virtue in mere length. Quality of work should be emphasized. Besides,
one of these fables, the shortest one, is to be used in the subsequent
exercise in copying.
=Note 25= (page 25). The work in copying should be motivated by placing
before the pupils the problem involved, namely, making an exact
reproduction of the original. _Can it be done?_ This is the question
before the class. Copy only a part of a fable rather than make the
exercise too long. See Note 12.
=Note 26= (page 28). It is suggested that the room be decorated
appropriately for these lessons that deal with Indian subject matter.
Possibly a small Indian tepee may be pitched in one corner of the
schoolroom. A Navajo rug may adorn the wall, and pictures of Indian
weapons, tools, utensils, and other articles of various kinds may be
drawn in color on the board. Besides the book quoted in the text,
Frederick Starr's "American Indians" (Heath) and Gilbert L. Wilson's
"Myths of the Red Children" (Ginn), from the latter of which the Indian
illustrations in the present textbook have been taken with the kind
permission of Mr. Wilson, will be found replete with authoritative
information. At the discretion of the teacher this problem of room
decoration may be solved in a series of group exercises in English (see
Note 15), each pupil expressing his views as he stands before the class.
Pupils will enjoy drawing tepees, tomahawks, Indian chiefs, squaws, and
papooses on paper with colored crayons; dressing dolls as Indians;
dressing themselves as Indians; making tepees, canoes, etc. out of paper
and cardboard; making an Indian scene on the sand table.
The following are war whoops or Indian calls: "Ki-yi, whoo-oo! Ki-yi,
ki-yi, ki-yi, whoo-oo!" and "Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom!"
=Note 27= (page 39). It is suggested that this exercise be preceded by a
pantomime in which a pupil plays that he is wandering through the woods,
while the class pretend that they are Indians waylaying him. Some may
approach on the river in canoes. Some may follow his tracks on the
ground. The women and the papooses would remain in the safe background.
Finally the boy is captured. Then a little extemporized dramatization
takes place before the captured boy makes his speech. Sensitive children
should perhaps be informed that such captures no longer happen.
=Note 28= (page 40). This game is designed to help stop the incorrect
use of _got_. If some chicken feathers can be obtained, each player may
wear one.
=Note 29= (page 41). Some Indians call January "Cold Moon," April
"Green-Grass Moon," May "Song Moon," June "Rose Moon," and November "Mad
Moon."
=Note 30= (page 42). The antidote for the _and_ habit is not a _don't_
but a _do_. If pupils are trained to drop the voice at the ends of
sentences and to make a pause there, not only will many thoughtless
_and's_ remain unspoken, but sentence sense will be developed. Let the
class read the January selection in the text, exaggerating the pause at
the end of each sentence.
=Note 31= (page 46). The teacher should not hesitate to modify any game
to suit the needs of the class. Games 1 and 2 on pages 46 and 47 should
be played on different days, to avoid confusion. Few mistakes will be
made in these easy games, nor are mistakes desirable. The repetition of
the correct form is desirable. It must not be a thoughtless repetition.
=Note 32= (page 47). Parent coöperation in the work of eradicating
common errors is to be sought. Some schools send cards to the pupils'
homes, explaining the errors for the removal of which the teachers ask
the help of the parents.
=Note 33= (page 47). Pictures of fairies should now be drawn on the
board, in order to help create the proper atmosphere for the present
lessons. Later in the month let Christmas decorations be added. Perhaps
a small Christmas tree could be brought in and ornamented with
inexpensive colored papers. See Note 26.
The story in the text may be used for story-telling, although it is
given here merely to create an appropriate atmosphere for the pupils'
stories and as a prelude to the work of the next weeks.
It depends very much on the class whether teachers will read or freely
retell the stories and other selections in the book or whether they will
utilize them for reading lessons or for study recitations. With many
classes it will be decidedly best for the teacher to read or reproduce
the stories and selections. See Notes 1 and 9.
=Note 34= (page 64). A number of possible exercises suggest themselves
here. Thus, several lesson periods might profitably be devoted to each
pupil's explaining how to make a toy or other Christmas thing. If
correlation with manual training be possible, pupils may actually make
toys, Christmas cards, New Year's cards, and calendars. This may be
handled dramatically. Pupils may play that they are a band of fairies
going to Santa Claus to offer their services in the great toyshop. One
pupil is Santa Claus. He asks each pupil to _explain_ what he can do in
the way of making Christmas things. Then he puts them to work. See the
game in section 67.
=Note 35= (page 67). Teachers who preserve the best riddles will find
them useful means of stimulating subsequent classes to their best
endeavor. A riddle book may gradually be made by a teacher's successive
classes, each class contributing its best. Only worthy pieces of work
may be included. Thus a school or a schoolroom tradition in English may
be made to grow up, whose educational value would be not inconsiderable.
=Note 36= (page 67). An exchange of papers, or the correction of each
paper by a small group of pupils working as a team, will often prove
desirable.
=Note 37= (page 69). Very incidentally during the study of the poem, use
the word _stanza_ to designate each of the three large sections of it,
and call attention to the interesting fact that every line of poetry
begins with a capital letter.
=Note 38= (page 72). The teacher may read or tell the class the Spanish
fairy tale "The Three Wishes" (see Wiggin and Smith's "Tales of
Laughter," Doubleday, Page & Company). The story of Midas should be
postponed until the fourth grade. See "Oral and Written English" (Ginn),
Book One, page 100.
=Note 39= (page 74). The last lesson period preceding Christmas may be
given to the teacher's reading aloud "A Visit from St. Nicholas," by
Clement C. Moore.
=Note 40= (page 75). Dictate twelve dates, one in each month. Remind the
pupils of the spelling of _February_ and of the fact that the names of
the months begin with capital letters.
=Note 41= (page 75). Let children of foreign parentage tell about their
unusual customs. Let them realize, as they tell about their home
traditions, that they are making a most interesting contribution to the
class entertainment.
=Note 42= (page 78). Pupils will enjoy and profit by a pantomimic
presentation of the scene, as a preparation for the real dramatization.
Let one pupil show how Jack slowly and painfully rose from the ground.
Let another show the alarmed mother, another the wise doctor. Then ask
each actor what the person represented might have said. See Notes 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, and 27.
=Note 43= (page 80). Other subjects will readily suggest themselves: as, a
toboggan party, making an ice rink, trapping for muskrats or rabbits,
fishing through the ice, ice boating, visiting the museum, visiting the
zoo, visiting the botanical gardens, visiting the aquarium, a class
dance, a class workshop for making things of wood, paper, or cloth.
The meeting may be presided over by a member of the class. Set speeches
should be required and order maintained. The discussion should not lapse
into undirected, fragmentary conversation. It is not enough for a pupil
to say, "Let us go to the museum next Saturday afternoon." The speech
should say when and where the class is to meet, how long it is to stay,
what it is to do when it reaches the museum, who the leader is to be,
whether the teacher is to be invited, and why this plan is preferable to
the others proposed.
For seat work the class may make a picture book of winter fun, using
colored crayons. An opportunity will here be incidentally offered to
impress pupils with the fact that _if they could only write their
thoughts_ they might now make a real book about winter fun, and not
simply a picture book. The promise may be made that as soon as they
learn to write their thoughts well, they will be given a chance to make
books.
=Note 44= (page 81). The moment a word is mispronounced in the
story-telling or other exercises, it should be added to a list kept on
the board. Pupils will soon become alert for errors of this kind. From
such a small beginning may well grow a class language conscience, a
class pride in its English, and thus finally an individual
conscientiousness in the use of the mother tongue.
=Note 45= (page 83). Freely rendered after Chance's "Little Folks of
Many Lands." Other books containing suitable material are Andrews's "The
Seven Little Sisters" and "Each and All," as well as Peary's "Snow Baby"
and "Children of the Arctic." Some Eskimos do have houses of wood,
mainly driftwood, but others do not. It is with these latter that the
present lessons are concerned.
=Note 46= (page 86). It is advised that, as pupils suggest improvements,
each account be rewritten by the teacher. The improved account should be
placed on the board beside the original, so that the differences may be
apparent to all. Teachers should guide in these criticisms and
reconstructions, but very gently, leaving pupils free to suggest and
change, making them responsible for the improvement, putting nothing
down that does not appeal to the class, thus _confronting the pupils
with the problem of making each account better_ and permitting them to
feel and to enjoy the full challenge of this problem.
=Note 47= (page 89). Parents may be invited to hear the class recite
poems. This will give an occasion and reason for reviewing the poems
learned during the year.
=Note 48= (page 96). It seems inadvisable, in the present state of
conflicting usage, to follow the greeting of some letters with a comma
and of others with a colon. Not only may this arbitrary distinction
prove embarrassing when a writer does not wish definitely to commit
himself as to whether his letter is strictly business or merely
friendly, but it also compels the teaching of two forms where one will
do.
=Note 49= (page 97). Since the question may arise, why the subject
should not become a matter of class discussion, it is advised that
emphasis be placed on the fact that each pupil would probably prefer to
talk the matter over with the teacher privately. Few pupils would like
to announce publicly their desire to be postmaster, but all would be
willing to tell this wish to the teacher alone. All these individual
conferences, however, would be impracticable for the reasons stated in
the text. There thus arises a real occasion and need for the personal
letter from each pupil to the teacher.
=Note 50= (page 97). This will probably prove the strategic time for a
conference between the teacher and each pupil. The letter written by
each pupil alone should be made the occasion for this meeting.
Sympathetic, constructive suggestions by the teacher, covering letter
form (just taught) as well as the capitalization and punctuation of
sentences, will do much toward giving letter writing a promising start
with the class.
=Note 51= (page 103). Some of the best letters, as well as some of the
poorest, should be utilized for criticism, in order that pupils may
appreciate the excellence of the best and, on the other hand, may have
ample opportunity for constructive, improving work in making over the
poorest. See Note 20.
=Note 52= (page 106). This exercise involves, of course, the description
of each pupil by himself. It is suggested that the spirit of play and
fun be permitted to permeate the exercise, in order that wooden
descriptions, mere catalogues of qualities, may be avoided.
=Note 53= (page 109). A committee of pupils, or several committees, may
profitably be appointed to see that each pupil rewrites and copies
neatly his sketch of himself. The committee would have charge of the
making of the book after each sketch has been finished. During this work
the need may arise of learning ways of lettering book titles. Then and
there the teacher should study titles of books and articles with the
class and inductively teach the rule that the first and every important
word in a title should begin with a capital letter.
=Note 54= (page 113). Do not hurry in these critical exercises. Continue
each one as long as the interest of the pupils will permit.
=Note 55= (page 114). If pupils manifest a desire at this point to talk
about ponies, horses, goats, chickens, ducks, pigeons, rabbits, or other
domestic animals, this desire should be utilized for a series of
exercises similar to those about dogs.
=Note 56= (page 116). Pupils should arrive on their bicycles in animated
talk, should dismount and lean the bicycles very carefully against the
tree. Then they should step cautiously into the boat. When the boat
leaves shore, the boy in the stern is sitting half twisted around and
talking to his dog, while the other boy is seated squarely, well braced,
so that he may row with steady strokes. Two girls may play the story as
if it were about two girls.
=Note 57= (page 116). Repetition in these dramatizations must always
have a clear and justifiable purpose that pupils understand. For
instance, having a new audience (the pupils from another room or a
visitor) would usually constitute a good reason for a second
performance. Then, repetition before the _same_ audience might be
justified by the endeavor to improve the playing by introducing more
action or more speech and thus achieving a better representation, which
the class recognizes as desirable. But every wise teacher knows that the
play must stop before it has lost its savor. See Note 5.
=Note 58= (page 118). If this exercise is to reach the maximum of profit
for the class, it will include constructive work in word study, variety
in expression, expansion by happy additions of words and sentences,
contraction, rearrangement, combination of sentences, shortening of
sentences, the striking out of needless _and's_, as well as attention to
mistakes in grammar. Only one critical question should be considered at
each reading.
=Note 59= (page 120). Nine pupils may work at the board at the same
time, each writing one of the nine sentences.
=Note 60= (page 123). Teachers will arrange matters tactfully, that
every pupil may receive a letter from one of his classmates. Pupils may
write more than one letter if they wish, but the postmaster should
accept no slovenly mail.
=Note 61= (page 124). It is recommended that this correspondence be
permitted to continue as long as pupils take pleasure in it. There
should be allowed great freedom of content. Let pupils tease each other,
poke fun at each other, even ask silly questions. See Note 2.
=Note 62= (page 125). Pronounced s[=e]´r[=e]z, pr[=o]-sûr´p[i]-n[_.a_],
[_.a_]-p[o]l´[=o], pl[=o]o´t[=o].
=Note 63= (page 131). Since the next dozen lessons or more assume the
spring-time as their background, it is strongly recommended that the
room be fittingly decorated. If a class excursion could be made into the
woods or to a river or park, it should be done. Some time during this
group of lessons dramatization may take the form of playing that the
schoolroom is a meadow or a wood in which pupils wander about picking
flowers, seeing birds and animals. These they describe to the class.
=Note 64= (page 133). By seeing written products grow in clearness,
force, interest, beauty, and language effectiveness as the class faces
the problem of improving them, by seeing the better word displace the
good and the phrase of color the colorless one, by watching the vague
thought give way to the vivid thought, pupils will be impressed as in no
other way with the fact that the first draft of any written expression,
brief or long, is merely the first draft, merely a basis, a beginning, a
preliminary sketch, for the finished written composition. See Notes 7
and 20.
=Note 65= (page 141). By having another pupil stand before the class and
speak for the pupil who is a bird, flower, or animal (replying, for
instance, "No, he is not a dandelion" or "Yes, he is a sparrow") the
game _I am not_ is easily transformed into the game _He is not_.
Similarly, the games _He has not_ and _He does not_ may easily be
devised.
=Note 66= (page 143). A classroom correspondence, that is, a class
exchange of riddles through the class post office, may be desirable at
this time.
=Note 67= (page 149). The playing of this story, the preliminary
pantomime, the discussion before and after, the playing by different
groups in friendly rivalry, may well occupy several English periods.
=Note 68= (page 150). It is recommended that a real spring festival be
held. See Percival Chubb's "Festivals and Plays" (Harpers). A committee
of pupils may be appointed to take charge of it.
=Note 69= (page 151). During the telephone game the teacher may now and
then take the receiver and show what clear, polite, efficient
telephoning is. In fact, the entire game may be played between the
teacher on the one side and different pupils in succession on the other.
=Note 70= (page 152). Sending by mail may not seem advisable in some
schools; but if it is decided on, it should be preceded by an exercise
on the writing of addresses.
=Note 71= (page 153). The writing of the titles _Mr._, _Mrs._, and
_Miss_ should not be made the object of any extended drill at this time.
Pupils should know how to write them for the purposes of the present
exercises and of a few of the succeeding exercises.
=Note 72= (page 154). While some pupils are copying at their desks,
others may copy at the board. The latter will write copies for class
criticism. Then other addresses, supplied by the teacher, may be written
from dictation or copied, other pupils now writing at the board.
=Note 73= (page 155). It will be delightful to decorate the schoolroom
for this lesson and the lessons immediately following. Pictures of wild
animals, of trick riders, of circus parades, should be hung on the
walls. It would be the best of good luck if a large circus poster could
be obtained and fastened on the front wall. See Note 26.
=Note 74= (page 156). In many schools the making of the book will be
doubly enjoyed if the carrying out of the plan is put in charge of
several committees of pupils, after the work has been initiated by the
teacher.
=Note 75= (page 157). A committee of pupils, or several such committees,
may now take upon itself the work of helping in the improvement of the
remaining circus stories, their final copying, and their arrangement in
the book. The whole class may be divided into six or eight small groups
for this coöperative work. The teacher, apparently in the far
background, is in reality in the thick of the work. See Note 79.
=Note 76= (page 159). A march may be played while the parade is on its
way around the room. Let fun and play abound. Let pantomime be as
extravagant as these dictate. The parade may well precede as well as
follow the making of riddles. In fact, there might be an alternation of
making riddles with marching, a short march following each half-dozen
riddles.
=Note 77= (page 159). Wood's "Animals: their Relation and Use to Man"
(Ginn) is recommended to teachers who wish interesting and reliable
information about lions, tigers, elephants, and other wild animals.
=Note 78= (page 163). For the sake of difference from the preceding oral
work it may be desirable to let each animal tell its own story in the
written accounts for the class book. Each animal may say where it came
from, how it used to live, how it was caught, how it likes to travel
with a circus, and what it would do if it were free again.
=Note 79= (page 163). While this correction work is apparently entirely
in the hands of the pupils, the teacher should make the most of the
situation, first, by allowing pupils to feel the weight of
responsibility (for a book with mistakes is no book at all, since it
cannot be shown to other pupils and teachers), and, second, by
imperceptibly and constructively assisting in the finding and correcting
of mistakes. The teacher should pass from group to group, ready to help
where help is needed, but very cautious about interfering or dominating
or overturning the delicate balance of enjoyment, responsibility, and
coöperative endeavor in any social group of workers.
=Note 80= (page 163). Only one question should be considered at one
critical reading.
=Note 81= (page 165). The more realistic this can be made, the more fun
there will be for the pupils, and the more profit for them from the
English teacher's point of view. Each child should have a telephone
number. A "Central" should answer rings and make connections. A little
bell might be used. Toy telephones might be employed. The children are
to play at telephoning, with emphasis on the _play_. Not until we have a
deep stream of pleasure running in the class consciousness can we float
the technical freight for whose sure delivery to the pupils the language
teacher is responsible.
=Note 82= (page 165). Pupils will enjoy pretending to telephone to the
animals in the circus. These may tell how they like circus life, what
they think of their trainers, whether they would like to return to their
homes in the wilds, what they think of other animals in the menagerie
tent, and which kinds of people they like to have look at them. For
still further variation, the different circus animals, as well as the
circus people, may telephone to each other.
=Note 83= (page 168). If written work be desired at this time, it is
suggested that this oral exercise be followed with the making of a book
of vacation wishes or vacation plans.
INDEX
(The numbers refer to pages. The Notes designated are the Notes to the
Teacher, printed at the end of the text)
Address on envelope, 153, 154, 155
Alcott, Louisa M., _Jack and Jill_, 76, 77, 78
Allingham, William, _A Child's Song_, 54
_And_ habit, the, 42, 72, 86, 107;
Notes 30 and 58
Bible, quotations from, Note 21
Bird, Robert M., _The Fairy Folk_, 52
_Came_, 119, 120
_Can_, _may_, 92, 93, 94
Capitalization, Notes 16, 40, and 53;
drill in, 8, 11, 25, 37, 45, 67, 72, 86, 119, 143, 163;
sentences, 11, 25, 37, 67, 72, 86, 99, 118, 163;
months, 41, 42, 43, 45, Note 40;
_I_, 43;
names of persons, 90, 91;
titles, 153;
to begin every line of poetry, Note 37
_Ceres, The Daughter of_, 125-129;
_Ceres and Apollo_, 133-138;
_Ceres and Pluto_, 144-149
Christmas, Notes 33, 34, 39, and 41
Circus, 155-166
Colon, 96, 99, 123, 153
Comma, 74
Committee of pupils, Note 53
Completing unfinished story, 3, 4, 72, 73, 74, 114, 116, 117, 118, 119
Copying, 8, 10, 25, 37, 45, 67, 96, 119, 143, 154;
Notes 12 and 25
Correct Usage, Notes 19, 28, and 32;
_saw_, 11, 12;
_saw_, _seen_, 21, 22, 23, 119, 120;
_have_, 40, 41;
_did_, _done_, 45, 46, 47, 119, 120;
_rang_, _sang_, _drank_, 70, 71;
_may_, _can_, 92, 93, 94;
_no_, _not_, _never_, 109, 110, 111;
_went_, _came_, 119, 120;
_I am not_, 141;
_good_, _well_, 163, 164
Correlation, Notes 26 and 34
Criticism of compositions, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 19, 20, 26, 42, 43, 51,
72, 73, 86, 90, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 109, 113, 114, 116,
118, 123, 124, 132, 133, 139, 140, 142, 143, 149, 151, 153, 157,
158, 161, 163,
Notes 7, 8, 12, 17, 36, 50, 51, 53, 64, and 79;
questions for, 26, 36, 42, 43, 67, 72, 86, 90, 98, 99, 103, 114,
116, 118, 123, 124, 139, 140, 151, 163,
Note 80
Dates, 74, 75, 124;
Note 40
Decoration of schoolroom, Notes 26, 33, 63, and 75
Description, exercises in, 8, 42, 52, 106, 112, 113, 158, 160, 161, 163;
Notes 52 and 63
Dictation, 10, 37, 67, 73, 86, 96, 143;
Note 18
_Did_, _done_, 45,46, 47, 119, 120
_Doesn't_, Note 65
Dogs, 111-123
Double negative, 109, 110, 111
Dramatization, 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 15, 16, 26, 31, 32, 33, 38, 39, 42, 64,
69, 70, 75, 84, 89, 91, 92, 114, 116, 117, 130, 138, 139, 140, 149;
Notes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 27, 42, 56, 57, and 63
_Drank_, 70, 71
Dreams, telling, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12;
Note 14
Eastman, Charles A. (Ohiyesa), _An Indian Boy's Training_, 29;
starting a fire, 35;
character of Indian life, 38
Eskimos, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86;
Note 45