The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 76–79 · Part 1: Part First
26. March: proverbs, a poem and a fox
Goal: Your child explains proverbs in their own words and learns a short Wordsworth poem.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
What's in the book
Section 76 gives eight weather proverbs for March to explain in writing. Section 77 asks for two notes. Section 78 is Wordsworth's poem "March" to learn by heart, with talk about the poet. Section 79 is "The Fox and the Grapes", properly punctuated, to read and tell.
The lesson, step by step
Weather proverbs (Section 76)
Read the eight proverbs together and talk about each.
March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion.
Your child writes the meaning of three of them in their own words.
Read "March"
Read Wordsworth's poem aloud together.
The snow hath retreated,
The book tells us Wordsworth lived in the Lake Country of England and loved walking in the fields.
Ask: What did the poet see and hear that March morning? What does he mean by "There's joy in the mountains"?
Learn the first stanza
Learn the first six lines by heart today (to "There are forty feeding like one!").
The fox again (Section 79)
Read "The Fox and the Grapes" on page 83 and compare it with the jumbled version on page 24. Your child tells it, then says one sentence each using: purple grapes, one fine day, sturdy boughs, lowest cluster.
Check it gently
Look at the three proverb meanings. Is each a whole sentence? Does it say what the proverb means, in plain words? Fix one.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
"March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion" means that if March starts mild, it often ends stormy.
Afterwards
Section 77: write a note asking a friend to spend a week with you, and address it properly.
Answers to the book's problems
Section 76, possible meanings: 1. If March starts gentle, it may end stormy (and the other way round). 2. Windy March and rainy April help the crops grow, so May is lovely. 3. Sometime in March, at the start or the end, there will be wild weather. 4. Same as 2. 5. If March is warm and showery like April, April will be cold and blustery like March. 6. Damp, warm weather in March is bad for farmers (it starts growth too early). 7. Dry March, wet April and cool May make a good harvest. 8. A dry, dusty March is very valuable to farmers.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.