McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXIII · Part 3: Courage, the sea and the frost
27. The Lion
Goal: Your child reads an informational piece about lions and retells the story of Danco and his keeper.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook or lined paper and a pencil
What's in the book
A piece about the lion, "king of beasts": its size, strength, home and habits, and the true story of Danco, a lion in a menagerie at Brussels, and his sleeping keeper. Definitions and Exercises follow.
The lesson, step by step
Words and meanings
The new words are at the end of the lesson, under Definitions. The small number in front of each word is the paragraph or verse where it is used. Read them together before the lesson. A few of them:
Majestic, royal, noble.
Prowls, wanders in search of prey.
Menagerie, a collection of wild animals.
Ask your child to find two of these words in the lesson and read the sentence each one is in.
Read it aloud
Your child reads it aloud, a paragraph at a time. It begins:
The lion is often called the "king of beasts."
Talk about it
SayDescribe the lion's appearance. What is said of his strength?
SayDescribe the lion's home and habits.
SayTo what age do lions live? Can they be tamed?
SayRelate the story about the lion Danco.
Let your child look back at the page to find answers.
Tell it back
Close the book. Your child tells the story of Danco, the keeper William and the carpenter, as if they had been there.
Copywork
Your child copies this from the book, slowly and neatly, minding every capital letter and mark of punctuation:
The home of the lion is in the forests of Asia and Africa, where he is a terror to man and beast.
Words to learn
Learn: majestic, prowls, unawares, rumble, menagerie, heroic. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.
Afterwards
Find Asia and Africa on a globe or map.