Banks of Plum Creek: 16—"The Wonderful House" and 17—"Moving In"

Teacher's Guide Author: Kristen Curto, 3rd grade teacher, Manch Elementary School, Clark County School District

_________________________________________________________________

This teachers' guide is one of a series including activities for all chapters of On the Banks of Plum Creek. Additional teacher's guides are available for other Little House books as well as other books addressing the topic of U.S. westward migration.

• Little House Teacher's Guides
• Teacher's Guides for Patty Reed's Doll, Sallie Fox, Sarah, Plain and Tall, and other exploration children's books.
  

_________________________________________________________________

Chapter Overviews: Chapter 16
The Wonderful house
Pa begins the spring planting. It is exausting work, and he is in the fields from early morning until the sun goes down. Ma and the girls plant a vegetable garden. When all the wheat is planted and begins to sprout, Pa travels to town and purchases materials to build a house. With the help of Mr. Nelson, he build a house using all store-bought materials, including: shingles, boards, doors with hinges and a lock, and glass windows. Pa builds a beautiful house and surprises Ma with a shiny new cookstove. Ma is nervous about all of the big purchases because Pa has used credit based on his future potential earnings from selling his wheat crop.
Chapter 17
Moving in
The family moves out of the dugout house and into the new house that Pa has built. Ma is surprised and excited by her new stove. The girls are thrilled to have their own room in the attic.

Chapters' Themes: Life on a Prairie farm, Springtime chores, Building a home on the Prairie, Appreciating good fortune (the family was very excited by simple pleasures), Benefits of hard work, Work ethic, Women's work, Efficient use of resources, Finding new uses for old materials, Planting a garden
Suggested Activities

• Language Arts
• Pioneer Diary
• Choose 1 or more characters from the story and write diary entries from the point of view of the character based on events from each chapter. Show students examples from actual Pioneer diaries as a model. Students should also include illustrations of key objects or events that are described in the chapters.
• Standards Addressed
• (3) 6.5 A. write responses to expository text
• (3) 6.5 B. write responses that use specific details from expository text with assistance, summarize information from expository text with assistance
• How- to paragraph
• Use a flow map to organize information. Use this to write a how-to paragraph that explains the steps Pa used to build the prairie home. Illustrate it by drawing a detailed picture of the home Pa built or making a 3-D model of the home.
• Standards Addressed
• 3.6.1 C write to a given prompt about an event, place, object, or person (e.g., to inform, to explain, to describe)
• 3.4.5 G. organize information (e.g., graphic organizer)
• Mathematics
• Prairie Life economics
• Using a data table provided by the teacher, have students calculate the cost of planting wheat vs. the potential profits to be made by selling the crop. Then, have students calculate the cost of building a home on the prairie. Provide them with an information table that shows how much various supplies and household goods would have cost during the 1870's.
• Standards Addressed
• Data Analysis (3)5.3 draw conclusions from charts, tables, and graphs to solve problems
• Problem Solving
  (3)A.1 select, modify, develop, apply, and justify strategies to solve a variety of mathematical and practical problems and to investigate and understand mathematical concepts
• Create word problems
• Have students create word problems based on planting crops or building a house on the prairie. They will then exchange the problems with other students to solve.
• Standards Addressed
• Mathematical Communication
  (3)B.1 discuss and exchange ideas about mathematics as a part of learning
• (3)B.6 express mathematical ideas and use them to define, compare, and solve problems orally and in writing
• ~Social Studies
• Text- to -self connections
• Show students a photograph of a Pioneer Prairie home from this time period. Also have them read a letter or diary excerpt from the 1870's. Students will then create a double-bubble map to compare and contrast Pioneer homes and home life to the student’s home and every day life.
• Standards Addressed
• History
  (3)4.10 describe the lives of pioneers from diverse groups
• (3)4.15 read and interpret historical passages
• ~Mapping
• Locate Plum Creek on a map of the United States. Use Google Earth to locate the modern town to see how it has changed between then and now. In a group, create a poster, essay, diorama or salt map showing what the area was like in the 1870's and 2008.
• Standards Addressed
• Geography
  (3)3.3 use maps, globes, photographs, and graphs to collect geographic information
• (3)3.42 create a visual model to illustrate the results of a geographic inquiry
• Science
• Life cycle of a wheat plant
• Research to learn about the life cycle of a wheat plant. Describe the various problems that can harm a wheat crop (insects, diseases, weather issues.) Create a display (poster, research paper, tree map) to share findings with the class.
• Standards Addressed
• Organisms and Their Environment
  L2C Students understand that living things live in different places.
  L5C Students understand that there is a variety of ecosystems on Earth and organisms interact within their ecosystems.
  L8C Students understand how living and non-living components of ecosystems interact.
  L12C Students understand that ecosystems display patterns of organization, change, and stability as a result of the interactions and interdependencies among the living and non-living components of the Earth.
• (3)4.2 investigate, compare, and contrast life cycles of various living things [L5B2]
  (3)4.3 investigate and describe the interactions of organisms with each other and their ecosystem [L5C2]
  (3)4.4 identify and compare needs common to most living things
• ~Animals of the prairie
• Research to find out the various types of animals that lived on the prairie in 1870. Choose one animal to focus on. Prepare a research paper, poster, or other representation to describe the ainmal's life cycle, food sources, and other aspects of the animal's life on the prairie. Explain its interactions with humans and its current situation in modern times.
• 
  Organisms and Their Environment
  L2C Students understand that living things live in different places.
  L5C Students understand that there is a variety of ecosystems on Earth and organisms interact within their ecosystems.
  L8C Students understand how living and non-living components of ecosystems interact.
  L12C Students understand that ecosystems display patterns of organization, change, and stability as a result of the interactions and interdependencies among the living and non-living components of the Earth.
• Historical Overview of Chapter Themes
  

Life on a farm in the American West during the late 1800’s was not easy. All members of the family were expected to share the labor involved with frontier life. Most of the duties of frontier women focused on the home and family. Women were determined to provide a comfortable and pleasant home for their families. They were responsible for cooking, cleaning, and washing the clothes on a weekly basis. In addition to their regular duties, they made most of the families clothing and mended it when repairs were needed. Many women maintained a vegetable garden and preserved this and other foods to prevent them from spoiling. Another chore involved raising chickens, hogs, and other livestock which would eventually be butchered and cooked or preserved. Women milked the cows and made butter and cheese.
At times, women also produced goods to sell to help support their families. Some examples include; sewing clothing, selling butter, washing others’ clothing, or cooking food for others.
A large part of the lives of Frontier women was devoted to bearing and raising children. Women played the focal role in caring for young children. Often, women also educated their own children if a school was not available. When children were old enough to work, women delegated chores to them and oversaw that they were completed properly.
Overall, life on a Frontier farm was full of exhausting work. Surprisingly this was a life that many people preferred. It allowed them unprecedented freedom and opportunity. For many, the hard work was worth the rewards involved.

Additional Resources

• http://www.over-land.com/shelter.html by [Elizabeth Larson]: Includes photographs of Pioneer homes and other items of interest used daily by pioneers
• http://www.walnutgrove.org/dugout.htm by [Walnut Grove Historical Society]: This site is the Walnut Grove historic site. It includes artifacts, photographs, and information about the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family
• http://www.liwfrontiergirl.com/by [Rebecca Brammer & Phil Greetham]: This site contains information about Laura Ingalls Wilder, her life, travels, and family
• http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ngp:@FILREQ(@field(SUBJ+@BAND(sod+buildings))+@FIELD(COLLID+ndfa)) by [Library of Congress]: This site contains photographs of Pioneer artifacts and early pioneer homes.

_________________________________________________________________

Note: This teacher's guide was developed as part of one of the Clark County School District's Teaching American History grants. In this grant module, teachers focused on using children's historical literature to teach cross-curricular concepts relating to 19th century westward movement. For more information about this blog, related teacher's guides, or the grant module, please contact Dr. Christy Keeler.