McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXII · Part 3: Courage, the sea and the frost
26. Jeannette and Jo, by Mary Mapes Dodge
Goal: Your child reads a poem about two girls and explains how a cheerful spirit and a gloomy one meet the same storm.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook or lined paper and a pencil
What's in the book
A poem about two girls, hopeful Jeannette and gloomy Jo, caught in a summer shower. It ends with a lesson about cheerfulness.
The lesson, step by step
Read it aloud
Read the poem aloud to your child first, then let your child read it. Give Jo a grumbling voice and Jeannette a calm one. It begins:
Two girls I know — Jeannette and Jo,
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.
Talk about it
SayHow were the two girls alike? How were they different?
SayWhat did Jo say when it began to rain? What did Jeannette say?
SayWho was right in the end?
SayWhich girl are you more like on a rainy day?
Let your child look back at the page to find answers.
Read the dialogue
Take parts. You read Jo and your child reads Jeannette, then swap:
"'Twill storm!" cried Jo. Jeannette spoke low,
"Yes, but 'twill soon be over."
Tell it back
Your child tells what happened on the day of the shower, then says the poem's lesson in one sentence.
Copywork
Your child copies Jo's grumble as verse, with all the quotation marks:
"I told you so!" cried angry Jo:
"It always is a-raining!"
Words to learn
The book gives no Definitions for this poem. Choose four words from it that your child found hard, and learn to spell them.