McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXVI · Part 4: Riches, eagles and good neighbors

30. In Time's Swing, by Lucy Larcom

Goal: Your child reads a poem about the seasons aloud and names what each season brings.

⏱ About 20 minutes · 6 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 poem in which a child asks Father Time to swing her gently through the year, from March thaw and April and May, through summer roses, to autumn golden-rod and December snow. Definitions 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:

    Twittering, making a succession of small, chirping noises.

    Glimpse, a short, hurried view.

    Rime, white or hoar frost.

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

  2. Read it aloud

    Read the poem aloud to your child first, then let your child read it. Let it swing, with a steady rhythm. It begins:

    Father Time, your footsteps go

    Lightly as the falling snow.

    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.

  3. Talk about it

    SayWho is Father Time? Why does the child ask him to swing her?

    SayWhich months are named in the poem? What happens in each?

    SayWhy is a swing a good picture for the year going round?

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

  4. Tell it back

    Your child tells, in prose, what the swing passes through from spring to winter.

  5. Copywork

    Your child copies this line, then copies one whole verse of their choice from the book, keeping the line breaks.

    Swing me out, and swing me in!

  6. Words to learn

    Learn: twittering, glimpse, blur, rime. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

@teddyrookbook GitHub