McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson III · Part 2: Perseverance, fairy tales and kindness

7. Why the Sea is Salt, part 1, by Mary Howitt

Goal: Your child reads the first half of a fairy tale aloud and retells how the poor brother got the magic mill.

⏱ About 30 minutes · 7 steps

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You'll need

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

What's in the book

A fairy tale, begun here and finished in the next lesson: a poor man trades a ham to the dwarfs for an old hand-mill. A note about Mary Howitt comes first; Definitions follow the story.

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:

    Trifling, of small value.

    Hand-mill, a mill turned by hand.

    Attracted, drawn to, allured.

    Perplexed, puzzled.

    Fragrance, sweetness of smell.

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

  2. About the author

    The book's note says Mary Howitt was born in 1804, at Coleford, England, and wrote many charming stories for children in prose and verse. She also translated many from Swedish, Danish, and German authors. This story is arranged from one in a collection called "Peter Drake's Dream, and Other Stories."

  3. Read it aloud

    Tell your child this is a fairy tale, and fairy tales usually have a kind person and a greedy one. Your child reads it aloud. It begins:

    There were, in very ancient times, two brothers, one of whom was rich, and the other poor.

  4. Talk about it

    SayHow did the rich brother give the ham? Was it a kind gift?

    SayWhat did the old man in the forest tell the poor man to ask for?

    SayWhy did the dwarfs finally agree to give up the mill?

    SayWhat came out of the mill first? Why those things?

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

  5. Tell it back

    Close the book.

    SayTell me what happened from Christmas Eve morning until midnight.

    Then ask your child to guess what the rich brother will do when he hears about the mill.

  6. Copywork

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

    The poor man thanked his brother for the ham, put it under his arm, and went his way.

  7. Words to learn

    Learn: trifling, attracted, perplexed, fragrance, approaching, astonishment. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

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