McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson IX · Part 1: Pretend farms, snow and castles

9. The Beaver

Goal: Your child reads a lesson of facts and tells three things about how beavers live and build.

⏱ About 25 minutes · 7 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 long list of words and a lesson about the beaver: its size and fur, its houses and dams, and a man who would not harm young beavers at play.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Warm up

    SayWhat do you know about beavers? What do they build?

    If you can, look at a picture of a beaver and a beaver dam.

  2. Words and meanings

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

    prefer trapper forward material disturbing dumb chiefly gnawing American cautiously height obtain curious inhuman including constructed purpose tighter reminded frequently

    Read them together a few at a time. Clap the syllables of the long ones. The book prints these words without meanings.

    Explain a few: chiefly means mostly; gnawing is biting again and again; constructed means built.

  3. Read it aloud

    Your child reads. Facts lessons have long words; read hard sentences first yourself, then let your child reread them.

    Here is a line from it:

    The beaver is found chiefly in North America.

    Then let your child reread a favorite part, more smoothly.

  4. Talk about it

    SayHow long is a beaver, and what is its tail like?

    SayWhere do beavers build their huts, and what do they use?

    SayWhy do you think the man left the young beavers alone?

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

  5. Tell it back

    Close the book.

    SayTell me three things you learned about beavers.

    An older child can write the three facts in sentences.

  6. Copywork

    Your child copies this from the book in their best handwriting:

    The beaver is found chiefly in North America.

    North America is a place name, so both words start with capitals.

    Check capitals and marks together.

  7. Spelling

    Say each word, use it in a sentence, and have your child spell it aloud, then write it: beaver, trapper, height, purpose, curious.

    Check together and fix any mistakes right away. Keep missed words for tomorrow's warm-up.

Afterwards

Reread the lesson aloud tomorrow before starting the next one, and review any missed spelling words.

Tip

Find North America on a map or globe.

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