COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set TIMIA OL AIMBOTILIAD PREFACE 1. THE distinctive feature of the Language Reader Series is that it includes in one book for each of the first six grades a considerable part of the work in English needed for the grade, except the supplementary reading. This plan may be defended by the arguments: (a) economy of time and money, and (b) efficiency in instruction. At the present time, when the curriculum has become unduly crowded, it is imperatively necessary that certain lines of the work should be unified. The close relation of reading, composition, spelling, etc., attained by viewing them definitely as only certain elements of the work in English, tends to reduce the confusion in the mind of the pupil. Teachers agree as to the value of good literature as the basis of the English work. But the classics are often either not related at all to the work in expression, or the relationship is indicated in a vague and desultory fashion. The Language Readers make the relationship close and vital, without killing the pupil's enjoyment of literature or rendering the work in expression pedantic. It is agreed, further, that the facts of language - both the definite things, such as spelling and sentence structure, and the indefinite things, such as the connotation of terms and discrimination between synonyms are not to be learned and fixed by one act of attention, but that we learn and relearn some of them by continued observation, and come to the knowledge of others by approximating steps. It follows that a plan of teaching English which gives the pupil the habit of observing the facts of language as he reads must be the best 5414044 guarantee of his permanent hold upon it and his continued growth in it. This idea is indeed not new. Books upon composition draw largely upon literature for their exercises, and reading books introduce - though timidly and incompletely -lessons in the study of language. The present series is an attempt to work out fully the idea toward which books of both classes have been tending in the past ten years. matter. 2. Each Reader has some dominating interest in its subjectIn the first two books, where the main problem is to teach the beginnings of reading, much must be sacrificed to interest and simplicity, and these books deal with simple story and poetry, mostly of folk tale and child life. In the third book, the dominant element is the fairy and folk tale; in the fourth, the animal story and the tale of adventure; in the fifth, the great myths of the world; and in the sixth, a selection of stories, poems, and essays, serving as an introduction to general literature. Great care has been taken that the books shall be good readers, independent of the language work introduced. The standards of good literature and the interests of the normal child have been kept in mind. The language work has been so handled as not to make it obtrusive in appearance or impertinent in comment; and the division of these two phases of the work makes it possible to treat them separately, where separate treatment is necessary for the preservation of the purely literary interest. 3. In grading the reading and language work, the editors have had the assistance of able and experienced teachers from both public and private schools. The language work increases in importance in the higher grades. As repetition is an important element in instruction, the editors have not hesitated. to bring in certain facts more than once; and for the same reason reviews and summaries are inserted. As has been stated, the reading material in this volume has been so selected as to serve as an introduction to general literature. We have drawn most largely upon literature which presents ideals of heroism-in prose fiction, history, biography, travels, and the ballad; but we have included also a large amount of nature poetry and material appropriate for the celebration of the various holidays. These selections have been carefully graded and grouped with reference to interests, in order to secure continuity of thought. In the composition lessons the object has been to give pupils a very definite aim in each written exercise, proceeding logically from sentence to paragraph study, and then to the writing of whole compositions. We have also guarded against monotony by giving a great variety of exercises, both oral and written. The grammar lessons cover the maximum amount ordinarily to be expected from a Sixth Grade class. NEW YORK CITY, July, 1905. THE AUTHORS. |