Part 5
I made some little balls, and they looked as white and nice-- I tried how one would taste, but it was just as cold as ice.
I took some to the kitchen then, because I thought, you see, I’d bake them just like apples--they’d be good with cream and tea.
I didn’t say a single word about it to the cook, When I put them in the oven, but when she gave a look,
She stared, and held her hands up, and said: “For pity’s sake! Who put this water in here, and spoiled my ginger cake?”
I couldn’t tell. It wasn’t I; but I would like to know, Where did my pretty apples, that I was baking, go?
--_Selected_
After reciting the poem, ask the children what became of the snow apples.
_Wednesday_
Talk about snow; snowballs; sliding on the snow; sleighing; a snow man.
_Thursday_
Write: _I can make a snowball._
_Friday_
To be told; for the children to guess:
WHAT AM I?
I live in a hole just above somebody’s chin. I have to stay there, for I am fastened in.
It is because of me that boys and girls like good things to eat. To please me, they eat candy and fruit.
It is because of me that boys and girls are often kept after school. They forget, and use me when they ought not to.
I am always wanting to taste, taste, taste. I am always wanting to talk, talk, talk.
Who can guess what I am?
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Children write the words necessary to complete the following:
Jack and ---- Went up the ----, To get a ---- of water. ---- fell down And ---- his crown, And ---- came tumbling after.
_Tuesday_
Have the children give all the words they can that rhyme with _hat_. Write the list on the blackboard, and use it for drill in phonics.
_Wednesday_
To be taught to the children:
If you can’t be the big sun, with his cheery smile, You can be the cheerful sunbeam for a little while.
_Thursday_
Play “I am thinking of something,” using objects in the school-room.
_Friday_
Have the children mention as many objects as they can think of that are blue; green; yellow; white.
SECOND YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
To be committed to memory:
LADY MOON
Lady Moon, Lady Moon, where are you roving? “Over the sea.” Lady Moon, Lady Moon, whom are you loving? “All that love me.”
Are you not tired with roving and never Resting to sleep? Why look so pale and so sad, as forever Wishing to weep?
“Ask me not this, little child, if you love me: You are too bold. I must obey my dear Father above me, And do as I’m told.”
Lady Moon, Lady Moon, where are you roving? “Over the sea.” Lady Moon, Lady Moon, whom are you loving? “All that love me.”
--_Lord Houghton_
Have the first stanza of the poem copied and learned.
_Tuesday_
Have the second stanza of the poem copied and learned.
_Wednesday_
Have the third stanza of the poem copied and learned.
_Thursday_
Have the fourth stanza of the poem copied and learned.
_Friday_
Have the poem recited, throughout.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
For dictation:
Be kind in all you say and do, That others may be kind to you.
_Tuesday_
Talk about snowflakes; if possible, showing some of the single flakes. Where do the snowflakes come from? What becomes of them if they are taken into a warm room? What becomes of them when they fall? What becomes of the snow when the weather gets warm? How does the snow help the grass and flowers? (Keeps them warm during the cold winter.) Why is snow sometimes called a blanket?
_Wednesday_
Story for oral reproduction:
A WISE DOG
One night a farmer was riding home along a lane which had walls on both sides. Suddenly he heard his dog barking on the farther side of the wall.
The man stopped his horse and started to see what was the matter.
The night was very cold. Snow lay on the ground. Sitting on a large stone was the farmer’s little daughter.
The child had left the house and had wandered out into the meadow.
The dog had followed her, keeping close at her heels. Now he was barking for some one to come and take the little girl home. She had lost her way, and was crying.
The father looked at the footprints in the snow. He saw that his little daughter had walked close beside a deep hole.
She had walked all the way round the hole. But the wise dog had gone, all the time, between the little girl and the great hole.
Was he not a wise dog?--_Adapted_
_Thursday_
Children tell the story of the lost child and the dog.
_Friday_
Write three sentences about the little girl and the dog.
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Supply words to fill the following blanks:
My dog Spot is ----.
He eats ----.
Spot can ----.
When I run, Spot ---- too.
_Tuesday_
To be committed to memory:
Hearts, like doors, will ope with ease, To very, very little keys; And don’t forget that two of these Are, “Thank you, sir,” and “If you please.”
--_Selected_
_Wednesday_
Write a list of ten objects to be seen in the school-room.
_Thursday_
Talk about bread. Who makes the bread we eat? What is it made of? Where does the flour come from? Where does wheat grow? How does wheat grow? How is the wheat made into flour? How is the flour made into bread?
_Friday_
Write three sentences about bread.
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Children write their fathers’ and mothers’ names.
_Tuesday_
For dictation:
When the cold wind blows, Look out for your nose.
_Wednesday_
Talk about how we are protected from cold, by clothing and by artificial heat. How is the school-room warmed? How are the children’s homes warmed? Why is it unnecessary for stables to be heated?
_Thursday_
A riddle for the children to guess:
I am as black, as black can be, But yet I shine. My home was deep within the earth, In a dark mine. Years ago I was buried there, And yet I hold The sunshine and the heat, which warmed That world of old. Though black and cold I seem to be, Yet I can glow. Just put me on a blazing fire-- Then you will know.--_Selected_
_Friday_
Write three sentences about coal.
THIRD YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
To be committed to memory:
CHILD’S EVENING PRAYER
Now the day is over, Night is drawing nigh; Shadows of the evening Steal across the sky.
Low the darkness gathers, Stars begin to peep; Birds and beasts and flowers Soon will be asleep.
Through the long night-watches, May Thine angels spread Their white wings above me, Watching round my bed.
When the morn awakens, Then may I arise, Pure and fresh and sinless, In Thy holy eyes.--_S. Baring-Gould_
Have the poem copied.
_Tuesday_
Learn the first verse of the poem.
_Wednesday_
Learn the rest of the poem.
_Thursday_
Recite the entire poem.
_Friday_
Write a list of the naming words (nouns) in the “Child’s Evening Prayer.”
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Write a list of the doing words (verbs), in the “Child’s Evening Prayer.”
_Tuesday_
Write a letter to a playmate, telling what you did on a recent Saturday.
_Wednesday_
For dictation:
Boats sail on the rivers, And ships sail on the seas, But clouds that sail across the sky Are prettier far than these.--_Selected_
_Thursday_
Write five sentences about clouds.
_Friday_
Write a list of ten objects that are blue.
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Each child write eight sentences, describing some other child in the room, telling: Color of hair, color of eyes, kind of complexion, height (guessed at), age, costume worn, size of shoes (guessed at), and size of gloves.
_Tuesday_
Write a rhyme of four lines about a dog.
_Wednesday_
Write a list of the objects to be seen in the school-room. Who can write the longest list?
_Thursday_
Have the following poem copied:
WINTER EVENING
What way does the wind come? Which way does he go? He rides over the water, and over the snow, Through wood, and through vale; and o’er rocky height, Which the great cannot climb, takes his sounding flight;
He tosses about in every bare tree, As, if you look up, you may plainly see; But how he will come, and whither he goes, There’s never a scholar anywhere knows.
He will suddenly stop in a cunning nook, And ring a sharp ’larum; but, if you should look, There’s nothing to see but a cushion of snow, Round as a pillow, and whiter than milk, And softer than if it were covered with silk.
Sometimes he’ll hide in the cave of the rock, Then whistle as shrill as a cuckoo clock. Yet seek him--and what shall you find in his place? Nothing but silence and empty space; Save, in a corner, a heap of dry leaves, That he’s left, for a bed, to beggars or thieves!
--_Dorothy Wordsworth_
_Friday_
Pupils write a list of the nouns in the poem, “Winter Evening.”
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Pupils write a list of the verbs in the poem, “Winter Evening.”
_Tuesday_
Write five sentences telling what the wind does.
_Wednesday_
Children find answers to the following questions, in any way they can:
What little children wear wooden shoes?
What little children wear moccasins?
What little children wear shoes of fur?
What children wear shoes of silk or satin?
What children wear shoes of leather?
_Thursday_
Write five sentences about the different kinds of shoes children wear.
_Friday_
Write five sentences about the shoes you have on.
FOURTH YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
To be committed to memory:
SONG OF THE BROOK
I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, And sparkle out among the fern To bicker down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down, Or slip between the ridges, By twenty thorps, a little town And half a hundred bridges.
Till last by Philip’s farm I flow, To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.
I chatter over stony ways, In little sharps and trebles, I bubble into eddying bays, I babble on the pebbles.
With many a curve my banks I fret By many a field and fallow, And many a fairy foreland set With willow weed and mallow.
I chatter, chatter, as I flow To join the brimming river; For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.
I wind about, and in and out, With here a blossom sailing, And here and there a lusty trout, And here and there a grayling.
And here and there a foamy flake Upon me, as I travel, With many a silvery water-break, Above the golden gravel.
And draw them all along, and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.
I steal by lawns and grassy plots, I slide by hazel covers; I move the sweet forget-me-nots That grow for happy lovers.
I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance Among my skimming swallows; I make the melted sunbeams glance Against my sandy shallows.
I murmur under moon and stars In brambly wildernesses; I linger by my shingly bars-- I loiter round my cresses.
And out again I curve and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.--_Alfred Tennyson_
Have the first six stanzas of the poem copied.
_Tuesday_
Have the rest of the poem copied.
_Wednesday_
Pupils commit to memory the first three stanzas of the poem.
_Thursday_
Commit to memory the second three stanzas of the poem.
_Friday_
Commit to memory the third three stanzas of the poem.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Commit to memory the rest of the poem.
_Tuesday_
Recite the entire poem.
_Wednesday_
Study up the life of Alfred Tennyson.
_Thursday_
Answer the following questions:
Where does the brook come from?
What is a “coot”? (See dictionary.)
What is a “hern”? (See dictionary.)
What does the brook do among the ferns?
What is meant by the brook’s “bickering”?
How does the brook come down by thirty hills?
What is meant by the brook’s “slipping” between the ridges?
What is a “thorp”?
_Friday_
Answer the following questions:
What is meant by a “brimming river”?
How does the brook join the river?
How does the brook go on forever?
How does the brook get the water to keep on flowing forever?
What is meant by the brook’s “chattering”?
What causes the noises of the brook?
What are “sharps and trebles”?
What is an “eddying bay”? What is an eddy?
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Answer the following questions:
What is the meaning of “fret”?
How does the brook fret the banks with its curves?
What is a “foreland”?
What is “willow-weed”?
What is “mallow”?
What makes the brook wind about?
How do blossoms happen to be sailing on the water?
Whereabouts in the brook do the trout stay?
What is a “grayling”?
_Tuesday_
Answer the following questions:
What is a “water-break”?
What is “gravel”?
Why is the gravel called golden?
What are some of the things that the brook carries along to the river?
What is meant by “hazel covers”?
Why are the forget-me-nots said to “grow for happy lovers”?
_Wednesday_
Answer the following questions:
How does the brook go?
What is meant by “skimming” swallows?
What makes the sunbeam in the woods “netted”?
What is a “shallow”?
How does the brook murmur?
What is a “bramble”?
What are “cresses”? Where do they grow?
_Thursday_
Write in a list all the verbs in the poem.
_Friday_
Write a list of all the adjectives in the poem.
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Write a composition on brooks.
_Tuesday_
Talk about brooks, rivers, and the ocean.
_Wednesday_
Write a rhyme of four lines about a river.
_Thursday_
Each pupil find and repeat in class a quotation about a brook, a river, or the ocean.
_Friday_
Play, “My ship came from China, and it brought to me.”
FEBRUARY
FIRST YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
Talk about the new month. What is this month? What was last month? What month follows February? What season is this? What are the three months of the winter season? What season follows winter? What are the three months of the spring season? What season follows spring? What season follows summer?
_Tuesday_
To be taught to the children:
Red, white, and blue is our country’s flag, Flag of the brave and free; Red, white and blue, where’er you go, Is the flag for you and me.--_Selected_
_Wednesday_
Talk about the flag. How many colors has our flag? What are they? How many red stripes are there? How many white stripes? Where is the blue of the flag? What is there on the blue? Count the stars. How many stars are there?
_Thursday_
Tell the story of Betsy Ross, and the making of the first United States flag.
_Friday_
Have the children repeat to you the story of Betsy Ross and the flag. Have the flag salute given. In case the children are not familiar with it, here is the salute usually given:
“We give our heads, our hearts, and our hands to our country. One country, one language, one flag.”
During the salute, the flag should be held, unfurled, by some one facing the class. The children point with the right hands to their heads and their hearts. At the words, “our hands,” both hands should be extended. At the words “one flag,” the right hand only is extended.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Tell stories of the boyhood of Abraham Lincoln.
_Tuesday_
Talk about Lincoln’s boyhood, allowing the children to tell you the stories which they heard the day before.
_Wednesday_
Talk about St. Valentine’s Day. What do we give on that day? To whom do we give valentines? (To those we love.)
_Thursday_
Tell the story of good St. Valentine.
_Friday_
Have the children repeat to you the story of St. Valentine.
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Tell the story of Washington and the hatchet. Remember that, old and stale as the story may be to you, it is new once to every child.
_Tuesday_
Play, as a game, Washington and his hatchet.
_Wednesday_
Tell the story of Washington as a general; how he led the armies that fought to make our country free. Tell about his birthday, February 22, and how we celebrate it, in memory of what he did for us.
_Thursday_
Write: _George Washington, the father of his country_.
_Friday_
Write: _We live in the United States._
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
To be taught to the children:
Rainy days and sunny days, What difference makes the weather, When little hearts are full of love, And all are glad together.--_Selected_
_Tuesday_
Tell the children the story of “The Three Bears.”
_Wednesday_
Have the children tell you the story of “The Three Bears.”
_Thursday and Friday_
Play the story of “The Three Bears,” as a game.
SECOND YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
To be committed to memory:
THE SHORTEST MONTH
Will the winter never be over, Will the dark days never go? Must the buttercup and the clover Be always under the snow?
Ah, lend me your little ear, love, Hark! ’tis a beautiful thing; The dreariest month of the year, love, Is shortest and nearest to spring.
--_A. D. T. Whitney_
Have the poem copied.
_Tuesday_
Teach the poem to the children.
_Wednesday_
Supply words to fill the blank spaces in the following:
The Queen of ----, She made some ----. All on a summer’s ----. The ---- of hearts, He stole those ----, And quickly ---- away.
_Thursday_
Story for reproduction:
LINCOLN’S FIRST DOLLAR
When Abraham Lincoln was a boy he went down the river in a boat to carry a load of truck to market. He stood by the river bank, after he had sold his bacon and vegetables. A steamboat was coming down the river.
Two men who wished to go on board the steamer asked Abraham to row them out. He did so, and as they climbed on board they left in his hand two half dollars.
It was the first money he had ever earned, and Abraham was a very proud, happy boy.
_Friday_
Children tell the story of Abraham Lincoln’s first money.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Teach the following poem to the children:
NED’S CHOICE
She has not rosy cheeks, Nor eyes that brightly shine, Nor golden curls, nor teeth like pearls, This Valentine of thine; But, oh! she’s just the dearest, The truest and the best, And one more kind you will not find In many a long day’s quest.
Her cheeks are faded now, Her dear old eyes are dim; Her hair’s like snow, her steps are slow, Her figure isn’t trim; But, oh! and, oh! I love her, This grandmamma of mine; I wish that she for years may be My own dear Valentine.--_Selected_
_Tuesday_
Write three sentences about your grandmother if you have one; if not, about your mother.
_Wednesday_
Valentine verses, for the children to copy:
I wish I were the tiny cup, From which you take your tea; For every time you took a sip, You’d give a kiss to me.
If you love me as I love you, No knife can cut our love in two.
The rose is red, The violet’s blue; Pinks are pretty, And so are you.
_Wednesday_
Write a letter, that might be sent to your mother as a valentine.
_Thursday_
For dictation:
’Twas a tortoise, All yellow and black; He walked away, And never came back.--_Selected_
_Friday_
Play “The Queen of Hearts” as a game.
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Write a list of words that rhyme with _queen_.
_Tuesday_
Tell the children the story of Washington and his colt.
_Wednesday_
Write five sentences about Washington.
_Thursday_
Tell the story of Washington crossing the Delaware.
_Friday_
Play, as a game, Washington and his colt, and also Washington crossing the Delaware.
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Write five sentences about playing in the snow.
_Tuesday_
Talk about what we eat. Who likes sweet things? Who likes pickles? Who likes meat? Who likes potatoes? Tell the children about foods that they need to eat to be well.
_Wednesday_
Write a list of things that we eat.
_Thursday_
Talk about clothing. Why we wear woolen clothing in cold weather; where the wool comes from; talk about sheep.
_Friday_
Write five sentences about clothing, and where the wool comes from.
THIRD YEAR
FIRST WEEK
_Monday_
To be committed to memory:
OUR FLAG
There are many flags in many lands, There are flags of every hue, But there is no flag in any land, Like our own Red, White, and Blue.
I know where the prettiest colors are, I’m sure if I only knew How to get them here, I could make a flag, Of glorious Red, White, and Blue.
I could cut a piece from the evening sky, Where the stars were shining through, And use it just as it was on high, For my Stars and field of Blue.
Then I’d want a piece of fleecy cloud, And some from a rainbow bright, And I’d put them together, side by side, For my Stripes of Red and White.
Then “Hurrah for the Flag!” our country’s flag, Its stripes, and white stars, too; There is no flag in any land, Like our own Red, White and Blue.--_Selected_
Have the poem copied.
_Tuesday_
Learn the first two stanzas of the poem.
_Wednesday_
Learn the rest of the poem.
_Thursday_
Recite the entire poem.
_Friday_
Write a list of the nouns, and another of the verbs, in the poem.
SECOND WEEK
_Monday_
Write a four-line verse suitable for a valentine.
_Tuesday_
Write the story of St. Valentine.
_Wednesday_
Talk about Lincoln.
_Thursday_
Write what you know about Lincoln.
_Friday_
For dictation:
Twilight and firelight, Shadows come and go; Merry chimes of sleighbells Tinkling through the snow; Mother knitting stockings (Pussy’s got the ball)-- Don’t you think that winter’s Pleasanter than all?--_Selected_
THIRD WEEK
_Monday_
Write the story of Washington and the hatchet.
_Tuesday_
Write three sentences, telling why we should admire Washington.
_Wednesday_
Tell the story of Lafayette’s part in aiding our fight for freedom.
_Thursday_
Write what you know of Lafayette.
For dictation:
God make my life a little song, That comforteth the sad; That helpeth others to be strong, And makes the singer glad.
--_Selected_
FOURTH WEEK
_Monday_
Story for reproduction:
THE ROBIN’S RED BREAST
Long ago, in the far north, where it is very cold, there was only one fire.
An old man and his little son took care of this fire and kept it burning day and night.
They knew that if the fire went out all the people would freeze and that the white bear would have the northland all to himself.
But one day the old man became very sick so that his son had everything to do.
For many days and nights he bravely took care of his father and kept the fire burning.
But at last he got so tired and sleepy that he could no longer work.
Now the white bear was always watching the fire.
He longed for the time when he would have the northland all to himself.
And when he saw how tired and sleepy the little boy was, he stayed close to the fire and laughed to himself.
One night the poor little boy could endure no longer and fell fast asleep.
Then the white bear ran as fast as he could and jumped upon the fire with his wet feet and rolled upon it.
At last he thought it was all out and went happily away to his cave.
But a gray robin was flying near and saw what the white bear was doing.
She waited until the bear went away.
Then she flew down and searched with her sharp little eyes until she found a tiny live spark.
This she fanned patiently for a long time with her wings.
Her little breast was scorched red, but she did not give up.
After awhile a fine red blaze sprang up again.
Then she flew away to every hut in the northland.
And everywhere that she touched the ground a fire began to burn.
So that soon instead of one little fire the whole northland was lighted up.
And now all that the white bear could do was to go farther back into his cave and growl.