McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LXXXI · Part 8: Truth, wisdom and work

85. Burning the Fallow, by Mrs. Susanna Moodie

Goal: Your child reads a true pioneer adventure and retells how the family was saved from the fire.

⏱ 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

From "Roughing it in the Bush": in the Canadian backwoods, a fire set in the brush-covered clearing (the fallow) spreads around the house. The writer, her children and servants are trapped, until a sudden storm puts it out. A note and Definitions are included.

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:

    Fallow, a new clearing usually covered with brush heaps.

    Appalling, terrifying.

    Lurid, dull red.

    Water-spout, a column of water caught up by a whirlwind.

    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 the selection is adapted from "Roughing it in the Bush," by Mrs. Susanna Moodie (sister of Agnes Strickland), which tells of her adventures in the backwoods of Canada. The book was first published in 1852.

  3. Read it aloud

    Your child reads it aloud. Let the voice grow tense as the fire closes in. It begins:

    I ran immediately to the door, but was not able to distinguish ten yards before me.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWho had set fire to the fallow?

    SayWhy couldn't the family escape?

    SayWhat did the writer do with her children while they waited?

    SayWhat saved them in the end?

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

  5. Tell it back

    Close the book. Your child tells the story of the fire, from the first smoke to the storm.

  6. Copywork

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

    Our only ark of safety was the house, so long as it remained untouched by the fire.

  7. Words to learn

    Learn: abating, listlessly, fallow, concentration, canopy, appalling, lurid, igniting, parched. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

Afterwards

Find Canada on a map, and talk about what pioneer families had to do to clear land.

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