Some children grasp the sentence form as unconsciously as they do the word form. If they fail to do so, teach the use of the capital letter.
Vary the lesson by introducing the names of children in the class, thus:
| Run and jump, Mary. | ||
| John, hop and jump. |
VII.
I can.
The phrase I can is next introduced. Write upon the blackboard the sentence I can run. Read it to the children. Have a child perform the action and then read the sentence aloud. Proceed in this way with other action sentences. Group the sentences in various ways and have frequent reviews.
| I can sing. | ||
| I can hop. | ||
| I can run and jump. | ||
| I can jump and hop. | ||
| I can hop, and run, and jump. |
The reading process consists of three steps:
| First: Silent reading. | ||
| Second: The thought expressed in action. | ||
| Third: Oral reading. |
After teaching the sentence as a whole, it should be analyzed into words. For instance, ask a child to pass to the blackboard and point to I can as many times as he finds it written. Point to run, etc. This may be varied by asking a child to underscore or erase the words that are alike.