A fourth grade history and geographical reader for the New York city public schools

Preface

W HiLE this book is intended for use in the fourth j^ear of elementary schools, it will be found service¬ able in evening classes and should be of value in public libraries as well. The book seeks to give in¬ formation stimulating unobtrusively the reader ^s civic consciousness, and presented in such fashion as will lead to easy comprehension when read silently. Though each story is independent and complete in it¬ self, all of the stories have a thread of binding rela¬ tionship. They may be read, therefore, in any order or in the sequence of the book. Facts and opinions have been examined and formed by as painstaking research as they would have been, had the book been intended for an adult public of advanced attainments in the subjects treated. Personal visits have been made to all places of historic, literary, geographic, , and scientific note.

The author has written his book from a peda¬ gogical as well as from an informational point of view. He holds, with the new English syllabus for New York schools, that the reading lesson is not to be limited to the matter in the grade reader but ‘‘should supplement the work of the grade in history,

geography, nature, and civics.’^ The book may be used, therefore, in the teaching not only of English reading but also, in a supplementary way, in that of any of the subjects just named.

The pupil’s limitations of vocabulary, of sentence and paragraph sense have been borne in mind while the syllabus requirements have been met. Variety in literary form, including simple drama, appropriate length of each story, proper punctuation, gram¬ matical structure have all been considered with the specific reader in view. The vocabulary has been selected with great care. Thorndike’s The Teacher’s Word Booh has been valuable as a check to exclude words of rare or infrequent use. Preference has been .accorded words wherein common phonograms ap¬ pear. Although children in the fourth year have just come from a three years’ study of these word elements, no practical teacher will say that further encouragement is unwelcome through ready recog¬ nition of old word-friends in new settings. Of course, personal and place names are matters apart and re¬ quire individual treatment as they arise.

Silent reading is of recognized importance in the English course of study in our schools. Our prac¬ tice, as usual, however, has not caught up with our theory, and school readers are still very generally better suited to oral work. Furthermore, our supple¬ mentary readers reveal a controlling desire to alford information but a not too marked concern for the pupils’ state of language preparedness. This book’s twofold aim is obvious.

Illustrations have been selected with discrimina¬ tion, This is an age when visual aids have come into

IV their own in the teaching process. Their essential place has been borne in mind throughout, not only in connection with the content to be read but also in relation to the need of testing comprehension of silently read matter. The New York Historical Society, through its librarian, has extended courtesies for which publishers and author are grateful.

A special section of Study Helps for Silent Read¬ ing will be found before the stories. It is hoped that these helps will prove of value, particularly to the inexperienced teacher.

Both content and expression of the stories in this reader have been tested in the classes of the Model School of the New York Training School for Teach¬ ers. Typical examples have been pedagogically studied as reading material by students in the author’s senior theory classes. The author wishes to express his ^appreciation of the helpful attitude and friendly interest of colleagues and students alike.

It is a pleasure to record one’s thanks for the untiring and invaluable aid that has been rendered by relatives throughout the preparation of this book.

Thanks are also given to the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Public Library, 'and the Municipal Art Commission, for their cordial co-operation.

STUDY HELPS FOR SILENT READING

The questions listed after each story are intended to suggest a method of testing silent reading results. Such testing is most important not only in proving that the story has been carefully read but also in helping to fix salient points and in stimulating thought. There are a number of methods besides direct ques¬ tioning. The following are offered in the hope that they may be suggestive. Where the methods apply may be easily deter¬ mined by a study of the nature of the story.

1. Picture-study or map-study. Illustrations in this book are well adapted to oral discussions.

2. Dramatization. The stories in dramatic form in this book are typical of what may be done.

3. Incomplete sentence game in which missing elements are supplied by the pupils. Incompleteness may be initial, medial, or final. Sides may be chosen and a time limit set. Speed and comprehension may be improved through such a game.

4. Sto7'y development with outline map. A map without place names is before the class. As point after point is men¬ tioned, note is made of it by the teacher or the pupils. The map may be printed or drawn on the blackboard or on a large sheet of paper.

5. Imaginary conversations between historical characters. These should give the teacher opportunity to note speech faults. Their connection with oral composition is obvious.

6. Construction of model of such a boat as the Half Moon, or the Clermont; of such a house as the Blockhouse; or of such a room as the Dutch kitchen in the Van Cortlandt Mansion. This construction may be a class project.

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7. Drawing of boats, houses, and rooms as they are men¬ tioned in the text.

8. Scrap hook to which the children contribute pictures, maps, and illustrations for the stories which they read. Each child may have his own scrap book or the class may make one co-operatively.

9. Oral and written compositions based on the text.

10. Index study. Proper, personal or place names within a story may be selected. Explanation or description will be found through silent reading. Testing may be oral or written.

SPECIFIC AIMS

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Approved hy the Board of Superintendents of the New York

City Public Schools

This is the first book to follow the general principles and specific aims established in 1922 by the Committee appointed to investigate the Histories in use in the Public Schools of New Pork City. These aims and principles have been approved by the Board of Superintendents of the New York City Public Schools.

The Specific Aims taken from the report of this Committee are as follows;

1. To acquaint the pupils with the basic facts and move¬ ments, political, industrial, and social, of American history.

2. To emphasize the principles and motives that were of greatest infiuence in the formation and development of -our government.

3. To establish ideals of patriotic and civic duty.

4. To awaken in the pupil a desire to emulate all praise¬ worthy endeavor.

6. To present the ethical and moral principles exemplified in the lives of patriotic leaders.

7. To inspire in the pupil an appreciation of the hardships endured and the sacrifices made in establishing and defending American ideals.

8. To develop in the pupil a love for American institutions

and the determination to maintain and defend them.

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