McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXXVIII · Part 5: Work, wonder and the world

42. The Summer Shower, by T. B. Read

Goal: Your child reads a lively poem about a sudden summer storm and pictures each scene.

⏱ About 20 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 poem in four verses: a sudden shower sends the harvesters running for shelter, a boy crouches by a blackberry wall, the swallows fly through it, and a rainbow comes after. A note about the author and Definitions are included.

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:

    Retreat, a place of refuge or safety.

    Crouches, stoops low.

    Taunting, deriding, mocking.

    Urchin, a child.

    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 Thomas Buchanan Read was born in Chester Co., Pa., March 12, 1822. His life was given to the fine arts, and he became well known both as an artist and a poet. He died in New York, May 11, 1872.

  3. Read it aloud

    Read the poem aloud to your child first, then let your child read it. It has a galloping rhythm, like rain coming on fast. Here is one line:

    The swallows alone take the storm on the wing,

    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 did the harvesters do when the rain came?

    SayWhere did the boy hide?

    SayWhy does the poem say the swallows are taunting the people?

    SayWhat comes at the end, over them all?

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

  5. Tell it back

    Your child describes the four pictures in the poem, one for each verse, as if describing paintings.

  6. Copywork

    This is the closing line. Your child copies it, then copies one more verse from the book of their choice.

    That the beautiful bow bendeth over them all.

  7. Words to learn

    Learn: aslant, highway, retreat, crouches, taunting, urchin. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

Afterwards

Your child draws one of the scenes from the poem.

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