The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 11–12 · Part 1: Part First
4. Hiawatha by heart, and writing names
Goal: Your child learns the opening lines of a Hiawatha passage by heart and always writes names of people with capital letters.
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 11 is a passage from Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha" to learn by heart: little Hiawatha listening at the door on summer evenings, the firefly, and the rainbow. Section 12 shows names in handwriting and gives the rule for capitals in names.
The lesson, step by step
Read the poem aloud
Read the Hiawatha passage aloud to your child, slowly, enjoying the sounds. Then read it again together.
At the door on summer evenings
Sat the little Hiawatha;
Nokomis is Hiawatha's grandmother in the poem. Wah-wah-taysee is the firefly.
Talk about it
Ask:
- What did Hiawatha hear? What did he see?
- What did he ask Nokomis about the rainbow, and what did she say it was?
- Which line do you like the sound of best?
Learn the first lines
Learn the first seven lines (to "Flitting through the dusk of evening") by heart today. Say them line by line, then two lines at a time, then all together. The rest can come over the week.
Names of persons (Section 12)
Look at the handwritten names on page 14. The book asks: with what kind of letter does each name begin?
Names of Persons begin with a Capital Letter.
Write names
Your child writes:
- their own full name
- three people in the family or their class
- three other people they know
- three people they have read about
That is ten names, each on its own line.
Check it gently
Your child checks each name with a finger: a capital at the start of every part of the name? Fix any that are missing. Spelling of a hard name can be looked up together.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
Maria Elena Ortiz
Grandpa Joe Ortiz
Benjamin Franklin
Every part of every name begins with a capital.
Afterwards
Add a few lines of the Hiawatha passage each day until your child can say it all. Then ask them to write the first seven lines from memory.
Tip
Learning poems by heart was a big part of this book. A minute or two a day is enough.