News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-03-05
Supplementary Reading.


Probably no educational question
is attracting more attention than
the best methods of teaching children
to read, New methods are being in
trOduced into every grade. In the
new systems Of teaching, the pupil
does not begin his education by learn
ing the alphabet. 1t would take too
much time and space to discuss read
ing in the primary grades. A very
complete and detailed account of the
methods used in the city schools can
be found in suggestive lessons in Ian
guage and reading This book is de
signed to precede book |. of Hyde's
lessons in English, and this is
designed to precede the grammar
used in this county. Probably no
better books can be found on the
subject than these. and our county
board showed their wisdom in select
ing lessons in English for our schools,
but a great many are puzzled to
know why book |. was not adopted,
as we'll as book ii. | hope to discuss
this in another article, and pass on
to speak of reading for the higher
grades.
There is a growing dissatisfaction
with the ordinary school reading
book. Though the modern reading
book is beautifully gotten up, yet the
principle upon which it is prepared is
criticised. The ordinary reader is
made up of scraps and bits of natural
history, literature, travels, biog-
raphy, etc. The child no sooner gets
interested than the piece ends. The
modern idea is that children should
have whole pieces of literature, and
that reading scrappy selections leads
to the formation of pernicious
habit in reading. This subject is
quite fully discussed in the Atlantic
Monthly for June, 1890
But what shall the children read?
Well to begin with, geographical
readers have been prepared which
teach geography in story form. The
advantage of this will beapparent at
once. Children need to learn to read
and they need to learn facts about
the earth and its people. Why not
combine the two? This has been very
successfully done in a series called the
world and its people (Silver, Burdette
K Co., Boston, There are three vol
umes, graded like a series of reading
books, with lists of words to spell,
and also words pronounced and de-
fined. The text is in story form and
is as interesting as a story. There
are many illustrations and short
poems are Interpreted through the
text.
A far more elaborate work is the
series of picturesque geographical
readers Lee & Shepard, Boston.
The series is to consist of four vol
umes, two of which have been issued,
and they are the most beautiful
school books that | have ever seen.
The illustrations are especially fine,
while the text is all that could be de-
sired both in respect to thestOry and
the press work. The same house is
sues two stories which may be called
geographical stories. One is entitled
"The seven little sisters who live on
theround ball that floats in the air."
and the other is the sequel to it.
"The seven little sisters prove their
sisterhood." These books enable
children to get a vivid idea of the |
way people in other countries live,
and especially how the children live.
Uniform with these and by the same
anthor is the story of "Ten boys who
lived on the road from long ago to
now" This book gives sketches of
children who lived in different ages of
the world. Lee & Shepard issue sew
eral other historical works for child
rem, the titles of which | have not
space to mention.
These books are not designed to
take the place of the geography or
history, but are to supplement them.
The child uses the knowledge of read
ing which he has gained, and thus ac-
quires a knowledge of other subjects.
What he studies in school is supple
mented by what he reads at home or
at school. The value of such a course
is easily seen, and should be carefully
considered by the people of this state.
j. W. NEWTON.