Laura Ingalls Wilder

		One of the most popular reading series in the 1800s was the McGuffey Readers. Students advanced at the own pace through the set of six readers, beginning with the primer.
McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader	McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader

	Here is Lesson 2 from the First Reader in the McGuffey series. In On the Banks of Plum Creek , Laura and Mary had to share their books. Laura studied the first lesson in the reading book and soon could read, "C-A-T, cat; M-A-T, mat."
Lesson 2 from the First McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader

			In Lesson XXI (21) children learned about bees. Students in the second reader read this lesson out loud for their teacher and practiced their penmanship by copying the poem on their slates or paper. Write the poem from the third page about bees in your best handwriting and then see if you can memorize it
Three pages of lessons about bees from the McGuffey's Reader

	Some of the students in this one-room school in Iowa are listening to their teacher while the older students are working on their lessons.
Water Bucket with Dipper --Photo courtesy of the Johnson County Historical Society, P.O. Box 5081, Coralville, IA 52241-5081 http://www.jchsiowa.org/