All this work may be given from the blackboard.

Some teachers will probably prefer to have the child read through the primer before attempting to apply the knowledge of letter sounds and phonic analysis that he has gained. Such teachers will rightly consider it as more important than anything else that the child be led to regard the book as a storehouse of attractive stories, and each sentence as expressing a thought which he can get and express again. But when this object is attained the teacher will be wise to let the child find out how he may help himself to the thought getting by the power the initial letter gives him of “feeling for” the new word, and later by the power the jingles give him of “making sure” of the words.

The author has found that a vocabulary limited in quantity is a sufficient impediment to writing interesting stories for young children. She has, therefore, eschewed in the text any such sacrifice of sense to sound as would limit her vocabulary in quality also. She has, however, realized the value, in giving independence, of introducing simple phonics early. She has, therefore, taken advantage of the natural tendency of children to make and to repeat alliterations and rimes. In the interest of veracity, all attempts to beguile the child into believing that “Wag the rag in the bag” is either an interesting or an instructive “story” are avoided; it is frankly acknowledged to the child that the alliterations and rimes in this book are “nonsense-jingles” from the side of reason, though capable of affording enjoyment on the side of musical appreciation.