sentences like the follow- ing may appear, some of which maybe used for a supplementary blackboard lesson: " I saw a nest. It was in a big tree. I saw the mother bird fly to it." Some strong pupil with the teacher's help may read the whole page now. This helps to give the idea that the page is a unit. 1 See page 26. 29 HOW TO TEACH READING Lesson 5. (P. 5.) Work with this very much as with Lesson 4. Expect the children to find Three Little Birds when you ask for it. When this lesson has been read, let them find little and birds. Accept bird for birds at this stage of word finding, rely on the child's good sense to read it in the context correctly. The differences between capitals and small letters make less trouble than teachers imagine; the likenesses are much greater than the differences. Give the children credit for some common sense in this regard. Again let a strong pupil read the whole page. Another pupil may read page 4. Lesson 6. (Pp. 6-7.) Look at the pictures. Have children tell what the bird is doing in each picture. Do birds sing with little girls as the picture shows ? That is a funny picture! Point to each word used as a title. This says Hop. This says Fly. This says Sing. Have children point to each word as called for, using only the words printed as titles. Point to each and have children name it. You may do this, pointing to sing and naming a child. In the same way associate the action with hop, with fly. Print (or write) these words on the blackboard, having the children read by performing the action. At the drill period give this phonic lesson. The first phono- gram to be taught is e in connection with this lesson (see Primer, p. 128), the key word being me. Repeat the word several times, more and more slowly, me, m~e, m-e. Let the children do this. This says e, writing e on the blackboard. Let the children repeat it several times. Can you hear the sound ein these words: s-ee, thr-ee f tr-ee ? Give a word and we will listen to hear that sound. Probably the children will simply repeat the words which the teacher has sounded. The essentials are for 30 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER them to hear the sound, to repeat the sound, to associate the sound with the written symbol. Later they will learn to give many words containing a given phonogram; these may be used as suggested on p. 127 of the Riverside Primer. Lesson 7. (Pp. 6> 7.) What is the little bird doing in this picture ? Show me where it says Hop. Look at the other pictures and recall the other title words in the same way. Why is Betty holding out the worm ? Do you think the little bird will hop to Betty ? Betty is talking to the bird. Let us read what she says. Place the markers so that the first line is exposed. This is the first line which any pupil may be expected to read without help, but do not hesitate to give such help as is needed. Let several children read it. Have them point to Hop; to little bird. Move the markers. Let a child tell the first word, the second word, the third word. Have the line read. How many times did Betty say Hop, little bird ? Read it twice just as Betty said it. Betty said something else. Move the markers. Where did she want the little bird to hop? This says Hop to me. Read it. Read all that Betty said. Let one child be Betty, another child be the bird. Betty calls the bird to hop to her. The bird hops to Betty. Lesson 8. (Pp. 6, 7.) Work with the flying and singing of the bird in the same way as with the hopping. (For word drill see pp. 10-11 of this manual.) Lesson 9. (P. 8.) Betty is talking with the little bird. She is asking him what he can do. What is one thing she may ask him if he can do ? The children may answer : hop, fly, or sing. Accept the first answer and direct the children to the line which asks their question. Here is where it says, Can you , little bird? Read HOW TO TEACH READING it. What does the little bird answer ? What else does Betty ask him ? What does he answer ? What else does she ask him ? What is his answer ? Which does she ask him about first ? Show the word which tells you. (Hop.) In the same way call attention to the words which show the other actions. Let one child be Betty and another be the bird, each reading in turn with or without the books. Or the teacher may be Betty and may question several birds. Work of this type centers attention on the thought, yet calls attention to individual words in their context. It is partly because the context helps so much in remembering the words that the words are not listed singly in the book on the ndividual pages. Work with isolated words in drills should come at a separate period. (See Primer, pp. 121-124 for vocabularies.) Lesson 10. (P. 9.) Enjoy the picture. Question as to what the bird is doing. Connect the lesson with the questions which Betty asked the bird the day before. Have the children find and point to Can you sing? on page 8. Look at the first line on the new page. Find Can you sing ? What does Betty want the little bird to sing ? This says a little song. Read what Betty said. What did the bird answer? The children may say, " Yes, I can sing a little song." If so, the teacher may repeat, omitting the word " little." At the drill period, work with the groups a song, a little song. The next two lines the children will read with little help. Play you are the bird and sing to Betty. Let several children do this. Betty sang to the bird. Here is the name of her song. The children will read the title easily. Then let the teacher read or sing Betty's song. Have different children read it or sing it. Enjoy the rhythm and the repetition in it. At another time children may find and point to lines and word groups; little 32 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER bird, in a tree, sing a song, a song, to me. They may find the same groups in the preceding lines and pages. (For word drill, see pp. 10-11 of this manual.) Lesson n. Re-read the entire story group, The Three Birds. Each page may be assigned to one or more children. Print on the blackboard the words already used from the fundamental and complete vocabularies (Primer, pp. 121-122). Let the children find words which they know. Make much of each word recognized. Do not expect them to know all the words. Find a word on a given page, then let children see if they can find it in the list. Some strong children may know a num- ber, but encourage the child who knows one; help him if he knows none. Never use either a or the except as grouped with other words. PLAN FOR STORY GROUP THREE LITTLE KITTENS General preparation : Encourage the children to talk about their pet kittens, how they play with them and care for them. Perhaps a kitten may visit the schoolroom, children may play with it, feed it, call " Come, kitty, kitty" listen to hear it say " Mew! mew! mew! " Lesson i. (P. 10.) Open your books to p. 4. What do Harry and Betty see? Show where it says Three Little Eggs. Turn to p. 10. What is Betty playing with ? What is the name of this story ? Show where it says Three Little Kittens. Let us count the kittens. By this time the pupils should be in the habit of moving their markers from line to line without special direction. When the first three lines have been read singly, have all three read together. What little girl do we see? Read the line which tells. 33 HOW TO TEACH READING Point to Betty's name. Find it in the next line. How does Betty feel toward the little kittens ? This word says loves. Read the last line. Read both lines about Betty. Have one child read p. 4, another p. 5, another p. 10. Lesson 2. (P. ii.) What a good time Betty and the kittens are having! What colors are the kittens ? Point to the black kitten, the white kitten, the gray kitten. We shall read first about the black one. This suggestion should help the children to get the word black in the context. Use the same plan to get the words white and gray as the next sentences are read. Some one may read about all tjiree kittens. Here are two sentences about the black kitten. Who can read them both ? Here are two about the white kitten. Read them. Which kitten is told about next ? Point to the word gray. Find it again. Read about the gray kitten. What do the three kittens say? Does Betty love her kittens? Point to the sentence which tells that she loves the black kitten, the white kitten, the gray kitten. Show where the kittens say " Betty loves me" At the drill period teach the phonogram ay from the words gray t say. See suggestions under Lesson 6 in the preceding story group. Other words coming soon in the primer which are built on the phonogram ay are way, may, play. Review e and the words me, see, three, tree. Lesson j. (Pp. 10, ii.) Let us play this story. Who are playing in the picture ? Point to Betty's name. Find it again; again. How many kittens are playing ? Show where the story says three little kittens. Find it again. How does Betty feel toward the kittens ? Show the word loves ; again ; again. Let us see if we can find the words which we sounded yesterday. The teacher sounds the words slowly in the order in which they occur on the pages, the chil- dren pointing: three, see, gray, say, me. If this part of the 34 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER work seems difficult, drop it for the time and push on to the rest of the lesson. The children select pupils to represent Betty and the three kittens, who pose as in the picture. The teacher assigns the parts to be read, giving each child a group of sentences as they appear on pp. 10 and 1 1 . When a child has his group ready, he stands. The teacher helps those who need help. When all pupils are ready, the lesson is read, the teacher supplying promptly any needed word. Lesson 4. (P. 12.) Enjoy the picture. Which kitten is giving the most trouble ? Who is watching Betty ? Find the name of the story. Do not anticipate difficulty with the possessive form; both words are very familiar to the children, the expression is a natural one. Should the children hesitate, ask Whose kittens? Tell the words am and have as the children come to them; expect the stronger pupils to know all the other words. Lesson 5. (P. 13.) Betty is talking to us about her kittens. She asks us some questions. Let us read and answer them. The first word is do. When the question has been read, call on some child to answer it. Continue until the four questions have been read and answered. Betty is telling us which of her kittens are good. Read the next sentence, the next. What does the gray kitten do? If the children do not know away, sound it for them slowly. What does Betty say when the gray kitten runs away ? How do you call a kitty ? It is not so important that the children recognize each word in the next six lines as it is that they shall get into the spirit of calling the kitty. They know how a child has to coax. The repetition here is very natural. Lesson 6. (Pp. 12, 13.) Let different children play being Betty, each 35 HOW TO TEACH READING reading a group of sentences. The last few minutes may be spent in finding word groups which the teacher calls for : / am, / have, I love, I say, Do you see. Keep this work moving rap- idly. Do not expect to verify every child's work with each word group, but if possible, get to each child at least twice. Lesson 7. (P. 14.) What is Kitty Gray doing? Find her name. Read the first two sentences. The first one begins This is. What has Betty ? Read the sentence where she tells you that. What does the bell say? Read, and make the Tinkle, tinkle sound just like a bell. Who is the bell for? Read the three sentences about the bell. Betty speaks to the kitty. What does she say ? Read both sentences. What does Betty do with the bell when Kitty Gray comes ? What does the bell say after it is tied on ? Betty says Now I can what ? How glad Betty will be to know where Kitty Gray is! Re-read in sentence groups. Lesson 8. (P. 15.) Who are talking in this lesson ? Show where it says Mew! Mew! Mew! Which kitten talks first ? Point to the word which says black. In the same manner get white and gray. Let one child represent each kitten. The teacher may well carry on the dialogue with each kitten, asking Whose kitten are you ? Later other kittens are chosen and a child may ask the ques- tions. Lesson 9. (Pp. 16, 17.) This page (16) tells what Betty does and she asks if you do the same things ? This page (17) tells what the birds and the kittens can do, and asks if you can do them too. Find any group of sentences which you would like to read. These are review pages and by allowing this free choice, children will select sentences which they know. Have each 36 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER question answered, by action when possible. Later the sentence groups may be read in sequence. Lesson 10. Re-read the entire story group, Three Little Kittens. See suggestions for Lesson 1 1 upon The Three Birds. Drill on the phonic words me, see, tree, say, gray, way; on the word groups / see, I am, I say, I have, Do you, Can you; on the words in the fundamental and complete vocabularies (Primer, pp. 121-122). Drill period : ing, sing. Other words : thing, bring, wing, morn- ing, evening. PLAN FOR STORY GROUP BETTY* S DOLLY Lesson i. (Pp. 1 8-2 1.) Enjoy the pictures as a series. The ideas pre- sented will bring many expressions of the text into the conver- sation: Betty's dolly, wash her clothes, iron her clothes, etc. The children will read the title and first two sentences easily. Betty is showing us how she does all these things for her dolly. See if you can read the name of her song. If the children have trouble with This is, have them turn to p. 14 and look at the first sentence, then turn back to the title of the song and name the first two words. Sound way for them. When the children have read the title the teacher may read the song, the children watching the pictures or just listening. Get the rhythm, the repetition. Read the song again, encouraging the children to point to the lines as they are read and to read with you. Lesson 2. (Pp. 1 8-2 1.) Let a strong child read the title; another pupil, the first two sentences and the song title. Call for volunteers to read or sing the first stanza, the teacher supplying needed words without comment. Have children point to definite lines and read them : This is the way, Wash her clothes, So early in 37 HOW TO TEACH READING the morning. Read the stanza with the class, getting the rhythm. Treat the following stanzas in the same way. Play that you are Betty and show us the way you do one of these things. We will guess what you are doing. Have the child who guesses read or sing the stanza which tells about the action he thinks is being portrayed. Lesson j. (Pp. 18-21.) Have the song read or sung through stanza by stanza. Call for separate stanzas by writing the key word on the blackboard: wash, scrub, take, sweep, floor, house. Let children read or sing favorite stanzas. Drill period: ake, take. Other words: bake, cake, make. Work for clear sounds. After working from the blackboard, have children find and sound these words, using pp. 20, 21, 23. It is important that the children realize how frequently the sounds taught appear in the words which they use. Lesson 4. (Pp. 22, 23.) Enjoy the picture. Why does Harry carry the doll that way ? Let the children realize that this is a conversation between Harry and Betty. This is where Harry speaks, point- ing to the first line. If you read what he says, who are you playing that you are? This says Harry, but it means: "/ am playing Harry." We do not read it out loud. We just think: "I am play- ing Harry. 1 ' Find another place where you think: "I am playing Harry." Show where Betty speaks, think: "I am playing Betty" Find another place where you think: " / am play- ing Betty" Notice the method of handling this dialogue. It will be found that children will read this and similar material with far better expression than stories in narrative form. The children lose self consciousness by becoming for the time being the characters whom they represent. Much dialogue is thus introduced to improve the oral reading. 38 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER The new words in this lesson, what, it, them, may well be told to children as they need them, the song may be read or sung first by the teacher. Drill on these words later. Lesson 5. (Pp. 22, 23.) Several pairs of children may read as a dialogue, taking the parts of Harry and Betty. Some teachers will find it possible to have several groups reading at the same time, the teacher passing from group to group. Be certain that the rhythm of the song is well given. Drill period : all, call. Other words : fall, hall, tall, wall, small Lesson 6. (Pp. 18-23.) Assign the stanzas and parts on the different pages, each child to be responsible for one. As soon as a child volunteers for a stanza or part, have him stand in front of the class and get ready to read. Encourage the children to act out a stanza or to sing as they read. Begin when all are ready, and have the parts read without interruption, supplying needed words. When all have finished the class may comment on the reading. Assign to another group and repeat. Be certain that phonograms and words of the fundamental vocabulary are known. If children are having difficulty with these, use supplementary reading or re-read the earlier pages of the primer until the children master them. Be thorough, but be sensible. Never let the reading degenerate into mere word calling, but help the children to gain independence. Praise them for knowing words. * PLAN FOR STORY GROUP ROCK-A-BYE Lesson i. (Pp. 24, 25.) What is Betty doing ? Why is she singing to her Dolly dear ? Look at the picture and see who else are going to sleep. What is the name of this story ? If children hesitate over 39 HOW TO TEACH READING Come, have them turn to p. 13 where Betty is calling the kitty and find the word there. If they hesitate over Dear, have them turn to the song at the bottom of p. 23 and find it there. Tell them will when they need it. Suggest pretty by asking what kind of song Betty will sing. If a child sings Rock-a-bye, etc. (p. 24), without your telling her to sing, you may be sure she is getting into the atmosphere of the page. Have the page read as a whole. A child may read or sing the first half of the stanza (p. 25) , the teacher singing the second half. Have children memorize the stanza. Call attention to the rhyming words, fly, by, rock- a-bye. Let the children read the questions silently and answer them orally. Be careful that they answer in sentences. Expect a boy to answer, " No, I have n't a dolly," just as generally as you expect a girl to say, " Yes, I have a dolly." This and many similar silent reading exercises are introduced for the purpose of giving children practice in getting the thought without call- ing the words. This will break pupils of the halting method of calling words without bringing out the thought of the sentences read. Lesson 2. (Pp. 26, 27.) Enjoy the picture. Notice the mother's smile, the baby's closed eyes, Betty's uplifted finger. The children should be able to read the name of the picture. Praise the child who thinks the last word is baby. If the children have difficulty with the first sentence on p. 27, have them find the fifth line in the song (p. 25). Compare the last three words of the line with the first three in the sentence, the first three words of the line with the last three in the sentence. Read the sen- tence. Find The birdies fly in the song on p. 27 ; also to their nests. 40 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER Talk with the children about the signs of evening. Accept the ideas in the order given by the children and help the children to read the sentence expressing the thought, paying no atten- tion to the order in which the sentences appear. Then have the sentences read in order. After the song is read and sung, call attention to the rhym- ing words. Find a word which rhymes with Rock-a-bye, one which rhymes with soon. Drill period : y,fly, s, sing. Other words : my, by, sky, spy, see, say, song, so, soon, seen, said, sky. Teach the y and s with their key-words. Sound the other words and see if the children can tell them. In another lesson turn to pages already read and have children find and sound words ending in y or beginning with 5. Do not look for many words on a page ; choose words in titles, at the beginning or end of lines. The following pages may be used: 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 25, 27. PLAN FOR STORY GROUP PEEK-A-BOO, MOON General preparation : Have a conversation about the moon, the stars, the clouds which the children have seen. Let them draw these ; the teacher may write the name of each beside the drawing. They may not have seen a cloud pass across the moon or stars. Tell them about it ; encourage them to watch for it and to report when they have seen it happen. Perhaps they can repeat, " Twinkle, twinkle, little star." The teacher may write this on the blackboard. Lesson I. (P. 29.) What are Betty and Harry watching ? They think the moon is playing peek-a-boo with them. What is the moon hiding behind ? With a little help the children will read the stanza. What words in it rhyme ? Point to are and star. Have the stanza read until it is read smoothly. Find some of the same words HOW TO TEACH READING and word groups on p. 28. Peek-a-boo, moon; behind a cloud; we 'II see; star; soon; twinkle. Lesson 2. (P. 28.) Who are talking in this lesson? Who speaks first? What do you think when you see the name Harry ? the name Betty ? (See Lesson 4, Story Group, " Betty's Dolly.") What are they talking about ? Point to the words moon, cloud, star, twinkle. What game are the children playing with the moon ? The children in this row may play that you are Harry, the children in this row may be Betty. This gives every child a part, and each knows whose part he is playing. Tell where and there as they are needed. Unless the children imagine that they are watching the moon, the star, and the cloud, they cannot imitate the joy of Harry and Betty. PLAN FOB STORY GROUP IN GARDEN AND MEADOW General preparation :. Many conversation lessons about gar- dens and meadows, birds, trees, and flowers, need to be given during the time the children are reading this story group. The country children may be listening to the sounds made out of doors ; 1000, tweet, buzz. The city children need to be getting clear ideas of the meadow, the brook, the hive ; they too may listen to the sounds. Lesson I. (Pp. 30, 31.) Have the pupils memorize the rhymes on p. 30. In reading the dialogue on p. 31, they may be referred to the rhyme to identify words and word groups which they do not know; e.g., if pupils hesitate at the words flowers growing on p. 31, let them read the rhyme already memorized on p. 30 until they come to these words, which they will inevitably recognize there. Or, after memorizing the rhyme, they may 42 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER find in the dialogue on p. 31 such phrases and word groups; as, where are you going, go with you, if I may. Drill lesson: h, have; m, me. Other words: hop, house, hear, how, he, help, Harry, honey, home, mew, my, morning, moon, may, mother. H is one of the difficult sounds to give alone; it is generally better to give it as part of a word. (See drill under Lesson 2, Story Group, " Rock-a-bye.") Pages which can be used to advantage in identifying words which begin with this sound are pp. 6, 20, 25, 28, 43. Lesson 2. (Pp. 32, 33.) The rhymes on p. 32 may be used as described in the preceding lesson. Drill periods: o, go; f, for; c, can. Other words; oh, so, four, over, blows, floor, home, slow, know, pony, more, snow, door; fly, flour, five, fall, find, floor, flowers, fish, from, fed, foot, father; come, cake, call, clock, clothes, cloud, cow, calf, cuckoo, count, cock, crumbs, caught, clown. Teach the phonic elements and the key words. Sound the other words slowly, the children naming each as you sound it. Write the following words and let children get them through sounding: oh, so, fay, fall, cake, call, he, home. The rhymes on pp. 30-33 form a good basis for review work in phonics. The teacher may say / see a word which begins with m. The children find may and name it. / see a word which ends with ing. The children find and name either going or growing. The ear training which helps the children to recognize the separate sounds, and the identification of the phonic elements in the text are most important at this stage. Slowly the chil- dren will gain power to discover new words through these phonic elements. 43 HOW TO TEACH READING Lesson j. (P. 34.) Have a group of five play this. One may be a child who does n't know what to do, so is asking other children their plans, intending to go with one of them. She speaks wherever I stands before the sentence. She may call each child by name as she asks, Where are you going? Each child she asks has a different plan. Show each one where to find his answer. Read the lesson through the answer given by 5. Now all ask this question together. The children may call the first child by name as they ask this question. When she has answered they may go to the places mentioned and play as they have said. Other children may be the birds, the fish, the flowers, the kitten, the dolly. Drill period: k, kittens. Other words: kind, brook, thank, tick-took, think, bark, book, black, pick, tick, quick, peek-a- boo. Write the following words and let children get them through sounding: key, king. Lesson 4. (P. 35.) This lesson lends itself to work with word groups: Where are you going, I am going, to the meadow, in the meadow, may I go, oh yes, do come. Lesson 5. (Pp. 36, 37.) The children will connect the daisy chain with the paper chains they make in school. The teacher and children who have access to dandelions, clover and pretty grasses will be able to make chains similar to the daisy chain. Let children, show how Harry picked a daisy, how Betty picked a daisy. If the word then troubles them, turn back to p. 23 and find it. The teacher may read or sing the "first rhyme on p. 37, the children reading or singing the other, first counting the nine nodding daisies. If they have trouble in starting, have them 44 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER turn back to pp. 4 and 5 to get the counting idea and the words One little, Two little, Three little. Tell the names of the other numbers if they give trouble. If children have the idea of counting, they ought to get them, however. Drill period: en, then; I, love. Other words: ten, when, hen; little, like, lamb, look, lady, last, let, will, shall, all, fall, call. The sound of / is very musical when the tongue is carefully placed. Keep the tones sweet and bell-like. By shortening the sound en the following words may be used: kitten, garden, seven. Write these words for children to discover through sounding: lay, lake, lo, men, hen. Lesson 6. (Pp. 38, 39.) What was the name of the lesson on p. 37 ? What is the name of this lesson (p. 38)? Of this (p. 39)? Look at the pictures and tell what these pages are about ? Who can do what these children are doing ? Assign a stanza to each group to pre- pare. Help those who need help. Assign the stanzas on p. 37 to some of the slower children. When all are ready, have the stanzas read in succession by six children, by another group of six. These pages are excellent for drill work in identifying phonic elements: ing, s, m, h,f, I. (See Story Group, " In Garden and Meadow," Lesson 2.) Lesson 7. (P. 40.) See the little girl in the picture. What is blowing her hair ? What else is the wind blowing ? How does the wind sing when it blows ? Sing like a gentle wind ; like a strong wind. What else have we read about which sings ? If the children do not recall birds and brook have at least one child turn to each of these pages, 7, 24, 26, 33, and find what sings. Assign the first group of sentences for preparation. Have one child read them, another child. The other sentences on the page should be pre- 45 HOW TO TEACH READING pared and read as groups. Have the children imitate the rock- ing of the nest, the bowing of the trees, the nodding of the daisies. Drill lesson: b, boy. Other words: birds, by, bow, baby, brook, buzz, bee, blows, Betty, black, bell, bake, blue, bed. This sound is very difficult to give by itself; associate it with words, pronouncing slowly and distinctly, b-oy, b-irds. Do not give it buh-oy, buh-irds. These words the children will recog- nize as beginning with the new sound: birds, by, baby, bake, boy, brook, Betty. Write them and have the children pronounce them slowly. These words they can discover by sounding: bee, be, bay, ball. Lesson 8. (P. 41 .) This is what the little girl is saying to the wind. Read the poem to the children until they get the music and rhythm in it. Do the daisies whisper to the wind ? What else may they whisper besides " Come and play"? Read the line where the little girl asks what they whisper. Would you like to know what the daisies are saying to the wind ? Read the lines which ask the wind to tell you. Say Please very politely. Find the word which rhymes with nod, with play. Read the poem, encouraging the children to follow the lines and read with you. Let them dram- atize it, some being daisies, another the wind singing, another the little girl talking to the wind. Eventually the poem should be memorized. Drill lesson: t, take. Other words: two, to, too, tree, tinkle, take, out, at, that, not. Words to be discovered: tall, ten. Lesson o. (P. 42.) Enjoy the picture. What will the bird want to tell Betty about ? Find where the bird tells about a nest, three eggs. What do you suppose Betty said to the pretty bird when they met ? What do you say when you meet any one ? The children may say 46 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER " good-morning," " good afternoon," or give some other form of salutation. Accept these, then say, Betty began by saying how ; this should give them the cue. How do you answer when some one says How do you do, Jack ? See how the pretty bird answered Betty. If the children say " pretty " well, substitute very without comment. Think how hard this bird has been working. I believe you can think what he tells Betty. If very troubles the children, have them find it in the preceding sen- tence. Try to have them get busy by thinking of the work the bird has to do, then if necessary sound it slowly for them. Work to get bird-like sounds from Tweet, tweet. How much did Betty say to the bird ? How much did the bird say to Betty ? If the teacher wishes she may call attention to the quotation marks. This should be done sometime while reading pp. 42-45. Dramatize the scene. Drill period : ill, will. The children can discover these words through sounding: sill, mill, hill, fill, kill, bill, till. Let them sound other families of rhyming words : e, me, see, bee ; ay, say, may, hay, lay, bay; ake, take, sake, make, cake, lake, bake. Always use the phonic element and keyword first when giving lists of rhyming words. Lesson 10. (P. 43.) Many children will need help in understanding about the hive and the honey. All will enjoy buzzing like the honey bee. Keep the tones clear, light, and musical. Lesson n. (Pp. 44, 45.) Here again there is need of care to be sure that children interpret. Babble, bubble brings out the sound of b very clearly. On these pages children may find a number of words beginning with the same sound. Let the children find the rhyming words on p. 45, bee, sea, bee, sea, then the imitative words, Tweet, tweet, Buzz, buzz, Babble, bubble. Notice the 47 HOW TO TEACH READING repetition of busy. They will then be ready to read the two stanzas. Lesson 12. (P. 46.) Have the children read the song, Little Bird (p. 9), and the songs to the brook (p. 33). After the first stanza on p. 46 is read, a glance at the picture will suggest what the little bird might sing about. What does the rain say ? Let the chil- dren tap their desks or the windows to imitate the sound. Show them the rhyming words, rain, pane. What happens when the rain is done ? Show the rhyming words sun, done. Drill period: wh, where. Other words: what, white, who, whisper. Children discover when, why by sounding. Lesson 13. (P. 47.) Enjoy the picture. Be sure that the children find the birds and the elf safe under their umbrellas. This is a good page on which to work for word groups : on the meadow, on the trees, on the flowers, on the window-pane, to see the rain, to see the sun. Drill period: Let the children find in their primers words ending in ing: pp. 19, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 37, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47. Assign a page to each child. As a word is found and named, write it on the blackboard. Let each child see if he can find three in the list which he knows. Lesson 14. (Pp. 48, 49.) Talk with the children about the rainbow. If possible a glass prism may be hung in a sunny window so that they may see the beautiful colors. Imitate the raindrops, say Pit-a-pat. Read the poem to the children. Read it again and let them answer each question. Read it responsively, letting them read the short lines. Find the rhyming words. Have the questions on p. 48 read silently and answered orally. Refer a 48 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER ^hild to the poem for words or word groups which he does not know. (See Story Group, " Rock-a-bye," Lesson I.) Drill period: un, sun; d, did. Other words: run, gun; do, dotty t daisy, down. Children may build day, den, fun, bun. Lesson 15. (Pp. 50, 51.) These and the two following pages are review pages. The thoughts are familiar to the children, but the presentation is new. Treat these two pages as puzzles. Dwell on the rhyming words. Drill period (p. 119): See how many of these rhymes the children can give. With some rhymes the teacher may name the first word, the children giving the word which rhymes. Lesson 16. (P. 52.) Assign parts to the children, one to be the kitten, one the bell, etc. Let each read what he is supposed to say. Work for good imitation in the sounds. When the page has been read in this way by at least two groups of children, have one or two children read the entire page. Lesson 17. (P 53-) This is a fi ne test of the children's memory of their reading. If a child asks for one of the nouns in the first group of sentences or one of the imitative words in the second group, have him find the same noun, or imitative word on p. 52. Tell other words which give trouble. All these questions are to be read silently and answered orally. With a strong class each child may read ahead at his own rate of speed, answering several questions as the teacher comes to him, no attempt being made to have the children listen to one another. Or several children may work in a group, each one taking his turn, the teacher moving from group to group. 49 HOW TO TEACH READING Lesson 18. (P. 54.) The city children may know very little about the cow and the calf, but they will be interested to learn. When the page has been read, see if the children can find a good place to divide it, so that one may read all about the cow and the meadow, one about the cow and the calf. In sounding Moo-oo have the oo prolonged. Lesson 19. (P. 55.) Treat as lesson 18 was treated. Let the children dramatize both pages. Lesson 20. (P. 56.) We have learned many things about the meadow. This poem is about Over in the meadow. Let us see how many stanzas are about Over in the meadow. The children should find, point to, and read the first line of each stanza. Suppose we find how many of our meadow friends are in this poem. The children should find the brook, the sheep, the cow, etc. Now find how many meadow noises are here. The children find Baa, Moo, etc. The teacher may read the poem first, then individual children may read each a stanza. Find the rhyming words. Lesson 21. (P. 57.) Assign the different sentences to different children. The teacher who succeeded in handling Lesson 17 by having each child read at his own speed, may handle this lesson in the same way, each child doing everything suggested on the page. Another way to present the page would be for each child in turn to do one of the things suggested, making his own selection, the others finding the command which he is obeying. Review. This is a good point at which to spend a week in reviewing 50 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER the pages already covered. Six story groups have been read, the last being by far the longest. You may assign each story group to a group of children, one of whom will be the leader. Each group may plan who is to read each page, what pages shall be dramatized, etc. Or each child may select a favorite story, either reading it himself or calling on others to read it with him. Dearborn found that in reading a passage the second time nearly one- third of the total time was saved, and the eye made fewer pauses on a line, a gain in eye-control. (See p. 20.) Read the early pages of this manual, also pages 121-128 in the Primer. Are you getting full value out of the characteristic features of the Riverside Primer? Are you utilizing the thought values? Are your drills short, varied, definite, rapid? Are the children gaining power to recognize words through context, through sound values? Do they know and name promptly the words of the fundamental vocabulary, the phonic elements which have been taught? Which children in the class are you holding for the complete vocabulary? Have you learned which words to tell in a lesson ; those for which to hold the class respon- sible? Do your children interpret new work readily? Are both types of seat work represented in your class daily? Are your children getting good habits of rate in reading? What are you doing for the pupil who does not learn to read? How much supplementary reading is being done? STORY GROUP GRANDPA CLOCK AND CUCKOO CLOCK Lesson I. (Pp. 58, 59.) Unless the children have seen a Grandpa clock, the teacher needs to be careful that they get right ideas of its size and of the dignity of its Tick-tock. Have them listen to the ticking of the schoolroom clock, then give them the pace at which the Grandpa clock ticks and let them play they are HOW TO TEACH READING Grandpa clocks, each swinging one arm for a pendulum. The words on p. 58 are so in keeping with their thoughts that they should give little trouble. The initial and final sounds of clock and tick-tock are known and may help in determining those words. The expressions all day and all night will be given in discussing how long the Grandpa clock ticks. Find the rhym- ing words in the stanza. Read the stanza slowly, in keeping with the rhythm of the Tick-tock. A Grandpa clock can be constructed out of a 1 6-inch square of paper. Lesson 2. (Pp. 60, 6 1.) The charm of the cuckoo clock for a child can hardly be imagined. Tell the children of the little bird who comes out when the clock is ready to strike, and of the striking sounding as if he were calling cuckoo , cuckoo. Have the Tick- tock given as the rhyme says very quick. The rhyme should be read at a speed in keeping with this rate. Have the two stanzas, pp. 59 and 61, read to show the contrast in movement. The children will enjoy this display of voice control. STORY GROUP THE LADY MOON Lessons i and 2. (Pp. 62, 63.) Look at the pictures on pp. 29, 41, reading or reciting the rhymes. Examine the picture on p. 62. What is Betty showing her dolly? The Teddy-bear is looking too! The first lesson may well close with the sentence You will soon be dreaming. Do you think the stars look like white daisies? Is the moon like a lady ? Some one else says : " The little stars are the lambs, I guess, And the fair white moon is the shepherdess." Which do you like better, to think of star daisies or star lambs ? In the second lesson the dolly is dreaming. What may she dream about? After the page has been read, let the children 52 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER put their heads on the desks and dream some of these dreams. Call them to wake up and have them tell their dreams. Encour- age them in expanding the thought suggested to them. Drill period: at, that. Build the words: sat, mat, hat, fat, cat, bat. Lesson j. (P. 64.) Enjoy the picture. What do these stars look like? What does the moon look like ? What has the Lady Moon in her hands? What is she doing? Read the poem to the children. Find the rhyming words. Find these word groups : When I go to bed, the stars shine, the little daisies, while I 'm dreaming so, comes to gather daisies. Read the poem again, the children reading with you and pointing as they read. Some day have them memorize the poem. Encourage them in the fancy of finding the star daisies in the morning. Lesson 4. (Pp. 66, 67.) These are review pages although they seem to have been written for the delight of reading about Once on a time. Assign the sentence groups among the children, one child to read each group, one to dramatize it. The child may drama- tize, the class may guess what is being given, then the reader may read the sentence group. Drill period: These are pages well adapted to identifying words containing well-known sounds : e (ee), y, s, m, c, k, I, b f t, wh, d. Use one sentence group at a time. A child or the teacher may say / have found a word which begins with s, or ends with I. The one who gets the word has the next turn. STORY GROUP THE LOST CHICK Lesson i. (Pp. 68-75.) Bring out the dramatic side of this story group the lost chick, where it was lost, what the hen, the 53 HOW TO TEACH READING rooster, and Betty said, finding the chick, building the house for it. Work through the whole group rapidly, getting the story from the pictures, counting the chickens in each, reading the titles, giving the splendid imitative sounds. Find the significant sentences Oh, one little chick is lost! (P. 68.) Oh, here it is under the apple tree! (P. 73.) Lesson 2. (P. 68.) Who is speaking ? How do you know? How did the mother hen feel about having ten little chicks? Read the first two sentences and show how proud and happy she was. How many chicks does she expect to count ? How many does she find ? Read the two sentences about counting the chicks. How does the mother hen feel when she finds one gone ? Read what she says and show how sad and frightened she is. Assign to three children, one reading about the proud mother, one the mother making certain, one the frightened mother. This is a lesson in which the children's work in phonics will help them in getting the new words. They know the initial and final sounds of these words and with the aid of these and of the context, they should get the new words quite independently. Lesson j. (Pp. 69-71.) Let the children compare the first rhyme with those on pp. 37-39. This may be done either before or after they attempt its oral reading. Before attempting to read the second rhyme orally have the children find and pronounce the first one or two words in each line, reading the rest of the line silently. Find and name the rhyming words. Read the titles on the next two pages. / wonder if there are any rhymes on these pages. Find the rhyming words, the lines which are repeated. Let each child choose a rhyme to prepare. 54 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER Lesson 4. (Pp. 72, 73.) Let a child show how Betty was looking for her chick when Harry met her. Harry should show that he knows something really is the matter. Betty is in despair when she says Where can it be ? Where can it be ? Have the children play they are listening when reading the first half of p. 73. What is the most joyful sentence? This lesson may be drama- tized again and again. Lesson 5. (Pp. 74, 75.) Tell the old story of " The House That Jack Built " at some period preceding the reading lesson, letting the children repeat as much as they know. The more fortunate ones will know it all. Here is another House That Jack Built. What kind of house is this ? Have the children identify the pic- tures of the house, crumbs, chicks, hen, and girl, finding the corresponding word in the first line of each sentence. Get the swing, the sing-song of this delightful style of diction. Drill period: th, that. Other words: this, there. Build the words: thy, though, then. Lesson 6. (Pp. 68-75.) Assign the parts of the story to the children and plan to have it dramatized as read. By careful planning every child may have a part. A group of children standing out of the space needed by the chick, the hen, Betty, etc., may read at the proper times Ten Little Chickens, What Can the Matter Be, The House That Jack Built, They Loved One Another. The nine chickens may cry Peep, peep, as they pick up crumbs in the safe barnyard. Jack may hammer away at the house before p. 74 is read. Another type of review would be for a child to choose a sentence to illustrate by action. The others guess what he is SS HOW TO TEACH READING trying to portray, finding and reading the sentence. Several sentences will often be read before the right one is found. Lesson /. (Pp. 76, 77.) These pages recognize the value of recalling thoughts. The thought content of the Riverside Primer is worth recalling. Let the children answer as many questions as they can. Give needed help with words but not with thoughts. When the lesson is finished, direct the children to the pages which will answer the questions which remain unanswered. These pages may well be used as a silent reading lesson, as were pp. 52, 53, 57. If the title Where troubles the children, have them turn to p. 34 and find it there. Drill period : The phrases recalled on p. 77 may be listed for drill : in the sky, in her little bed, in the meadow, etc. PLAN FOR STORY GROUP MERRY GAMES Lesson I. (Pp. 78, 79.) The conversation about the picture will employ the words and word groups which are new. Have a march, one child playing Harry and blowing the bugle, one playing Charlie and beating the drum. Enjoy the Rub-a-dub-dub. How it rolls! Read the titles on p. 79, turning to pp. 37 and 70 for Did You Ever and What if they give trouble. The children may answer the questions by pointing to the picture, by pointing to the sentence on p. 78 which answers, or may answer orally. Let the children realize that " No " is as valuable an answer to these questions as " Yes," otherwise they will be encouraged to tell untruths. Perhaps the teacher herself has never had all these experiences. As the ideas here are new, these questions would better be answered in order by individual children. At another time they may be read silently and answered silently, TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER each child working at his own rate of speed, answering orally as the teacher comes to him. Lesson 2. (Pp. 80-83.) These children are getting ready to play a game. What game do you suppose it is ? Those children who are used to playing / Spy will have no trouble with the title. Where the game is known as Hide-and-Seek, the teacher will need to explain the identity of the two. Who suggested playing ? Find the sentence which tells. Who chose I spy ? How do you find who will be it ? What rhyme do you say when you count out ? Let us see how we like the rhyme these children used. The teacher may read it, pointing to the children as if counting out. Get the rhythm, pointing only on the important words: One, two, three, A bird in a tree. The little brook flows, And out he goes. Who is counted out first ? Children find answers to these ques- tions in text, and point as they read them. Next ? Next ? Who is it? What does Jack say when he blinds his eyes ? Are the children ready when he finishes counting to ten ? What does Jack do then ? Who is spied first ? Who gets home free ? Who will be it next ? Where did the children hide ? That was a fine game! Lesson j. (Pp. 80-83.) The study lesson of yesterday was as much a reading lesson as any oral reading lesson. The children are now ready to dramatize while reading orally. It may be well to practice counting out before the full dramatization is begun. Work with Jack's speeches also until they can be given rapidly. The dramatization may be continued, Betty being it and begin' ning / will count to ten. 57 HOW TO TEACH READING Lesson 4. (Pp. 84, 85.) Have the children play swing and seesaw to get the different rhythms. For the swing the arms may be swung from side to side in front of the body; for the seesaw extend the arms sideways even with the shoulders, palms down, bend- ing the trunk at the waist, to the left, to the right, the arms moving with the trunk. These are rhymes in which a compara- tively insignificant word, up, becomes very significant. Memo- rize the stanzas, especially The Swing, reciting them with appropriate rhythm. Drill period : ow, how. Words which may be built : cow, bow, sow, mow, now, bow-wow-wow. The poem on p. 84 calls by its rhythm for the accenting of how and the prolonging of ow. Lesson 5. (Pp. 86, 87.) This lesson and the two which follow suggest visits to the neighboring baker's, blacksmith's and tailor's shops, followed by conversational lessons. Teach the rhyme on p. 86. Find the words: baker, buns, penny, money. Several children may hippity hop to the baker's shop while others read the rhyme. Dramatize p. 87 as it is read the first time. Lessons 6, 7. (Pp. 88-91.) Treat these as you did the preceding lesson. Lesson 8. (Pp. 86-91.) Assign each rhyme to a child, also assign parts for dramatizing each scene. Although one child carried on the dialogue with a merchant, other children are in the party. Lesson o. (P. 92.) The titles may be read orally, the children turning to pp. 77 and 79 if they have trouble. Or they may get the 58 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER titles by sounding. The questions are to be read silently and answered orally. Drill period: Work with word groups; who can shoe, who can make, what do you see, where can you get, at the baker's shop, for the pony. Lesson IO. (P- 93-) Encourage originality in illustrating the different situations. The blacksmith will need to have another child represent the pony. PLAN FOR STORY GROUP HURRAH FOR THE CIRCUS Lesson i. (Pp. 94, 95.) It helps greatly to read this lesson at circus time, although it may also be read in its natural sequence. The names of the animals will not be troublesome if the children know each well enough to talk about it. The initial sounds are familiar. Give the sound m. What animal am I thinking of? See if you find the monkey's name at the end of these sentences. The word clown can be sounded. Be sure the children read Hurrah with spirit. Drill period: w, will. Words which can be built: we, way, wing, wake, wall. Other words: wash, wind, woo, well, window, were. By this time the children will be ready to give many words containing a phonic element. Sometimes these may be given orally only. Play this game. / see something which begins with s. What is it ? Some child guesses sand. No, it is not sand, or Yes, it is sand. The child who has guessed correctly has the next turn. In the same way play, / see something which rhymes with joy. Yes, I see a boy. 59 HOW TO TEACH READING PLAN FOR STORY GROUP NOAH'S ARK Lesson i. (Pp. 96, 97.) This lesson may well be preceded by the Bible story of the flood, bringing out the care of God for his people and for the animals. Let the children find in the picture the animals which they know, finding their names in the text. If they name them in the order of the procession, they will easily follow the text. Each child may himself make a toy Noah's ark out of a box, cutting the animals from paper. Drill period : Work with word groups : is ready, in line, two by two, here come, and more, two hens, two dogs. This is another point at which a week may profitably be spent in review work. Read the suggestions for review (p. 50, of this manual.) Make sure of the fundamental and com- plete vocabularies, the phonic elements on pp. 121-128. Work with the rhymes on p. 1 19. See how many letters of the alpha- bet the children know (p. 120). They may each make an alphabet book, the letter appearing on one page, lists of words and illustrative pictures opposite it. They may cut out from advertisements letters which they know. Be sure these are large enough not to strain the eyes. PLAN FOR STORY GROUP A VISIT AT GRANDPA'S Lesson I. (Pp. 98, 99.) Who are going away ? What noises does the train make as it pulls into the station ? Where do you suppose Harry and Betty are going ? Read the last line on p. 99 and see if you can find out. What do you suppose the father is saying to the train- man ? Play that you are Harry and read p. 98. Play that you are Betty and read it. Now they are on the train sitting by the window. 60 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER Read until you find something they see which you have seen from the train. Are they looking at pictures? Do houses run by? Do trees fly past us? When the children have found that some of their experiences on the train are like Betty's and Harry's, read the rhyme to them. Later they may read it, deciding which parts Harry said, which Betty said. Dramatize the two pages. Does the father go with them ? Find the answer to this question in the next lesson. Lesson 2. (P. 100.) Why did Harry and Betty write this letter ? Do you suppose they really wrote it ? Perhaps they signed their names or put in some kisses. When did they send the letter ? As the children read, let them tell of their own experiences in visiting Grandpa and Grandma. Have one or two strong children read the entire letter at the close of the lesson. Lesson j. (P. 101.) Why did Father and Mother write this letter? When did they send it ? Had they received the children's letter ? Read the sentence which tells you. What surprise was waiting for the children at home ? Were Father and Mother getting lonesome ? Read the sentence which tells. Have the entire letter read. Dramatize the writing of each letter, the receiving of each. PLAN FOR STORY GROUP WHAT I LIKE Lessons i and 2. (Pp. 102-104.) Assign a stanza to each child or let each choose his own. When all are ready have them read in order. Those who can do so, may illustrate by action. Find the rhyming words in each stanza. The teacher may show the pictures on the following pages: 9, 29, 44, 62, 49, 95, 58, 78, 85; 61 HOW TO TEACH READING the children finding and reading the stanza which tells about each. Lesson 3. (P. 105.) Use as a silent reading lesson, each child following his own rate of speed. As you move from child to child ask what he likes about picking apples, looking at pictures, etc. Be sure that each is thinking as he reads. As a final test of appreciation, have each point to that which he likes to see best, to hear best, to do best. Or let him illustrate these by action, by giving the imitative words, by telling more than is told on the page. PLAN FOR STORY GROUP AUTUMN AND WINTER Lesson i. (Pp. 106, 107.) Teach the poem. Talk about the bonfire (with a word of precaution as to danger). Each sentence on p. 106 is a picture. Let each child find a picture sentence, read it, and tell what he sees: e.g., They fall from the tall trees. I see tall trees with the leaves falling from them. Let us gather leaves to make a fire. I see some children gathering leaves. They put them in a pile. Perhaps the children will enjoy knowing that grown people call this " reading between the lines." Lesson 2. (P. 108.) Like the circus lesson and the story group, " The Christmas Tree," this page should be read at its appropriate time, the day of the first snowfall. Such a day will yield delight- ful experiences for a supplementary blackboard reading lesson. (See p. 16, of this manual.) 62 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE PRIMER PLAN FOR STORY GROUP THE CHRISTMAS TREE Lesson i. (Pp. 109, 1 10.) Picture the surroundings of the fir tree, the many other trees in the forest, their straight trunks, the quiet of the forest. What did the little fir tree wish to be? Why? How had it heard of being a Christmas tree ? How much would it have to grow? What helps a tree to grow? Which did the fir tree ask first? Finish through Part II, emphasizing the helping and the growing. Dramatize Parts I and n. Drill period: Work with word groups: / may be, I will grow, I will help, to the sun, to the air, to the wind, to the rain. Lesson 2. (Pp. in, 112.) In Part ill bring out the increasing hope of the little tree; in Part iv the wonder and suspense of the helpers. Was the bird right ? Did the little tree become a Christmas tree ? Lesson j. (P. 113.) There are fine contrasts in this lesson, the glee of the children at first, their quiet listening at last; the inde- pendence of Harry and Betty in hanging up their own stock- ings, their care for Baby in hanging up her stockings and shoes ; the clear shouts of the older ones, the Baby's attempt to imi- tate. By all means dramatize this. Lesson 4. (Pp. 114, 115.) Again there are contrasts to bring out, the varying sizes of stockings, the wakefulness of Betty and Baby, Harry still dreaming. What did he see on his dream Christmas tree ? Drill period: er, her. Find on the following pages words which end in er or ers: pp. 27, 30,3?* 3 8 > 39> 41, 56, 64,71, 73, 63 HOW TO TEACH READING 85, 86, 88, 101, 107. Assign a page to each child, list the words on the blackboard as rapidly as they are found. Let each child see if he can name three. Erase those which are best known and drill on the remainder. Lesson 5. (Pp. 116-118.) What delight this lesson will give! How many experiences the children bring to its reading. Did the fir tree become a Christmas tree? Lesson 6. Read the entire story group. Make much of dramatizing. Review the entire Primer by selecting a few story groups to read. Let the children turn to the table of contents (p. 2) and help select these. Let children read favorite rhymes, dramatize favorite pages, find a page to read silently. Be sure that the formal work (pp. 119-128) is well mastered. IV. TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE FIRST READER PLAN FOR STORY GROUP TALES OF LONG AGO Lesson i. (Pp. 3-7.) Enjoy the pictures, emphasize the family rela- tions: the grandfather reading to the grandson, the little girl looking at pictures and the baby pointing, the little girl playing Pat-a-cake with the baby. Let the children find the rhymes on pp. 6 and 7, reciting them if they know them. Read to them the poem on p. 4 ; later they will read it and re-read it. Dwell on the age of the tales. Perhaps some child can bring from home a story book which belonged to father, mother, or grandmother, reading from it if possible. Teach the children to play Pat-a-cake and Pease porridge hot. Dramatize the game with the baby. Ask at later times if they have taught the baby at home. Drill period: old, old; s, as; ook, look. Word list i : sold, mold, hold, fold, cold, bold, told, has, his, hook, cook, look, book, took. Word list 2 : brook, tales, lands, reads, eyes, does t choose, rolls, pulls, cares, rose. NOTE. Words listed under I are those which children should be able to sound, they having had all phonic elements in these words. Words listed under 2 are taken in general from the complete vocabulary. Some of these the children will recognize, others they may be able to sound, the teacher will need to help with others. No attempt has been made to have these lists exhaustive. Enough have been given, however, to stimulate the children, to challenge their mastery of sounds. 65 HOW TO TEACH READING Lesson 2. (Pp. 3-7.) Again read the poem on p. 4, the children follow- ing and reading with you. The pages following may be read with little comment if the first lesson was well given. The unity of each page makes the final assignment easy, one child will read each page. Drill period: ine, nine; n, nine. 1 . Mine, miner, fine, line, whine, dine, thine, no, nun, Nan, Nat, now. 2. Never, need, nothing, run, hen, ten, man, horn, seven. Lesson j. (Pp. 8,9.) Teach the rhymes on p. 8. Enjoy the swing of the lines, the rhyming words, Locket, pocket, found, round, the alliterative structure (see p. 126). Find significant words and word groups: lost a pocket, found it, a ribbon round it. Use p. 9 largely as a silent reading lesson. Who would like to do what the title says? What the first line says? Let some child answer the first question, the second, the third. Let Lucy and Kitty read silently the lines telling them what to do, what to say. Do not hold for exactness of oral reading here. Drill period : ound, found. 1 . Mound, sound, hound, bound. 2. Ground, round. Lesson 4. (Pp. 10, n.) Little Miss Muffet may be recited, read, dram- atized. Let the children find the rhyming words: Muffet, tuffet; wJtey, away; black spider, beside her. Do the children understand tuffet, curds, and whey ? How did the spider get there ? Tell the children that spiders spin long lines and then swing on them, dropping down a long distance from where they start. Read them the poem on p. n. Who was the little 66 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE FIRST READER girl ? Was this play for the spider? for Miss Muffet ? Have the children find the lines which are repeated (the first and third are alike in each stanza), the word groups which are repeated. How many times is each repeated? Assign the stanzas to differ- ent children and have the poem read. Drill period : words in fundamental vocabulary, column I . Lesson 5. (Pp. 12, 13.) Treat Little Jack Homer as you did Little Miss Muffet. Find some of the significant words and word groups from the rhyme on p. 13. Notice the appeal to curiosity in Just then he saw something, and again in the rhyme which follows. Let the children guess what the farmer is going to do. Dramatize p. 13. Drill period : p, put. 'i . Pay, pen, pill, pat, pine, pound, spill, spine. 2. Sheep, deep, ship, pig, putts, pie, pocket, plum, plain. Lessons 6-9. (Pp. 14-2 1 .) Utilize the pictures in working out these lessons. The children may guess how the farmer, the miller, and the others helped in making the pie, but be sure they realize that Jack does not find out until his mother tells him. The expres- sion, Then Jack saw something else, and the introduction of a new character make each time an appeal to curiosity. Did the farmer tell Jack how he helped make the pie ? Will the miller tell about the farmer ? How can Jack find out how the farmer helped? Let the children try to portray Jack's astonishment when the farmer said, You see, I helped make it, and the amusement of the latter at Jack's unbelief. When the sentences ending nowhere to be seen (p. 20) are read, have the children think of Jack as looking all around, over and over again. This section may be made quite dramatic. Have the questions at the 67 HOW TO TEACH READING foot of p. 21 read silently and answered orally. The entire series will make a fine dramatization. Drill periods : words in fundamental vocabulary, column 2 : ed, red; r, red; own, down. 1. Fed, led, bed, Ted, Ned, ray, ring, rake, rill, run, rat, row, round, town, crowns, clown, brown. 2. Your, mother, father, flower, water f ride, rest, reads, road, right, roof, rolls. Lesson 10. (Pp. 22, 23.) Make much of these pictures. Where is the ship ? Which is Bobby Shafto ? What are the other sailors doing ? What great city is this ? These children play they are going there. Find to London town. In the second stanza where do the children play they are going? Find home from London town. Find the lines which are repeated. When the poems have been read, let children play going to London town, galloping in the rhythm of the stanza. Drill period: word groups: gone to sea, in other lands, one foot, the other foot, that is the way, that 's the way, to London town, from London town. Lessons 11-14. (Pp. 24-31.) There is real dramatic movement here, char- acters coming and going, a fine climax when the third bird awakens Little Boy Blue and he comes back to his duty, and a most satisfactory ending with sheep and cows back in the field and Little Boy Blue thanking the faithful bluebird. The first lesson may well be a study lesson including the whole story, children reading silently to find the sentences which answer significant questions, Who is this ? Where is he ? Who came ? Did he waken Little Boy Blue ? Do not let the children answer these questions from memory, insist on their finding the answers in the lesson. Further lessons may deal with the main parts of 68 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE FIRST READER the story in detail: Little Boy Blue and the first little bird, the first and second birds and what they did, the third little bird and his success. The children may think of appropriate names for these parts. There is fine opportunity for voice training in the singing of the birds: very, very softly; very softly; louder and louder; just as loud as he could sing; the final happy song. How loud was that? Drill periods: eep, sheep, sh, sheep, orn, corn. 1. Keep, weep, peep, sleep, shake, shy, shun, shook, shine, shed, morn, horn, born, corner, Homer, morning. 2. Shepherd, wish, shone, fresh, rushes, ship, shaking. Lesson 75. (Pp. 32, 33.) These pages emphasize the value of recall in reading, the bringing again to mind of that which has been read at a previous time. Children may read each question, pointing to the picture when answering the questions begin- ning with Which. When the other questions have been answered, let each child find and read the rhyme about one of the characters named. Drill period : ell, tell. i. Sell, fell, bell, dell, well, shell, seller, telling. As each story group is finished, make sure that the necessary word and phonic drills which accompany it have been thor- oughly done. Select favorite pages to read. (See p. 51, of this manual.) PLAN FOR STORY GROUP UNDER THE APPLE TREE General preparation: To get the most from these lessons, children must have seen an apple tree, smelled the fragrant blossoms, watched the birds and bees, played under the trees. Such lessons should help the children to recall observations they have made and should send them out eager for fresh experiences. 69 HOW TO TEACH READING Lesson I. (P. 34.) See that the children get the pictures, imitate the sounds. They go drifting away calls for interpretation to express the delicate motion portrayed. The page may be read in sen- tence groups. Encourage the children from now on to read several sentences together. Lesson 2. (Pp. 35, 36.) The pictures on p. 35 tell the story. Let each child choose a picture and read the stanza which describes it. Find the rhyming words. The picture on p. 36 suggests many elements in the poem: Early every morning, a birdie, in the blossoms. This page and the next may emphasize the joy of getting up in the morning, there are so many things to see and to do. Imitate the bird's call. This poem may well be memo- rized. Drill period : et f get; g f get. 1. Set, met, wet, let, net, pet, getting, petting, petted, wettest, letter, better, gay, go, gun, gold, ground, gown, golden, going. 2. Ago, grew, pig, together, log, begins. Lesson j. (P. 37.) Notice again the greater intensity with which the bird sings at the last. Who else was wakened by a little bird's singing? Turn to pp. 28 and 29 and read the bird's songs. Lesson 4. (Pp. 38, 39.) Find the pictures, the sounds, the rhyming words. Be sure that the children understand the help of the flowers, rain, and sun. Do they like the sweet, sweet honey? Drill period : fundamental vocabulary, column 3. 70 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE FIRST READER Lesson 5. (Pp. 40, 41 .) Have each stanza read in couplets which appeal to the birdie, the bee, the wind. How much may depend upon the way one says please ! Re-read favorite pages of this story group. Drill period : work with word groups, a nest and four eggs, where the wind is singing, to the mother bird, please sing a song, while you 're busy, the songs of the apple tree. Lessons 6, 7. (Pp. 42-45.) An imaginary circus has great charms. What animal do the children play that the kitten is? the dog? What does the kitten mean when she mews so hard ? the dog when he barks ? Could we play circus here ? Let the children improvise tunes for the rhymes on pp. 44^-45. (See p. 32, of this manual.) Drill period : ide t ride. 1. Side, hide, hiding, tide, wide, rider, widest. 2. Besides. Lesson 8. (Pp. 46, 47.) The children know the first stanza of The Swing. Bring out the thought of being up, up so high, of seeing so far away. Memorize the poem. Notice the author's name. PLAN FOR STORY GROUP THE LITTLE RED HEN Lessons J, 2. (Pp. 48 to middle of 52.) Examine the pictures, become acquainted with the characters, find their names in the text. In the first reading, the teacher may well read the rhymes so that the movement through to the end may have a satisfactory speed. How much efficiency is expressed in each And she did! The children may think of names for the parts, such as, sowing, reaping, grinding, baking. Note the parts of the HOW TO TEACH READING stanzas which are alike. Compare These grains I '// sou; with If grains you sow. Did the hen do right? Why? Lesson j. (Pp. 52, 53.) There is splendid contrast here between the complacency of the hen and the retribution of the others. Dramatize the complete story. Will it aid the effect to finish with What the Others Said? Can some children read the entire story? PLAN FOR STORY GROUP A DOZEN TOILERS General preparation: Children are interested in the busy people about them. They seem to appreciate the earnest spirit of the workers. Each is proud of his father's work. There is much planning as to being an engineer, a fireman, or some other splendid worker " When I grow up." Encourage them to watch the workers, to ask questions about the work, to tell the class what they have seen or heard. Take the class to see some of the toilers. Types of lessons: There are lessons to read and discuss because of the wonderful facts which they tell. (Pp. 54, 55, 56, etc.) Other lessons are for dialogues or dramatizing. (Pp. 61, 70, 71, 8 1 ff.) See that the beautiful poems are memorized when they are understood. Bring out the quiet humor in the poem about A Diamond or a Coal (p. 74). The class may improvise tunes for the beautiful lullabies (pp. 92-97). The review lessons (pp. 86-91, 104-105) call for thinking on the part of the children. Some of these pages may be used for silent read- ing. (See p. 2 1 .) Identify each stanza on p. 89 with the riddle it describes on p. 90. (Pp. 62, 65, 69.) These may be read, then dramatized by changing the wording, an excellent bit of language work: i.e., " lam an engineer. My engine is running forty miles an hour. The train rushes over hill and plain. Hear 72 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE FIRST READER the whistle, Toot, toot. Hear the bell, Ding-dong. I am stop- ping my train at the station/' Opportunities for emphasis upon expression: imitating the movements of the toilers, their cheery calls; how the train caller's voice will ring out! Special sentences portraying emo- tion, / should hear the whistle in my dreams (p. 65). " Watch out ! " says the gong (p. 68). Away over the houses ! (p. 77). Drill periods (p. 60) : ain f train. i . Main, pain, rain, gain, paint, grain, plain, training, pained f painter, gaining, plainest. (P. 83): test, rest. 1. Lest, best, test, west, nest, resting, western, nested. 2. Forests. (P. 92) : light, night. i. Sight, bright, might, fight, light, tight, fighting, lighten, tighter, lighted, brightest. Fundamental vocabulary, column 4. Let each child select one toiler whom he would like to be and read about the work. PLAN FOR STORY THE GINGERBREAD BOY Enjoy the pictures. The first part of the story is the key to all the rest ; if the children get the spirit and vocabulary of this, the rest of the story will move rapidly to its tragic ending. This story can be dramatized, can be read in parts, and should be read from beginning to end by many children. In this latter do not hold to exactness of wording, provided a child has the spirit of the story and is really conveying the thought to his hearers. 73 HOW TO TEACH READING PLAN FOR STORY THE CAT THAT WAITED Assign each part to a group of children to dramatize, and have the first reading carried through by dramatizing. Was the cat wise ? How hungry those kittens must have been! In finishing the Reader spend several days in reading and dramatizing favorite pages. Be sure that the children know some of the beautiful poems. Satisfy yourself that the formal work has been well done. V. TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE SECOND READER (THE children may well re-read parts of the First Reader at the beginning of the second year. Review word and phonic lists also. Study pp. 190, 191, Second Reader. Make frequent use of pp. 181, 182.) Read the Children's Preface to the class. Let them read p. 9, then ask for their favorite stories. Look at the Table of Contents ; see if any one finds the name there of a good story which he knows. If so, that may be a good story with which to begin. Make much of all illustrations. At first the children may need to work through the lessons in class, sentence by sentence. Within a few weeks expect them to prepare a paragraph before offering to read. In re-reading a story, they may be trained to look for the large parts : A child says, / am going to read how the fox got the colt (p. 33). Work for independence in reading, help children to get words through context and through sounding, expect them to know common words. Keep up phonic and word drills as listed. By the middle of the year pupils should have good habits of inde- pendent attack upon new lessons. Train children to read so that the hearer may see the picture or the action. The swallow (p. 10) must fly away, a-wa-y ever so far away. The silver sand (p. 1 1) must stretch away, a-wa-y ever so far away. Hurrying home (p. 10) must be hurrying. The weathercock (p. 20) must see the white waves rolling in, the ships sailing, the sea-birds flying, the children playing in the sand. For seat work the children may find picture sentences or paragraphs, and draw what they see; perhaps copying the 75 HOW TO TEACH READING sentence below the picture. They may make a list of the char- acters named in the story, writing one thing that each did, one thing each said. (See p. 17, of this manual.) Notice the authors of selections. Explain " An Old Tale" " Adapted" " Anonymous," etc. Work with the word lists at the back of the book. Be sure that the children know the phonograms and consonant sounds. TYPE LESSONS Type I. Poems of nature (pp. 10, 20, 32, 38, 88, 137). All nature poems assume that the reader has had experience* with that part of the nature world presented in the poem. Where the children have had the experience, recall it as simply and beautifully as possible. Perhaps a related experience will have to be accepted instead; many children do not know the swallow, but have watched other birds fly away. Others may be led to watch for new experiences ; they will wish to see fire- flies after reading Twinkling Bugs. The poem gives a new thought, a different interpretation of these nature ideas. The message of the swallow (p. 10), the mystery of the wind (p. 20), the moon floating in the sea of sunset (p. 38), these are the treasures the poet shows us. Have the children memorize many of these poems. The music of each poem also needs to be brought out. Many times the teacher needs to read the poem to the children first. Notice the rhyming words, the repetition of words and word- groups, the use of alliteration. Always read a poem so that the rhythm is evident, not in a singsong way, but fitting the words and thought to the rhythm as you would to music. LESSON PLAN THE SWALLOW (p. IO) Speak of the birds' going away for the winter and coming back in the spring. Examine the picture. Note the swallow's 76 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE SECOND READER round head, forked tail, widespread wings. Speak of the grace of his flight. Read the poem to the children, bringing out the contrast between the swallow's going away and his coming back. How far the swallow travels! Read the first line making us see how far away he flies. Why is he called sun-loving swallow? What is the first sound in those two words ? What other words in these two lines begin with that sound ? Read the two lines while we listen for those words. Why are come again and bringing re- peated in the next two lines? What is the swallow's message? Read the stanza so that we see the swallow flying away and hear you calling it to return. Treat the second stanza in much the same way. Let the chil- dren tell what pictures they see in the poem. Notice the au- thor's name. The children read in the First Reader her poems, " A Diamond or a Coal "? and " Ferry Me Across the Water." Perhaps they can recite them. Memorize " The Swallow." Drill period : c, certain. 1. Cent. 2. Certainly, rice, nice, place, dancing, since, concerts, princess. Fundamental and complete vocabularies. Common phrases. Type II. Poems of child life (pp. 13, 16, 39, 95, 114, 170, 180). Recall the experiences upon which the poems are based. Bring out the poetic thought concerning each the loving care for the baby (p. 13), the smoke sailing like feathers (p. 16), the fascination of the lamplighter (p. 114). With these poems the teacher will often need to read them first so that the musical setting may appeal with the beauty of the thought before work upon the poem begins. Never let word difficulties crowd out the beauty. The children will wish to memorize some of these poems. 77 HOW TO TEACH READING LESSON PLAN THE LAMPLIGHTER What is this little boy doing ? Does he see any one ? What is the man carrying ? Does he see the boy ? Who is the man ? The chil- dren may answer from what they see in the picture, then the teacher may call their attention to the lines which verify their answers: time to see Leerie going by, with lantern and with ladder, see a little child and nod to him. What has this little boy to make him happy? The picture tells much. Tom Maria my papa 's a banker, quite a fam- ily group ; a lamp before the door. Some may wish to call atten- tion to the mother not being mentioned, to the child's not being strong. Stevenson knew what it meant to be a frail city child. Why does the child like to watch Leerie ? How often does he see him? every night at tea-time. What makes the child want to be a lamplighter ? Does Leerie watch for the child ? When this silent reading and study work have been done, the poem may be read orally. Later it may be dramatized. The children have read or memorized from Stevenson, " The Red Fire" (Riverside Primer, p. 107), "The Swing" (Riverside First Reader, p. 46). Drill period : oon, moon. i. Soon, spoon, sooner, coon, noon. Fundamental and complete vocabularies. Common phrases. Type III. Poems of fun (pp. 9, 17, 68, 125, 144, 161, 167). The children must see the fun, that is the main thing. Have them read silently, question them, and when they see the point, call upon them to read. Why does the book open at the right page ? (p. 9). Is the mother foolish ? (p. 17). Why would the little girl teach the fairy these things? (p. 144). 78 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE SECOND READER LESSON PLAN THE CANDY LION (p. 12$) How does the boy like the candy lion ? What will he probably do with it ? What is the boy thinking of in the first stanza ? Who can bite, and wander roaring for food, and eat up folks at night? How does this lion get more shapeless and slim ? What did you read earlier in this stanza that slwwed something might happen to the lion? Why does the tail disappear first? the head next? What is a candy Roar? What happens finally? How do you know? Other poems by Miss Brown which the children have read are " I Know " (Riverside First Reader, p. 93), "The Wise Book " and " Dressmaking " (in this Reader). Drill periods : With p. 9, it, it. 1. Sit, hit, fit, lit, bit, pit, sitting, bitten, little, bitter, wits. 2. Itself, stitch. With p. 17, m, in; up, up; fr, frock. 1. Sin, tin, win, din, pin, dinner, winning, pinned, sup, cup f pup, supper, upper, free, fry, fro, fret, Fred. 2. Upon, suppose, puppy, afraid, friend, frost, frog. Fundamental and complete vocabularies. Common phrases. Type IV. The Short Story (pp. n, 18, 31, 85, 168). The charm of the short story is its simplicity, its rapid move- ment, the ease with which the point is reached. The danger is that the teacher will consider the point as so obvious that she will not test the children to see if they understand. What did frighten the wee woman ? (p. 18). // the tortoise had been wise, what would he have done ? (p. 85). Who took the fish to the king ? (p. 168). 79 HOW TO TEACH READING LESSON PLAN THE DOG IN THE MANGER (p. Where is this ox ? What has he come to the barn for? Why is the dog in the manger ? What is the manger for ? Who of you have seen an animal eating from a manger ? Tell us about it. What food is in this manger ? Find what happened. The children may read the entire fable silently, then it may be treated as a dialogue. If the dog had liked hay, would the story have been different ? Drill lessons : With p. n, and, and; br, bright. 1. Sand, hand, land, band, stand, landing, handle, sanded, handed, bray, bring, brow, brook, brine, brown, bride, brain. 2. Grandfather, brother, breakfast, broken, bravest, breath. With p. 1 8, cr, crept. 1. Cry, crook, crown, creep, crock, crooked, creeping. 2. Crab, cried, cross, crack, cream, crawled. With p. 19, ent, went. 1. Sent, cent, bent, tent, dent, rent, tenting, center. 2. Gently, twenty, movement, plenty. With p. 31, ack, black; x, ox. 1. Sack, hack, creek, lack, back, black, tack, track, pack, rack, cracker, packet, oxen. 2. Jacket, exchange, next, fix. Fundamental and complete vocabularies. Common phrases. Type V. Informational Lessons (pp. 14, 107). These lessons call attention to the wonder of the stars, and the power in the simple steam of the tea-kettle; also to the thoughtfulness of a small boy. The teacher needs to direct the 80 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE SECOND READER children's observations. Distinguish between fact and fancy. Find out the position of the Great Dipper, of the Little Dipper. Perhaps you will find the parents ready to show these to the children. A bubbling tea-kettle can easily be brought to the schoolroom, but the lid must be one which lifts easily. Where have the children seen steam at work? Use these lessons largely as study lessons, directing the children to the essential sentences, but not attempting to have all of the selection read orally. Drill lesson; p. 14, ink, drink; dr, drink. 1. Sink, link, brink, wink, pink, sinking, dry, drown, drain, drowned, drainer. 2. Tinkle, think, dress, driver. Fundamental and complete vocabularies. Type VI. The Dramatization (pp. 26, 65, 145). A study lesson may well be spent with the class to prepare them for the dramatization. The sooner the action can begin, however, the better. All stage-directions are given in very concise form ; it is a good test of the children's power to have them follow these directions without comment by the teacher. See that they get the spirit of the drama, the danger to the sheep (p. 26), the kindness of John (p. 65), the adventures of the company (p. 145). LESSON PLAN THE LITTLE SHEPHERD (p. 26) Here is a play for us to give. What is its name ? You may choose a part and show us that you know what to do. The first child who takes his place should say, / am the father (or the mother) and this is the sheep/old. Each should account for him- self. When the four leading parts have been chosen and several children have announced that they are sheep and have taken 81 HOW TO TEACH READING their places, you are ready to study the speeches. What is troubling the mother ? What does John wish to do ? Does he go ? Who gives him the best advice ? The children may not find the right answer, but wait until the next scene to set them right. The Grandfather's speech is a sentence which looks forward. Show us how the scene closes. John may or may not read his final speech at this time, the sheep may or may not give theirs, but John and the sheep must go to the pasture. As at the open- ing of the scene, the burden of interpreting the stage-directions must fall upon the children ; do not tell them what to do, insist that they find out from the text. In the second scene John's change of mind needs to be shown by his acting. Would the mother be pleased to have John see the King? No-o and Help! Help! Help! may need practice, also Where? Where? Whose advice helped John? This is an illus- tration of a sentence which refers back to something that has been said. Make this connection by having the class turn back and read the Grandfather's speech. The same point is made in John's final speech (scene 3). Was the mother glad to have John see the King ? Would she have been glad if he had gone with the shepherds? Bring out the difference between John's impulsive offer at the opening of Scene I and his bravery under trial. Every knight pledged himself to protect the weak. Suppose the king and knights had not come to help John. What might have been different ? If you can do so without moralizing, help the children to see that even if the wolf had taken some of the sheep, John would not have been to blame. He showed his spirit when he resisted the temptation to go with the shepherds. Not all of this will be accomplished in the first lesson, but the teacher needs to keep all in mind. The more detailed dramatization may be given the second day. 82 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE SECOND READER Drill lessons : With p. 30, ade, made. i. Fade, blade, shade, glade, cradle, spade. With p. 66, y, yes. i . Your, yourself, yesterday, younger. With p. 67, ad, glad; gl, glad. i . Sad, mad, had, fad, lad, bad, pad, shad, gad, brad, ladder, glee, glide, glitter, glare, glimmer. Fundamental and complete vocabulary. Common phrases. Type VII. The Long Story (pp. 20, 33, 40, 47, 56, 69, 79, 89, 97, 102, 116, 120, 126, 132, 139, 153, 162, 172, 176). The wise division of this type of story into its main parts, with careful study of the essentials in each part, will help the children to get the large values from each story, as well as help them toward establishing good study habits. Discussion should center upon the characters, how they look, what they do, what they say, what characteristics they show ; the main events, who take part in them, why, what results occur; the time of each event, the place. Find the sentences which are most important, key sentences upon whose interpre- tation the understanding of the story depends. In this way the ideas of the story become clear, the vocabulary is used naturally, new words appear in their context, the foundation is laid for intelligent and therefore expressive oral reading. In this discussion have the pupil read from the text the word, word group, or sentence from which he gained his point. Accept no desultory statements, be sure that the pupil is fol- lowing the thought, that he is reading to a definite end. Dramatization is a natural outgrowth of most of these stories, but it comes at the close of the study rather than, as in the preceding type (VI), at the beginning. 83 HOW TO TEACH READING LESSON PLAN TH LITTLE STEAM ENGINE (p. IO2) The first part gives the steam engine's problem. Will she get the long train of cars up the hill? The most expressive para- graph tells of her exertions ; be sure that the Choo ! Choo! Choo ! Choo! sounds like a hard-working engine. The climax of this part lies in the next sentence the cars would not go up the hill What can be done? Part two gives her appeal to the first big steam engine and his refusal to help. How steady her Choo! Choo! Choo! Choo! sounds both before and after the interview. Does he think that he can discourage her? Have the conversation given as a dialogue. A third part shows her meeting another large engine. How does an engine puff and puff? Another conversation ending with a refusal but the little steam engine still goes on, Choo! Choo! Choo! Choo! Another little steam engine is found in part four, agrees to help, together they go back, together they pull the cars up the hill, the work becomes easy, the helper says good-bye, and the little steam engine sings a song of triumph as she goes on carry- ing the cars across the plain. There is fine opportunity in this fourth part for the imitation of the sounds made by engines. Except for the words used, the Choo! Choo! Choo! Choo! and 7 think / can sound very much alike. One may imag- ine an engine saying either. At what point does the story seem to show that the top of the hill has been reached? Note the change in rate of the final song as the little steam engine gets well under way. Drill periods : With p. 23, urn, turn. i. Burn, burning, burned, burner. 84 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE SECOND READER With p. 25, ew, blew; bl, blew. 1. Mew, few, dew, new, pew, drew, crew, bled, blest, blink, block, bless. 2. Knew, threw, trembling, stable, bluebells, blessing, tumbled, trouble, gobble. With p. 35, ass, grass; v, voice. 1 . Mass, lass, class, brass, pass, vat, vow, vain, vest. 2. Loving, lived, gave, voice, every, heavy, believe, brave, traveled. With p. 40, ood, good. 1. Hood, wood, stood, wooden, hooded. 2. Woodpecker, good-bye. With p. 41, atch, catch. i. Match, hatch, scratch, latch, patch, hatchet, catcher, scratched, patching. With p. 43, are, care. i. Mare, hare, fare, bare, dare, pare, rare, share, glare. With p. 47, gr, green. 1. Greener, gray, ground, grain, grit, grand, grin, grew, grade, grass, grandest. 2. Grandfather, hungry. With p. 51, ig, big. i. Fig, dig, wig, pig, rig, gig, brig, digging, bigger, giggle. With p. 53, ick, quick; qui, quick. 1. Sick, kick, tick, lick, Dick, wick, nick, pick, rick, brick, stick, queer, quill, quinine, quell, quest, quit, quack, queen. 2. Quite, quiet, queer, cricket, pickle, picket, sicken, wicked, tickle. 85 HOW TO TEACH READING With p. 54, ut, shut. i. Hut, cut, but, nut, rut, shut, buttei, cutting, shuttle, mutter, walnut, chestnut. With p. 56, ar,far; st, stood. 1. War, car, bar, tar, star, market, carpet, barber, start, far- ther, stay, sting, stake, stall, still, steep, stain, stand, stock, stew, stack, stood, stare. 2. Stretched, stairs, east, west, beasts. With p. 58, tr, tree. 1. Tray, try, train, trade, trick, trader, tickled, trail. 2. Tried, trembling, trunk, trouble, trousers. With p. 59, am, am; ame, came. 1. Ham, lamb, ram, sham, cram, clam, stamp, tramp, ham- mer, lamp, same, fame, came, lame, tame, name, shame, ashamed, game, flame, frame, blame, became. 2. Family, famous. With p. 62, im, him; ime, time. 1. Tim, limb, dim, rim, brim, trim, limping, slim, lime, dime, rime, crime, grime. 2. Gimlet, chimney, important. With p. 64, fl, flew. 1. Flee, fling, flake, fly, flat, flower, fled, flown, flit, flock, flew, flare, flicker, flame. 2. Floating. With p. 69, ead, bread. i. Head, lead, dead, dread, instead, tread, ahead, spread. With p. 72, ite, white, i. Kite, bite, quite. With p. 73, out, out. i. Pout, shout, rout, stout, trout. 86 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE SECOND READER With p. 74, alk, walk. i. Stalk, balk, talk. With p. 76, ish, wish ; ong, song. 1 . Fish, dish, long, tongs, ding, dong, wrong, prong, gong, strong, belong. 2. Foolish. With p. 78, ast, fast. i. Mast, cast, last, past, blast, vast, aster, master. With p. 79, each, each. i. Beach, teach, preach, reach, bleach. With p. So, j, just. 1. Jill, jelly, jet, jest, Jew, Jack, jig, jutting, jar, jam, Jim, James. 2. Journey, juicy, Japan, Japanese. With p. 81, ask, ask. i. Mask, task, cask, flask. With p. 82, aw, paw. i. Law, saw, raw, Shaw, caw, straw, flaw, jaw, crawl. With p. 84, sw, sweet. 1. Sway, swing, swine, sweep, swill, swish, swept. 2. Swallow, sweetly, swung, swam. Fundamental and complete vocabularies. Common phrases. VI. TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE THIRD READER THE teacher will want to enjoy some of the pictures with her class; perhaps she will read to them the Children's Preface and the opening poem. Each story and each poem has its own main thought and atmosphere. Do not be afraid of the nonsense poems and stories. Train the children to find the large parts of a story; to tell where each part begins and ends, to name it. Study and talk over a paragraph or a part with the class before calling for oral reading. Use the words and word groups in this way. Look for sentences which are key sentences, which sug- gest important parts of the story, whose interpretation is necessary to understand the story : But lo! the shoes were made (p. 13) ; He will think that I am you (p. 24) ; Why, give them to the three prettiest children in the school (p. 31). Use certain lessons (pp. 33, 44, 176, 230, etc.) largely as silent reading lessons to interest the children in outside matters, in observing and doing things. This geographical and vocational work leads to a gradual broadening of the child's horizon. The lessons which convey ethical truths (pp. 55, 90, 93) will perhaps leave the strongest impression if the truth is emphasized in connection with the story itself and its hero rather than if application is made to the children themselves. Select with care the lessons in which you will work especially for artistic oral reading. Choose those which have little descrip- tion, much dialogue, opportunity for expressing varying emo- tions. Review all needed words and phonic elements listed in the earlier readers. Drill steadily on those listed in this reader. Make use of the Suggestions to Teachers (pp. 253-256). 88 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE THIRD READER Word lists are not given for this grade in the manual as the children can now make their own lists as seat work. Assign a given phonogram, perhaps one to each row. Pupils may write (i) words which they know containing the phonogram, (2) words which they find in the Vocabulary (p. 247) containing the phonogram. Use these lists in the drill period, which should have a separate time on the program. By the end of the third year pupils should be fluent readers of easy reading; they should know how to find and name the leading parts of a story, how to select a good title for a story. They should comment appreciatively upon a poem or story. TYPE LESSONS Type I. Poems of nature (pp. 37, 46, 53, 59, 81, 123, 124, 135, 142, 156, 162, 163, 170, 171, 186, 197, 204, 229). (For discussion of this type, see p. 76 of this manual). LESSON PLAN THE CLOUDS (p. 5p) Recall clouds which the children have watched. If there are clouds in the sky, go to the windows and watch them. Which way are they moving? How fast do they go? If this poem can be read on a day when the wind is singing and the clouds moving, it will be a great help. Read the poem to the children. Bring out with your voice the swift movement of the clouds in stanza 2, the quiet of the evening in stanza 3. Call for children to read important lines or word groups so as to show manner of movement, idly, to and fro, hurry on; rate of movement, faster now, hastening to be the first ; the sounds portrayed, with merry voice, darkness falls, good-night and happy sleep! Type II. Poems of child life (pp. II, 37, 48, 61, 66, 74, 92, 104, 126, 187, 193, 218, 245). (For discussion of this type, see p. 77 of this manual). 89 HOW TO TEACH READING LESSON PLAN A SONG OF OUR FLAG (p. 104) Just how children's patriotism may be trained we do not know. In part at least it comes from the reverence paid the flag by adults, some thought of what the flag stands for, and the emotional response aroused by the beating drums, the reed- like fifes, the beautiful, rippling flags. All these are included in the lines of this poem, while the rhythm is in part martial, changing to reverent. Read the poem in your best manner ; then study it with the class ; finally have them memorize it. What lines tell how the flag looks ? Which tell of people who love the flag? Find the lines which tell what the flag means. Find those which make you think of a great celebration. What do people do to show their love for the flag ? How does Old Glory like the cheering ? Type III. Poems of fun (pp. 19, 26, 205). (See this same type discussed on p. 78 of this manual). LESSON PLAN THE ELF AND THE DORMOUSE (p. IQ) Enjoy the pictures. Which stanzas describe the first picture ? the second picture? What pictures would you draw to illustrate the last two stanzas ? Don't let any unusual words interfere with the enjoyment of the poem, but read and re-read it as long as the spirit of fun prevails. Type IV. The Short Story (pp. 89, 90, 93, 195). (For discussion of this type, see p. 79 of this manual). LESSON PLAN A LESSON IN POLITENESS (p. Children learn courtesy partly through contact with cour- teous people, partly by being held to courteous acts until they become habits, and in no small measure through ideals. 90 TEACHING THE RIVERSIDE THIRD READER What lessons have we had in politeness? Recall the most recent experience, no matter how simple. Who do you think had this lesson ? Who gave it to them ? Read the first paragraph to find where this lesson was given. What politeness is shown in this paragraph? Recall instances where guests have been given seats of honor. Read until you find some one who needs a lesson in politeness. Why should the Athenian boys have offered the old man a seat ? Why did n't they offer him one ? Who might give them a lesson ? the old man, their fathers or teachers. Read until you find who did give it. Did the Athe- nian boys learn their lesson ? Read the sentence which tells you. What was the difference shown between the Athenian and Spartan boys ? How did the old man express it ? Would this be true, " The Spartan boys know what is right and do it"? Learn the old man's speech. What other country have you heard of where the children are very polite to old people ? Could they teach us anything ? Let children recall instances they have seen of children being' courteous to the aged. Trust to the lesson influencing their own actions. Notice and commend such acts as you see the children performing them. Plan some courtesy which the children may extend to an aged person, sending a flower, visiting him to sing a sweet song or to dramatize a story, writing a note telling of their own happy times. Type V. The Information Lesson (pp. 33, 44, 176, 230). (For discussion of this type, see p. 80 of this manual). LESSON PLAN THE WONDERFUL BALL (p. 44) This lesson is based in part upon the children's experiences, which should be recalled to aid in the interpretation, but it presents to them a thought so great that wonder is the only word to express it. Do not attempt any oral reading except of a part needed to help the discussion. Dwell upon all the HOW TO TEACH READING scenes mentioned in such a way as to intensify this thought of immensity. There is room upon The Wonderful Ball for all these great and beautiful things ! Type VI. The Dramatization (pp. 21, 62, 95). (For discussion of this type, see p. 8 1 of this manual). No lesson plan is given here, as the discussion brings out the essential steps in a dramatization. Type VII. The Long Story (pp. 13, 28, 38, 50, 55, 68, 76, 83, 99, 105, 113, 127, 136, 144, 157, 164, 189, 199, 208, 220, 234). (For discussion of this type, see p. 83 of this manual). VII. TEACHING THE UPPER GRADE READERS READING in the upper grades is concerned with the problems of motivation ; of rate ; of the inculcation of good study habits ; of reaching out and helping the pupil with his outside reading, whether the latter is of the informational, the vocational, or the literary type. Attention to all these problems has been given in preparing the Riverside Readers. The selections have been chosen to appeal to the motive of enjoyment. Care has been taken to have each poem or story presented when it will best arouse the pupils' inherent interest. The motive of sharing is recognized in the provision for bring- ing to class other selections upon the same subject (Suggested Readings). The motives of preservation and collecting appear in the scrapbooks described in the preface to the Sixth Reader. The motive of mastery as well as the motive of enjoyment appear in the study of authors and their works in a definite way. Examination of the readers will discover other motives. Rate of reading has been considered in the grading of the selections, in the recognition of the values in the silent reading lesson (see p. 21.), and in the mechanical make-up of the page. In general the selections are graded more closely than in other readers; the adaptation of the thought to the pupil has been the basis of gradation and this has resulted in presenting material in which he will find comparatively few mechanical difficulties which he cannot master unaided. The readers have many aids in helping pupils to study. Emphasis is laid upon the spirit, the message of each selection. This main idea is used as the basis for grouping the Suggested Readings related to a selection. Each Table of Contents is 93 TEACH:C>?G THE UPPER GRADE READERS planned .