A pioneer school located in Harrisburg, Banner County, Nebraska

READING

LESSON TIME:  20 minutes each for three groups.

OBJECTIVES:  The students will read orally from a McGuffey Reader at the recitation bench, noting pronunciation and moralist lessons to be learned from the selection.

The third McGuffey Reader was chosen for fourth grade students.  Silent reading was minimal.  As a rule, reading aloud was favored with stress on articulation, inflection, pauses and emphasis. The teacher was careful to listen for errors in pronunciation, unnatural tones and drawling.  The child read in front of the classroom and was corrected on the spot.

William McGuffey prepared exercises and special lessons and wrote stories which could teach reading and moral lessons at the same time.  These lessons and stories gradually shaped themselves into books.

         With books as work or healthful play
         Let your first years be passed
         That you may give for every day,
         Some good account at last.