c- at
m- at
b- at
th- at
More ambitious teachers, and those who emphasize phonics earlier in
the reading process, may wish to continue this analysis of words even
further, by separating each word into three or more parts, having the
child give the sound of each letter, thus,
c a t, m a t, b a t
m a t
b a t
The jingles lend themselves to both treatments. But it will be more in
keeping with modern pedagogy if the separation of words is limited at
this stage to analyzing words into phonetic families, as, for instance,
the family of “at,” the family of “ap,” etc. This treatment is advised
for primer work.
Mother Goose rimes may be read later in the book where several of them
are given. Before they are read by the children the rimes should be
memorized and then dramatized in the simple childlike way in which the
young actors in the book are represented as playing Jack and Jill. A
short phonic drill is then deduced from the Mother Goose rime in much the
same way as from the phonic jingles.
When the children have learned to sound _cat_, _mat_, _hit_, _sit_,
etc. (pages 51 and 68), and to find, from these words, the stems _at_
and _it_, the teacher should reverse the process, leading the children
to build words from such stems as _an_, _am_, _and_, _end_, _in_, _on_,
_up_, _all_, _is_, _as_, etc.
an
can
man
pan
tan
Dan
am
dam
ram
and
hand
sand
end
bend
mend
in
pin
thin
shin
up
cup
pup
sup
on
con
Don
pond
all
ball
call
fall
wall
tall
stall
small
Next the children should be required to build lists of words that are
similar in sound and spelling to other words that are known at sight.
lad
glad
had
sad
bad
did
hid
rid
lid
slid
him
dim
rim
swim
vim
hen
men
pen
when
wren
bed
red
fed
led
sled
went
bent
lent
sent
but
cut
nut
shut
hum
drum
gum
chum
pitch
ditch
hitch
witch
catch
match
hatch
scratch
During the first school year the effect of the final _e_ on the preceding
vowel should be taught by means of words already well known to the
children, thus:
cat
fat
fate
mat
mate
hat
hate
lad
glad
glade
fad
fade
mad
made
can
fan
fane
pan
pane
van
vane
sap
cap
cape
nap
nape
tap
tape
it
bit
bite
quit
quite
whit
white
did
hid
hide
rid
ride
him
dim
dime
rim
rime
in
pin
pine
shin
shine
got
not
note
cot
cote
stop
hop
hope
pop
pope
but
cut
cute
rub
cub
cube
dub
tub
tube
jet
pet
Pete
bet
met
mete
All this work may be given from the blackboard.
Some teachers will probably prefer to have the child read through the
primer before attempting to apply the knowledge of letter sounds and
phonic analysis that he has gained. Such teachers will rightly consider
it as more important than anything else that the child be led to regard
the book as a storehouse of attractive stories, and each sentence as
expressing a thought which he can get and express again. But when this
object is attained the teacher will be wise to let the child find out
how he may help himself to the thought getting by the power the initial
letter gives him of “feeling for” the new word, and later by the power
the jingles give him of “making sure” of the words.
The author has found that a vocabulary limited in quantity is a
sufficient impediment to writing interesting stories for young children.
She has, therefore, eschewed in the text any such sacrifice of sense to
sound as would limit her vocabulary in quality also. She has, however,
realized the value, in giving independence, of introducing simple phonics
early. She has, therefore, taken advantage of the natural tendency of
children to make and to repeat alliterations and rimes. In the interest
of veracity, all attempts to beguile the child into believing that
“Wag the rag in the bag” is either an interesting or an instructive
“story” are avoided; it is frankly acknowledged _to the child_ that the
alliterations and rimes in this book are “nonsense-jingles” from the side
of reason, though capable of affording enjoyment on the side of musical
appreciation.