opened its cup of sweetness. The bee drank his fill, and carried some
honey to the hive.
--_Selected and Adapted_
_Thursday_
Children retell, in their own words, the story of “Spring.”
_Friday_
Write five sentences about spring.
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
For dictation:
If a task is once begun,
Never leave it till it’s done;
Be the labor great or small
Do it well, or not at all.
_Tuesday_
Talk about signs of spring! Sky, bright sun, warmer days, return of
birds, pussy willows, swelling buds.
_Wednesday_
Write five sentences about pussy willows.
_Thursday_
Write a letter to your sister or brother, telling about pussy willow.
_Friday_
Write a sentence containing the word _blue_; one with the word _green_;
_pink_; _yellow_; _red_; _white_.
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Tell the children about St. Patrick.
_Tuesday_
Write three sentences about St. Patrick.
_Wednesday_
Write the names of all the members of the family, and your address.
_Thursday_
For dictation:
Under the snowdrifts the blossoms are sleeping,
Dreaming their dreams of sunshine and June.
_Friday_
Talk about the wind, and what it does.
THIRD YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
To be committed to memory:
THE VOICE OF THE GRASS
Here I come creeping, creeping, everywhere;
By the dusty roadside,
On the sunny hillside,
Close by the noisy brook,
In every shady nook,
I come creeping, creeping everywhere.
Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere.
All around the open door,
Where sit the aged poor;
Here where the children play,
In the bright and merry May,
I come creeping, creeping everywhere.
Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere;
In the noisy city street
My pleasant face you’ll meet,
Cheering the sick at heart.
Toiling his busy part--
Silently creeping, creeping everywhere.
Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere,
You cannot see me coming,
Nor hear my low sweet humming,
For in the starry night,
And the glad morning light,
I come quietly creeping, creeping everywhere.
Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere,
More welcome than the flowers
In summer’s pleasant hours;
The gentle cow is glad,
And the merry bird not sad,
To see me creeping, creeping everywhere.
* * * * *
Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere;
My humble song of praise
Most joyfully I raise
To Him at whose command
I beautify the land,
Creeping, silently creeping everywhere.
--_Sarah Roberts Boyle_
Copy the first half of the poem.
_Tuesday_
Copy the rest of the poem.
_Wednesday_
Commit to memory the first two stanzas of the poem.
_Thursday_
Commit to memory the second two stanzas of the poem.
_Friday_
Recite the entire poem.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Write a list of the nouns in the poem.
_Tuesday_
Write a list of the verbs in the poem.
_Wednesday_
Write a list of adjectives in the poem.
_Thursday_
For dictation:
In her dress of silver gray,
Comes the Pussy Willow gay;
Like a little Eskimo,
Clad in fur from top to toe.
_Friday_
Write five sentences about pussy willows.
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Write, to a classmate, a telegram of not more than ten words, saying
that spring is coming.
_Tuesday_
Write a letter to a pussy willow.
_Wednesday_
Talk about the wind and what it does.
_Thursday_
Write five sentences telling what the wind does.
_Friday_
Write the story of St. Patrick.
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
For dictation:
Day after day, and year after year,
Little by little, the leaves appear;
And the slender branches far and wide,
Tell the mighty oak is the forest’s pride.
_Tuesday_
Write a list of at least ten objects beginning with _m_. Who can write
the longest list?
_Wednesday_
Write a rhyme of four lines about the wind.
_Thursday_
Write a story about some pet that you have or that you know about.
_Friday_
Tell something that makes you happy.
Tell something that makes you sorry.
Tell something that you think it is right to do.
Tell something that you think it is wrong to do.
FOURTH YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
To be committed to memory:
THE FAIRIES
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting,
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather.
Down along the rocky shore,
Some make their home;
They live on crispy pancakes
Of yellow tide-foam;
Some in the reeds
Of the black mountain lake,
With frogs for their watch-dogs,
All night awake.
High on the hilltop,
The old king sits;
He is now so old and gray
He’s nigh lost his wits.
By the craggy hillside,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn trees
For pleasure here and there.
Is any man so daring,
As dig one up in spite?
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting,
For fear of little men,
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap;
And white owl’s feather.
--_William Allingham_
Copy the poem.
_Tuesday_
Learn the first half of the poem.
_Wednesday_
Learn the rest of the poem.
_Thursday_
Answer the following questions:
What is meant by the “airy” mountain?
What is meant by the “rushy glen”? What is a glen?
Why are the fairies called “wee” folk?
What is meant by their “trooping”?
What are “crispy” pan-cakes?
What are “reeds”?
Why is a mountain lake called “black”?
_Friday_
What “old king sits”?
What are “wits”?
What is a “craggy hillside”?
Why are the, mosses called “bare”?
Write a description of a fairy as given in the poem.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Talk about the following: What story, that you have read, do you like
best? Why? What game do you like best? Why? What song do you like best?
Why? What study do you like best? Why?
_Tuesday_
For dictation:
Lives of great men all remind us,
We can make our lives sublime;
And, departing, leave behind us,
Footprints on the sands of time.
_Wednesday_
Write about what the wind does.
_Thursday_
Write about the signs of spring that you have noticed.
_Friday_
Talk about what you saw on your way to school.
Third Week
_Monday_
Write a list of all the words you can think of that begin with _h_. Who
can write the longest list?
_Tuesday_
For dictation:
In spring when stirs the wind, I know
That soon the crocus buds will blow;
For ’tis the wind who bids them wake
And into pretty blossoms break.
_Wednesday_
Write a description of the teacher’s desk.
_Thursday_
Write an informal invitation to a St. Patrick’s Day entertainment at
the school.
_Friday_
Have a spelling match.
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Write seven verbs.
Write each in a different sentence.
Tuesday
For dictation:
To look up and not down,
To look forward and not back,
To look out and not in, and
To lend a hand.
_Wednesday_
Write a letter, if you are in the country, to some one in the city,
telling what games you play at recess. If you live in the city, write
to some one in the country.
_Thursday_
Write a description of some game you play.
_Friday_
Talk about the return of the birds.
APRIL
FIRST YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
Talk about the next month? What is the name of this month? What was
last month? What will next month be? What season is this? What will the
next season be? How many days in April? What other months have only
thirty days?
_Tuesday_
Story to be told to the children:
THE MORNING-GLORY SEED
A little girl dropped a morning-glory seed into a small hole in the
ground. As she did so she said, “Now, morning-glory seed, hurry and
grow, grow, grow, until you are a tall vine, covered with pretty green
leaves and lovely trumpet flowers.”
But the earth was very dry. There had been no rain for a long time,
and the poor seed could not grow at all.
After it had lain in the ground for nine long days and nine long
nights, the little seed said to the ground, “Oh, ground, please give
me a few drops of water to soften my hard brown coat. Then my coat
can burst open and set free my two green seed-leaves, and then I can
begin to be a vine.”
But the ground said, “You must ask that of the rain.”
So the seed called to the rain. “Oh, rain,” it said, “please come down
and wet the ground around me, so that it may give me a few drops of
water, to soften my hard brown coat. Then my coat can burst open and
set free my two green seed-leaves, and then I can begin to be a vine.”
“I cannot,” said the rain, “unless the clouds hang low.”
So the seed said to the clouds, “Oh, clouds, please hang low, and let
the rain come down and wet the ground around me, so that it may give
me a few drops of water to soften my hard brown coat. Then my coat can
burst open and set free my two green seed-leaves, and then I can begin
to be a vine.”
But the clouds said, “The sun must hide first.”
So the seed called to the sun. “Oh, sun, please hide for a little
while. Then the clouds can hang low, and let the rain come down and
wet the ground around me, so that it may give me a few drops of water,
to soften my hard brown coat. Then my coat can burst open and set free
my two green seed-leaves, and then I can begin to be a vine.”
“I will,” said the sun, and he hid at once.
Then the clouds hung low and lower. The rain began to fall fast
and faster. The ground began to grow wet and wetter. The seed-coat
began to grow soft and softer, until it burst open. Out came two
bright green seed-leaves, and the morning-glory seed began to be a
vine.--_Adapted_
_Wednesday_
Talk about the story of the morning-glory seed.
_Thursday_
Talk about the part the rain and the sunshine have in making plants
grow.
_Friday_
Play as a game the story of the morning-glory seed.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
To be committed to memory:
SEVEN TIMES ONE
There’s no dew left on the daisies and clover,
There’s no rain left in heaven;
I’ve said my “seven times” over and over,
Seven times one are seven.
I am old, so old I can write a letter;
My birthday lessons are done;
The lambs play always, they know no better,
They are only one times one.
O moon! in the night I have seen you sailing,
And shining so round and low;
You were bright, ah, bright! but your light is failing--
You are nothing now but a bow.
You moon, have you done something wrong in heaven
That God has hidden your face?
I hope if you have, you will soon be forgiven,
And shine again in your place.
O velvet bee, you’re a dusty fellow;
You’ve powdered your legs with gold!
O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow,
Give me your money to hold.
And show me your nest with the young ones in it--
I will not steal it away;
I am old! you may trust me, linnet, linnet--
I am seven years old to-day!--_Jean Ingelow_
Spend the rest of the week teaching the poem to the children. They
always enjoy this poem, one generation of little folks after another.
Did you not?
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Talk about the rain: Why we need so much of it this month, when the
plants are just starting to grow.
_Tuesday_
Have the children write: April is the rainy month.
_Wednesday_
For dictation:
Oh, where do you come from,
You little drops of rain?
_Thursday_
Read or recite the following poem to the children. Talk about where the
rain comes from, and what becomes of the water. The children are old
enough to understand and appreciate it all, if the explanation be made
sufficiently simple.
THE RAIN DROPS’ RIDE
Some little drops of water,
Whose home was in the sea,
To go upon a journey
Once happened to agree.
A white cloud was their carriage;
Their horse, a playful breeze;
And over town and country
They rode along at ease.
But, O! there were so many,
At last the carriage broke,
And to the ground came tumbling
Those frightened little folk.
Among the grass and flowers
They then were forced to roam,
Until a brooklet found them,
And carried them all home.--_Selected_
_Friday_
Let the children play the rain as a game. They can come from one part
of the room which may represent the sea. They can ride on a play cloud.
Coming gently to a garden, on the floor, they may play scatter the
drops quietly, like an April rain, from their finger tips. Then they
may join the brook, and go with it to where it enters the river, then
follow the river to the ocean once more.
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Tell the children the story of Paul Revere’s Ride.
_Tuesday_
Have the children tell back to you the story of Paul Revere’s Ride.
_Wednesday_
Read to the children Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
_Thursday_
Write three sentences about Paul Revere’s Ride.
_Friday_
Have the children play Paul Revere’s Ride as a game.
SECOND YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
A rainy morning. (If the morning is pleasant, use this exercise the
first rainy day.) Why did you come to school this morning with rubbers
and umbrella? Why does the rain run off an umbrella? Why is the roof of
a house built on a slant? Why does rain sometimes fall straight down,
and sometimes fall slanting? How does the rain tell us which way the
wind blows? Why do rubbers keep our feet dry? Why do not our shoes keep
our feet dry? What can you think of, besides overshoes, that is made of
rubber?
_Tuesday_
Write five sentences about rain.
_Wednesday_
Poem to be committed to memory:
THE BLUEBIRD
I know the song the bluebird is singing,
Out in the apple tree where he is swinging,
Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary--
Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.
Hark! how the music leaps from his throat!
Hark! was there ever so merry a note?
Listen a while, and you’ll hear what he’s saying,
Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.
Dear little blossoms, down under the snow,
You must be weary of winter, I know;
Hark while I sing you a message of cheer:
Summer is coming, and springtime is here.
“Little white snowdrop, I pray you arise!
Bright yellow crocus, come open your eyes!
Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,
Put on your mantles of purple and gold!
Daffodils, daffodils! say, do you hear?
Summer is coming, and springtime is here.
--_Selected_
Have the poem copied.
_Thursday_
Learn the first and second stanzas of the poem.
_Friday_
Learn the rest of the poem.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Write a list of the name words (nouns) in the poem, “The Bluebird.”
_Tuesday_
Write a list of the doing words (verbs) in the poem.
_Wednesday_
Show the children a book. Show that damage done to a book will remain.
If you scratch your finger, the wound heals. If you scratch a book,
what happens? Do not break the back of the book. Never mark a book with
pencil and ink. Especially never write anything in a book not your own.
Do not turn down the corners of the leaves. Always return a borrowed
book. Show the children how to open a new book properly.
_Thursday_
For dictation:
Little bird upon the bough,
Sing a song of sweetness now;
Sing of roses in their bloom,
In the lovely month of June,
Little bird upon the bough.
_Friday_
Read the following poem to the children. Talk about the woodpecker, and
how he gets his food.
HOW THE WOODPECKER KNOWS
How does he know where to dig his hole,
The woodpecker there, on the elm-tree bole?
How does he know what kind of a limb
To use for a drum or burrow in?
How does he find where the young grubs grow?
I’d like to know!
The woodpecker flew to a maple limb,
And drummed a tattoo that was fun for him;
“No breakfast here! it’s too hard for that!”
He said, as down on his tail he sat;
“Just listen to this, Rrrr-rat-tat-tat.”--_Selected_
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Play “Animals”: Give to each child a card having on it the name of some
animal, as cat, horse, pig, etc. Have the children in turn describe the
animals they represent as:
I am covered with hair. I gnaw bones. I watch at night to see that no
one gets into the house. I say, “Bow, wow, wow,” when I am happy. What
am I?
_Tuesday_
For dictation:
He who plants a tree,
Plants a hope.
_Wednesday_
Talk about Arbor Day and Bird Day, and why we celebrate these special
days. Why do they come in April rather than in January, or some other
month?
_Thursday_
Write a list of all the trees you know about. Who can write the longest
list?
_Friday_
Write a list of all the birds you know about. Who can write the longest
list?
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Tell the children the story of Paul Revere’s Ride.
_Tuesday_
Have the children tell the story of Paul Revere’s Ride.
_Wednesday_
Write five sentences about Paul Revere’s Ride.
_Thursday_
Talk about the new parcel post. How are parcels sent? How heavy can
parcels be sent? What can be sent by parcel post? How are letters
sent? What does it cost to send a letter? A post card? How is the mail
carried from place to place? How is the mail delivered in your town?
_Friday_
Write five sentences about the mails, and sending letters and parcels.
THIRD YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
Write a list of objects you can see from a school-room window.
_Tuesday_
Write as many “signs of Spring,” as you can think of.
_Wednesday_
For dictation:
All that’s great and good is done
Just by patient trying.
_Thursday_
Read the following poem to the children:
WILD FLOWERS
Out amid the green fields,
Free as air we grow,
Springing where it happens,
Never in a row;
Watered by the cloudlets
Passing overhead,
Warmed by lovely sunbeams,
Falling on our heads.
Wild flowers, wild flowers, by the meadow rills,
Wild flowers, wild flowers, on the woody hills,
Wild flowers, wild flowers, springing everywhere,
Joyful in the glad free air.--_Selected_
Talk about the coming of the wild flowers. What part have the rain and
the sunshine in helping the flowers to grow? What wild flowers are in
blossom now? What other flowers will blossom before the close of April?
_Friday_
Write eight sentences about wild flowers.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Poem to be committed to memory: “The Owl and the Pussy Cat,” by Edward
Lear.
Have the first half of the poem copied.
_Tuesday_
Have the rest of the poem copied.
_Wednesday_
Learn the first three stanzas of the poem.
_Thursday_
Learn the rest of the poem.
_Friday_
Allow the children to dramatize in their own way, “The Owl and the
Pussy-cat.”
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Write a list of the adjectives in “The Owl and the Pussycat.”
_Tuesday_
Answer in complete sentences, the following questions:
What is the color of your reader? What is the color of your pencil?
What is the color of your hair?
_Wednesday_
Write a rhyme of four lines about a cat.
_Thursday_
Have the children read “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
_Friday_
Have the children tell you the story of “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Poem to be committed to memory:
WHAT DO WE PLANT?
What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the ship, which will cross the sea,
We plant the mast to carry the sails;
We plant the plank to withstand the gales,
The keel, the keelson, and beam, and knee;
We plant the ship when we plant the tree.
What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the houses for you and me;
We plant the rafters, the shingles, the floors;
We plant the studding, the lath, the doors,
The beams and siding, all parts that be;
We plant the house when we plant the tree.
What do we plant, when we plant the tree?
A thousand things that we daily see;
We plant the spire, that out-towers the crag;
We plant the staff for our country’s flag;
We plant the shade, from the hot sun free--
We plant all these, when we plant the tree.
--_Henry Abbey_
Copy the poem.
_Tuesday_
Learn the first two stanzas of the poem.
_Wednesday_
Recite the entire poem.
_Thursday_
Write a list of the things we plant when we plant a tree.
_Friday_
Talk about the purpose of Arbor Day, and especially about the meaning
of the beautiful Arbor Day poem.
FOURTH YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
Story for reproduction:
THE CAT AND THE CHESTNUTS
A cat sat before an open fire where some chestnuts were roasting.
A monkey who was hungrily watching the chestnuts said to the cat, “Do
you think you could pull a chestnut out of the fire? Your paws seem to
be made just for that.”
The cat was flattered and she quickly pulled out a chestnut that had
burst open.
“How do you do it?” asked the monkey. “It is wonderful. Can you reach
that big one?”
“Yes, but see, I have burned my paw a little.”
“Oh, but what of that, when you are making yourself so useful?”
One after another the cat pulled the chestnuts from the fire. Then she
found that the sly monkey had eaten them all. All she had was a pair
of sore claws.
--_Æsop_
_Tuesday_
Write the story of the cat and the chestnuts.
_Wednesday_
Write ten sentences about the signs of spring.
_Thursday_
Write a list of the wild flowers that grow in your vicinity, so far as
you know them.
_Friday_
Have each pupil draw on paper some kind of flower. Exchange papers, and
each pupil write five sentences about the flower he thinks is intended
by the drawing on the paper he receives.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Poem to be committed to memory:
PLANT A TREE
He who plants a tree
Plants a hope.
Rootlets up through fibres blindly grope;
Leaves unfold into horizons free.
So man’s life must climb
From the clods of time
Unto heavens sublime.
Can’st thou prophesy, thou little tree,
What the glory of thy boughs shall be?
He who plants a tree
Plants a joy.
Plants a comfort that will never cloy.
Everyday a fresh reality,
Beautiful and strong,
To whose shelter throng
Creatures blithe with song.
If thou could’st but know, thou happy tree,
Of the bliss that shall inhabit thee!
He who plants a tree
He plants peace.
Under its green curtains jargons cease;
Leaf and zephyr murmur soothingly;
Shadows soft with sleep
Down tired eyelids creep,
Balm of slumber deep.
Never hast thou dreamed, thou blessed tree,
Of the benediction thou shalt be.
He who plants a tree
He plants youth;
Vigor won for centuries, in sooth;
Life of time, that hints eternity!
Boughs their strength uprear,
New shoots every year
On old growths appear.
Thou shalt teach the ages, sturdy tree,
Youth of soul is immortality.
He who plants a tree
He plants love;
Tents of coolness spreading out above
Wayfarers he may not live to see.
Gifts that grow are best;
Hands that bless are blest;
Plant: life does the rest!
Heaven and earth help him who plants a tree,
And his work its own reward shall be.--_Lucy Larcom_
Copy the poem.
_Tuesday_
Learn the first two stanzas of the poem.
_Wednesday_
Learn the second two stanzas of the poem.
_Thursday_
Learn the rest of the poem.
_Friday_
Talk about the meaning of the hope, joy, peace, youth, and love, as
mentioned in the poem.
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Write a list of twenty articles made of wood.
_Tuesday_
Each pupil think of a tree. Each in turn tell about his tree, the other
pupils to guess what it is. For instance:
I am tall and straight. I have many long needles, instead of leaves.
When the wind blows through my branches it makes sweet music. What am
I? (A pine tree.)
Or--I am a large tree, with great branches. My fruit is called an
acorn. What am I? (An oak tree.)
_Wednesday_
Talk about Arbor Day--why it is celebrated, and why it is necessary
that our trees be preserved.
_Thursday_
For dictation:
A song to the oak! the brave old oak!
Who hath ruled in the greenwood long;
Here’s health and renown to his broad green crown
And his fifty arms so strong.
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Story for reproduction:
TRIFLES
A friend of the great artist, Michael Angelo, was once watching the
last touches being made to a statue. Some time later he visited the
studio again, and the artist was still at work upon the same statue.
He exclaimed: “You have done nothing since the last time I was here.
The statue was finished then.”
“Not at all,” was Michael Angelo’s reply. “I have softened this
feature and brought out that muscle. I have given more expression to
the lips and more energy to the eye.”
“Oh,” said the friend, “but these are trifles.”
“It may be so,” said the artist, “but trifles make perfection and
perfection is no trifle.”
_Tuesday_
Write ten sentences, each containing _is_ or _are_.
_Wednesday_
Write sentences, each of which contains one of the following
adjectives; little, yellow, moist, good, large, beautiful, swift, slow,
useful, breakable.
_Thursday_
For dictation:
Tinkling down! shining down!
Golden sunbeams kiss the flowers.
Wake them up! wake them up!
Through the happy hours.
_Friday_
Play “What I am thinking of,” using objects in the school-room.
MAY
FIRST YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
What is the name of this month? What is the name of the month just
ended? What is the name of the month following May? What season is
this? What season follows spring? How many days has May? What other
months have thirty-one days?
_Tuesday_