A Picture with a Story

40. ORAL LESSON

A NICKEL TO SPEND

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Study carefully the picture on the opposite page, “A Nickel to Spend." What does it represent? What kind of store is shown? What is in the window? How many different things can you count? What are the children doing? How old are they? Which is the older of the two? How are they dressed? Where is the nickel ?

What

Let us try to make a story about these children. are their names? Are they related? Brother and sister? Who has the nickel? Do they often have money to spend ? Is a nickel a good deal of money for them? Where do they live? Have they many toys? What toys would they like? How did they get the nickel? Did some one give it to the boy? Or did he find it? Do you suppose there are any toys in the shop that cost only a nickel? What can the boy buy? What is the little girl looking at? What does she want to buy? Can she buy it with a nickel? Will the nickel buy something for both of them? If the boy buys what he wants for himself, how will his sister feel? If he buys what she wants, how will he feel? If you were the boy, what would you buy?

After the picture and the story have been talked over in the class, let each pupil think the whole story over for himself and decide just how he would tell it. In telling the story, be careful about the beginning, and make plain who the children are, how they got the nickel, and what each wishes to buy. Four or five pupils may now tell the story, each in his own way.

D

41. WRITTEN LESSON

Write the story which you made about "A Nickel to Spend." Some of the stories are to be read in the class. Listen to them carefully and decide which has the best beginning. Which is the most real? Which has the best ending? This work may occupy two recitations.

42. LANGUAGE LESSON

IS AND ARE

1. Study the following sentences, and then tell why are is used and why is is used.

The children are small.

The toys are pretty.

There are five pennies.

The boy is larger than the girl.

Is summer here?

There is only one cent.

Is is used with singular words. Are is used with plurals. 2. Of these words, which stand for one only? Which for more than one? Which are singular and which plural?

George Washington

43. ORAL LESSON

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George Washington is called the father of his country. When he was a young man, there was no nation of the United States.

The people in this country were under the government of England. After a time they refused to obey the King of England and determined to make a new nation and have their own government. The King of England sent ships and soldiers in order to force the Americans to obey him. The Americans gathered an army to fight for their independence, and chose George Washington as general. The war was a long one,

and many times the Americans were discouraged and in great trouble. If it had not been for the courage and ability of Washington, it is doubtful if there ever would have been an American nation. Finally the King of England gave up the fight, the British army sailed away, and the American people were free and independent.

The army was disbanded. Washington said farewell to his soldiers and officers, and returned to his home, Mount Vernon, in Virginia. Within a few years the country needed him again. He was elected the first president of the new nation, the United States of America. Courage and ability were required to govern wisely in peace as well as in war. Both as general and president, Washington was unselfish, seeking not his own pleasure or gain, but seeking the good of the nation. It was said of him that he was "first in peace, first in war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

What else can you tell about Washington? Can you tell of anything that happened to him when a boy? When he was a young man? Do you know anything about the Revolutionary War in which he fought? Can you tell about the surrender of Yorktown? On this page is a picture of Washington crossing the Delaware. Describe it. Do you

know the names of any of the men who fought with him? How long ago did he live? Who is president now? Can you name any other presidents? Have you read any book about Washington? Give its title and author. Two of the best books on Washington for young people are Horace Scudder's Life of Washington (Houghton Mifflin Co.), and Norman Hapgood's George Washington (The Macmillan Co.). Explain the meaning of Nation, Government, Independence, President.