TYPOGRAPHICAL WASHOE CARSON CITY, NEVADA JOE FARNSWORTH, SUPERINTENDENT 1916 STATE PRINTING OFFICE 1915 AMENDMENTS TO ELEMENTARY COURSE OF STUDY AND TO 1914 AMENDMENTS As Republished in 1916 ¶Readjusting and eliminating some work in the ¶Specifically limiting the number of Prepared by the Deputy Superintendents working in conjunction CARSON CITY, NEVADA STATE PRINTING OFFICE : : JOE FARNSWORTH, SUPERINTENDENT 1916 FOREWORD This pamphlet is issued to cover necessary amendments to the 1912 Elementary Course of Study to provide for the text-books adopted by the State Text-Book Commission in June, 1915. It has not been considered advisable at the present time to make a complete revision of said course, as this can be done to much better advantage when the new books have been in use for some months. Such revision will be in order at or near the end of the school year 1915-1916. Wherever these amendments are in conflict with the 1912 Course of Study or the amendments of 1914, they supersede them; in all other cases these amendments parallel them, using such portions thereof as are applicable to the texts and to the supplementary and reference books provided by the Text-Book Commission and endorsed by the State Board of Education. It is essential that teachers shall acquaint themselves fully with the matter of this pamphlet, the reference to the 1912 Elementary Course of Study and the 1914 amendments thereto. This means that each teacher must carefully read every page hereof as well as all references to said 1912 course, regardless of the grades represented in the school. And it is even more essential that teachers shall thoroughly familiarize themselves with all books they are required to use. While these amendments were originally intended mainly for the rural schools (those having less than three teachers), any school may use them; and all schools having seventh and eighth grades are required to use them, unless specially excepted by the State Board of Education. Deputy Superintendents are hereby instructed promptly to supply the schools with this pamphlet of amendments as soon as received from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction; and they will see that the amendments are properly observed and carried out in the schools. This is a republication of the pamphlet as issued in 1915, with slight amendments. It is republished and sent out to the nonrural schools (elementary) as it has been found impossible to get out the course of study designed for them for the school opening in September, 1916, as originally planned. NOTE ON OPTIONAL ADOPTION Optional adoption, as understood and intended by the State TextBook Commission and as embodied in contracts with the publishers interested, places two or more books or two or more series of books on an equal basis of standing as text-books. Each district may therefore decide for itself-through its teacher or principal and trustees-which of two or more Optional adoptions it desires. Where a single book is Optional with another book (as in Physiology) but one of the two should be selected and used by a given district; and where a series of two or more books is Optional with another series (as in the case of the Wheeler Readers and the EdsenLaing Readers) but one series as a whole should be selected and used in that district. The Beacon Readers are the method readers for the primary grades, and must be first used. The Wheeler Readers and the Edsen-Laing Readers are Optional content readers, in series, and either series may follow in order the Beacon Readers in a given district. AMENDMENTS TO ELEMENTARY COURSE OF STUDY READING Teachers are asked to read the "Introduction to Reading" in the 1912 Course of Study and apply the principles and the directions found there to the work in reading where such applications are possible. First Grade Text-The Beacon Phonetic Chart. The Beacon Reading Chart. The Beacon First Reader. Edsen-Laing, Book I,* or Wheeler First Reader.* The Edsen-Laing and Wheeler series are optional adoptions. The minimum work for this grade in reading shall be at least one phonetic drill daily throughout the year, followed or preceded by two or more exercises in reading, the minimum work being reasonable mastery of phonetics and the completion of the Beacon Reading Chart, Beacon Primer, and Part I of the Beacon First Reader. The method reader to follow the Beacon Primer is the Beacon First Reader. When Part II, page 47, of the Beacon Primer has been reached, the class is to be given the Beacon First Reader for actual reading drill. The remainder of the Beacon Primer constitutes a “work book" used in conjunction with the Beacon Phonetic Chart, paralleling the other work. For content reading in this grade, the teacher must select either Edsen-Laing Reader, Book I, or the Wheeler First Reader. (See note on page 4 on "Optional Adoption.") This selection may be followed or used parallel with any number of first readers from the list of supplementary reading matter in the text-book pamphlet published by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. (See “A Few Directions to Those Who Teach the Beacon Method.") Teachers are advised to read the "Directions to Teachers"* found in the first pages of the Beacon Primer and the Beacon First Reader. together with the explanatory matter on the Phonetic Chart and the Reading Chart of the Beacon Method, and follow the plans and method arranged therein as carefully and completely as possible. The work in phonetics is quite fully explained and is easily followed. The work in actual reading, that is to be started at the first of the year as parallel exercises with the phonetic drill, must be carefully planned by the teacher. Only the word-and-sentence method is to be used in Part I of the Beacon Primer. If the teachers are unfamiliar with this method, it is suggested that the discussion of sight words and the read*Optional adoption. (See note "Optional Adoption" on page 3.) |