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Copywork
About This Passage
E.B. White names three separate acts the crowd will perform at the web — admiring, reading, and marveling — in a rhythmic triplet that lands on 'miracle.' Three vocabulary words live right inside the sentence, so copying it trains an ear for how White sequences verbs before a final noun.
In another hour or two, a steady stream of people would pass by, admiring it, and reading it, and looking at Wilbur, and marveling at the miracle.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Walk through Chapter 19 in order: Wilbur waking up to find the egg sac; Charlotte explaining 'magnum opus' and 'languishing'; Templeton returning bloated with bad news about Uncle's blue ribbon; the families arriving and reading HUMBLE; the buttermilk bath; and the loud-speaker announcement calling Wilbur to the judges' booth.
Discussion Questions
- Charlotte calls her egg sac her 'magnum opus' and teaches Wilbur the Latin meaning. Why does it matter, for the story, that Charlotte's most important personal work is built from a language even Wilbur has to ask about?
- Templeton returns bloated and sneering, and tries to frighten Wilbur with the news about Uncle's blue ribbon and Zuckerman's knife. What does this scene reveal about the kind of creature Templeton chooses to be, even on his happiest morning?
+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Strange or unusual enough to make you want to look more closely.
Item 2
A soft case that a caterpillar or spider spins to hold eggs or a growing creature.
Item 3
Puffed up or made larger, often by food or water inside.
+ 7 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
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