CHAPTER XV 



HISTORY IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 

 FIFTH YEAR GRADE 



In the fifth grade the pupils are considered old enough to 

 commence a systematic study of the history of our country ; 



a text book is put into their hands, and the 

 Material 



story is made continuous. The time is also 



extended, in order to give a longer period for consecutive 

 work, and history alternates month by month with literature. 

 The daily period is also lengthened by the introduction of a 

 definite time for the preparation of the lesson by the children, 

 twenty or twenty-five minutes for study. The lives of men 

 are still the centers of the stories, for with children no inter- 

 est is stronger than that of human life ; but periods of history 

 are marked off far more distinctly than in the preceding 

 years. This is very easily accomplished in the child's mind, 

 but the teacher must be skillful in keeping the right propor- 

 tion between periods and between men. 



In the fourth grade the pupils have become somewhat 

 familiar with maps and the globe, so the period of explora- 

 tions and discoveries is preceded by considerable geographi- 

 cal study, in order to obtain an idea of what constituted the 

 known world in the times preceding Columbus. Without 

 such an introduction no clear idea can be gained of the rea- 

 sons for the voyages that resulted in the discovery of 

 America. The children can understand in part the frenzied 



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