"in order," thereby enriching his vocabulary by placing new acquisitions in an already determined place. Thus he continues to construct, with respect to exterior objects, an inner spiritual system, which had already been begun by his sensory exercises.
Singular and Plural
The exercises on the number and gender of nouns are done without the help of the boxes. The child already knows that those words are articles and nouns, so we give him now small groups of forty cards (nouns and articles) held together by an elastic band. In each one, the group (tied separately) of the ten singular nouns serves as the guide for the exercise. These nouns are arranged in a column on the table, one beneath the other, and the other cards, which are shuffled, must be placed around this first group in the right order. There are two more cards of different colors on which the words singular and plural respectively are written; and these are placed at the top of the respective columns. We have prepared four series of ten nouns in alphabetical order. In this way four children may do the exercise at the same time and by exchanging material they come in contact with a very considerable number of words.
This is the way the cards should finally be arranged in the four different exercises:
Singolare | Plurale | Singular | Plural |
il bambino | i bambini | the child | the children, etc. |
il berretto | i berretti | the cap | |
la bocca | le bocche | the mouth | |
il calamaio | i calamai | the inkstand | |
la calza | le calze | the stocking | |
la casa | le case | the house | |
il cappello | i cappelli | the hat | |
Singolare | Plurale | Singular | Plural |
la maestra | le maestre | the teacher | the teachers, etc. |
la mano | le mani | the hand | |
la matita | le matite | the pencil | |
il naso | i nasi | the nose | |
il nastro | i nastri | the ribbon | |
l'occhio | gli occhi | the eye | |
l'orologio | gli orologi | the clock (watch) | |
il panchetto | i panchetti | the bench | |
Singolare | Plurale | Singular | Plural |
il dente | i denti | the tooth | the teeth, etc. |
l'elastico | gli elastici | the elastic | |
il fagiolo | i fagioli | the bean | |
la fava | le fave | the bean | |
la gamba | le gambe | the leg | |
il gesso | i gessi | the plaster | |
la giacca | le giacche | the coat | |
il grembiale | i grembiali | the apron | |
Singolare | Plurale | Singular | Plural |
il piede | i piedi | the foot | the feet, etc. |
il quaderno | i quaderni | the copy book | |
la rapa | i rape | the turnip | |
la scarpa | le scarpe | the shoe | |
la tasca | le tasche | the pocket | |
il tavolino | i tavolini | the table | |
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