McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson V · Part 2: Perseverance, fairy tales and kindness

9. Popping Corn

Goal: Your child reads a short, lively poem with expression and pictures the scene it describes.

⏱ About 20 minutes · 5 steps

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You'll need

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

What's in the book

A short poem in three verses about a little boy popping corn in the fire on a stormy autumn night while his small sister watches. There are no Definitions or Exercises.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Read it aloud

    Read the poem aloud to your child first, then let your child read it. Let the "Pop! pop!" really pop. It begins:

    One autumn night, when the wind was high,

    And the rain fell in heavy plashes,

    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.

  2. Talk about it

    SayWhat was the weather like outside? What was it like inside by the fire?

    SayWhere did the kernels go when they popped?

    SayWhat did the little sister call the heap of popped corn? Why is that a good name?

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

  3. Tell it back

    Your child describes the picture the poem makes, as if painting it in words: the room, the fire, the two children, the corn.

  4. Copywork

    Your child copies these two lines as verse, with the capitals and punctuation as printed:

    Pop! pop! and the kernels, one by one,

    Came out of the embers flying;

  5. Words to learn

    Find the rhyming pairs at the ends of the lines and list them. Learn to spell three of them.

Afterwards

If you can, pop some corn together and reread the poem while it pops.

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