The Ontario Readers.
THIRD READER.
AUTHORIZED FOR USE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
OF ONTARIO BY THE MINISTER OF
EDUCATION.
TORONTO:
THE W. J. GAGE COMPANY (Limited).
Entered according to Act of the Parliament ofCanada in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture by the Ministerof Education for Ontario, in the year of our Lord one thousand eighthundred and eighty-five.
The plan of the Third Reader is the same as that of the Second, withthe exception that a few historical lessons have been introduced, and twolessons which may serve as an introduction to Physical Science. Thebotanical lessons supplement those given in the Second Reader. These, andthe lessons on Canadian trees, and all lessons relating to things in nature,should be made the subjects of conversation between the teacher and hisclass, and should form a basis for scientific instruction. The pupils should beled to study nature directly. To this end they should be required to obtain(wherever possible) the natural objects which are described in the lessons,and to examine them, and to form opinions for themselves concerning them.
Similarly, every lesson should form the subject of conversation—beforereading, during the progress of the reading, and after reading:—the teachereliciting from his pupils clear statements of their knowledge of it, correctingany wrong notions they may have of it, throwing them back upontheir own experience or reading, and leading them to observe, compare,and judge, and to state in words the results of their observations,comparisons, and judgments. Some of these statements should be writtenon the blackboard, and then be made the subject of critical conversation;others might be written by the pupils at their desks, and afterwards bereviewed in class. In this incidental teaching, it should be the teacher’s aimto develop the previous imperfect knowledge of the pupils concerning alesson into a full and complete knowledge. This can best be effected byjudicious questioning and conversation.
The illustrations of the lessons, as in the Second Reader, are intended toaid the pupils in obtaining real conceptions of the ideas involved in thelessons. Children vary greatly in capacity for imagination. It is essential,however, to the proper understanding of a lesson, and hence to the properreading of it, that a child be able to imagine the persons, actions, objects,described in it. The illustrations will aid in developing this power ofimagination, and the teacher by his questions and appropriate criticisms,and by a judicious use of his own greater knowledge and experience, willaid still more in developing it.
In the poetry great care has been taken to select not only such pieces aschildren can easily comprehend, but also such as are in themselves goodliterature. Many old favorites have been retained, their worth as readinglessons having been proved with generations of school children. In thereading of poetry the teacher must constantly assure himself that thepupils clearly understand what they read. Children have a natural ear for[4]rhythm, and a fondness for rhyme. Hence they easily learn to read versebeing insensibly charmed by its melody. But they cannot, with equalfacility, comprehend the poetical meanings, the terse expressions, and theinverted constructions, with which verse abounds. Much more time, therefore,should b