ERIC ED622318: The Merrill Readers. Primer

ERIC ED622318: The Merrill Readers. Primer

Author: ERIC

Year: 1915

The process of teaching the child to read has gone through many stages of progress. Word, sentence, and phonic methods may each contribute to the process, and that undue emphasis on any one of these methods demands too great a sacrifice in quality and interest. The "Merrill Primer" is built on the familiar rhymes of Mother Goose and other old nursery books. Each rhyme is followed by a group of stories in which the words and phrasing of the rhyme are used. This gives abundant practice in word recognition without formal repetition. The story interest is prominent from the start and contributes to the child's mastery of the vocabulary. This textbook provides for all the desirable mechanics of learning to read. The basic phonic vocabulary is very largely used in the stories, and through growing familiarity with these phonic elements the child gains steadily in word mastery.