USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > Town annual reports of Acton, Massachusetts 1879-1894 > Part 36
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Copying. Pupils should be trained to grasp thoughts, not words only, at a glance, and to notice punctuation marks, capitals, etc.
Dictation. Dictate distinctly and but once.
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TOWN OF ACTON.
Reproduction. Train pupils to reproduce stories as truthfully as possible, in their own language.
Memory Gems. Throughout the course have pieces of appropriate prose and poetry committed to memory and recited.
Punctuation. Particular attention should be paid by each teacher to the different punctuation and other marks, required to be taught in the grades of which she has charge.
GRADE I.
Oral Lessons. Aim -to teach the children to express their thoughts in simple and correct forms.
Teach to use a and an ; is and are; was and were ; has and have; verbs, with singular and with plural subjects ; in, on, under, below, etc. Have picture lessons and reproduc- tions of stories.
Written Work. New words in reading lesson ; sentences from board or charts ; sentences containing given words ; sentences expressing observed facts ; days of the week and months of the year ; simple sentences from dictation.
Teach the use of the period and of the interrogation point at the end of a sentence ; the capital letter at the be- ginning of a sentence and in the names of persons ; I and O when written alone.
GRADE II.
Oral and written work throughout the year. Exercises in writing names of persons with residences; copying from blackboard and from reading books; short stories from pictures ; reproduction of short stories told by the teacher or from reading lesson ; abbreviations; dates ; observation lessons ; short stories dictated ; letters of one paragraph.
Teach to use this and that; these and those, etc .; the common irregular verbs ; the period in abbreviations; the possessive singular with apostrophe; the hyphen in.com,
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ANNUAL REPORTS
pound words ; the comma to separate the words of a series ; pronouns as subjects; pronouns as objects of transitive verbs ; adverbs.
GRADE III.
Oral and written work throughout the year. Daily work in short dictation exercises ; reproduction of stories, orally and in writing; stories from pictures; writing of short letters.
Teach to use such words as to, too, two; either, neither ; pronouns with was and were, and after is and was ; the ex- clamation point; the comma to separate the name of the person addressed from the rest of the sentence ; the hyphen in dividing words at the end of a line ; common contractions with the use of the apostrophe.
GRADE IV.
Oral and written work throughout the year. Teach forms and use of all the common irregular verbs; to use them in different tenses and in the active and the passive voice ; correct use of who and whom in questions ; of who, which and that ; quotations (direct and indirect) ; all com- mon abbreviations and contractions ; formation of the pos- sessive cases, singular and plural ; the plural forms of nouns ; the use of the comma in direct quotations and to separate the parts of a compound sentence ; the different uses of the period. Have reproduction of stories from memory ; letter writing, full form, and teach pupils to fold letters and ad- dress envelopes.
GRADE V.
Have stories from outlines ; paraphrasing ; reproduction, upon paper, of (a) facts from Nature studies ; (b) geogra- phy lessons ; (c) picture lessons ; (d) stories read or told by the teacher, or which the children have read silently. Prac-
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TOWN OF ACTON.
tice in changing from one of the four forms of the sentence to each of the others, with capitals and punctuation appro- priate to each. Copy short lessons from books. Dictate, frequently, exercises which include the use of the apostro- phe, quotation marks in divided quotations, abbreviations, and the more difficult forms of the plural nouns. Drill, frequently, on forms of irregular verbs, and the correct use of relative and interrogative pronouns. Continue letter writing.
Develop the idea of a sentence and give the definition. Teach classification of sentences with respect to their mean- ing, and define declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences. Give frequent practice in naming the subject and the predicate of sentences.
GRADE VI.
Continue work of preceding grade. Give thorough drill in writing business papers of all kinds. Require pupils to punctuate all written work.
Show that words have particular uses in sentences, that they are classified according to their uses, and that they are called parts of speech. Give frequent practice in naming the parts of speech in a sentence. Teach classification of sentences with respect to form and define simple, compound, and complex sentences.
GRADE VII.
Language. Continue work of preceding grade.
Grammar. Teach the different kinds of phrases ; the participle; the infinitive; modified subject and modified predicate; drill on transitive (active and passive) verbs ; intransitive (complete and incomplete) verbs ; attributive and objective complements ; analysis of simple sentences ; use of diagrams ; syntax of words,
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
GRADE VIII.
Continue and extend work of preceding grade. Teach punctuation of complex and compound sentences ; properties of the parts of speech ; analysis of easy complex and com- pound sentences, with substantive, adjective, and adverbial clauses. General review.
READING.
In primary reading, teach 1, the sentence; 2, words ; 3, phonics. When pupils know all the words of a reading lesson they are ready to exercise themselves in the two pro- cesses necessary for good reading, viz., grasp of thought and feeling and vocal expression of thought and feeling. Criti- cism should be directed in these two directions. Wrong emphasis shows the thought is not mastered. Help pupils to understand the thought by questioning them on the pieces to be read.
GRADE I.
First Term. Reading from the blackboard.
Second Term. Reading from the blackboard and the authorized First Reader.
Third Term. Reading from the first part of the author- ized First Readers and from the first part of the supplement- ary First Readers.
Phonetics begun this year and continued throughout the course.
GRADE II.
First Term. Authorized First Reader finished.
Second Term. Supplementary First Readers finished. Third Term. First part of authorized Second Reader, GRADE III.
First Term. Authorized Second Reader finished,
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TOWN OF ACTON.
Second Term. Supplementary Second Readers finished. Third Term. First part of authorized Third Readers.
GRADE IV.
Authorized Third Reader and supplementary Third Readers.
GRADE V.
Authorized Fourth Reader and supplementary reading.
GRADE VI-VIII.
Fifth Readers and supplementary reading.
SPELLING.
GRADE I.
Words copied from readers, charts, or blackboard ; oral spelling when the names of the letters are known; spelling by sound.
GRADE II.
Words selected from daily reading; oral and written spelling.
GRADES III-IV.
Words selected from reading lessons; common words frequently mis-spelled ; words from any of the school exer- cises ; work, oral and written.
GRADES V-VIII.
Oral and written spelling; written work chiefly in spell- ing blanks ; special lessons on geographical and historical names ; in oral spelling, have syllables indicated by a pause or by pronounciation.
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ANNUAL REPORTS
WRITING.
Pay particular attention to the position of the body and the holding of the pen. The special work of the primary grades should be (1) the making of the single letters, (2) combining them into simple words; that of the other grades, arm movements.
GRADES I-II.
Small letters, capital letters, and easy words.
GRADES III-IV.
Drill in making letters ; short words and easy sentences ; easy arm movements ; begin use of the pen.
GRADES V-VIII.
Arm movements ; sentences from dictation ; copy book exercises.
ARITHMETIC.
GRADE I.
Number 1 to 10 inclusive; counting, notation, numera- tion, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division ; frac- tions, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4; Roman numerals to X; cent, two-cent piece, nickel, dime ; day, week, month ; pint, quart, gallon, peck ; inch, foot (as a whole), yard.
GRADE II.
Numbers 1 to 20; notation 1 to 50; fractions 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, 1-8, 1-9, 1-10 ; Roman numerals to XX; foot, square foot (as a whole), square yard ; ounce, pound ; dozen, score ; year,
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TOWN OF ACTON.
GRADE III.
Numbers 1 to 100; multiplication with two figures in the multiplicand and one in the multiplier ; division with two figures in the dividend and one in the divisor ; fractions 1-11, 1-12; decimals to tenths, four processes; U. S. money ; Roman numerals to C; tables of length, liquid measure, dry measure, time, weight.
GRADE IV.
Numbers to 1000; multiplication and division with not more than two places in the multiplier and the divisor ; Ro- man numerals to M; addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of common fractions to twentieths, of decimals to hundredths ; much practice in measuring lengths ; in buy- ing and selling, making change, etc. Begin percentage. In compound numbers extend work of preceding grade. Oral exercises to accompany written arithmetic.
GRADE V.
Arabic and Roman notation; review of the fundament- al rules ; U. S. money continued ; factors and multiples of easy numbers ; reduction, addition, subtraction, multiplica- tion, and division of fractions, decimal and common; oral exercises throughout the year; percentage continued ; easy examples in interest (years) ; simple work in finding areas of surfaces and contents of solids.
GRADE VI.
Complete notation ; greatest common divisor; least common multiple ; factors ; reduction of common fractions to decimals, and of decimals to common fractions ; continue
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ANNUAL REPORTS
work of preceding grade in common fractions and decimals ; compound numbers, except longitude and time, finished ; percentage ; interest (years and months).
GRADE VII.
Percentage and its applications including simple inter- est ; factors, multiples, common fractions, decimals, and com- pound numbers reviewed ; oral exercies throughout the year.
GRADE VIII.
Problems in interest ; partial payments ; compound in- terest ; commercial discount ; bank discount; ratio and pro- portion ; longitude and time ; powers and roots ; mensura- tion.
GEOGRAPHY.
GRADE I.
Teach points of compass (eight), Have oral lessons on the seasons, the air, wind, rain, snow, hail, thunder, light- ning ; hills, valleys ; springs, brooks, rivers, ponds, lakes (of the neighborhood).
GRADE II.
Oral lessons on the sky, clouds ; dew, frost ; the hori- zon ; sunrise, sunset, the sun at noon ; kinds of soil, (sandy, etc.).
Home Geography. The hills, direction of slopes, etc. ; the streams, source, banks, branches, mouth, direction of flow, etc.
Teach idea of map by a plan of school-room and yard on the blackboard.
.
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TOWN OF ACTON.
GRADE III.
Home geography, following outline given in the State course of study ; county ; oral lessons on town government.
GRADE IV.
First Term, Massachusetts. Second Term, New England. Third Term, United States. Oral lessons on county govern- ment.
GRADE V.
First and Second Terms. The earth as a whole, and the continents, following the outline given in the State course. Third Term, North America.
GRADE VI.
First Term, South America. Second Term, Africa. Third Term, Europe.
GRADE VII.
First Term, Oceanica. Second Term, Asia. Third Term, North America.
GRADE VIII.
First Term, Massachusetts and New England. Second Term, United States. Third Term, General review.
HISTORY.
GRADES I-IV.
Selected stories to be read to the pupils by the teacher.
GRADE V.
Have pupils read stories of American history. Oral lessons on state government.
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ANNUAL REPORTS
GRADE VI.
Work of preceding grade continued. History of Massa- chusetts.
GRADE VII.
Formal study of United States history. The authorized text book from the beginning of the book through the Revo- lutionary War. Oral lessons on national government.
GRADE VIII.
From the close of the Revolution to the present time. Oral lessons on national government.
PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE.
GRADE I.
Body as a Whole : Correct position ; blood ; breathing ; the senses.
GRADE II.
Parts of the Body : Their names, uses, and care, espec- ially of the eyes, ears, nose, and teeth.
GRADE III.
Elementary ideas of digestion ; necessity of thoroughly masticating the food ; wholesome and unwholesome food.
GRADE IV.
Elementary ideas of the circulation of the blood; of respiration ; lessons on the skin, muscles, tendons, fat, bones, joints, ligaments, cartilage, nerves, blood-vessels.
GRADE V.
The Digestive System. Lessons on the internal organs and needs of the body.
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TOWN OF ACTON.
GRADE VI.
The Circulatory System. The Respiratory System. GRADE VII.
The Muscular System. The Skin. The Nervous Sys- tem.
GRADE VIII.
The Bony System. General review.
Lessons on stimulants and narcotics throughout the course.
Drawing and Nature study is in the State course of study.
REFERENCE BOOK ACTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY, ACTON MASSACHUSETTS 01720
W ELLS BINDERY ALTHAM, MASS, APRIL 1947
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