OPENING EXERCISES. PROF. C. H. GURNEY. Every Opening Exercise should be (1), brief; (2), interesting and attractive; (3), appropriate and preparatory to the work of the pupil; (4), educative and elevating-teaching a good lesson. Beginnings are regarded with much interest. The beginning of each school day should be a matter of constant interest to every teacher. A day well and pleasantly begun is likely to be a pleasant and successful day, and to have a pleasant and successful close. The following are suggested as appropriate Opening Exercises, and also as tending to give variety and interest. (1) Responsive Readings by teacher and school. (2) Singing. (3) Music of any kind. (4) Prayer. (5) Learning mottos and short standard selections. (6) Select reading by teacher or pupils. (7) Carefully prepared moral lessons. (8) Reading Scriptures. (9) The teacher and each student giving a sentiment upon some selected topic, as, patriotism, charity, etc. (10) The teacher and each student giving a quotation beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet. (11) Devotional exercises, conducted by the minister or some patron of the school. (12) Familiar talks by teacher and pupils upon mutual rights and duties. (13) Commemorating the birthdays of eminent (14) Recital of interesting facts in History, Science, or Literature. (15) Giving account of current events of preceding day. SELF-EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS. 1. Name the subjects of study included in the primary grades of school. 2. Name the studies embraced in the grammar grades. 3. Which subjects rank first in importance? 4. How will proper instruction in this subject affect other studies. 5. What subject should always be connected with history? Why? 6. What subject should be frequently connected with geography. 7. With what subjects should spelling be connected? Why? 8. Write a few thoughts on each of the following topics: Attention to details, praise, rewards and punishments. 9. Name five aids to good discipline. 10. Read the biography of some great educator and outline the subject from memory. LESSONS IN SUPPLEMENTARY READING. Pupils learn to read by reading just as they learn to talk by talking. Teachers should give pupils plenty to read. There is not enough reading in the ordinary text-books on reading; they must be supplemented with other good reading matter, another textbook of the same grade, a special supplementary reader, classics for children, or something interesting from other sources. The pupil is expected to spend a year or even two years in the study of a reader which the teacher can read through in one or two hours. No wonder pupils lose interest in the study of reading; the pieces are all old, they can repeat half of them from memory. It is necessary for children to read a great deal to acquire that facility of expression which will enable them to perform the merely mechanical operation of reading without conscious effort. The mind should be entirely free to concentrate itself on the subject-matter. Now, since it is not natural for them to apply themselves closely enough and long enough to accomplish this work, we should aid them by supplying an abundance of interesting material. Below we give two lessons, one for third reader grade and one for fourth reader grade. The teacher can divide the articles into paragraphs and pass the NORMAL MONTHLY from pupil to pupil to read at sight, the other members of the class to give attention so as to be able to reproduce from memory the part heard read: LESSON SELECTED FOR THIRD READER GRADE. NATHAN HALE. In the role of our country's heroes, no name shines brighter than that of Nathan Hale. This noble young soldier was a captain in the American army at a time when we were at war with the English. George Washington, who was the leader of the American armies, wished very much to find out the position of the English army, and just how strong it was. Nathan Hale felt that it was his duty to do all he could for his native land, and offered to go into the enemy's camp and find out all that General Washington wanted to know. Putting off his captain's dress, and disguising himself as well as he could, this brave young man crossed over to Long Island, and made his way into the midst of the English camp. He looked at all their forts and made drawings of them; and learned much about what the English commander General Howe, was thinking of doing. He then started to return, but he was taken prisoner and carried before the English general. When Hale saw that his purpose was known, he frankly told who he was and what he had come for; and General Howe ordered him to be hung as a spy. But was he a spy? When we speak of a spy, we think of one who, for pay, enters the camp of an enemy to learn its secrets. In this meaning Nathan Hale was no spy. For, why did he offer himself for this service? For pay? No! for duty,—for love of his country.. The order of the British general was carried out the next morning, and poor Hale was treated most cruelly. Every favor was denied him. General Howe would not permit the young American to see a clergyman, nor even to have a Bible. But a high, a holy feeling upheld the brave youth in his last hour. With almost joyous step he walked to the place of death, and with his last breath, spoke these words-words that will never die: “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." The Romans had a saying "It is sweet to die for one's native land. But the speech of young Hale was finer than that, for he wished that he had many lives to give for his country. LESSON SELECTED FOR FOURTH READER GRADE. AN ICEBERG. It was about two o'clock, and we had just got through dinner, when the cook put his head down the scuttle, and told us to come on deck and see the finest sight we had ever beheld, "Where away, cook?" asked the first man who went up. "On the larboard bow, sir;" and there, floating in the ocean several miles off, lay an immense irregular mass, its tops and points covered with snow, and its center of a deep indigo-color. It was an iceberg, one of the largest size, and must have been from two to three miles in circumference, and several hundred feet in height. As far as the eye could reach, in every direction was the open sea. It was of a deep-blue color, with the waves running fresh and high, and sparkling in the light, and in its midst lay this vast mountainous island of ice, its cavities and valleys thrown into deep shade and its points and pinnacles glittering in the sun. All hands were soon on deck, admiring its beauty and grandeur, of which no description can give a full idea. The main mass of the body was as I have said, of an indigo-color, which as it grew thin and transparent toward the edges and tops, shaded off to the whiteness of snow. Its base was incrusted with frozen foam. The roar of the waves as they dashed upon it, breaking high with foam; its slow motion, as its base rose and sank in the water, and its high points nodded against the clouds; the thundering sound of the huge masses breaking away and plunging heavily into the sea, together with its nearness and approach—which added a slight element of fear-all combined to give it the character of true sublimity. It was in sight all the afternoon, and seemed to be drifting slowly toward the north. We kept well away and avoided it, but at sunset, as we got to the leeboard of it, the wind died away, so that we lay-to quite near for the greater part of the night. Unfortunately, there was no moon, but it was a clear night, and we could plainly mark the slow, regular heaving of the gigantic mass as it moved up and down against the starlit sky. Toward morning a strong breeze sprang up, so we filled away and left it astern, and by daylight it was out of sight. NOTE.-The teacher should see that the pupils understand the meaning of such words and phrases as the following: Indigo, cavities, incrusted, leeward, larboard, scuttle, grandeur, sublimity, mountainous; where away, in which direction; astern, at the stern, behind; all hands, everbody; filled away, opened the sails to the wind and sailed away; on the larboard side, to leeward, well away, lay-to. FRACTIONS MADE EASY. Why is the subject of fractions a stumbling block to so many teachers and pupils? Because the teacher does not present fractions in their "sweet simplicity" and the pupils do not comprehend the nature of the fraction and the principles which govern its changes. If the pupil understands simple division, the teacher can easily explain to him that the fraction indicates division, that its terms correspond to the terms dividend and divisor in division and that the value of the fraction is the quotient. The operations in fractions are governed by the same principles which govern operations in division. Three general principles if properly explained and illustrated by the teacher and comprehended by the pupil will clear away all difficulty in dealing with the entire subject of fractions. The nature of the fraction being like division, all the changes in the term of a fraction will effect the value of the fraction according to the "General Principle of Division," as shown in the following excellent illustration from the Second book of Fish's Arithmetic: 4X2 6 I 4 II III 6÷2 = = 8 1. The value of each fractional unit remains the same 6 but the number of units is twice as large. 4 3 2. The value of each fractional unit is twice as large, but the number of units remains the same. Hence, In both cases, the value of the fraction is multiplied. 4÷2 6 4 6X2 = = 2 1. The value of each fractional unit remains the same, 6 but the number of units is one-half as many. 4 2. The value of each fractional unit is one-half as large, 12 but the number of units remains the same. Hence In both cases, the value of the fraction is divided. 4X2 8 1. The value of each fractional unit is only one-half as 12 large, but the number of units is twice as many. 6X2 4÷2 = 2 2. The value of each fractional unit is twice as large, 6÷2 3 but the number of units is one-half as many. Hence, = In either case, the value of the fraction is not changed. From these illustrations we deduce the three general principles of fractions. I. Multiplying the numerator, or II. Dividing the numerator, or III. Multiplying or dividing both } Multiplies the fraction. } Divides the fraction. Does not change the value of the fraction. ETYMOLOGICAL SPELLING.-HOW TO TEACH The following is a specimen exercise from Swinton's Model Blanks, No. 4. The suffixes are given and defined at the left, a list of twelve root words is given. The pupil is to write the root words in the proper column, add the proper suffix and write it in the derivative column, then define the derivative word, writing the definition in the column for definition: |