McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXXIX · Part 4: Thinking hard and speaking kindly

39. I Will Think of It

Goal: Your child reads about famous thinkers and explains how thinking about small things led to great discoveries.

⏱ About 25 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
  • A piece of string and a small weight (a washer or key)

What's in the book

A long list of words and a lesson about how thinking led to great things: a falling apple, a tea-kettle lid, a swinging lamp in a church, and a shepherd boy who studied the stars and made clocks.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Warm up

    SayHave you ever wondered why something happens, like why things fall down or why a kettle whistles?

  2. Words and meanings

    Point to the list of words at the top of the lesson:

    pendulum idea motive discovered chandelier portraits Pisa engine motto London Ferguson invention Galileo whalebone lectures England tea-kettle discouraged improved swaying

    Read them together a few at a time. Clap the syllables of the long ones. The book prints these words without meanings.

    Explain a few: a pendulum is a weight that swings back and forth; a chandelier is a hanging lamp with many lights; a motto is a short saying you live by.

  3. Read it aloud

    Your child reads. Model the names first (Newton, Watt, Galileo, Ferguson), then take turns by paragraph.

    Here is a line from it:

    We can not see our thoughts, or hear, or taste, or feel them; and yet what mighty power they have!

    Then let your child reread a favorite part, more smoothly.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhat did Newton wonder about when he saw the apple fall?

    SayWhat did the swinging chandelier lead to?

    SayWhat does "I will think of it" mean?

    Then talk about the lesson of the reading:

    "Think, and by thinking you will learn how to think to some purpose."

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

  5. Tell it back

    Close the book.

    SayChoose one of the people in the lesson and tell me what he noticed and what came of it.

  6. Copywork

    Your child copies this from the book in their best handwriting:

    Think, and by thinking you will learn how to think to some purpose.

    Check capitals and marks together.

  7. Spelling

    Say each word, use it in a sentence, and have your child spell it aloud, then write it: idea, engine, motto, invention, improved.

    Check together and fix any mistakes right away. Keep missed words for tomorrow's warm-up.

Afterwards

Reread the lesson aloud tomorrow before starting the next one, and review any missed spelling words.

Tip

Tie a weight to a string and watch it swing, as Galileo did. Count the swings in ten seconds.

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