McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XC · Part 9: Comedy, Milton, Whittier and Shakespeare's taverns

96. Starved Rock (Francis Parkman)

Goal: Your student can describe Starved Rock and tell how it got its name.

⏱ About 35 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pen
  • A dictionary

What's in the book

A description by Parkman of the high cliff on the Illinois River where La Salle built a fort. Notes explain the legend of the name, La Salle and Tonty.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Read the notes printed at the end of the lesson together before reading. The book explains, among others:

    Starved Rock: a rock on the south side of the Illinois River, between La Salle and Ottawa; a legend says Illinois Indians took refuge there from the Pottawatomies and died of starvation or thirst

    La Salle: a celebrated French explorer (1643–1687) who built forts in the Mississippi Valley

    Tonty: an Italian who served in the French army and navy before joining La Salle

    Ask your student to find two other hard words in the lesson, guess their meaning from the sentence, then check a dictionary.

  2. About the author

    The book says Parkman was born in Boston in 1823 and graduated from Harvard in 1844. He spent more than twenty years making a careful study of the early French explorations and settlements in America, published in eight large volumes. Eye trouble at times wholly prevented reading or writing. His style is clear and animated.

  3. Read aloud

    Read the description slowly while your student sketches the cliff, the river and the forest from the words alone.

    Listen for these lines:

    The cliff called "Starved Rock," now pointed out to travelers as the chief natural curiosity of the region

  4. Talk about it

    SayHow high is the cliff, and on how many sides is it steep?

    SayWhy would this be a good place for a fort?

    SayHow did the rock get its name, according to the notes?

    SayParkman, like Prescott, had trouble with his eyes. What helped him write anyway?

  5. Narration

    Your student describes Starved Rock using their sketch, as a guide would to travelers.

  6. Writing (optional)

    Describe a natural place near you as Parkman would: what it looks like, and what happened there.

Tip

Find the Illinois River on a map. Starved Rock is now a state park in Illinois.

@teddyrookbook GitHub