8. Puss and her Kittens

The lesson, step by step

1. Warm up

   Have your child reread a few lines of Lesson VII, for example:

   Baby Bye,

   Praise smooth reading and help with any word that sticks.

2. New words

   Point to the new words at the top of the lesson:

   servant suddenly longer returned lived tired since five anxious trouble certain nearly dozen seven attic strange great proper coal seemed

   Say each word and have your child say it after you. Clap the parts of long words. Then point to words in any order and let your child read them.

3. Read it aloud

   Look at the picture together first, if there is one. Then your child reads the lesson aloud, one paragraph at a time. Help with any word by pointing to it in the word list.

   Here are a few lines from it:

   Puss, with her three kittens, had lived in the coal cellar; but one day she thought she would carry them to the attic.

   Poor puss was nearly tired out, and could carry them no longer.

   Read it a second time, more smoothly.

4. Talk about it

   SayWhere did puss want her kittens to live?

   SayWhy did the servant keep carrying them back?

   SayWho came to help puss?

   SayThe book asks: "Was not the strange cat kind to puss?" What do you think?

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

5. Tell it back

   Close the book.

   SayTell me the story of puss and her kittens, from the cellar to the attic.

   Let your child talk without stopping them. Afterward, help with anything left out by asking "What happened next?"

6. Copywork

   Write this line from the lesson for your child to copy, or let them copy it straight from the book:

   Was not the strange cat kind to puss?

   Check capital letters, commas and the mark at the end.

7. Spelling

   Say each word, use it in a short sentence, and have your child spell it aloud, then write it: five, seven, coal, tired, great.

   Check together and fix any mistakes right away.