The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 207–209 · Part 1: Part First

61. Rosa Bonheur

Goal: Your child makes notes about a person's life and writes a short account from them.

⏱ About 30 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗ 🖨 Copywork sheet

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)

What's in the book

Section 207 tells the story of Rosa Bonheur, the French painter of animals (1822 to 1899): a wild, motherless girl who drew, kept house for her father, modeled clay and painted the animals she loved. Section 208 is about her portrait by Dubufe (page 163). Section 209 asks for a written account from memory, using notes.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Read the story

    Read Section 207 together.

    Rosa Bonheur was a French painter. She was born at Bordeaux, France, in 1822, and died in 1899.

  2. Talk it over

    Ask: Why was Rosa sent away from school? What did she do at home? Why did her pictures help people love animals? What was the goat called?

    Look at her portrait on page 163 (Section 208): What do you see? What do you like?

  3. Make notes

    Like the "Notes on Leather" in Section 188, your child writes five or six short notes about Rosa Bonheur: born, childhood, school, home, animals, famous paintings.

  4. Write from the notes (Section 209)

    Close the book. Using only the notes, your child writes an account of 6 to 8 sentences.

  5. Check it gently

    Compare with the book for facts (dates, places). Your child fixes any wrong fact. Then praise one sentence that sounds like your child, not like the book.

  6. What a good result looks like

    Example (written for this guide, not from the book):

    Rosa Bonheur was a French painter who loved animals. She was born in 1822. Her mother died when she was seven, and her father was a poor drawing master. Rosa ran wild in the fields and drew pictures all the time. She made friends with dogs, sheep and a goat. When she grew up, she became famous for painting animals.

Afterwards

The book says: see what else you can learn about Rosa Bonheur. Look at some of her paintings together in a library book or online.

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