McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LXIII · Part 7: Lost and found

67. The Pet Fawn, by Miss S. F. Cooper

Goal: Your child reads a sad animal story and explains how the fawn's wild nature returned.

⏱ About 30 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook or lined paper and a pencil

What's in the book

A story: a tame fawn, the pet of a village, is startled by a hunter's hound, flees across a lake to the forest, escapes, and is later shot by a hunter who doesn't know it is a pet. Definitions follow. The contents name Miss S. F. Cooper as the author.

The lesson, step by step

  1. 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:

    Caressed, fondled, petted.

    Spectators, those who look on.

    Intercept, to stop, to seize.

    Cowed, made afraid.

    Ask your child to find two of these words in the lesson and read the sentence each one is in.

  2. Read it aloud

    Your child reads the story aloud. It begins with the fawn as a village pet:

    It was graceful, as those little creatures always are, and so gentle and playful that it became

  3. Talk about it

    SayWhy was the fawn everyone's favorite?

    SayWhat happened when the fawn saw the hound?

    SayHow did the fawn escape? What did the people on the bank do?

    SayHow did the fawn die? Was the hunter to blame?

    Let your child look back at the page to find answers.

  4. Tell it back

    Close the book. Your child tells the story of the chase across the lake.

  5. Copywork

    Your child copies this from the book, slowly and neatly, minding every capital letter and mark of punctuation:

    In an instant, its whole nature seemed changed; all its past habits were forgotten;

  6. Words to learn

    Learn: fawn, caressed, dilated, spectators, intercept, betrayed, intense, scent, cowed. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

Tip

This story ends sadly. Talk gently about it; it shows that wild animals stay wild at heart.

@teddyrookbook GitHub