McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LVI · Part 6: Liberty and the voices of birds
62. An Iceberg, by L. L. Noble
Goal: Your child pictures Noble's iceberg scenes from his vivid words, and learns from the book's note why icebergs roll over.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook and pencil
What's in the book
A description, from "After Icebergs with a Painter," of a fragment of ice shaped like a bear battered by waves, and of a great iceberg that cracks and rolls over. A note about Louis Legrand Noble opens it; definitions and a note follow.
The lesson, step by step
About the author
The book says Louis Legrand Noble was born in Otsego County, New York. This selection is from his book "After Icebergs with a Painter."
Words and meanings
Read some definitions:
Swells, waves.
Serenity, quietness, calmness.
Pinnacles, high, spire-like points.
Obliquely, slantingly.
Irrepressible, not to be restrained.
The bear
Read about the ice bear:
The bear, a ten-foot mass in tolerable proportion, seemed to be regularly beset by a pack of hungry little swells.
It only washed his satin fleece the whiter.
SayWhat is really happening? Why does the writer call it a bear?
The great berg
Read the rolling-over passage with growing excitement:
The spectacle is terrific and magnificent.
Down go the porcelain crags and galleries of glassy sculpture.
Then read the note:
Only about one eighth of an iceberg appears above the surface of the water.
Talk about it
SayWhy does an iceberg roll over, according to the note?
SayFind words the writer uses that make the ice sound like art or a building.
SayHow did the people on the ship feel?
Try it
Float an ice cube in a glass of water. How much is above the surface? Push it on one side and watch it tip.
Write (optional)
Describe a cloud or a snowbank as if it were an animal, the way Noble describes the ice bear.