Page:State manual and course of study.djvu/27

 Strive to awaken the imagination and .kindle the powers of observation and thought. Every school exercise should be treated as a language lesson, so that the work in other classes may not undo that of the language class. This is not, however, to be construed as advising continued criticism, but to emphasize the value of securing exact language. *

Teach uses of is and are, texts and were, have and has, this and that, these and those. To test the pupils, write sentences with blanks for pupils to fill out. Have puj^ils use is and are in sentences with the following, both singular and plural forms:

horse girl book pencil slate boy chair leaf door knife man woman

( Use is when speaking of one. Law of use ■{ ^ Use are when speaking of more than one.

For variation write sentences or give them orally, using is or are, and allow pupils to change the number form of verb, making such other changes as are necessary. Never place incorrect forms before small pupils.

Written work:—

As soon as pupils can write, have them put all the new words in the reading lesson on their slates each day.

Before leaving this grade each pupil should be able —

1. To write his name well. 2. To write his postoffice address. 3. To write the name of his township, county, and state. 4. To write the names of familiar objects. 5. To write lists of words from the reading lesson. 6. To write short sentences of from three to six words.

NUMBERS.

Purpose. — To teach numbers only as apitlied to quantity, using all possible combi- nations and separations from 1 to 10.

31aterial. — Tooth-picks, splints, shoe-pegs, corn, small corks, pasteboard, counters.

At first no effort should be made to teach mathematical facts and very little to teach symbols. Let every question be directed to the use of objects by the i)upils. Ask no questions without placing in the pupils’ hands material for seeing the answer. First teach counting of objects, beginning with what the child knows.

Grouping: —

Before attempting combination or separation, teach pu])ils to recognize groups of objects in ticos, threes, and fours. Tims, i)lace two crayons in the hand and ask how many. Then three and four, clianging these rapidly until they can name the number in each group. Vary this grouping by using dif'erent otijects, holding up fingers, books, etc. Continue this exercise until pupils can recognize instantly any