Little House on the Prairie is an all time favorite of mine. I remember reading it when I was a little girl and imagining I lived way back then.

Laura and her family leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and set out for Kansas. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their little house on the prairie. Soon they are planting and plowing, hunting wild ducks and turkeys, and gathering grass for their cows. Sometimes pioneer life is hard, but Laura and her folks are always busy and happy in their new little house.

This is a great book for introducing pioneer life to students and what it was like to travel before roads.






Interest Level :Grades 3 - 5
DRA: 40
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.3
Guided Reading: Q
Lexile Measure® : 760L

Our rate (1-10) 9


Classroom Ideas:

JOURNAL WRITING
Pa tells Laura, “The government is going to move these Indians farther west,
any time now. That’s why we’re here, Laura.White people are going to settle all
this country, and we get the best land because we get here first and take our
pick” (pp. 236–37). Do you agree that the pioneers should get the best land, or
do you think that the Native Americans should have been allowed to hold on to
their homeland? If you could write a letter to Pa to discuss this, what would you
say? You may want to do research to back up your opinion.


THEN AND NOW
The Indians are described as “dirty and scowling and mean” (p. 232). What
happens between the Ingallses and the Indians in this book? If you were a child
living in Indian Territory at that time, how would you feel about the Indians?
What about now, when you know that it was actually the pioneers who were
invading the Native Americans’ land?