The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge






If you’ve stumbled here from Pinterest, or some other site … welcome! While each of these books/lessons can stand alone, they are also a part of a year-long series that we have taught at our homeschool co-op. Each lesson builds in part on the one before. Some stories also have similar themes with the books that go before/after them. If you are interested in more information, or to see the complete booklist, check out our main page, More FIAR – Inspired Literature-Based Lesson Plans, especially for homeschool and homeschool co-ops. Thanks for looking around, and welcome to the site!

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge

by Hildegarde Swift and Lynd Ward

Things I will need:

  • The Little Red Lighthouse by Hildegarde Swift
  • The Little Red Lighthouse Handwriting Sheet (printable version here)
  • Close-up Map of Hudson River
  • Book showing landmarks of New York City. At the recommendation of the Five in a Row Curriculum, we chose My New York by Kathy Jacobson.
  • Compound Word Cards (printable version here)
  • Construction Paper (standard size)
  • Glue Sticks
  • Scissors

Review:

Take a minute to review the word Onomatopoeia. What is it? Who can give an example of using Onomatopoeia in writing?


Take another minute to talk about the parts of a story that you introduced last week. What does a good story have? (Characters, Setting, Conflict, Climax, Resolution).

Tell the class that you are going to be searching for examples of the parts of the story and onomatopoeia with today’s story as well.

Introduce the Setting:

First of all, just like in Make Way for Ducklings that we read last year, The Little Red Lighthouse is a real light house, which still stands on the edge of the Hudson River today. The story was inspired during the building of the George Washington bridge. If you have time to watch a 4-minutes clip with your class, this video shows some great images that look strikingly similar to the story. The great gray bridge, the little red lighthouse on the edge of the river.
The short story goes something like this. Years ago, when it became obvious that the lighthouse was no longer needed, plans were made to destroy the lighthouse. However, so many children knew of this beloved story, that the wrote in and protested and send in their pennies begging for the little red lighthouse to be saved. In true Little Red Light House form, it was the little guy (the children) who made a difference, and a decision was made to preserve the little red lighthouse for historical purposes.



Take a moment to introduce New York City and the Hudson River. There are so many things you can say and include here, that it is really up to you. We chose to use My New York by Kathy Jacobson to look over some of the iconic pictures of NYC. Explain this is the most populated city in the United States. Years ago, it was also the city that many many immigrants came through when they first arrived in our country (something we will touch on later in the year). Ask the class why they think this city because so popular? (Right on the coast, Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty welcomed Europeans, large Hudson River made a way for trade/business and supplies to easily get in and out.)

The Hudson River was named for Henry Hudson who explored it in early 1600’s (1609). This is a two years after the Jamestown, Virginia colony was settled, an interesting historical point if you want to point it out. Either way, take a moment to find the Hudson and notice how far inland it goes. Find The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, right at the beginning of the Hudson River, seemingly marking the separation from the Ocean to the River. Then travel up the river on the map and find the George Washington Bridge, and the location of the Little Red Lighthouse.

This is a map I cropped from Google Maps. The red marker shows the location of the Little Red Lighthouse, the bottom circle is where Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are located.

Click here to see the map up close

This map from Wikipedia shows where the Hudson Bay starts, way up in Lake Tear-in-the-Clouds. (as mentioned in the book). The Lake and River are so small at the beginning that it is impossible to see when zoomed out, but this picture is a good one to show the path it travels. It also may be interesting to introduce the concept that Rivers begin in Lakes, usually in Higher Elevations, and flow into the Ocean. This is what is happening in the Hudson River, where our story takes place.

Introduce the Story:

Our main characters today, just like last week’s book, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, they are not actually people. One of our characters is an old, little, red lighthouse. Our other main characters is the Great Gray Bridge. Just like Mary Ann – the author gave the bridge and the light house human qualities. There is a big word for this called, “personification”, but for today, we just need to remember our two main characters.
The little red lighthouse has always shone his light brightly. He has been useful for many years. He has helped ships find their way in and out of a dark river. But now a great big bridge is being built. And he wonders if he is needed anymore. Does this sound like anyone else? (Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne).

Read the Story:

Read the story. As you read, list “Onomatopoeia”, “Characters”, “Setting”, “Conflict”, “Climax”, “Resolution”, on the board. See if the class can pick them out as you read. If not while you read, discuss after wards an see if you can fill in the blanks of the missing words.
Again, the concept here is not to master these definitions, but to reinforce last weeks lesson, and continue to build on these concepts throughout the year.
Onomatopoeia – Flash, Hooot, Sssssalute, Chug
Characters – The Little Red Lighthouse, The Great Gray Bridge, The Fog, The Man with the Keys
Setting – Hudson Bay, New York
Conflict – Great Gray Bridge Built, Little Red Lighthouse doesn’t feel needed anymore
Climax – Fog comes in, Storm Rages, Man Doesn’t Come
Resolution – The Man Does Come! His keys had been taken, He lights the gas, the little red lighthouse can shine again!

After You Finish the Story: Compound Words

Take a moment to introduce the concept of compound words. The most obvious one of the day: Lighthouse. Light is a word by itself. House is a word by itself. But when you put them together, they make a new word. Can the class think of any?

If you want some samples, you can see a massive list of compound words here, but you probably only need a few to get the point across.

There are tons of compound word samples on Pinterest … but guess what … you have to pay for most of them. Or sign up for something. Or they just didn’t fit into the craft I was wanting to do. I wanted a simple fold-able, like something I saw here. But the cards she had listed I had to pay for at another website. Blah. So here is a set I made. Maybe not as fancy as some others, but they’re FREE and they fit perfectly on a piece of construction paper.

Holding a standard sized sheet of construction paper vertically, fold the paper very lightly in half, so you can see where the middle is. Then fold each side into the middle. Make 4 slits into each side, so you end up with 5 equal (or close to equal) spots. Like so:

Click here for printable version (more compound words included than seen here)

In my search for free Compound Word Printables, I also found these, they just were too big for what I wanted to do.

Handwriting

I struggled over a verse for handwriting to go along with this story. Should I focus on him being too proud? Or him not getting discouraged? Finally I decided the verse didn’t have to match the story 100% and just settled on a very simple, yet appropriate verse for a lighthouse, “Let your light shine before others”
Click here for printable version

 

 
That’s it for this week! To see what we’ve done so far in our Homeschool Co-op’s Literature Series this year, click here. Each lesson  builds on the one before and seeks to cover basic geography within the book, historical contexts, a handwriting sheet and a language arts lesson, as it applies to the book.
Or, you can check out the complete Learning the ABC’s through Literature Series, which is a similar series that we did with this same group of kiddos a year earlier. Both of these series of books have been inspired by the Five in a Row curriculum, with many of the books being the same. The ideas, implementation of it for a co-op, and printables are all my own.