The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 314–316 · Part 2: Part Second
90. Treasure-Boxes
Goal: Your child reads a nature essay, retells part of it in their own words, and compares the two.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
- A peach, a milkweed pod, or another seed pod, if in season
What's in the book
Section 314 is "Treasure-Boxes" by Jane Andrews: seeds are the treasures of plants, kept in caskets like the peach stone and the milkweed pod. Section 315 asks the child to write the milkweed description in their own words and compare it with the original. Section 316 asks what work the italicized words do.
The lesson, step by step
Read the essay
Read "Treasure-Boxes" aloud together, a paragraph each.
We all have our treasure-boxes.
Ask the child to tell you in their own words what they read, and to ask about anything they don't understand.
Look at a real one
If you have a peach or a seed pod, open it together and find the seed. (An adult cracks a peach stone with a nutcracker. Look at the seed inside but don't eat it.) Milkweed sap can sting the eyes, so wash hands after handling it.
The milkweed in your words (Section 315)
Reread paragraph 5. Close the book. Your child writes the description of the milkweed pod in their own words, 4 to 6 sentences.
Compare
The book says: compare your description with the original, to see which is better. Read both aloud. Where is the book's more vivid? Where is your child's clearer?
Check it gently
Let your child make one improvement to their own version after comparing. That is the correction for today.
The work of words (Section 316)
If there is time, look at a few italicized words in paragraphs 1 and 2 and say what each does, as in the book's example: "Misers names the persons who have the chests of gold."
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
The milkweed pod is shaped like a little bag. When you press its edge, it pops open. Inside, the brown seeds lie in rows like fish scales. Each seed has a tuft of shining white silk. The wind carries the seeds away to find new places to grow.