Lesson 3: Winter Days and Winter Nights
Getting Started
Questions to Explore
- How are family members dependent on one another?
Facts and Definitions
- Every family member on a farm has chores and responsibilities.
Skills
- Interact with the text by making connections, answering questions, and locating information. (LA)
- Respond to fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive and evaluative processes. (LA)
- Relate plot, setting, and characters to own experiences and ideas. (LA)
- Use planning strategies to organize ideas. (LA)
Materials
- Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- colored pencils or markers
- journal
Introduction
Ask your child why a person's home is so important. Ask him why we must take care of our homes and discuss how homes protect people from the weather, giving them a place to cook, eat, and sleep.
Materials: Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, journal
Today your child will read the chapter "Winter Days and Winter Nights." Then he can answer two of the following questions in his journal and two in a discussion.
Questions
- What chore days did Laura enjoy most?She liked the churning and baking days (Thursday and Saturday) best of all.
- Why did the family make their own butter and eat animals from the woods?Your child should understand that the family lived in a remote area. They needed to provide food for themselves because there was no store they could easily go to.
- How are winters at your home similar to/different from winters for Laura? Do you enjoy the winter? Why or why not?Answers will vary.
- How did you feel when you read the story of Grandpa and the panther?" What words or phrases did the author use to make the story more exciting?Answers will vary. Your child may mention some of the verbs like "screamed" and "leaped" or descriptions of the panther like "enormous slashing claws