270 NATURE STUDY. 



The most common or general defect in the primary 

 reading-lessons is lack of sequence or continuity of 

 thought. Thinking is relating ideas, and it is only by 

 relating ideas that children can learn to think. The 

 successive ideas must be related, if they are to be fixed 

 in the mind. It is comparatively easy to understand 

 and remember ideas arranged in order, each related to 

 the one preceding it and to the one following it. It is 

 difficult to follow, and almost impossible to remember, 

 a series of statements thrown together without sequence 

 or order. 



Arrange and keep the statements in logical order. 

 If a pupil tells something not related to the previous 

 statement, put it aside until a place can be found for it. 

 With older primary pupils it may sometimes be wise to 

 have the children tell all they can, without questions or 

 any special attention to order, write these statements 

 on the board, and, when the pupils have told all they 

 can, arrange (with them, not for them) the statements 

 in order or sequence, getting the children to fill in the 

 gaps. This will give them practice in arranging or 

 grouping ideas. 



It is sometimes helpful to have the pupils criticise 

 the statements as to exactness and clearness. Do they 

 tell the truth, the whole truth (as far as they have 

 seen it), and nothing but the truth? Are they as clear 

 as they can be made ? 



So far as the reading-lesson is to train the children to 

 express ideas and to fix the more important ideas which 

 they have, we must get the statements from the chil- 



