Introduction
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Colwood School, c. 1899 |
Introduction
Colwood School, c. 1899
The lesson plans and course outlines provided here were originally intended to guide teachers in ungraded elementary schools, known as common schools. Typically, pupils were five or six years old when they started school. They progressed through the school system by mastering a series of Readers, numbered One to Five. The Fifth Reader level was equivalent to about Grade 6 today and generally pupils were about 12 or 13 years old when they had completed the common school programme.
For most youths, this was the only formal schooling they received. Having completed the Fifth Reader level, they entered the workforce. Youths who lived in a city, and who were academically inclined and encouraged by their parents, could continue their studies in a high school. (In 1890, only Nanaimo, New Westminster, Vancouver and Victoria operated high schools).
The lesson plans have been transcribed from the official Annual Reports of the Public Schools of British Columbia. Questions from the provincial high school entrance exam have also been copied exactly as they were given. However, we've added a few notes - indicated by an asterix [*] - to emphasize that things were different back then. For example - the Dominion of Canada (as our country was formally styled) consisted of seven, not ten provinces. When BC school children sang the national anthem, they sang "The Maple Leaf Forever." [The English version of "O Canada" wasn't written until 1908 and that anthem was not commonly sung in BC schools until the 1950s.] And, of course, when they sang "God Save the Queen" they meant Queen Victoria!
