OXFO FOURTH STANDARD OF EXAMINATION, ACCORDING TO THE NEW CODE OF REGULATIONS, 1871. Reading. A few lines of Poetry or Prose. Writing.-A sentence slowly dictated once, by a few words at a time, from a Reading-book used in the First Class of the School. Arithmetic. Compound Rules (common Weights and *** The Weights and Measures taught in Public Elementary Schools should be only such as are really useful-such as Avoirdupois Weight, Long Measure, Liquid Measure, Time Table, Square and Cubical Measures, and any Measure which is connected with the industrial occupations of the district. The "FOURTH MANCHESTER READER" has been specially prepared to meet the requirements of the New Code of 1871, for those who offer themselves for examination in the Fourth Standard, which is similar to the Fifth Standard of the now obsolete Revised Code. The Reading Lessons consist for the most part of poetry, selected from the writings of the best English poets-or poets who have written in the English language, whether their nationality be British or American. The poems, or portions of poems, that have been selected are for the most part simple in character, and calculated in every way to suit the intellectual capacity of the children in whose hands they will be placed. No attempt has been made to add a quantity of extraneous matter to each lesson on subjects more or less intimately connected with the lesson itself, as it has been thought better to leave it to the pupil to do this for himself, under the guidance of the teacher, who, being the best judge of the special capabilities of each child, or the average capacity of the class before him, can better determine what annotations ought to be made, and what explanations should be given about persons, places, things, and phrases occurring in the subject matter of a lesson, than anyone who has no personal knowledge of the class under tuition. Among the poems given in this volume will be found selections from Scott, Byron, Campbell, Cowper, Southey, Rogers, Crabbe, Longfellow, and many other poets of repute; while several prose lessons in Biography, History, Science, Geography, and Natural History; with two or three pieces of fiction, healthy in tone, and affording a wholesome lesson to boys who will shortly be called to enter on the more serious duties of life, have been interspersed among them. When an extract has been made from the works of a well-known author, the name has been given, and a few particulars added with regard to the dates of birth and death, and the names of some of his or her best known productions. Some directions have been appended to a few of the early Reading Lessons respecting the proper names of persons and places that occur in them, advising the entry of such particulars as the teacher may think of use and interest in a note-book. Although these directions are discontinued after a while, to prevent repetition, the remark made at the end of the first lesson must be regarded as being applicable to all. The Spelling Lessons are longer than those which have been prefixed to the Reading Lessons in the previous volumes of this series: the words of two or more syllables have been accented, to show the pronunciation of each; while in most cases, instead of one equivalent or synonym, according to the sense of the context, being given as the meaning of any word, two or more meanings have been given, care being taken to select such equivalents as are closest in accordance with the interpretation that has been clearly intended by the author. Some separate Exercises in Dictation, each conveying a useful lesson, have been appended, many teachers preferring to read short sentences and paragraphs of the kind introduced, instead of selecting a portion of any of the Reading Lessons. In addition to these, some Exercises in Word Building have been given, to practice the pupil in the methods by which English words have been constructed from Latin roots. A list of Prefixes and Affixes will be found towards the end of the volume. The Exercises in Arithmetic must be used rather as home-tests of the progress of the pupil in this branch of learning than as a series affording sufficient practice in all the Compound Rules required of Candidates for Examination in the Fourth Standard, according to the New Code. A summary of the Tables of Measures of Weight, Length, Area, Capacity, and Time has been given at the end of the volume. For the Drawing Copies some lessons in Simple Practical Geometry have been substituted in this volume, necessarily limited in extent, it is true, but sufficient for elementary purposes. |