McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XIII · Part 3: Courage, the sea and the frost

17. Piccola, by Celia Thaxter

Goal: Your child reads a Christmas story poem aloud and retells what Piccola found in her shoe.

⏱ About 25 minutes · 7 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook or lined paper and a pencil

What's in the book

A story poem about Piccola, a little French girl whose parents are too poor for Christmas gifts. On Christmas morning she finds something alive in her shoe. A note about the author comes first; Definitions and Exercises follow.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    The new words are at the end of the lesson, under Definitions. The small number in front of each word is the paragraph or verse where it is used. Read them together before the lesson. A few of them:

    Dawned, began to grow light.

    Shivering, trembling from cold.

    Rapture, great joy.

    Charmed, greatly pleased.

    Ask your child to find two of these words in the lesson and read the sentence each one is in.

  2. About the author

    The book's note says Celia Thaxter was born at Portsmouth, N. H., June 29, 1835, and that much of her childhood was passed at White Island, one of the Isles of Shoals, off the coast of New Hampshire.

  3. Read it aloud

    Read the poem aloud to your child first, then let your child read it. Here is the surprise:

    A sparrow, that in at the window flew,

    Had crept into Piccola's tiny shoe!

    Then have your child read it a second time, more smoothly: the first reading is for the meaning, the second for the sound and rhythm.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhat is meant by "driving the wolf from the door"?

    SayWho is St. Nicholas? What does "St." before Nicholas mean?

    SayWhat did Piccola find in her shoe on Christmas morning?

    SayWhy was Piccola so happy with a gift that cost nothing?

    Let your child look back at the page to find answers.

  5. Tell it back

    Your child tells Piccola's Christmas morning in their own words, from waking up to showing her parents.

  6. Copywork

    Your child copies these lines as verse:

    Children, this story I tell to you

    Of Piccola sweet and her bird, is true.

  7. Words to learn

    Learn: dawned, stir, befall, shivering, tiny, rapture, charmed. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

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