lesson image


This morning I went fishing all alone,

And sat for 'most a day upon a stone;

I dropped my line with care into the brook,

And watched the little fish swim round my hook.



I said, "Kind fish, do bite without a worm;

I have one, but I hate to feel him squirm.

If you will only please me in this way,

I'll give my wiggly worm to you for pay."



But there, I never had a single bite;

It seems to me they did not treat me right.

If I were just a fishie in a brook,

To please a little boy, I'd bite his hook.

— Caroline M. Griswold.

Directions

Study the lesson for one week.

Over the week:

  • Read the story multiple times.
  • Review the synopsis.
  • Study the vocabulary words.
  • Learn the concepts.
  • Complete the enrichment activities.
  • Study the review questions.

Synopsis

In the poem, 'Fisherman’s Luck', a boy encounters a problem while fishing. He refuses to put a squirmy worm on his fishing hook. He asks the fish to bite his empty hook and promises them a worm if they do, but the fish refuse.

Vocabulary

Fishing Hook: A thin, curved piece of metal that is used to catch fish.
Fishing Line: A string connecting a fishing hook to a fishing pole.
Squirm: To wiggle.

Concepts

The little boy in the story does not want to bait his hook with a squirmy worm.

Facts about worms:

  1. They are animals, like mammals and fish.
  2. They are cold-blooded like fish.
  3. Worms have no bones, unlike mammals and fish.
  4. They don’t have fur or feathers, but some have hair or scales.
  5. Worms give birth to a cocoon filled with baby worms that later hatch.
  6. Like most fish, worms do not protect or care for their cocoons or babies.
  7. Worms breathe through their skin. They do not have lungs like mammals or gills like fish.

Did you know there are no boy worms and no girl worms? Worms have both male and female parts, but need help from another worm to create new worms.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Narrate the Story

  • After reading or listening to the story, narrate the story events aloud using your own words.

Activity 2: Going Fishing

Objective:

Use problem solving skills to create fish, worms, hooks, fishing line, and fishing poles out of basic art supplies.

Materials:

Crayons or markers, scissors, paper, string or dental floss, and tape.

Procedure:

  • Examine the provided materials.
  • Brainstorm ideas on how to create your own fish, worms, hooks, fishing poles, and fishing line out of the materials.
  • After you have created your fishing items, figure out a way to simulate the fishing process.

Tips:

  • Children might make fish and worms by drawing them on paper and cutting them out, hooks out of sticky tape, fishing poles by tightly rolling and taping paper, and fishing line out of string.
  • To simulate fishing, children might fish over the side of a chair or couch. One person can replace the worm with a fish and tug on the line to mimic a nibble and bite. The others then reel in and catch the fish.

Review

Question 1

What does the little boy do in the poem?
1 / 6

Answer 1

The little boy fishes with an empty hook.
1 / 6

Question 2

Does the little boy catch any fish?
2 / 6

Answer 2

No, the little boy does not catch any fish.
2 / 6

Question 3

Why doesn’t the little boy catch fish?
3 / 6

Answer 3

The little boy does not bait his hook with a worm.
3 / 6

Question 4

Why doesn’t the little boy like to bait the hook?
4 / 6

Answer 4

The boy feels the worms are too squirmy.
4 / 6

Question 5

Are worms mammals? Why or why not?
5 / 6

Answer 5

Worms are not mammals. Worms are not warm-blooded, they have no backbone, they have no lungs, they do not give birth to live young, and they do not nurse their babies.
5 / 6

Question 6

Are worms fish? Why or why not?
6 / 6

Answer 6

Worms are not fish. Unlike fish, worms do not have bones, live in water, breathe with gills.
6 / 6

  1. What does the little boy do in the poem? The little boy fishes with an empty hook.
  2. Does the little boy catch any fish? No, the little boy does not catch any fish.
  3. Why doesn’t the little boy catch fish? The little boy does not bait his hook with a worm.
  4. Why doesn’t the little boy like to bait the hook? The boy feels the worms are too squirmy.
  5. Are worms mammals? Why or why not? Worms are not mammals. Worms are not warm-blooded, they have no backbone, they have no lungs, they do not give birth to live young, and they do not nurse their babies.
  6. Are worms fish? Why or why not? Worms are not fish. Unlike fish, worms do not have bones, live in water, breathe with gills.

References

  1. 'Worm.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.