SECOND YEAR
FIRST WEEK
Monday
To be copied and memorized by the pupils:
THE WORLD’S MUSIC
The world’s a very happy place,
Where every child should dance and sing,
And always have a smiling face,
And never sulk for anything.
The world is such a happy place,
That children, whether big or small,
Should always have a shining face,
And never, never sulk at all.
—Selected
Tuesday
Have the children write answers, as complete sentences, to the following questions about “The World’s Music”:
What kind of place is the world?
What should every child have?
What should a child do?
What should a child never do?
Wednesday
Bring sufficient hickory nuts to the class so that each child can have one. If possible, have the nuts in the hulls. Ask the following questions, for the children to answer:
How many hulls on each nut?
What are the hulls for? (To protect the nut.)
What takes off the hulls when they are quite ripe? (The frost.)
Which is the blossom end of the nut, and which is the stem end?
Crack a hickory nut. What is there inside the shell?
Explain how the nut grows, to start a new tree.
Thursday
Copy these sentences, filling the blank spaces with is, or are:
A gray squirrel —— in the tree.
The squirrel —— fond of nuts.
The tree —— once the squirrel’s home.
Hickory nuts —— the squirrel’s food.
Friday
For dictation:
I am round.
I am red.
I am just a bit sour.
Would you like to eat me?
SECOND WEEK
Monday
Poem to be memorized.
Commit the first stanza of the poem to memory:
THE WONDERFUL WORLD
Great, wide, wonderful, beautiful world,
With the wonderful water around you curled,
And the wonderful grass upon your breast—
World, you are beautifully dressed!
The wonderful air is over me,
And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree;
It walks on the water and whirls the mills,
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.
You friendly Earth, how far do you go,
With wheat fields that nod, and rivers that flow,
With cities and gardens, and oceans and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles?
Ah, you are so great and I am so small,
I hardly can think of you, World, at all;
And yet, when I said my prayers to-day,
My mother kissed me, and said, quite gay:
“If the wonderful World is great to you,
And great to father and mother, too,
You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot,
You can love and think, and the Earth cannot!”
—William Brighty Rands
Tuesday
Commit to memory the second stanza of the poem.
Wednesday
Commit to memory the third stanza of the poem.
Thursday
Commit to memory the fourth stanza of the poem.
Friday
Finish learning the poem, and recite it all.
THIRD WEEK
Monday
The Post-Office.—What is a post-office? Who has charge of the post-office? Where is the post-office nearest your home? What do you see when you go to the post-office? How do you get your mail? Why do people write letters? How do letters go from one place to another? What is the stamp on a letter for? How much does it cost to send a letter? Who pays for sending a letter?
Tuesday
For dictation:
It is cold in the fall.
The wind blows hard.
The trees are bare.
The birds are gone.
I like fall, for I can play out-of-doors.
Wednesday
Write a letter to a friend, telling what Jack Frost does in the fall. Send the letter to your friend, directing the envelope properly, and putting the stamp in the right place.
Thursday
Bring to the class cards, each having on it the name of some animal, as cow, horse, elephant, dog, etc. Give a card to each pupil, and have him describe the animal named on his card, allowing the other children to guess what animal he is describing. For example: “I am not very large. I have a bushy tail. I live among the trees. I like to eat nuts. What am I?”
Friday
For dictation:
One day as Mr. Squirrel went up his tree to bed,
A very large hickory nut fell on his head.
“Although I am fond of nuts,” Mr. Squirrel then did say,
“I would very much rather they did not come that way.”
FOURTH WEEK
Monday
Tell this story to the children:
JACK FROST AND THE NUTS
Little Miss Chestnut and her two sisters lived up in a tree in a prickly green house. The house was as soft as velvet inside, but sharp spikes on the outside kept away the squirrels, who would have torn down the house if they could.
But soon Jack Frost came along. Jack does not mind fences, so he knocked at the door of the Chestnut house.
“Little Miss Chestnut,” he called, “are you ready to come out?”
But little Miss Chestnut replied, “I am not quite ready yet, Mr. Jack.”
So Jack went off to the house where Miss Hickory Nut lived. Miss Hickory Nut lived all alone in a round green cottage.
“Miss Hickory Nut,” he called “are you ready to come out?”
But Miss Hickory Nut replied, “I am not quite ready yet, Mr. Jack.”
So Jack went off to the low bush where Miss Hazel Nut lived in a soft green tent. Miss Hazel Nut was already peeping out.
“Miss Hazel Nut,” he called, “are you ready to come out?”
And little Miss Hazel Nut replied, “I am quite ready, Mr. Jack.”
So she dropped down and waited below the bush, while Jack went back after the other nuts.
Jack knocked once more at the chestnut house. Little Miss Chestnut opened the door so quickly that she and her sisters fell to the ground.
Then Jack knocked once more at the hickory house.
Miss Hickory Nut opened the door so quickly that her house fell apart.
And all the other nut houses opened, and all the nuts came out to see what was the matter.
The next day the children went for a walk. As they walked in the woods they spied the nuts.
“See,” they said, “the frost has opened the chestnut burrs, and all the other nuts must be out of the shucks.”
Tuesday
Have the children tell back to you the story of Jack Frost and the nuts.
Wednesday
Write five sentences about nuts.
Thursday
Write answers to the following questions:
What does Jack Frost do?
Where does he paint pictures? (On the window-pane.)
What colors does he paint the maple leaves?
What colors does he paint the hickory leaves?
Friday
Talk with the children about the way seeds are scattered. Bring to school various kinds of seeds, if these are available. How are dandelion seeds scattered? How are milkweed seeds scattered? How are burdock seeds scattered?