Web Resources

Here are some helpful links to all things Laura Ingalls Wilder!

1. http://www.littlehousebooks.com This website is a great resource for both teachers and students because it provides links to short summaries of all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books and allows patrons to purchase copies of the books. In addition, there is an inclusive timeline of all of "The Girls of Little House"- from Laura Ingalls Wilder's great-grandmother Martha, to her grandmother Charlotte, to her mother Caroline, to Laura, and then to Laura's daughter Rose. This would be a useful tool to use to show children the concept of family lineage and might be an interesting lead-in activity to introduce children to the idea of making their own family timelines. Students might also enjoy exploring the recipes, crafts, and other interactive games and quizzes found on the website. For teachers, there is an extremely helpful Classroom Activity Guide, which provides ideas for activities, writing prompts, and comprehension questions for each of Laura's "Little House" books. The link to the Classroom Activity Guide is provided below:  http://files.harpercollins.com/PDF/TeachingGuides/0064400026.pdf
2. http://www.hoover.nara.gov/LIW/ This website provided me with some inspiration for activities and classroom applications that relate Laura Ingalls Wilder's books to Social Studies content standards. For example, they introduce the activity of making a map of the Ingalls family's journeys and settlements as a way to assess students' understanding of cartography and the characteristics of maps. Another activity highlights the specific town of De Smet, South Dakota, which would be a great way for teachers and students to have an in-depth discussion of the characteristics of life in a pioneer town. Students could make comparisons to their own hometown, which would be a great writing prompt for Writer's Workshop. There is also a section for younger students, which includes "The Little House Counting Book". It shows different numbers of items that would have been important to pioneer children, such as rag dolls, dishware and tin cups, and different schoolbooks. This interactive book activity could be presented on the SmartBoard so that the students could see it clearly. I like that it integrates Math and Social Studies into the lesson.
3. http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/byrnes-famous/wilder.html This website provides more writing activities and lesson plans that could be incorporated into an ELA or Writing Workshop lesson. I liked the idea of having students interview a relative about a time period where they explained some of the challenges they faced and how they dealt with their problems. This would allow students to begin recognizing how their relatives made text-to-self connections with Laura, which might inspire them to try to do the same.