The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 23

Standard I

Standard I.

Reading( 1).—Sentences composed of words of one syllable, and common words of two syllables, to be read intelligently.

Spelling.—Easy words of one syllable.

Writing.—The small letters and the ten figures, on slate, at dictation.

Arithmetic( 2).—Counting, and oral addition by twos, threes, fours, and fives, up to 100; numeration and notation to 999; addition sums of not more than three columns; multiplication of numbers not exceeding 999 by 2, 3, 4, and 5. [ Note.—The numeration must be applied to the addition and multiplication, and the multiplication known to be a compendious method of addition.]

Object-lessons, Singing, Disciplinary Exercises, &c.( 3)—As prescribed in Regulation 9.

1 The reading is to be intelligent. A monotonous utterance of words in the order in which they appear on the printed page is not reading. The sentence is the unit of thought, and of reading. The pupil must be able to recognise the thought expressed in a sentence, as he would if he heard the writer utter it, and to express the thought with his own voice as if he were reporting what lie had heard. Until he can do this he does not know what a book is, and has no sufficient conception of the use of the arts of writing and reading; and unless he be taught to do this, with intonation and emphasis suited to the thought, he will acquire a bad habit of stringing words together without regard to their meaning, and a false manner of which it may be impossible to break him. Most teachers err in allowing children to read books that are above their comprehension. If a child of eight years old can read with propriety a composition that he can understand, it may be said that he has learnt to read; and as his knowledge of things and terms is enlarged he will, under proper guidance, be able to apply to new and more difficult matter the power that he has already acquired.

2 The arithmetic for Standard I. deals only with small quantities, such as can be presented to the children's view in concrete forms, and be brought within the range of their understanding. The addition by twos, threes, fours, and fives, up to 100, can be illustrated by the ball-frame. It should be so taught as to lead to a knowledge of our system of reckoning by tens. The multiplication table (not required beyond "five times" for this standard) may be illustrated in the same way. The children should be made to see that it represents the addition of equal numbers, and expresses the results in so many tens and so many units. Of course the multiplication table must be learnt; but it will be easier and more interesting if the pupil understands what it means. The understanding of the principle of reckoning by tens will render the learning of addition and multiplication an intelligent process. * It is of great importance to show the pupil that multiplication is only a compendious form of addition of equal quantities.

* Advice to Young Teachers.—If the ball frame has 144 balls, use only ten rows of ten balls each. To illustrate the addition of the numbers 3, 4, 2, 5, 3, 5, proceed in some such way as the following:—Write the numbers on the black-board. Show three balls and four balls on the top wire. Have them counted separately (three and four), and then put them together and have them counted (seven). Show two more on the same row, and let the children count again (nine). Now, taking up the next number (5), show that of the first row of ten one only is left, and make up the number by setting aside four from the next wire. Have the whole (14) counted, and explain that fourteen is ten and four, and that it is also four and ten. Show three more on the second wire, and have the seventeen counted and recognised as ten and seven, and also as seven and ten. Finish the exercise by showing that for the last number (5) you must use the three remaining on the second wire, together with two from the next below, and that when all are counted there are twenty-two, that is two tens and two units, or two units and two tens. In the same way, if you are teaching the "four-times" table, show four balls, and a second four; and when you come to three fours let the children see that you must go beyond the first row of ten and take two from the next, so that three fours amount to ten and two or two and ten, that is, to twelve; and so on. To illustrate notation beyond two places use loose beads for units, beads made into strings of ten each for tens, and mats of ten strings each for hundreds; or let the units be represented by small squares of paper or card-board, the tons by strips of ten small squares each, and the hundreds by large squares of ten strips (one hundred small squares) each. Then if 117, 117, and 117 are to be added together, the sum may be written on the black-board as an ordinary addition sum, and at the same time the three numbers may be represented on the table by three groups of beads, each group consisting of one "mat," one "string," and seven loose beads. Putting all the beads together, the teacher will first have the loose beads counted, and twenty of them exchanged for two strings. There will then be three mats, five strings, and one loose bead, and the sum worked out in the ordinary way will give the corresponding result, 351. The operation can then be varied by working, as a multiplication sum, 117 multiplied by 3. The pupils should be accustomed from a very early stage to deal with concrete problems, such as the following:—1. A boy has sixteen marbles given him; he buys twenty-four, and wins fifteen: how many has he altogether? 2. A man has three houses; he lets one for £106 a-year, another for £92, and the third for £65: how much does the yearly rent of the three houses come to? 3. There is a school with 196 "boys," 189 "girls," and 217 "infants:" how many are there in the school?

3 For remarks on object-lessons, &c., see note following upon section 9.