Of America Volume 1 Author:Beverly Rainey, Phyllis Rand An anthology for use in or around 5th grade. — To the Teacher: — The purpose of OF AMERICA is to provide for students the inspiring stories and character-building classics which are a valued part of our national heritage, but which have been excluded from textbooks in recent years. — Youth is the period in life when the character of the individual ... more »is being formed. Students are eagerly searching for a workable sense of values. They need to see in the lives of great men and common men and in the lives of young people, such as they are, the unchanging values of the ages lived out. We need to give them through books, as well as through our lives and words, ideals to reach for and examples to follow.
If our country is to remain a land of liberty, we must continue to teach each individual to read and think on his own. Every school must not only teach students the basic skills of reading but also provide them with classroom practice in developing these reading skills throughout the upper grades. We cannot afford to allow any students to develop the attitude that others can do their reading for them, and thus their thinking also.
The OF AMERICA books will help students to become excellent readers, and at the same time will instill within them in a natural, non-preachy way the enduring values upon which our nation was built.« less