In the 19th century, several publishers became interested in the idea of school texts. The Reverend William Holmes McGuffey created a series of readers that were used across the country.
The first reader emphasized the moral code for children; the second, reading and spelling; the third, oral reading; the forth, good literature, the fifth, elocutionary exercises; and finally the sixth, great authors, such as Shakespeare, Longfellow, Dickens and Addison. The readers covered elementary through high school and contained a variety of exercises for the many lessons each book contained.
This page from the McGuffey's First Reader shows lesson 2.