2894
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
No. 115

I 1. HANDWORK.

Preparatory Division.—This may include modelling in plasticine or clay, stick-laying, brick-laying, paper-work, or any suitable form of kindergarten or Montessori exercises. The work should not be taken as an occupation or as a conventional phase of school-work, but should be strictly limited to exercises which have a well-defined educative purpose, as shown in the scheme of work prepared for the Preparatory Division.

Junior Division.—Modelling in plasticine or clay, and paper-folding, used as required for illustration, or for practical work in other subjects, or to develop observation and the knowledge of form and construction.

Middle Division.—Modelling in plasticine or clay to illustrate free drawing of designs, nature-study, and geography, together with paper-work or cardboard-work associated with instrumental drawing or with arithmetic.

Senior Division.—One of the following: Cardboard-work, woodwork, work in iron, for boys; cookery, laundry-work, or dressmaking, for girls.

NOTE.—(a.) In exceptional cases of schools where the provision for one of the subjects of handwork specified above is not found practicable, a suitable extension of the handwork subjects prescribed for the Middle Division may be made in association with a further development of drawing.

(b.) Any of the above subjects may be taken by S4 pupils as their handwork subject in schools where classes including such pupils would be recognized under the Regulations for Manual Instruction.

For further details and suggestions see Appendix I.

I 2. NEEDLEWORK.

The course of instruction shall be that set out in Appendix I 2.

J. ARITHMETIC.

20. The course of instruction in arithmetic shall be as follows:—

Preparatory Division.—In the first stages the teaching of number should be largely incidental to the various occupations, games, conversations, and exercises connected with the ordinary instruction. Except in the case of the more progressive pupils, there should at first be no really formal instruction in arithmetic. By the end of the second year the composition of numbers up to twenty should be known, and the children should be taught to perform mentally and orally with these numbers the various operations that come within the mental powers of children of six years of age. The children should deal with quantities and objects before numbers, thinking first in terms of objects and afterwards of numbers without objects. Though there may be any variety of materials or objects used in connection with the teaching of number, the teacher should have a clearly defined system as shown in the scheme of work for this division.

Junior Division.—S1: The use and meaning of numbers from 1 to 100 should be taught by concrete examples involving the use of the four simple rules in oral work. Some of the concrete examples should involve calculations relating to shillings or pence, yards or feet, or feet or inches, which should be taught through actual measurements made by the children. The main part of the work is to be mental and oral; written work should follow, but should be confined to very simple concrete examples. Tables should be built up from practical work, and should then be thoroughly memorized; but the use of tables before or without practical work is condemned.

S2: Extension of the work of S1 to the numbers up to 10,000. The four simple rules, omitting long division, multipliers and divisors being confined to the numbers 1 to 12 and 20. No numbers greater than 10,000 to be required. Construction by the pupils of the tables to twelve times twelve. Exercises in finding ½, ⅓ . . . . ¹⁄₁₂, and ¹⁄₂₀ of given numbers. Simple money exercises taken orally. Oral and mental arithmetic should still form a large part of the work of the children until a process is thoroughly mastered; then practice in setting out examples in writing should be given.

Middle Division.—S3: Special attention, is to be given to oral and mental work, which should form the first stages of all approach to written work. The general analysis of numbers up to 1,000,000. Notation and numeration of these numbers. The simple rules and their application to easy concrete examples of a familiar and practical character. The relative values of the mile and chain, foot and inch, hour and minute, of the day, week, and year, and of the ton, hundredweight, pound, and ounce, to be known and to be applied to easy exercises; but no sum requiring a knowledge of the measures of length, time, or weight should involve the use of more than two denominations. The compound rules as applied