Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1889-11-14
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Chart Work.
by SUPT. j.. }. HONESIIEI., CHARLES.
TON, IIL.

BY SUpT. l.. J. HONESIIEI., CHARLES
TON, ILL.
When pupils first enter school, the
teacher should cndcavor to drive
away their "school fright" by pleas
ant conversation. After their tim
idity has disappeared, and they arc
ready for their first lesson in reading,
th" teacher should select . wnr!
that represents some familiar object.
know of none better than the
word hof, because the object is fami-
liar to every child and is always at
hand. First show hat. Have the
children talk about it, mentioning
the different kinds, the use, etc.
This conversation exercise may oc-
cupy the entire time of the first
recitation, but it is not lost time.
After the pupils are ready for the
word, write it on the board, but say
nothing about the letters composing
il. Children speak the word as a
whole without thinking of the differ
cnt vocal elements, and thus they
should learn the visible word. Have
the children talk about the word
hof, how it looks, which part is the
highest, etc. Then have them trace
the word, the Teacher guiding the in
experienced hands if necessary. Fi-
nally, have them write the word them
selves. 1t may take several recita-
tions to get through with this word.
Next take the word cat. If real
cat is not at hand, IA large picture of
cat will answer very well. If
neither cat nor picture is at hand,
the teacher can commence saving
something like this 81 am think
ing about Il little animal that nearly
every family has in the house. 1t
sometimes sleeps on chair, and
sometimes under the stove. Nearly
every little boy or girl likes to have
one for pet" by this time there
will rrobably be several little hands
up to tell you what You are thinking
about; but if no one is ready to
guess, go on by saying, "It often
catches rats and mice" Now all
will be ready to tell you it's name.
Talk with them about eats. Have
them tell you about their own cats,
their names, their color, etc. If all
the time of the recitation is taken
up with this conversation, don't be
alarmed. The children are being in
troduccd into school life and they
are learning to think and to express
their thoughtS--a good training in
language. Now write the word cat
on the board near the word lat.
Have the pupils examine the two
words and point where they are
alike and where unlike. This will
he training them to observe carefully.
Then have them write the word.
For seat work they can write each
word five times, or as many times us
the teacher thinks best. For the
next word the conversation can be
easily directed from cat to rat. With
this word, rs well as with the name
words to follow, if neither object
nor pic: re is ut hand, give dcscrip-
ton of the objc and have the pu-
pills guess what you are thinking
about, rs Was suggested in regard to
the word cN Next take bat and
mat They have now learned five
words, each the name of familiar
object, and the formation Differing
only in the first letter, thus giving
the unframed hands as little din
Guilty in writing as possible. The
words c"l nun, jim, and 1op
should be Taught next, each word
preceded by Il lively and earnest
conversation about the object. The
pupils now have nine words and
should be able TO write any one
of them at the request of the teacher.
For seat work the pupils should
write daily all the words they have
learned. In this way there will be
Il continual review and the little
hnt ,I,. lao,