XXVI.
Let the girls having something brown about them impersonate brown birds. Ex.: Brown eyes; brown ribbons; brown dresses. Have them read the sentences silently and then perform the action. By a gentle movement of the arms the birds are represented as flying.
| Play you are brown birds, girls. | ||
| Fly, pretty brown birds. | ||
| Sing, pretty brown birds. |
Let the boys having something black about them impersonate blackbirds. Ex.: Black shoes; black clothing; black eyes.
| Play you are blackbirds, boys. | ||
| Hop, little blackbirds. | ||
| Fly, little blackbirds. |
Adapt the following lesson to suit the conditions by changing either the name or the color. Ex.: If there is a little girl in the room with a red ribbon whose name is not Mary, substitute the real name.
| Play you are a redbird, Mary. | ||
| You have a red ribbon. | ||
| You may sing, pretty redbird. |
XXVII.
Experience proves that a rapid and easy way for children to learn to read is by means of nursery rhymes and simple poems. The method of presenting a rhyme is as follows:
Have the children learn the rhyme by ear and repeat it aloud. Write the rhyme Two Little Blackbirds, on the board. (See Primer, page 23. In order that recognition may take place when the same rhymes are seen in print, carefully copy the arrangement of the text as found in the Primer.) Draw a pointer slowly under each line as the children repeat the rhyme. Do this several times until they begin to associate the spoken symbol with the written symbol. Children will soon recognize the elements most prominent.