DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

PROGRAMME OF STUDIES.

Standards I-V.

This programme is based on a minimum requirement for each standard. It is prescribed by the Department of Education as a guide in classifying pupils. It may be modified to meet the needs of special schools but not without the written consent of an inspector who shall forthwith report to the department. The work in each standard

includes a review of the essentials in previous standards.

It shall be the duty of each teacher to make a time table based on this programme, and to present it to the inspector at each visit for his approval and signature.

READING AND LITERATURE.

Silent reading is used to obtain ideas and thoughts through printed or written words-to comprehend the subject matter as a whole and to grasp the significance of the parts, as well as to discover and appreciate beauties of thought and expression.

Oral reading is used to express these ideas and thoughts so as to be heard, understood and felt. It involves systematic training in the principal elements of expression-quality of voice, pitch, force, time, stress, inflection, emphasis, pause.

Supplementary reading is used to furnish additional reading matter; to provide reading collateral to the studies in nature, geography, history, literature, etc.; to cultivate a taste for good literature. Its use is optional.

Sight reading in silence is used to give power to glean thought quickly and intelligently from the printed page. It is followed by logical statement, in the pupil's own words, of what he has gleaned.

Selections of poetry and prose inculcating reverence, love of country, love of nature and admiration of moral courage are to be com mitted to memory and recited.

Standard I.

Authorised First Readers. Authorised Supplementary Readers.

Standard II.

Authorised Second Readers. Authorised Supplementary Readers.

Standard III.

Authorised Third Reader. Authorised Supplementary Readers..

Standard IV.

Authorised Fourth Reader. Authorised Suplementary Readers.

Standard V.

READING: A general knowledge of the subject matter of all the prose selections in the New Canadian Reader, Book V. These selections except those prescribed for literature are for independent supplementary reading rather than for study. Practice in oral reading.

LITERATURE: Intelligent comprehension of and familiarity with the authorised selections from the New Canadian Reader, Book V, with memorisation of the finest passages.

ORTHOEPY AND SPELLING.

Much attention should be given to accurate pronunciation. Pupils of the third, fourth and fifth standards should have constant practice in finding the pronunciation and meaning of words from the dictionary.

Special drills should be given on such words as are in their nature difficult to spell, and such as have been frequently misspelled in compositions. Pupils should not be drilled on the spelling of words which they may seldom if ever have occasion to use.

Standard I.

PartI: Phonic analysis and synthesis, copying words, oral spelling.

Part II: Phonic analysis and synthesis, oral and written spelling of such words in each lesson as the pupil can learn while mastering the reading matter; transcription, dictation, uses of capital letters and terminal punctuation marks.

Standard II.

Phonic analysis and synthesis; transcription; oral and written spelling of such words in each lesson as the pupil can learn while mastering the subject matter-words to be arranged so far as possiblein groups according to similarity in form; dictation; careful attention to spelling in all written exercises; uses of capital letters, terminal punctuation marks, quotation marks.

Standard III.

Careful attention to spelling in all written work; exercises as in previous standards; division of words into syllables, and marking the accent; common abbreviations and contractions; simple synonyms.

Standard IV.

Exercises as in previous standards; a few helpful rules of spelling formulated inductively; meaning of common prefixes and suffixes.

Standard V.

Careful attention to spelling in all written work; division of words into syllables and marking the accent; abbreviations and contractions; synonyms; meaning of common prefixes and suffixes; derivation and composition of words, exercises being confined mainly to words which have English primitives.

COMPOSITION.

(a) Composition should consist almost entirely of expressions of thoughts evolved in the teaching of such studies as geography, history, agriculture, literature, etc. (b) Through progressive exercises both critical and constructive the pupils should be led to discover and apply the leading principles and maxims of expression. Only the most important errors should be corrected in any one composition.

Standard I.

Brief oral and written expressions, in complete sentences, of simple thoughts suggested by observation of objects, animals, plants and pictures; narration of personal experiences; reproduction of the substance of the lessons in reading, etc.

Standard II.

(a) Brief, oral and written description of observed objects, animals, plants and pictures; narration of personal experiences; reproduction of the substance of the lessons in reading, history, etc; simple letter writing.

(b) Combining thoughts into a simple sentence; mechanics of composition-heading, margins, etc.

Standard III.

(a) Correct oral expression of thoughts evolved in the teaching of all subjects; brief, accurate and legibly written expression of these thoughts; the paraphrase.

(b) Sentence structure in outline; use of the paragraph; forms letters, accounts and receipts; drills to correct the chief errors revealed in written expression.

Standard IV.

(a) Correct oral expression of thoughts evolved in the teaching of all subjects; brief, accurate and legibly written expression of these thoughts; the summary (abstract); social and business letters.

(b) Sentence structure; paragraph structure in outline; drill to correct the chief errors revealed in written expression.

Standard V.

The structure of the sentence and paragraph; the abstract, paraphrase and theme; social and business letters. Candidates for examination will be required to write a short composition on some familiar subject which may be chosen from the course prescribed in Reading.

GRAMMAR.

Grammar shows the structure of language. By revealing the rules of sentence-building it helps the pupil in using correctly the forms of speech which the necessities of expression require.

Through the logical forms of subject, predicate and modifier, it reveals the essential nature of thought, and is an aid to the more thorough understanding of reading lessons.

The teaching of formal grammar should be brought into close connection with the work in reading and composition. Routine parsing and minute analysis should be avoided.

Standard I.

Oral collection of colloquial errors.

Standard II.

Correction of colloquial errors; division of sentence into subject and predicate.

Standard III.

Correction of errors in the language used by pupils. Kinds of sentences assertive, interrogative, etc.; purpose of each. Parts of speech, phrases, clauses-their functions and places in the sentence. General analysis as an aid in getting the ideas in a sentence, and learning what words, and groups of words, do in the expression of thought.

Standard IV.

Correction of errors in the language used by pupils. Kinds of sentences-simple, compound, etc.; purpose of each. Division of the parts of speech according to use; inflection in outline. General analysis. used as a means of discovering the relation and position of ideas in a

sentence.

Standard V.

An intelligent comprehension of the prescribed text.

HISTORY.

Training of the moral judgment, and preparation for intelligent citizenship are important aims in teaching history. History should be associated with geography and literature-historical poems, etc.

Standard II.

Biography--Lives of distinguished men described, e.g.: Columbus, the Cabots, Jacques Cartier, Champlain, Bishop Laval, Frontenac, La Salle, Montcalm, Wolfe, Sir Guy Carleton, Lyon Mackenzie, Papineau, Joseph Howe, Alexander Mackenzie, Sir John Macdonald, etc. Discussion of the chief excellences and defects in their characters to teach moral discriminations and ultimately to derive principles of conduct.. Reading and reciting of patriotic poems.

Standard III.

Canadian History-Outline study of leading features, e.g.: discovery; exploration; struggle between the French and English colonists; Treaty of Paris; Quebec Act; Constitutional Act; War of 1812; Rebellion of 1837; Union Act; Clergy Reserves; Land tenuresfeudal, freehold, leasehold, seignorial; Reciprocity Treaty; British North America Act, etc.

English History-Biography of persons honoured as types of state or individual life, e.g.: Caractacus, Julius Caesar, Arthur, Alfred, Canute, William I, Simon de Montford, Edward I, Wolsey, Elizabeth, Charles I, John Hampden, Oliver Cromwell, Marlborough, Pitt, Nelson, Wellington, Lord John Russell, Victoria, etc. Discussion of their deeds to train moral judgment and incidentally to teach patriotism and civic duty. Reading and reciting patriotic selections.

In this standard the presentation is to be oral, no text being prescribed. After the lesson supplementary reading should be encouraged.

Standard IV.

Canadian History-The text studied as a review and expansion of the topics discussed in the previous standards.

English History-Outline study of each people or period to exhibit its chief characteristics, e.g.: Saxons-a farmer people; brought with them the germs of political institutions-a limited monarchy, parliament, courts of justice, personal holdings of lands; gave us the body of our English tongue; became Christians from choice. The presentation of this outline is to be oral. Supplementary reading in history should be encouraged.

Standard V.

Canadian History---The leading events of Canadian history with particular attention to events subsequent to 1840.

English History-The outlines of English history.

GEOGRAPHY.

Standard I.

Direction: Position of the sun in the morning, at noon, in the evening: cardinal points of the compass; location of familiar places and objects, by pointing with the hand and naming the direction.