Reading: How to Teach It

CHAPTER V.
LANGUAGE LESSONS AS A PREPARATION FOR READING LESSONS.

Two problems confront the teacher of little children in the ordinary school-room. Children coming from different homes, with various training and environment, do not always bring a common fund of knowledge. Unaccustomed to the strange surroundings and the new régime, they are not always free in telling what they know. The teacher needs to learn the “contents of their minds” (as the present phrase hath it), and this she cannot readily do unless the children converse freely and without self-consciousness. Talking lessons, or lessons whose object is purely to help them to free expression, so that they will reveal their experiences to the teacher, are very necessary at this stage. These lessons will have a further value if they help the children to new interests, and to new knowledge. They will also be more valuable if the teacher recognizes a definite purpose and forms a definite plan for the lesson.

Again, the simplest reading lesson develops the fact that, inasmuch as the children’s experiences have been varied, their corresponding fund of ideas is widely different. Any new lesson may present ideas entirely foreign to the experience of the children. The words which represent these ideas, therefore, will be unfamiliar. This state of affairs necessitates an act of teaching which should precede the act of reading. For example, a class of city children in the West attempt to read a story which deals with life by the sea. The sounding sea, the rolling waves, the whispering foam, the rugged rocks, the shining sands, the smooth pebbles, the brown seaweed, the white-winged ships, the brave sailors, are unknown quantities to these children—entirely foreign to their experience. Clearly, before they read this lesson, they must know something of the life and scenes which the lesson portrays. The teacher of children who live by the sea is not confronted by the same problem. Her children have played upon the beach, have gathered the many-colored pebbles, have built houses in the wet sand. Ships at sea are as familiar to them as are the clouds, or the birds; while many of them have played upon the decks of their fathers’ fishing-boats, and know the ropes and spars even as they know their own homes. These children have had an experience which fills the lesson with meaning. The inland children must be taught in the next best way. Since they cannot go to the sea, at least pictures of the sea may be brought to them. Shells and pebbles, sea-urchins, starfishes, and seaweeds will tell their story of the far-off beaches. Pictures of ships at sea, of rocks lashed by the waves in a storm, will help them to imagine the conditions which their lesson attempts to describe to them. But the wise teacher will make a connecting link, in some fashion, between the experience and interest of the child and the thought suggested by the story. Here, then, is the need of a language lesson which shall introduce or explain the reading lesson, preparing the child for the new thought, or recalling to his mind the almost forgotten experience.

The everyday experience in every city school-room will serve to reënforce this truth. Many a city child has never looked upon daisies and buttercups. Brooks and fields and trees are outside his little horizon. It is idle to have these children pronounce the words which stand for these objects unless the words call up pictures in their own minds, and this cannot be the case except as they have some experience with the real things. It is not impossible to bring the flowers and the birds and the trees within the experience of the children. No other work which we can ever do for them will tend more to their future happiness and growth; but, aside from that, no other work which we can do for them will contribute so generously to their growth in reading power. They cannot get the thought from the page unless the words stand for something at least akin to their own experience, and our first efforts must begin by occasioning the experience which is necessary to the interpretation of the printed page. As a means to good reading, then, language lessons are necessary for the purpose of developing ease of expression and freedom from self-consciousness, and leading to knowledge which will serve as a basis for the new thought contained in the lesson.

The subjects introduced in the earliest language lessons should be those with which children are ordinarily familiar. All country children are somewhat acquainted with the common animals: the rabbit, squirrel, cat, dog, cow, mouse, etc. They know something of the occupations of the people around them. They have watched the sunrise and sunset. They have seen the boughs of the trees waving in the wind. They have been awakened by the birds in the morning. They have cared for pet animals at home. Many city children have had something of this experience. All need to have it. In every lesson where these subjects are introduced, the teacher should be assured that the children already know something about them. A short conversation may suffice where the objects are already familiar; where they are strange, careful lessons should be arranged. The cat, rabbit, dog, squirrel, or mouse, can be brought to the school-room, cared for, observed, studied, discussed. These language lessons will not only give the children the knowledge necessary for understanding the lessons, but they will endow the subject with new interest, and add to the reading a sense of reality. Children who have been observing the squirrel will read with great zest the lessons which reaffirm what their eyes have seen, or answer the questions which they have asked, or tell some story which adds to the interest already evoked. The reading thus becomes an expression of the child’s actual experience or interest. It is no longer a something which he does simply because he is told. He sees at once the fruit of his labors. He reaches a goal which seems desirable from a child’s point of view. He recognizes the purpose and meaning of the story, and works to dig out the message which the sentences contain for him. Everything which serves to make the lesson real to the child’s experience, makes a permanent addition to his reading power.

A little careful study convinces us that there are two general fields which all readers must explore. The subjects which appear and reappear upon the pages of books have their source either in nature or in human experience. When we teach the child to read books, we must also teach him to apprehend that of which books treat. This teaching will necessarily include observation of nature and observation of human experience. To read “The Village Blacksmith” requires some knowledge of a blacksmith’s work and its associations: the horse and his shoes, the molten iron and its action, the sounding anvil and its use, the reason for the “honest sweat” upon the brow of him who “owes not any man.” Knowledge of nature and knowledge of human experience are surely needed in order to read the thought in this poem. He whose experience is richest will obtain the richest harvest from this field. Any act of reading will teach us this truth with regard to our own experience. It ought also to point the way for all teaching of children. A visit to a blacksmith’s shop is the best possible preparation for a study of “The Village Blacksmith.” If such a visit is impossible (is it ever impossible?), pictures and talks may help to supply the need. The language lesson in the one form or the other is necessary to the full interpretation of the reading. So of any poem or story which tells of the life of the farmer, the miller, the baker, the sailor, the fisherman, the shoemaker, the mother. The language lesson which serves to make the experience real to the children helps them to understand the reading lesson, and gives added power for the interpretation of all such lessons in the future.

Such language lessons should not be considered as something added to the school course. They are legitimate reading lessons, inasmuch as they prepare for the study of pages which would be meaningless to many pupils without such preparation. The teacher will of course choose her own time for such lessons. Often they are given in connection with the reading lesson itself. A wiser plan ordinarily is that which allots a specific time for the observation or the conversation which is necessary to explain the reading lesson. If the first period of the morning is set aside for oral language, the subjects for this period may be easily determined by the reading lesson, and selected to accord with and prepare for it.

A few illustrative lessons appear in another chapter. They are intended to serve as suggestions merely, for those to whom such lessons are to open a new field. It is believed that in the majority of school-rooms such teaching is already a common feature.

CHAPTER VI.
EXPRESSION IN READING.

How can children be taught to read aloud clearly, distinctly, and with feeling, so as to clearly convey the author’s thought and to give pleasure to the listener? “My pupils do not read with expression,” is a common complaint. “How can I help them?”

Manifestly the first requisite to reading with expression is the mastery of the thought on the part of the pupil, and this cannot be accomplished without mastery of the words. As has been said in another chapter, children should be trained to study in such a way that they can decide for themselves what words present difficulties to their understanding. When the pupils, after studying a lesson, are enabled to point to the exact words which are obstacles to their thought-getting, the teacher’s labors are minimized and her teaching is at once made definite. Such study, too, leads the pupils to more thoughtful reading. Since they must weigh every word in the sentence to discover its meaning, they become accustomed to dig for the thought, and to estimate their own difficulties. By this means they help themselves to the mastery of the thought, as far as the words in which it is expressed belong to their vocabulary.

But when a pupil points out to the teacher the words which mark the boundary of his understanding, it becomes her duty to make them clear to him. This is a fruitful exercise. The child desires to learn the meaning of the word which has blocked his way, and his need of it makes him its master forever after. It is only in this way that words are mastered. It is idle to explain a list of words for which children have no use in the expression of their thought. But after the study has revealed to the child his need of new knowledge, the word fits at once into his vocabulary and answers the new need. The teacher’s explanation not only suffices to make the reading plain, but it increases the child’s vocabulary for future use.

It should be borne in mind in such exercises that the word is not always made plain by simple explanation; illustration may be necessary, or some entire language lesson like those indicated in a previous chapter. The teacher should make mental note at least of these unfamiliar words, in order that she may so direct her language lesson as to supplement her teaching in reading. She is wise if she keeps a notebook at hand in which these lists may be recorded.

It will be seen from the above that the pupil is expected to master the words of the lesson as a means of getting the thought, before it is assumed that he can read with expression. But, having prepared himself through study, and having been assisted by the teacher’s illustration and explanation, there should be no hindrance to free and natural reading. We do, however, find expression hindered by various minor causes, some of which it may be well to discuss.

A frequent occasion of indolent or indifferent reading is the child’s feeling that the exercise is perfunctory, one of the tasks assigned at school as a school duty, but having in itself no excuse for being. He needs to realize that he is delivering a message, or telling a story which some one desires to hear. It has often been observed that children read their own productions with marvellously good effect, even when they stumble and hesitate in the normal reading exercises. The reason is easily discerned. In the one case they have something to tell, and desire to tell it. In the second case, the exercise is one in which they have no special interest. The teacher’s chief endeavor, then, should be directed toward inciting in the children a desire to communicate thought. This may sometimes be secured by having the class listen, with closed books, while a single pupil reads, the teacher insisting that he shall so read that every one who listens may understand and enjoy all that is read. Another help which has been suggested by many teachers is the practice of bringing from home different short selections, which the pupils are encouraged to read to the class. These selections may be brief and simple—some anecdote, some clipping from a newspaper, some phrase or line, some conundrum, which has interested the child. It will soon be discovered that the children will learn to read well only when conscious that their reading is the means of conveying the thought to their hearers.

The practice of consulting reference books, even with pupils in the lowest grammar grades, has a reflex influence upon the power to read aloud well, since it gives to the pupil something which he desires to read to the others and which he alone can convey to them. This desire to share what is read by becoming able to read well should be stimulated in every possible way.

Again, ease in reading, which is an important factor, is often prevented by the pupil’s self-consciousness, which renders him timid and awkward whenever he attempts to read aloud in the presence of others. This timid self-consciousness varies with different individuals, of course, and it also varies in different classes. The teacher is often responsible for this shrinking on the part of the children, although it may be an unconscious responsibility on her part. Undue criticism of the reader, which draws the attention of the class to his faults and makes him conscious of himself, often prevents the very thing which the teacher is striving to obtain. The pupil’s thought should be drawn away from himself and centred upon the thought in the sentence, the message which he is to deliver. The question should be directed toward that, rather than toward the pupil’s idiosyncrasies.

This is coupled with another serious consideration. It has just been said that the child cannot read with expression if he is thinking about himself. It is also true that he cannot read well except as his mind is centred upon the subject about which he is reading. The teacher’s efforts should be in the direction of picturing the scene which the child describes, so that it will become real to him, and that he may be enabled to paint it to the class. She not only will endeavor to refrain from drawing the pupil’s attention to himself by ill-chosen comments, but she will also help him to imagine the thing described and to fix his thought upon it. For the time being everything else is forgotten.

Let us suppose that a class is reading “Paul Revere’s Ride”:

If the pupil is to make his hearers hear and see Paul Revere, he must see and hear him, too. His eye must be upon the belfry tower of the Old North Church; he must feel the loneliness of the quiet graveyard, the fearfulness of the silent way; he must catch the gleam of the light; must watch the impetuous mounting, hear the hurry of hoofs in the village street, and realize the fatefulness of the hour in which the land is kindled into flame. Every effort should be centred upon helping the children to feel, to imagine the picture, and to sense its depth of meaning. Say nothing now about holding the book in one hand, standing on both feet or throwing the shoulders back; but stir the class to feel as Paul Revere felt, and to tell the tale with enthusiastic pride. Let all the questions help to make the picture clearer and the feeling stronger. Read again, and again, and again, until the message becomes most familiar, but with every reading more eager than before.

This selection emphasizes the need of preparation for the reading lesson outside of the reading class. No one can read the poem well who does not understand the setting. The story of the Revolution is essential to understanding the poem. Why the British ships were in the harbor; why the country folk should be up and in arms; what preceded and what followed the fateful ride; the scene of the poem—the belfry, the church, the town, the river, the harbor—must be clearly in mind. The background of the poet’s picture must be drawn before the children attempt to read aloud the paragraph.

It is obvious that the picture will be most vivid in the minds of those pupils who are most generously endowed with imagination. The above exercise goes to prove the need of some attempt on the part of teachers to cultivate the imagination of the children. A close scrutiny of the failures in our reading lessons would lead us to believe that it is to a lack of this power that we may attribute much of our difficulty in teaching reading. As soon as the children picture the scene which the words describe, they read with interest and vigor. Their indifference and heaviness are largely due to the fact that the words suggest no picture to them.

This faculty might be developed, in some degree, by frequent conversations which necessitate the children’s picturing or imagining what they have read. The simplest primer will lend itself to this exercise. The habit of drawing the picture which the sentence suggests is a further stimulus. Reading fairy stories or stories of adventure may help to stimulate the imagination. An effective aid is derived from playing or acting the story told in the lesson. I remember seeing a primary class that played “Hiawatha” with great delight, different children taking the parts of Nokomis, Hiawatha, Wenonah, the Pine Tree, the Fir Tree, the Squirrels, the Rabbits; reciting their parts with eager pleasure, acting them in the most unconscious fashion, and never with any lack of expression. The children recited with ease and naturalness and vigor. They were lost in their play, which was very real to them. Not long ago I visited a school in which the children had begged the privilege of representing the dialogue which they were reading. They assigned the parts themselves, improvised simple costumes, and read their various parts with great animation. The members of the class who served as audience listened with rapt attention, very unlike that which is ordinarily accorded to a rendering of the reading lesson. Through the play, the lesson became vitalized, it was made real. It did not occur to the teacher to suggest inflections or pauses; such suggestions were quite as unnecessary as they would have been in any conversation with the children. These things take care of themselves when the children have once been overmastered by the desire to express the thought. Nor will it ever be necessary to dwell upon them if this desire is created. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” In a parallel sense, if we once inspire in the children the desire to convey the message of the text, the accessories of inflection and tone will become theirs. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that these lesser phases of good reading will be secured if properly subordinated to one great aim—the desire to communicate thought.

It is not difficult to imagine a question at this point. “Would you not have any vocal exercises to help in securing expression?” By all means, but not as a part of the reading exercise. If the exercise shows that the children have certain needs,—if the teeth are closed, if the pronunciation is slovenly or the articulation poor,—special exercises should be planned to remedy such defects, but these should be given as exercises and not as a part of the reading lesson. Sentences which demand clear articulation may be pronounced in rapid succession, or sung to the scale; selections may be read from the farthest corner of the room. Exercises which stretch the muscles used in articulation, exercises which straighten the body or secure ease in posture; breathing exercises and their kindred,—all are helpful, as exercises, but they should not interrupt the reading. They may alternate with reading, and prepare for it, but they should be considered, as they really are, subordinate to the one essential, the creation of a desire to read.

“Would you ever read to children in order to help them to get the right expression?” is a question which is frequently asked. By all means. There is no other way in which children can form an ideal of good reading. Many children hear no reading in their homes. They are accustomed to monotonous speech and to careless articulation. It is necessary to read to them, and to read well, in order to show them what good reading is. A further advantage of reading to the children is to show them how much the teacher gets from a poem or story which has meant little to them. Such reading should not lead to servile imitation on the part of the children; rather the opposite. The teacher’s comments upon the reading in the class will readily fix the seal of her approval upon individual renderings. “Let me hear how that seems to you, John,” she will say. “Mary, let me hear you read. I should like to get your thought.” “Kate, is that the way you understood it? Let me hear you read it.” I have heard a teacher request one pupil after another to read, waiting until the interpretation which was like her own was given before she commended, and impressing upon the entire class her feeling that such reading alone was correct. As a matter of fact, every rendering which was given was as good as the teacher’s—some even were better. The reader must interpret the author’s message as it appears to him. His reading shows his interpretation. If the teacher reads to the class, she shows simply what the writer’s message has been to her. In the reading lesson she gives to the pupils the opportunity of expressing what they themselves have read.

In reading, as in everything else, ease comes with practice. The class should have two varieties of practice. They should read and re-read a few selections which demand variety in expression; and they should read many easy selections which require very little effort in mastering. If the exercise is difficult enough to demand study, it will necessitate hesitation if read at sight. Such attempts at sight reading, with too difficult matter, will result in the habit of stumbling. Children should have an opportunity to overcome by study the difficulties which would otherwise make them hesitate in reading. All sight reading, so called, should be easy enough to be read fluently at sight.

The old-fashioned custom of setting apart Friday afternoons for reading, recitation, and declamation should be revived. The exercise was admirable, giving the children confidence in reading and speaking which resulted in ease and fluency. It was a helpful adjunct to the reading class and deserves to be honored in the observance.

It may be well to suggest, in this connection, that the habit of reading with free and individual expression is seriously hindered by the practice of concert reading. If the teachers who pursue that practice were to attempt occasionally to read aloud in company with others, they would discover the difficulties under which the children labor. The practice works in direct opposition to the exercises which have been advised. It is impossible for the child to give his individual rendering in a concert recitation. He cannot even read at his individual rate; he must wait for his neighbor. His words drag, his voice becomes strained and unnatural, the exercise assumes the school-room tone, and the children adopt the swinging rhythm of the singsong. A few children lead; the others follow, or most of the others—a very few succeed in evading the reading altogether. All this is wrong. It is better for the child to read once alone than to read ten times in concert with others. It is true, however, that there is one place for the concert reading. When a poem or paragraph has been memorized by the entire class under the direction of the teacher, they may learn to recite it well in concert without the disadvantages described; but, as a reading lesson, the exercise has no place—it should be banished from the school-room.

One word more. In our attempts to teach children to read with expression, we may be helped by studying to learn what selections they like best to read, what it is that appeals to them. By following the line of their interest we may come to realize why selections which we have chosen are difficult for them, and through making a wiser choice may become more successful in our teaching. Here, as elsewhere, it is the intelligent study of the class by the teacher which enables her to apply her knowledge of the subject which she teaches.

CHAPTER VII.
LESSONS TO SUGGEST PLANS OF WORK.

I.—Lesson upon the Cow.

To precede or accompany Reading Lessons which refer to the Cow (in lowest grades).

1. Find out what the children know about the cow.

Every new lesson should be built upon and fastened to the children’s past experience. If they have no knowledge of cows, we must introduce the subject accordingly. If they have always known them, the lesson will be merely a review, because the foundation will have been prepared. If the children live in the country and know the common animals, proceed at once to definite questions which will arrange their knowledge and help them to express it:

Where have you seen cows? What do you know about them—their size, color; the head, ears, legs, feet, tail?

How large are they, as compared with the horse, dog, cat?

Compare the covering with that of the horse, dog, cat. Compare the parts with the corresponding parts of those animals.

Describe the horns. Why do cows have horns? What use do they make of them?

Describe the ears. Where are they? Does the cow move them? The ears of the dog, cat, cow, horse are movable; ours are not. Why?

Compare the cow’s nose and mouth with those of the cat or the horse.

Does anyone know anything about the cow’s teeth? What does she eat? What kind of teeth does she need?

Tell the children about the chewing of the cud.

Of what use to the cow is the long tail with its brush at the end? Who has seen her use it? Would a short tail serve as well?

Who knows anything about the cow’s foot? Who can draw a picture of a cow’s footprint?

Of what use are cows to us? What does the cow give to us?

How should cows be cared for? What kind of stall, what kind of bed, what food, water, pasture, should they have? Describe a pasture that you would like if you were a cow. Describe a barn that you would like if you were a cow.

How ought we to treat animals? Is it right to forget their wants when we have the care of them?

Every lesson upon animals should help the children to realize more fully their obligation to properly care for them. Sympathy for animal life ought to be developed through the reading and language lessons. Interest in animal life is always present in children. The questions above suggested cannot be answered at once, by any ordinary class of children. Many who are familiar with cows in general will be unable to answer them definitely. But the questions will lead them to more thoughtful observation, after which they can report in another lesson. Sometimes the subjects may be distributed, different groups of children being held responsible for the answer to a certain question.

2. Direct outside observation, in order to get new knowledge.

It is entirely feasible, in many school-rooms, to make the study of the cow the subject of a field lesson. The children may be taken, in groups, to a farmyard, a pasture, or a stable, where a cow may be observed and studied. Such lessons have ceased to be formidable, since they have become so common. The need of these visits is revealed by the children’s vague answers. Nothing but definite observation of the real thing will open their eyes, and make the words in their lesson full of meaning.

There are many city children who have never seen a cow. If it is impossible to take them to a real cow, excellent pictures should be substituted. Many of the questions suggested could be answered by pictures. It must be remembered, however, that the picture tells to us, who have had the real experience, much more than it tells to a child who has never had that experience. It is not strange that a boy who has never seen a real cow should imagine that animal to be six inches long, the size of the cow which he has known from pictures in the lesson. Emphasize the fact of the size. Allude to the picture as a picture only. Have the children show by their hands how high a cow would be, how long, how wide its head, etc. By such means, help to vivify the mental picture which is suggested to the children by the lesson. If the pictures are the only avenue through which they learn about the cow, do not attempt to give as much information as would naturally be associated with the real observation lesson, Remember that the amount of knowledge which the child gains is not proportioned to the number of facts which the teacher enumerates. He will intelligently appropriate those which his observation and thought have helped him to understand. As has been said before, this truth determines the value of the reading lesson to the child, and necessitates the associated lessons, which supplement his experience and enable him to bring to the lesson a mind furnished with appropriate ideas.

3. Tell the children simple facts which they cannot find out for themselves.

There are many facts associated with the cow which the children can know only through others: the use of the horns, of the bones, the hair, etc.; the manufactures; the reason for the cud-chewing; the making of butter and cheese. The writer has known class-rooms in which milk was skimmed, the cream churned into butter, and the butter eaten by the children. The quantity, of course, was small, but the process was very real and very interesting. This happened recently in a kindergarten in a large city. There were only three children in the class who had ever seen a cow. It is hardly necessary to say that the lesson followed a visit to the cow.

4. Reënforce the lessons by stories.

Stories about cows, or descriptions of certain animals, perhaps the pets which we have known, will add interest to the lessons.

5. Collect pictures of cows, for comparison and description.

In almost any district the children will be able to help in making collections of pictures which illustrate the language and reading lesson. These pictures can be obtained from newspapers, magazines, advertisements, and various other sources. Every child who helps to swell the collection will feel an added interest in it. The collection will be valuable in proportion as it is carefully arranged and thoughtfully used by the teacher. If the cards are neatly mounted upon separate sheets which contain the name of the contributor, and distributed amongst the children for observation and comparison, it will prove really helpful. Through the comparison of the different pictures many facts will be developed, suggested by the children’s comments or questions. Such teaching will be sure to fit the need of the children.

These suggestions will be modified and arranged by any teacher who desires to use them. They may help to point the way for those who are not entirely familiar with this phase of their work, and so lead to better things.

II.—Lesson upon the Oak.

As in the previous lesson, the teacher’s first object should be to discover what the children already know. Nearly all children, even those living in the midst of the city, have some opportunity to see and study trees, and their attention should be carefully directed to the trees in their neighborhood.

Have you ever seen an oak tree? Where was it growing? How tall was it? (Compare with a man, with a horse, a house, with other trees.)

What do you remember about the size of its trunk? about the bark, about the leaves, about the fruit?

Bring to the class acorns, leaves, or, in blossom time, bring blossoms. What is the use of the blossom, of the leaf, of the acorn? Draw them.

Plant an acorn and see what comes of it.

Of what use is the oak tree to us? (Do not forget that beauty as well as manufacturing is to be considered.)

Name articles made of oak.

Bring specimens of the wood.

The older pupils can draw the tree.

Tell the children about the Charter Oak.

Take them, if possible, to a field or woods or park or street where they can see an oak tree growing.

Refer to the lesson some weeks afterwards, in order to lead to continued observation of the tree in different stages.

Do not feel that it is necessary to do all which the lesson suggests, with every class; but be sure that the children have some actual knowledge of a real oak tree.

III.—Lessons upon Occupations.

Frequent reference is made, in all literature, to the occupations of men. Even if this were not so, a knowledge of these occupations is necessary to even a fair education. Every child should be intelligent in regard to the work of the farmer, the miller, the carpenter, the brick-layer, the engineer, the miner, the merchant. But, be this as it may, the pages of the school reader, even, will demand some knowledge of the everyday occupations of men.

Children are naturally interested in the occupations of their neighbors. They like to see things made. They like to know why certain effects come from certain causes. Nothing could be more fruitful than a visit to a blacksmith shop, a new house that is being built, a sewer that is being dug, a cellar that is being laid; to a ropewalk, to a mine, to a quarry, where real men are engaged in real work. This natural interest of children in these subjects is evidenced by their desire to “play” the miller, the farmer, the driver, the boatman, etc. We do well when we build upon this natural interest. “The Village Blacksmith” is a familiar poem, based upon a common experience. As has been said, the children who know something about the work of the blacksmith will enjoy and understand the poem as no others can. Ask them to go to a blacksmith, and then to report; or go with a class of children, and help them to observe and to question. The blacksmith will be helpful and generous if he is courteously requested to give his aid to the children. Prepare them for the lesson by a preliminary talk about the blacksmith, his work, the need of his work; his tools, the material with which he works; the source from which iron is obtained, the process by which steel is made. Having prepared the children to observe, assign questions or topics upon which they are to report: the anvil, the forge, the sledge, the bellows, the horseshoe, etc. Upon returning from the visit, allow the different pupils to tell what they have seen. After the general conversation, insist upon an orderly description.

Kindred lessons may be given upon the other occupations suggested. In many cases, stories can be told, or read, which will reënforce the observation. It must not be forgotten that one result of the lessons should be a sincere respect for honest toil, and sturdy pride in ability to do honest work well. It is hardly necessary to say that the visit to the blacksmith’s shop will reënforce the reading, and that a study of Longfellow’s poem will in turn make the visit more valuable. The language lesson will help the reading lesson because it adds interest; it will also help the lesson as literature, because it gives fuller power of interpretation, and corresponding appreciation of the poem. All these lessons will be made more valuable by the use of collections of pictures.

IV.—Rain.

For Second Grade.

Observation during a Rainfall.

What is rain?

Where does it come from?

How did it get there?

Experiment later, if the children become interested in the question, but do not answer it for them now; let them question and think.

Upon which windows does it fall?

Why not upon the opposite windows?

Where does it go?

What good will it do?

What harm will it do?

Think what the rain does for the trees.

How do you know?

What does it do for the birds?

How do you know?

What does it do for the flowers?

How do you know?

What does it do for you?

If no rain were to fall for three or four months, what would happen to the flowers?

To the grass?

To the gardens?

To the brooks?

Would it make any difference to you?

Experiment: Breathe upon the cold glass; show condensed vapor.

Boil water; collect vapor on cold surface.

Recall vapor on windows.

Recall clothes drying.

Recall windows on washing day.

Explain how fine particles of water are carried through the air, and unite so as to be seen, when cold, in the breath, on windows, in clouds, in fog.

Explain how rainfall is caused.

Read “Children of the Clouds.”

Memorize “Is it Raining, Little Flower?”

Read to the children “A Rainy Day.”

Tell the story of the drop of water in its journey from ocean to ocean again.