The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 290–291 · Part 2: Part Second

82. Lullaby of an Infant Chief, and adjectives

Goal: Your child learns a Scott lullaby and knows that adjectives help describe persons, places and things.

⏱ About 25 minutes · 7 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗ 🖨 Copywork sheet

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 290 is Sir Walter Scott's "Lullaby of an Infant Chief", to read, talk about and learn by heart. Section 291 gives six sentences with italicized describing words, shows what happens when they are left out, and names them adjectives.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Read the lullaby

    Read it aloud softly.

    O, hush thee, my baby, thy sire was a knight,

    Ask the book's questions: What does it tell about the life of these people? (A knight's family in a castle tower, with guards and battles.) What does it show about the feeling of the singer?

  2. Learn it

    Learn the first stanza today.

  3. Take away the describing words (Section 291)

    Your child copies the six sentences, then reads them leaving out the describing words: "I have a box." "Mary wears ribbons." Ask: How does the meaning change?

    Adjectives help us to describe persons, places, or things.

  4. What does each describe?

    For each adjective your child says what it describes: red describes box ...

  5. Find more

    The book asks you to find the adjectives on page 206 and use them in sentences. Your child finds four and writes a new sentence with each.

  6. Check it gently

    In each new sentence, does the adjective describe a noun? Fix one or two.

  7. What a good result looks like

    Example (written for this guide, not from the book):

    The tall tree shades the yard. (tall describes tree)

    A sleepy kitten curled up on the rug. (sleepy describes kitten)

Afterwards

Finish learning the lullaby over the week.

Answers to the book's problems

Section 291: red describes box; blue, ribbons; large, city; merry, heart; honest, man; noblest, work; wise, son; glad, father. Some adjectives on page 206: great, broad (elm tree, branches); frugal (snail); little, gleaming, golden (Little Bell, her locks); loud (voice); broad, peaceful (mirror).

Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.

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