Part 3

Never pass a word to a second child. Each child must spell, with help if necessary, every word that is dictated to him.

For written review, dictate any words from the series represented in the review lesson. Return again and again to these review lessons.

SEAT WORK

Have the children copy the words and under each write one or more words in the same family. Thus:

run me play fly and fun be hay try band

REVIEWS OF SIGHT WORDS

Use these reviews for oral spelling matches and for written tests. Keep records of these written tests. There are 36 sight words assigned to the first year. Arouse the child’s interest and ambition to master these words by encouragement and all good incentives.

ADDITIONAL SEAT WORK

1. Make the words or sentences in each lesson with “word builder” letters. This work should be carefully examined to see that it is correct and that it follows the arrangement given in the book.

2. Copy in script the lesson from the book.

SUGGESTIONS FOR SECOND YEAR

REVIEW

The work of the second grade is a continuation of the work begun in the first grade. It will be well, therefore, for the second grade teacher to read carefully the suggestions given for the work of the first grade. Although some of the words that have already been taught in the first grade occur in the second grade, the first work of the second grade teacher will be to carefully review the phonograms and sight words already taught. This will help to sift out the words which need special emphasis and will form the beginning of the word lists which the children are urged to keep.

PHONOGRAMS

The phonograms are continued in the second grade and the same emphasis on the common part as outlined in the suggestions for the first grade should be continued. (See page 28.)

QUOTATIONS

Lesson 23, Page 29

Have the children copy these sentences, telling them that the quotation marks are put around “Where are my baby stars?” because these are the words of the moon. If omitted in dictation lessons, have the children open the book and put them in, but do not count the omission as an error.

CAPITAL LETTERS

Lesson 50, Page 38

In addition to teaching the use of a capital at the beginning of a sentence, the names of five of the months of the year are given in Lesson 50, and a proper name is introduced into Lesson 56. Here is a chance to emphasize that the names of the months, and the names of people, always begin with a capital letter no matter where they occur in the sentence.

DICTIONARY PREPARATION

1. The order of the letters should be thoroughly familiar at this time. If not, it must be made so. (See suggestions for drill on page 27.)

2. Have the pupils read clearly and distinctly the words in any lesson,—as, for example, Lesson 1, page 25,—telling the first letter in each, saying, “The first letter in _moon_ is _m_; the first letter in _soon_ is _s_; the first letter in _noon_ is _n_; the first letter in _spoon_ is _s_.”

3. Have the pupils group words that begin with the same letter, as, Lessons 1, 2, and 3. Teacher says, “Find all the words in these three lessons that begin with _s_.”

Teacher: Find the words that begin with _b_.

Pupils: _Bid_ and _bar_ begin with _b_.

Later the pupils may make a list of all the words on a page beginning with the same letter.

4. Have the pupils copy in a column all the words in a lesson, or in several lessons, or on a page, that begin with the same letter. This should be done under definite direction of the teacher, as, “Make a list of all the words on page 25 that begin with _b_; with _c_; with _d_; with _f_.” Pupils write as follows:

bar cross dine find boss cloud did far bid crust dust fine bind fell bell

5. Turn to the vocabulary of second year words (page 63). Have the pupils observe that they are arranged in alphabetical order.

(_a_) Pupils find the place in the list of words beginning with any given letter, thus:

Teacher: Where must we look for words beginning with _a_?

Pupils: At the beginning, for _a_ is the first letter in the alphabet.

Teacher: Where must we look for words beginning with _w_?

Pupils: Near the end, for _w_ is near the end of the alphabet.

Teacher: Where must we look for words beginning with _m_?

Pupils: Near the middle, for _m_ is near the middle of the alphabet.

(_b_) Pupils find any word called for in the list. Teacher asks, “Where shall I find _barn_?”

Pupils answer, “With words beginning with _b_, near the beginning.” Pupils find the word and touch it. In the same way the teacher calls for other words. In each case the pupils decide where in the list to look for it according to the initial letter, then find and touch it.

(_c_) Let the pupils go through the list to see if every letter in the alphabet has been used as an initial letter. They will find that there are no words listed beginning with _q_, _x_, and _z_.

(_d_) Have the pupils write the alphabet in vertical columns omitting _q_, _x_, and _z_, and opposite each letter copy a word beginning with that letter from their lists on pages 63 and 64, thus:

a—after b—baby c—children d—dog

INITIAL WORDS OF PHONETIC SERIES

On pages 61 and 62, the teacher will find a list of initial words of the phonetic series that have been taught in the first two grades in the order in which they have been taught. This list will provide a means for the teacher to learn whether a series has been taught, and the relative position of the series in the work of the first two grades.

VOCABULARY

The vocabulary on pages 63 and 64 gives a complete list of all the sight words which have been taught in the first and second grades. It will furnish the teacher the means:

1. For finding if any given word is to be found in the text of the first two grades.

2. For excellent drill in preparation for the use of the dictionary.

3. For a review list at the end of the year’s work.

PHONIC SERIES

The phonic series used in this book are presented first in the text as short lists. On page 65, Part I, will be found more complete lists for supplementary drill, if desired. These are numbered in the same order and are similar to those found on the Aldine Phonic Chart. If one of these charts is available, it will be found of great assistance in the teaching of spelling in these early grades. Drills on these complete series may well be given whenever a review or an additional lesson is possible. The pupil may study from his book, quick drills may be given from the chart, and then a selected list may be dictated by the teacher. Too much _intelligent_ drill on these phonic series cannot be given.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THIRD YEAR

USE OF STORIES

That stories have helped in other branches of the curriculum outside of spelling is a well-known fact. Up to the present, spelling has been so stereotyped, so humdrum, that stories have had little or no place in the spelling lesson. Spelling, however, is the result of forming right habits and these right habits can be stimulated and encouraged by the right kind of stories. At the beginning of the work of the third grade is told the story of “The King’s Rules.” This story should be told to the children along with other stories of the grade, dramatized, and every means used to fix the point of the story. During the year constant reference should be made to “The King’s Rules.” For example, in teaching Lesson 91 reference should be made to the king’s second rule. In Lessons 92 and 94 reference should be made to the king’s third rule. Whenever a pupil mispronounces a word his attention should be directed to the first two rules. Care should be exercised in referring to these three rules that the interest is quickened and not deadened by the constant repetition and reference to the same story.

USE OF PICTURES

Throughout the book illustrations are given. The words of a lesson will be found to be illustrated in the pictures connected with the lesson. Pupils may be asked to cover the words of a lesson and write all the words that they find connected with the picture.

PHONETIC WORDS

The third grade work continues the work in phonics started in the first and second grades. The suggestions given on pages 28 and 36, for the first and second year’s work, apply equally well to the work of the third year.

QUOTATIONS

The sentences used in connection with the lessons may be used in a variety of ways:

(_a_) They are placed in the book primarily for the purpose of illustrating the use of the word.

(_b_) They have been very carefully selected from our best authors and many of them may wisely be memorized.

(_c_) They may be used as dictation exercises. In this case misspelled words should be counted as errors. All other mistakes should be corrected by referring to the book but should not be counted against the child as an error in spelling.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

At the end of many lessons, or groups of lessons, will be found suggestions for the pupils to use in their study. The teacher should call attention to these. They will be of great help to the pupil if he has been taught how to use them. They are, however, incomplete owing to the lack of space, and the wise teacher will find other suggestions to give the pupils as she finds, through the correcting of papers, other difficulties which arise in the spelling of particular words.

ABBREVIATIONS

The use of the capital letter has been presented in connection with the beginning of the sentence, and the spelling of the names of the months and of proper names. In the third grade the names of the days have been added, and a few abbreviations. (See Lessons 100, 101, 114, 115, 124, etc.) These should be thoroughly taught with emphasis on the use of the period.

PREPARATION FOR DICTIONARY WORK

1. Early in the year have the pupils arrange the words in any lesson, lessons, or on a page, in alphabetical order; as, Lessons 22–25, page 15. Pupils write as follows:

A. B C D around bowl clean dash etc. beside cash bottom bean

2. Have the pupils turn to the third grade vocabulary, page 43.

(_a_) Have them make an alphabetical list of words from the vocabulary; as, _able_, _beam_, _cage_, _daily_, etc.

(_b_) _Finding Words Quickly._ Teacher says, “Read this list of words until you find the word _cane_.” After the pupils have complied the teacher says, “Count all the words you read before you found the word _cane_.” Pupils count and answer, “Seventy-one.” Teacher asks, “How could I have saved time in finding this word?” The pupils easily discover the fact that they can save time by looking for the word among the words beginning with the same letter. The teacher tests and proves this to be true by calling for other words; as, “With what letter does _face_ begin? Where shall we find it?” Pupils answer, “_Face_ begins with _f_; we shall find it with the words beginning with _f_.” They do so. Teacher asks, “How many words did you have to read before finding the word _face_? How many do you think you would have to read if you counted from the beginning?” Conclusion to be discovered and expressed by the pupils: An alphabetical arrangement of words saves time in finding any particular word.

(_c_) _Finding Words Easily._ Teacher says, “Who can find the word _autumn_ first?” Pupils find it. Teacher asks the first pupil ready with the word, “Where did you find it?” Pupil answers, “I found it among the words beginning with _a_ at the beginning of the list.” Teacher calls for more words from different parts of the list; as, _farm_, _yellow_, _branch_, _taste_, _many_, etc. In every case pupils must determine first, the initial letter of the word; second, the place in the alphabetical list for words beginning with that letter.

Conclusion to be discovered and expressed: An alphabetical arrangement of words makes it easier to find any given word in a given list.

3. Have the pupils arrange the hundred words on pages 41 and 42 in alphabetical order, considering only the initial letter of each word. This may be done by having each word copied on an oblong piece of paper, or on oak tag cards, and these cards placed in alphabetical order, or by having columns marked off, headed by letters alphabetically arranged; as:

A B C D E F G

4. (_a_) Have the children list the words from sentences or short stories in alphabetical order, as those in “The Golden Eggs,” page 17.

(_b_) After the list has been made (see _a_ above) have the pupils read through the sentences again to make sure that every word in them has been listed. The exercise emphasizes the value of alphabetical arrangement. Example: Teacher says, “If you wish to make sure that you have the word _the_ on your list, how can you find out easily and quickly?” Pupil answers, “I will look near the end of my list among the words beginning with _t_.”

(_c_) _Adding to an Alphabetical List of Words._ Teacher says, “I would like to have the word _do_ added to the list. (See (_a_) above.) Where should it be written?” Pupil answers, “Put it with _day_ because it begins with _d_.” The teacher says, “There is no word beginning with _i_ in the list; if I wish to add the word _into_, where shall I place it?” Pupil answers, “Place it after the words beginning with _h_ (or before the words beginning with _j_) because that is the place of _i_ in the alphabet.”

5. Have the pupils arrange themselves in a line in alphabetical order, considering first the initial letter of their first names. Have the pupils take their places as the teacher calls the letters. Thus, the teacher calls _a_, and Alice, Andrew, and Anna step into line. At once the question arises as to who shall stand first—all names begin with _a_. Teacher writes the names on the board and says, “Look at the second letter in each name.” The pupils study the second letter with the teacher, and decide that as _l_, the second letter in Alice, comes before _n_, the second letter in Anna and Andrew, Alice should have first place. To fix the place of Andrew and Anna the third letters of each name must be considered.

6. On page 29 is a lesson on arranging by the second letter. Following this have the pupils arrange other lists of words in alphabetical order, (_a_) considering the first two letters of the word; (_b_) considering the first three letters.

7. Have the children give all the reasons that they can think of to prove that the alphabetical arrangement of a list of words is a good one.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FOURTH YEAR

HOW TO STUDY SPELLING

When the pupil enters the fourth grade he begins to learn to depend more and more upon himself. He does more of his work by himself. This is as it should be, but there is still need of a guiding hand. If the pupil is to acquire a real _spelling consciousness_, and form a good habit which is real and lasting, these helps must be plentiful, but at the same time arise in such a way that they will be helpful in forming and strengthening the good habits, and tend to break any bad habits which may have been started.

The suggestions accompanying the lessons in the first three grades are continued in the fourth, in such a way that, with the preparation which the pupil has had in the early grades, he can apply the helps himself with the minimum amount of care and watchfulness on the part of the teacher.

As pointed out in Part I of the manual, page 18, the derived form in most cases presents a new spelling problem even though the root word has been taught. By focusing the attention on the part common to both the root word and the derivative, and fixing the change by numerous examples, the change from root to derivative is made with less trouble. Lessons 4, 5, 15, 16, and 74 illustrate this point.

DICTIONARY WORK

During the previous three years the pupils have been prepared to use the dictionary. They have been made thoroughly familiar with the alphabet, and are familiar with the arrangement of words in alphabetical lists. They have learned to arrange words in alphabetical lists, as well as to find words easily in a short list which is alphabetically arranged. The work of the fourth year is the teaching of the formal use of the dictionary. The following story is presented as an interesting way of approach. Let us attempt to vitalize our work in the dictionary. The place to begin this vitalizing is in the fourth grade. A “story with a hint in it” for fourth grade teachers is a suggestion along this line.

A “STORY WITH A HINT IN IT” FOR FOURTH GRADE TEACHERS

The Third Graders had been promoted into the Fourth Grade! They sat very tall and behaved just like Fourth Graders as Miss Merlin, their new teacher, said pleasantly: “This morning as I rode to school in the street car, I read over the market advertisements. I found in one a word that is new to me. I don’t know how to pronounce it, and I don’t know what it means. I will write it on the board. Perhaps some one may know the word and tell me how to pronounce it and what it means.”

Miss Merlin wrote the word on the board—_broccoli_—then turned to the pupils and said, “Can any one pronounce this word?”

Alice stood by her desk ready to speak. “Have you seen this word before, Alice?” asked Miss Merlin.

“No,” answered Alice, “but I think I can guess how it is pronounced.”

“Oh!” said Miss Merlin, “I don’t want any guessing. You might guess wrong. If I hear the word incorrectly pronounced for the first time, I am afraid I shall find it harder to learn the correct pronunciation. Two reasons why so many words are pronounced incorrectly are: people guess a wrong pronunciation instead of finding the correct one; and people hear the incorrect pronunciation instead of the right one. I want the correct pronunciation for the word on the board. If you cannot give it to me, perhaps you can tell me where I can get it.”

John jumped to his feet. “Go ask the market man,” he said.

“I might,” answered Miss Merlin, “but there are reasons why I would rather not.”

“It’s too far to the market,” “It would take too long,” “You can’t go until after school and by then the market may be closed,” were some of the objections made by the pupils.

“Those are all good reasons,” answered Miss Merlin, “but if there were no other way to learn the correct pronunciation of the word I might manage somehow to make a trip to the market. And I really need not take the trouble. I can find out all I want to know about that word right here in our own schoolroom.”

The pupils looked at one another with troubled faces. In the third grade they had always gone to their teacher with bothersome words, and here was Miss Merlin bringing hard words to them and expecting them to help her to learn the pronunciation and the meaning. Never had they felt so helpless. Suddenly John cried out, “Oh, I know! The dictionary!” and running to the front of the room, he placed his hand on a great, heavy book that lay on the small table near Miss Merlin’s desk. “My father has a dictionary like this,” he continued, “and he often looks up words in it.”

“Good, John!” said Miss Merlin, “you have shown me the best place to go for the help I need. This book contains 400,000 words. My word is one of those 400,000. How can I find my one word among so many?”

“I know,” answered John. “My father showed me. The words are arranged like the alphabet, first the _a_’s, then, the _b_’s, and then the _c_’s, and so on.”

“John is right,” said Miss Merlin. “If you will all come forward and stand near the table I will show you just as John’s father showed him.”

The pupils came forward and Miss Merlin showed them that the dictionary words were arranged in alphabetical order. “Now where shall I look for my word?” she asked.

The pupils glanced at the word on the board and answered, “Look among the words beginning with _b_.”

Miss Merlin opened the dictionary and held all the pages containing words beginning with _b_ between her two hands. “If I begin with the first word beginning with _b_ and read each one, it will take me hours,” she said, “but the maker of the dictionary has so arranged the words that I can find the word I want in a few seconds. Let us see if we can discover just how the words have been arranged to help us find any one quickly. We have seen that the words are arranged alphabetically according to the first letter in each. Now let us look at the second letter in the word beginning with _b_.”

The pupils watched as the pages were turned over and discovered that the words were grouped in alphabetical order according to the second letter in each.

“Then,” said Miss Merlin, “if I want to find a word beginning _ba_ where in the list of words beginning with _b_ shall I look?”

“Look near the beginning,” was the answer.

“If I want one beginning _bl_ where shall I look?” asked Miss Merlin.

“Look towards the middle of the list,” answered the pupils.

“But I want to find one beginning with _br_,” said Miss Merlin, pointing to the word on the board.

“Look near the end of the list,” said Alice.

Miss Merlin found the first word beginning with _br_. “Shall I find my word near the beginning of the _br_ list?” she asked, holding the page toward the pupils.

They looked at the page and answered, “No, all the words on this page begin _bra_ and you want a word beginning _bro_.”

“How shall I find my word?” asked Miss Merlin.

John turned over the pages slowly while the other pupils looked on. “Oh,” cried Alice, “the words are arranged in alphabetical order for the third letter, so you must look beyond the middle of the list!”

Miss Merlin asked Alice to find the first word beginning with _bro_. When it was found the children discovered that the alphabetical arrangement of letters extended to the fourth and fifth letters and even unto the end.

“Some job!” said John, moved by the efficiency of the arrangement as well as by the bigness of the task. “Now I know how I can find any word in the dictionary—just trail the alphabet from the first to the last letter of the word you are looking for.”

Miss Merlin laughed. “I don’t believe that I’ll try to improve upon your rule, John,” she said. “The Alphabet Trail is a pretty good one to follow in tracking any word to its dictionary den.”

Following John’s rule, the word sought—_broccoli_—was soon found. “So that you may all see exactly how the dictionary helps us pronounce this word, I will copy on the blackboard exactly what I find written here.”

Stepping to the board, Miss Merlin copied the word, divided into syllables and marked exactly as it appeared in the dictionary—(brǒk´ō-lǐ).

Some of the pupils understood the diacritical marks for the short sounds of _o_ and _i_; others did not. None knew the meaning of the mark above the _o_ of the second syllable.

“Well,” said Miss Merlin, “let us see how the dictionary is ready to help us. Look at the words written at the bottom of the page. They are all little words that you know. What letter is marked in the first eight words?”

The pupils near enough the dictionary to read replied, “The letter _a_.” “And,” added Mary, “each _a_ is marked in a different way.”

“Read the words with the marked _a_’s and see if you can discover the reason why each _a_ has a different mark,” said Miss Merlin.

Mary read the words, pronouncing each clearly and distinctly. When she had finished every child was ready to answer; but Miss Merlin smiled at Mary, who said, “The _a_ in each word has a sound different from all the other _a_’s.”

In the same way the pupils discovered the different sounds of _e_, _i_, _o_, and _u_. “Those are all the vowel sounds,” said Alice.

“Yes,” added John, “and the dictionary man has arranged them in alphabetical order. Didn’t he stick close to the alphabet though!”