McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson VI · Part 2: The good reader and the gentle hand
12. The Singing Lesson, by Jean Ingelow
Goal: Your child reads the story-poem of the embarrassed nightingale, talks about mistakes and pride, and finds the moral.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook and pencil
What's in the book
A poem about a nightingale who sang a few notes out of tune and hid in shame, until a dove scolded her and she sang again. A note about Jean Ingelow begins the lesson; definitions and a note about the nightingale end it.
The lesson, step by step
Words and meanings
Read some definitions:
Sauntering, wandering idly, strolling.
Snicker, to laugh in a half suppressed manner.
Crest, a tuft growing on an animal's head.
Moral, the practical lesson which any thing is fitted to teach.
Also read the note: the nightingale is a small brown bird with a very strong, sweet voice, common in Europe but not found in America.
About the author
The book says Jean Ingelow was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. Her fame came with her "Poems" in 1863. She also wrote novels and children's stories such as "Mopsa, the Fairy," and lived in London, spending much of her time in deeds of charity.
Read aloud
Read it together, giving each bird its own voice.
A nightingale made a mistake;
She sang a few notes out of tune:
The dove's question:
Why behave like a goose?
Talk about it
SayWhat did the nightingale do after her mistake? What did the lark and the thrush do?
SayWhat did the dove tell her to remember?
SayThe poem ends by leaving the moral for you to find. What is it?
SayHave you ever wanted to hide after a mistake?
Tell it back
Your child retells the poem as a short fable in prose, ending with "The moral is..."
Memorize
Learn the first stanza, which begins:
A nightingale made a mistake;
Write (optional)
Write the moral of the poem in one sentence, then tell of a time it would have helped you.