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Chapter Overview: In this chapter, the Ingalls family celebrates Christmas with family.
Chapter Themes: Snow (icicles, sparkling, playing); Widdling wood (decoration, furniture); Cooking for celebrations (items, ingredients, making candy, amount of food); Having family/friends as guests at holidays; Transportation; Winter travel clothing; Overnight sleeping arrangements (e.g., staying with friends because the distance is too great to return home in a single day); Gathering water in the spring; Rabies; Music (e.g., "Oh, My Darling"); Santa Claus and gifts of the 18th century; Meals (caloric intake, common foods); Books in homes (e.g., Bible, "Green Book"); Table manners; Keeping warm with items such as potatoes, robes, quilts, hot irons
Chapter Activities
- Language Arts
- Your Favority Toy
- During this Christmas, Laura received a doll from Santa Clause. Write a descriptive paper about your favorite toy.
- Standards Addressed
- 6.5.1 use the writing process
- 6.5.2 use the analytic writing traits
- Christmas (or Holiday) Songs
- Pa loves to sing to his family and play his fiddle. In this chapter he sings and plays his fiddle for the little ones to go to sleep the night before Christmas. Students are to create a 12 song holiday play list that they would use during the holidays. They are to also write why their choices for songs are the best choices.
- Standards Addressed
- 5.5.7 write short expository text that speculates on causes and effects and offers simple persuasive evidence
- Mathematics
- Cookie Making
- Ma makes cookies for the holiday season. Using laurasprairiehouse.com, use the cookie receipe to make some cookies. But, be warned! This isn't enough cookies for everyone! The receipe needs to be doubled in order to having enough cookies. Students are to figure out the new measurments once they double what is given to them.
- Standards Addressed
- 3.5.1 - estimate and convert units of measure for weight and volume/capacity within the same measurement system
- Snowflakes
- Laura, Mary, and their cousins love to play in the snow and make snow angels. Discuss with students what a line of symmetry is and have them create beautiful snowflakes using a line of symmetry.
- Standards Addressed
- 4.5.3 - represent concepts of congruency, simlarity, and/or symmetry using a variety of methods.
- Social Studies
- Christmas Around the World
- Since this is the time for Christmas, the Ingalls children were very excited for Santa Clause to come to their home and give them presents. Christmas is celebrated differently around the world. Students are to pick a different country and research how their Christmas is spent. Students are also required to create a map of the country they chose (or your assigned them to).
- Standards Addressed
- 3.5.4 - construct maps, charts, tables, and graphs to display information
- Family Tree
- Family is very important to the Ingalls family. Create your own family tree. Go as far back as you can. Be sure to ask your parents for names and dates.
- Standards Addressed
- 4.5.2 - record and interpret events on a graphic organizer, such as a calendar or time line.
- Science
- Snowstorms Research
- There was a lot of snow during Christmas time in the big woods. Using the internet, research snowstorms and what conditions are needed for s snowstorm to occur.
- Standards Addressed
- 3.5.3 - investigate and describe various meterorolgical phenomena.
- Gravitational Pull
- The Ingalls children and their cousins had a lot of fun climbing trees and jumping down to make impressions of their faces and bodies to make snow angels. Students will be using a variety of items (balls, books, etc) and timing how quick they fall to earth. Students will chart their findings and discuss with the class their results.
- Standards Addressed
- 2.5.8 explain that objects move towards the Earth when they are released in the air or on reamps due to the force of gravity.
Historical Overview of Chapter Themes
Pa loved to play his fiddle. Here is some history of the fiddle. The fiddle had evolved from the fidula, which is a medieval instrument. The name is originally is derived from the latin word fidula.
It is surprising to see that the name has not changed over time.
Additional Resources
5 comments:
Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Reading your blog Little House chapter 4 has some creative ideas. Every child loves toys and having the students write about their favorite toy was a great idea. Children love to cook, and having a lesson on cooking is a good way to teach measurement. Learning about other countries around the world will be great to teach during the holidays. Your students will enjoy learning that many of our traditions come from other countries. Culture Grams is a good web site to research other countries. Researching snowstorms and learning about symmetry in math will make the snow storm activity fun. Teaching the water cycle would be a great lead in to the snow research. Thanks for all your ideas.
Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Reading your blog Little House chapter 4 has some creative ideas. Every child loves toys and having the students write about their favorite toy was a great idea. Children love to cook, and having a lesson on cooking is a good way to teach measurement. Learning about other countries around the world will be great to teach during the holidays. Your students will enjoy learning that many of our traditions come from other countries. Culture Grams is a good web site to research other countries. Researching snowstorms and learning about symmetry in math will make the snow storm activity fun. Teaching the water cycle would be a great lead in to the snow research. Thanks for all your ideas.
I liked the Christmas around the world idea -- assigning a different country and how the children of that region celebrate. I know that many cultures do not celebrate Christmas. I think my students would find this an interesting research project. Thank you for your activities and ideas.
I really liked the way you incorporated cooking with the math section. I know my students would really enjoy that lesson. I also thought the symmetry lesson was very creative. Great ideas!
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