McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson IV · Part 2: Lessons I-XII: Storms, dawns and old tales
10. Description of a Storm (Benjamin Disraeli)
Goal: Your student reads a dramatic description with rising force and explains how the writer builds suspense.
You'll need
- The book, or the scan beside this guide
- A notebook and pen
- A dictionary
What's in the book
A storm in the mountains, from a novel by Disraeli: wind, flood and lightning, a sudden silence, and then a mountain that falls on a castle, a village and a bridge. An author note comes first.
The lesson, step by step
Words and meanings
Before reading, find these words in the selection and look up any your student does not know: desolation, shivered, eddies, crevices, cataracts, firmament, lowering.
About the author
The book says Benjamin Disraeli (1805-1881) was born in London and educated by his father, the literary man Isaac Disraeli. His first novel, Vivian Grey, appeared when he was twenty-one. He entered Parliament, led the Conservative party and was twice prime minister, and was made Earl of Beaconsfield, writing novels all the while.
Read it aloud
Read the opening together:
They looked round on every side, and hope gave way before the scene of desolation.
Your student reads the rest, building force toward the end:
It shook! — it fell! and buried in its ruins the castle, the village, and the bridge!
Talk about it
SayWhat does the storm do to the trees, the birds and the animals?
SayFind the very short sentence "Shelter was nowhere." Why is it so short?
SayJust before the mountain falls there is a sudden silence. Why does the writer put it there?
SayHow should the last sentence be read aloud? Try it with pauses at the dashes.
Tell it back
Your student tells what happens in the storm, step by step, in their own words.
Copywork and memory
Copy:
Cataracts poured down from the lowering firmament.
Write (optional)
Describe a storm you remember in one paragraph. End with one short sentence.