ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE 



6 9 



Composition 



After a little help lists of relative pronouns written upon the 

 board are used readily and quickly by the pupils. Parti- 

 ciples are made a part of the child's vocabulary by the same 

 method. Thus complex sentences become familiar to the 

 children and the sentence structures are steadily improved. 



Some kind of composition work is given every day. Nar- 

 ration predominates, interspersed with frequent descriptions. 

 Correction of the papers is carried along on 

 two lines : self-correction by the pupils, after 

 the lapse of a day or two, of errors that have been subjects 

 of drills ; correction by the teacher of errors that come from 

 imperfect knowledge, those that will in later months become 

 subjects of drills. It is not necessary to correct all papers. 

 Experience gained by frequent writing will soon be manifest 

 in self-correction or in avoidance of errors, especially if, 

 before beginning to write, attention is called to the common 

 mistakes so that they shall not appear in the papers. 



ILLUSTRATIVE THIRD GRADE PAPERS 



I 



Questions and Answers 



A question is a sentence that asks something. A question 

 is followed by a question mark. Lucy, are you going home 

 now? 



II 



Definitions 



A statement is a sentence that tells something. I have 

 a pen at home. 



An initial is the first letter in a name. May Agnes Tier- 

 ney, M. A, T, 



