THE GOOD TIME PRIMER BY F. GRACE SEYMOUR "Reading should be the correct interpretation DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO There are few teachers who have not felt the need of a larger amount of easy reading matter for beginning classes than is usually found in books designed for pupils in the first years of school life. It is the object of this book to supply this need. This little book contains words frequently repeated in order to make the beginner's progress as easy and agreeable as possible. It is believed that the frequent repetition of words in the new lessons will give the beginner a feeling of confidence that will make the difficult task of learning to read a delight rather than a burden. The nature lessons, consisting of questions designed to stimulate the powers of observation, may be made to serve a highly useful purpose in the education of the child during the first year in school. Besides increasing the learner's interest in the world of nature about him, these lessons may be made useful in training the power of expression. The lessons, it will be seen, are planned to aid the children in understanding the selections from Hiawatha contained in the book. The author has found that the legend of Hiawatha appeals to children in the first year of school, and may in consequence be made a means of valuable instruction. If children are led to imagine the scenes described in the poem, they will show great delight, in learning "Heard the whispering of the pine trees." They will seek to imitate the hero of the poem and will "Learn of every bird its language." If this method is followed with each line of Hiawatha, the pupils will easily express their ideas by means of paper-cutting, drawing, painting and in oral and written language. The power of good literature upon the lives of children is far-reaching in its results. Since character-building is the aim of all school work, this little book contains in simple form a number of stories intended to teach perseverance, obedience, truthfulness, and love. While it is the primary purpose of these stories to hold the attention of the pupil, the author has tried to make them the medium for teaching those great truths which will help the pupils in our primary grades to become like Him who said, "Suffer little children to come unto me." THE AUTHOR. |