Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1907-01-10

NUMBER 6
and see what they have to offer. Only
along the lines of reading, writing
and arithmetic I wish TO make a
few suggestions in this circular and
l hope it will not come amiss.
There is a tendency in nearly all
our schools to cover too much
ground and we must check this or
we will never be able to teach we'll
the things the children need most.
During the first two and most of the
third years at school we should not,
and must not try to teach the chill
dren anything, but reading with a
little paper cutting, counting and $
some writing Of figures and W ords,
as busy work
This is the time to lay the founda-
tion for good readsssrs and you must
try to have the above named classes
read at least three short periods q
day, four would b. better if time al
lows it, and don'U forget to have the
children reproduce what they read,
pronounce words with them, drill on
phonics some, and teach them the
difference between is, was, are, we're,
has, have, etc.
Next, how many of our pupils at
the ages of Il to Is years can write 81
good legible business letter, make
out a receipt, or write a good compo-
sitiOn? JlSt try yours tomorrow
and if you find that most of them
can not, which I knowyo will, just
drop technical grammar for a month
or so and work with practical and
applied grammar, which you know is
just what they need. So with arith-
metic. l find but in very few of our
schools that large boys and girls
working ''away out in The back part
of our arithmetics' can work such
examples as: How many cords Of
wood are there in pile of wood l71s
feet long and 911s feet high?
How many acres Of land are there
in a tract of land 30 rods long by l6
rods wide? IT,. .... +
How many gallons of water does a.
cisUern feet in diameter and feet
deep hold?
How many bushels of wheat does
bin feet by feet by 3 feet hold?
How many square feet of lumber
are there in plank 16 feet long. 3
inches wide in one end in the other
and inches thick and what will it
cost at S42. 90 per NJ? Anyone stop
ping to thfnK knows that partial and
equational payments, exchange, COM
pound interest, and all these things
which we waste so much time With
will never be used by our boys and
girls and that on the other hand
problems like the foregoing are met
with nearly every day.
Let US drill thoroughly on addi
tion, substraction multiplication and
division, get each child to learn the
MULTIPLICATION table so that he can
use it quickly and accurately. then
teach fractions, percentage and deci-
mails and their relation to each other
and while you are thus using the
text book make up practical examples
yourself in the evenings and bring
them to school the next day as sup
Elementary work. This, being your
own production and meeting the
needs of your particular school, will
do immeasurable good.
Let the children also make up pro-
blems where it may seem advisable,
and let them reverse the examples
to prove them, as: If pile of wood
contains 31a cords Of wood when it
is I feet high how long is the pile?
In like manner can we. make his
tory, geography, and the whole
school curriculum interesting and
4 profitable.
I Hoping you will try these or SINH
lar schemes and knowing you will
be pleased by the results.
I am, yours for the best school,
year in Marshall County.
l.. M. Mithun.