The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 102–115 · Part 1: Part First
35. Extra practice, part 1 (optional) optional
Goal: Your child practices the rules of the first hundred sections on short, varied tasks.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
- Drawing paper and colored pencils
What's in the book
Sections 102 to 128 are "Miscellaneous Lessons": extra practice that the book says may be skipped. This guide covers Sections 102 to 115: state abbreviations, telling a story, describing a house, drawing a picture from a sentence, writing dates, a note to a friend, writing all the capital rules, and the riddle "Who Am I?".
The lesson, step by step
Choose two or three
The book says these lessons are extra; a family can skip them or pick a few. Good choices for one session: Section 109 (draw), Section 110 (dates), and Section 115 (the riddle).
Draw from words (Section 109)
Read the three sentences in Section 109. Your child picks one and draws what the words make them see. Then talk: Which words gave you the picture?
The oriole hung its nest from the end of the longest branch of the elm tree.
Dates (Section 110)
Your child copies the twelve dates, shortening the months that may be shortened, with a period after each abbreviation and a comma before the year.
The riddle (Section 115)
Read the riddle aloud and let your child guess. Then learn it and write it from memory.
My face is as round as yours, little girl,
Your child can write down another riddle they know.
State names (Section 102)
In 1900, states were shortened like N. Y. or Mass. Today we use two capital letters with no periods (NY, MA) on envelopes. Your child can write their own state both ways.
Check it gently
Check one thing in each piece: the capitals and periods in the dates, the line capitals in the riddle.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
A drawing for Section 109, sentence 3: a long elm branch reaching across the page, with a small, pouch-shaped nest hanging from its very tip and an orange-and-black bird beside it. The child can point to the words "the end of the longest branch" in the drawing.
Answers to the book's problems
Section 110: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. are shortened with a period; May, June and July are always written in full; March and April may be shortened (Mar., Apr.) but the book prefers them in full. Section 115 riddle: a clock.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.