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THE

NORMAL COURSE IN READING.

BY

EMMA J. TODD,

TRAINING TEACHER IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF AURORA, ILL.,

AND

W. B. POWELL, A.M.,

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, WASHINGTON, D.C.

ALTERNATE SECOND READER.

PROGRESSIVE READINGS IN NATURE.

SILVER, BURDETT & CO., PUBLISHERS,

NEW YORK... BOSTON... CHICAGO.

1896.

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PRIMER: Preliminary Work in Reading;

FIRST READER: First Steps in Reading;

SECOND READER: Select Readings and Culture Lessons;
ALTERNATE SECOND READER: Progressive Readings in Nature;
THIRD READER: Diversified Readings and Studies;

ALTERNATE THIRD READER: How to Read with Open Eyes;
FOURTH READER: The Wonderful Things around Us;

FIFTH READER: Advanced Readings in Literature Scientific,
Geographical, Historical, Patriotic, and Miscellaneous;

PRIMARY READING CHARTS: Preliminary Drill in Reading, 48
numbers, 29 x 38 inches, Illustrated.

COPYRIGHT, 1890, 1891, BY SILVER, BURDETT & Co..

Typography: J. S. Cushing & Co.

Presswork: Berwick & Smith

Illustrations: H. A. Dennison.

PUBLISHERS' NOTE.

PROBABLY no text-books in our schools represent, on the whole, more effort and enterprise on the part of both publisher and author than the school reading-books. This branch has constantly received the contributions of our most successful schoolbook makers a fact which in itself abundantly attests the importance which attaches to the study in the public mind.

That there yet remain possibilities for improvement in this direction cannot be doubted by those familiar with the progress recently made in the methods of teaching reading employed by our best educators. This progress has revealed and emphasized the need of improvements not hitherto attempted in the readingbooks offered for school use, both in the plan of presentation and in the subject-matter presented.

It is confidently believed that a careful examination of the plan and subject-matter of the NORMAL COURSE IN READING will at once reveal its raison d'être, and that a practical use of these books in the school-room (which is, after all, the supreme test of excellence) will demonstrate their superiority to those hitherto published for the same work.

A more definite and detailed exposition of the plan, scope, and subject-matter of each book in the series will be found in the 'Suggestions to Teachers."

66

The publishers confidently commend the Series to all progressive educators, and anticipate for it large favor at the hands of those who appreciate the best school-room work.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

THE belief or conviction that greater interest can be secured by making observation lessons the basis of reading lessons has led to the preparation of this little book. The pupil must be prepared for the book text by work which will increase his desire to know what the lesson in the book has in store for him.

The child's mind is stimulated to action by the presence of the objects about which he is to read.

The discovery of facts leads to the acquisition of new words, which should be the new words found in the text to be read. These the child may be trained to use in clear, definite statements.

These statements written on the blackboard are of themselves valuable reading lessons. Their chief value, however, as a reading exercise consists in the preparation they give for reading the book lesson, thereby making it possible for a pupil to read the printed text with very little effort.

The value of reading original matter as an aid to correct expression cannot be overestimated; for by such reading, inflection and emphasis spring from the thought as they should do.

Each poem should be made the basis of several talking and original reading exercises; after which the poems may be read and memorized by pupils.

The purpose of the work sought to be accomplished by this book be briefly summarized as follows: may

1. To train the child

(a) To observe with care, and to think about what he sees.

(b) To express in good English the facts and relations discovered.

(c) To read matter, written and printed, expressing these facts and relations.

(d) To see the beauties which are hidden in Nature's works, thereby increasing his power for enjoyment, his love for the true, the beautiful, and the good.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

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(e) To form the habit of looking for the thought expressed in every sentence he reads before he attempts to give it orally, thus leading him to feel that he reads for the purpose of getting thought, or of giving thought.

2. To develop in the child a love for reading.

3. To train the hand to represent what the eye sees.

Most, if not all the specimens for investigation and study, can be obtained easily by the teacher for use in the class.

The pictures may be made valuable for collateral work.

If a specimen called for in the text cannot be secured for study, one related to it may be made the subject for observation; for example: the lemon or the grape may be substituted for the orange; the plum or the cherry, for the peach.

If a child carefully studies a fruit corresponding to the one represented in the book, he will, by aid of pictures and the text, be able to form a good mental picture of the represented fruit.

For busy work during the study hour the pupils may mold in clay the objects they are studying, or represent them with pencil. They should write simple descriptions of these objects, or of the pictures, as also narrations suggested by the pictures.

The work in word-building begun in First Steps in Reading should be continued in this book. The main object of this work should be to give the child a knowledge of the powers of letters, and to train him to use this knowledge as a help to the pronunciation of new words.

The child should early be made to know the values of those letters and combinations of letters whose powers are constant.

In addition to this the child may be led to observe the effect final e produces, as; hat, hate, mat, mate, pin, pine, etc.; also to build words by adding suffixes, ed, ing, and ly.

There is no good reason why a child should not gain much valuable information while he is learning to recognize the vocabulary which he uses.

Let us during the first years of a child's school life introduce him to such subjects, and bring him in contact with such objects as will facilitate the formation of perceptions and their correlations into comprehensive conceptions. Let us open the doors and the windows of our school-rooms to Nature, and teach the little ones to admire her works and love her beauties.

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