First, study any unfamiliar words here:
| 🌻 garden 🌼 A place where people grow flowers, vegetables, or plants. We have tomatoes growing in our garden. She spends every weekend working in her flower garden. 🪴 pots 🏺 Containers used to hold plants or flowers. The flowers are growing in colorful pots on the balcony. He bought new pots to grow herbs in the kitchen. 🌱 planting 🌿 Putting seeds or plants into the ground or soil to grow. We are planting carrots in the spring. She enjoys planting flowers in her backyard. 🕵️♂️ thief 🏃♂️💨 A person who steals things. The thief took all the apples from our tree. A thief broke into the garden shed last night. 🛞 wheelbarrow 🪵 A small cart with one wheel used to carry heavy things in the garden. He carried the soil in a wheelbarrow. We used the wheelbarrow to move the pumpkins. 🏃 run away 🏞️ To leave quickly to escape from something or someone. The rabbit tried to run away from the dog. The thief had to run away when the lights turned on. 🐟 pond 🪷 A small body of still water, often in a garden or park. There are frogs living in the pond. We saw ducks swimming in the pond. 🏚️ shed 🔧 A small building in a garden for storing tools. He keeps his tools in the shed. We found a spider in the corner of the shed. 🧤 scarecrow 🌾 A figure made to look like a person, used to scare birds away from crops. The scarecrow stood in the middle of the field. We made a funny scarecrow for the vegetable garden. 🍲 stew 🥕 A dish of meat and vegetables cooked slowly in a pot. Grandma made a hot stew for dinner. We put carrots and potatoes in the stew. 🍂 rake 🍁 A tool with a long handle and metal teeth, used to gather leaves or smooth soil. He used a rake to clean up the leaves. The rake is leaning against the shed. |
Word Count: 786
Reading Level: CEFR B1
A Rabbit Story
(A retelling of one of Beatrix Potter’s famous stories)
Four little rabbits lived with their mother in a comfortable home under a big tree in a beautiful forest. And one morning, their mother said something very important: “you can go down the road, and you can play in the fields and the forest, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden!”
“Your father had an accident there, and he was put in a stew,” she said.
“Go have some fun now, but stay safe, and be careful. I have to go out for a while.” After saying this, the mother rabbit took her basket and umbrella, and she went out the door to go to the bakery to buy some bread.
Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail (who were good little rabbits) went down the road to look for blackberries. But Peter (who was not usually a very good little rabbit) ran straight away to Mr. McGregor’s garden to eat some fresh vegetables!
First, he ate some lettuce and beans and broccoli; and after that, he ate some nice radishes and delicious carrots. And though his stomach was already full, he went to the other side of the garden to get some cucumbers too.
But he didn’t find any cucumbers.
Instead, he found awful Mr. McGregor! The old man was planting some young cabbages; and he was not too happy to see a rabbit in his garden. Peter turned and ran away as fast as he could, and Mr. McGregor chased after him with a rake, shouting “stop! thief!”
Peter was extremely scared, and he was running in every direction in the garden; he lost one of his shoes near the cabbages.
And he lost his other shoe between the potatoes and the parsley. He couldn’t find the way back to the gate; and then, his jacket buttons got caught in some gooseberry net!
Peter was starting to cry, and he wanted to give up; but his crying was heard by some friendly birds, and they came to help him; “You can do it!” they said, “Don’t give up, Peter!”
Mr. McGregor was about to catch Peter under a basket (because he wanted to eat rabbit stew again), but Peter took his jacket off, just in time, and ran away to hide in Mr. McGregor’s tool shed.
Inside the tool shed, he quickly jumped into a watering can to hide; but unfortunately, the can was not empty, and the water was very cold. Mr. McGregor ran into the shed and started looking under the flower pots on the other side of the room, but Peter sneezed, loudly!
Achoo!
Mr. McGregor tried to put his foot on the rabbit, but Peter quickly jumped out through a small window, knocking down some of Mrs. McGregor’s flower pots. Peter was frightened, and he quickly ran back to the middle of the garden, but he still could not find the way out — he couldn’t find the way to the front gate.
He asked a mouse for help, but the mouse had never left the garden in all his life, so he didn’t know the way. He saw a white cat at the goldfish pond, and he thought to ask her for directions to the gate, but he decided not to say anything (his cousin Benjamin had warned him about cats).
Walking around a little, he found an old wheelbarrow and climbed on top of it; He was feeling scared and lonely, and losing hope, and he started to cry again.
But luckily for Peter, he found a good view from the top of the wheelbarrow!
He could see the gate, and it wasn’t too far away! Peter jumped down and ran quickly towards the gate. Mr. McGregor saw him and tried to stop him, but Peter slipped quickly through the old man’s hands and slipped easily under the gate.
Mr. McGregor used Peter’s nice blue jacket and shoes to make a little scarecrow to frighten the birds away.
Peter was terribly tired when he got home, and he fell down on the floor. His mother was cooking, and she wondered why Peter had come home naked. “Did you lose another jacket and good pair of shoes?!” she asked with an angry sigh.
Achoo!
Peter wasn’t feeling well, and though his mother was disappointed with him, she gave him some tea and put him to bed a little early. “But you will not have any supper tonight because your stomach is already full of Mr. McGregor’s vegetables!”
Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail (who were good little rabbits) had sweet bread and milk with blackberries for supper.
That is the end of the story about the Rabbit.
Questions about the story:
1. Where did the four little rabbits live?
A. In a shed behind a bakery
B. In a treehouse in the mountains
C. Under a big tree in a forest
D. Inside Mr. McGregor’s house
2. What important warning did the mother rabbit give?
A. “Don’t talk to birds!”
B. “Stay out of Mr. McGregor’s garden!”
C. “You must all stay inside today!”
D. “Don’t go near the goldfish pond!”
3. What did Peter Rabbit do after his mother left?
A. Picked blackberries with his siblings
B. Took a nap under the tree
C. Ran to Mr. McGregor’s garden
D. Followed his mother to the bakery
4. What happened to Peter in the gooseberry net?
A. He fell asleep
B. He got caught by Mr. McGregor
C. His jacket buttons got stuck
D. He found some cucumbers
5. How did the birds help Peter?
A. They pecked Mr. McGregor
B. They showed him the way out
C. They gave him warm tea
D. They encouraged him not to give up
6. Why didn’t Peter ask the cat for help?
A. He thought she was sleeping
B. He was scared because of a warning
C. The cat didn’t like rabbits
D. She was too far away
7. What did Mr. McGregor do with Peter’s jacket and shoes?
A. Threw them in the pond
B. Gave them back to Peter
C. Used them to make a scarecrow
D. Took them to the bakery
Answer Key:
1. Where did the four little rabbits live?
A. In a shed behind a bakery
B. In a treehouse in the mountains
C. Under a big tree in a forest ✅
D. Inside Mr. McGregor’s house
2. What important warning did the mother rabbit give?
A. “Don’t talk to birds!”
B. “Stay out of Mr. McGregor’s garden!” ✅
C. “You must all stay inside today!”
D. “Don’t go near the goldfish pond!”
3. What did Peter Rabbit do after his mother left?
A. Picked blackberries with his siblings
B. Took a nap under the tree
C. Ran to Mr. McGregor’s garden ✅
D. Followed his mother to the bakery
4. What happened to Peter in the gooseberry net?
A. He fell asleep
B. He got caught by Mr. McGregor
C. His jacket buttons got stuck ✅
D. He found some cucumbers
5. How did the birds help Peter?
A. They pecked Mr. McGregor
B. They showed him the way out
C. They gave him warm tea
D. They encouraged him not to give up ✅
6. Why didn’t Peter ask the cat for help?
A. He thought she was sleeping
B. He was scared because of a warning ✅
C. The cat didn’t like rabbits
D. She was too far away
7. What did Mr. McGregor do with Peter’s jacket and shoes?
A. Threw them in the pond
B. Gave them back to Peter
C. Used them to make a scarecrow ✅
D. Took them to the bakery
Conversation Starters:
Working with a partner or small group, please discuss a few of these questions, and try to reference the content of the story as much as possible. Also, please try to use any grammar or vocabulary that you are studying recently, and take notes when you hear a new word or learn a new way to say something.
- Why do you think Peter disobeyed his mother and went into Mr. McGregor’s garden?
- Do you think curiosity is a good or bad thing?
- Peter lost his shoes, his jacket, and almost got caught—was it worth it for some vegetables?
- What food would you risk trouble to eat?
- The birds helped Peter when he was stuck in the net.
- Have you ever helped someone in a difficult situation, or has someone helped you? Tell your group what happened.
- Peter’s siblings were “good little rabbits” who followed the rules.
- Were you more like Peter or more like Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail when you were a child?
- Mr. McGregor made a scarecrow using Peter’s clothes.
- What do you think Mr. McGregor felt after Peter escaped? Was he angry, amused, tired?
- If Peter could talk to his mother at the end of the story, what do you think he would say?
- Try to imagine and act out the conversation!
- The forest, the garden, the bakery, the tool shed…
- Which place in the story would you most like to visit, and why?
If you are completing these conversations for a class activity, please share your group’s most interesting ideas and opinions with the rest of the class.
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