McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXXII · Part 4: Lost Lucy, the Town Pump and the bobolink
38. My Mother's Hands
Goal: Your child reads a tender poem about a mother's work-worn hands and talks about what makes them beautiful.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook and pencil
What's in the book
A poem, with no author named, praising a mother's hands that are neither white nor small but have worked for her children all her life.
The lesson, step by step
Read aloud
Read it to your child slowly, then let your child read it.
They're neither white nor small;
I've looked on hands whose form and hue
I know full well these dear old hands
Talk about it
SayThe hands are "neither white nor small." Why would someone say that about hands they love?
SayWhat work have these hands done?
SayHow does the speaker feel when looking back? What is the speaker afraid of in "Alas! alas! the nearing time"?
SayWhat makes hands beautiful, according to the poem?
Look at hands
Look at your own hands together, or a grandparent's. Talk about what they have done.
Tell it back
Your child tells what the poem says, stanza by stanza.
Memorize
Learn the first stanza from the book.
Write (optional)
Write a few lines about someone's hands and what they do for you.