McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LXVIII · Part 7: Courage, temper and work

74. William Tell, concluded (Sheridan Knowles)

Goal: Your child reads the end of the scene with expression and tells what happens at the shot and after it.

⏱ About 40 minutes · 7 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook or lined paper and a pencil
  • Optional: a second reader to take parts

What's in the book

The end of the scene. Tell asks to shoot with the sun at his back, hides a second arrow, hits the apple, and Albert is safe. Gesler finds the hidden arrow. A note tells the legend of Tell and how he later escaped and shot Gesler.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Remember the story

    Ask your child to tell, in two or three sentences, what happened in Lesson LXVII. Where did it stop?

  2. Words and meanings

    The words and meanings are printed at the end of the lesson. Read a few together before the reading, so they don't trip your child up:

    Accords, grants, concedes.

    Stanch, sound, strong.

    Shaft, the stem of an arrow upon which the feather and head are inserted.

    Quiver, a case for arrows.

    Your child reads each meaning aloud, then uses the word in a sentence of their own.

  3. Read it as a play

    Take parts again and read the scene aloud. Listen for Tell's calm reasons before the shot:

    I'd have it at my back. The sun should shine

    Upon the mark, and not on him that shoots.

    Then read the Note at the end together.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhy does Tell care so much about which way the sun shines?

    SayWhy did Tell hide the second arrow? What does his last speech to Gesler tell us?

    SayThe Note says William Tell is "a legendary hero." What does legendary mean? Why do people keep telling his story?

  5. Tell it back

    Close the book.

    SayTell me the whole story of William Tell and the apple, from the chains to the end of the Note.

    Older children can write their narration in a short paragraph instead. Don't correct while they talk; just listen.

  6. Copywork

    Your child copies these two lines:

    Go, boy; be thou but steady, I will hit

    The apple. Go! God bless thee; go.

    Notice the capital letter at the start of each line of the play's verse.

  7. Optional writing

    Your child writes a short paragraph from Albert's point of view: what did he think and feel while the apple was on his head?

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