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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage puts young students inside the quiet tug-of-war at the Arable breakfast table: Fern speaks about Charlotte with calm certainty, and her mother grows more worried with every word. The short, plain sentences let children hear how a simple description of a spider can sound wonderful to one person and strange to another, which is the small hinge the whole chapter turns on.
Fern nodded. "A big grey one. She has a web across the top of Wilbur's doorway. She catches flies and sucks their blood. Wilbur adores her." "Does he really?" said Mrs. Arable, rather vaguely. She was...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell the story of Chapter 8 in order. Begin at the Sunday breakfast, tell how Fern describes the barn animals to her mother and father, and end with Mrs. Arable deciding to speak to Dr. Dorian.
Discussion Questions
- When Fern tells her mother that the goose told Templeton she didn't want the egg, Mrs. Arable gazes at her with a queer, worried look. How do you know from the text that Mrs. Arable is troubled by what Fern just said, and not just curious?
- Fern says, Wilbur adores Charlotte, and She's terribly clever. What makes you think Fern truly believes these words, and what does it show about how Fern sees the animals in the barn?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Came out of an egg.
Item 2
Moved the head up and down to mean yes.
Item 3
Loves someone very, very much.
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Critical Thinking
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