The Little House on the Prairie

Explore the Places the Ingalls Lived

A new Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum is being proposed for Indiana. During this Webquest you will learn about the different places that the Ingalls lived by reading the book that you are assigned and preparing an oral presentation summarizing the story. The presentation will also tell why you think that the setting and home that the Ingalls lived in would be perfect to base the museum on. You will research the state in which your story is set, and the home that the Ingalls lived in during that part of their lives. You will be required to build a model of the home. The WebQuest will culminate with the students working together to make a presentation for the museum board that will include each student's oral report and a brief skit depicting a scene from the book.

Stories to choose from for this Webquest are:

The Little House in the Big Woods

On the Banks of Plum Creek

The Little Town on the Prairie

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Task

The task of this Webquest is to learn about the setting and home where the Ingalls lived during your book. Describe how this setting affected the Ingall's life, and why it would be a good subject for the museum being planned. How did they find shelter from the elements? How did they get food? How did they have fun?

You will:

1. Learn about the setting and state in which your book was set by exploring the websites and books listed in the resource section of the webquest.

2. Create an oral presentation for the museum board convincing them that the setting of your book would be a great choice to base their museum around. Your presentation should consist of three parts: a summary of the book, a description of the home the Ingall's lived in, and a description of the climate, animals and plants that would have lived in the area where the Ingalls lived during you book. Include a description of how the setting affected the Ingall's lives.

3. Build a model of the type of home where the Ingalls lived during your book.

4. Work together with the other children who read your book to create a short skit acting out a scene in your book that would describe how the Ingall's lived in that part of the country.

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Process

1. Read your book

2. Prepare a 5-10 minute oral presentation about your book that tells the museum board why this setting should be the subject of the museum being proposed. The presentation should include a summary of your book describing the characters and plot. It should also include a description of the state and home the Ingalls lived in, and how the setting affected their lives. Mention should be made of theanimals and plants that were native to the area.

3. Build a model of the Ingall's home.

4. With you classmates, choose a scene from the book to portray to the rest of the class and the museum board which describes the setting of the book.

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Resources

Photo Album: Laura's Homes http://webpages.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/album1.html

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frontier Girl http://webpages.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/index.html

The Definitive Laura Ingalls Wilder Pages http://webpages.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/index.html

Scavenger Hunt- Sod Homes http://www.campsilos.org/mod2/students/sodhms.shtml

Anderson, Williams. Laura Ingalls Wilder Country. New York, N.Y.: Kyuryudo Art Publishing, 1988.

Stately Knowledge http://www.ipl.org/youth/stateknow/

Encyclopedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/

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Evaluation

	Excellent	Good	Fair
Oral Presentation	Includes details about: Home,State,Plants,Climate,Animals Presentation: Well organized, good eye contact, not rushed, loud enough to be heard Tries to convince Museum Board to use their setting.	Includes details about majority of listed items.	Includes details about some of listed items.
Model	Accurate depiction of home Well designed Neatly done Lots of attention to detail Attractive	Includes majority of listed items	Includes some of listed items
Skit	Accurate depiction of home and setting and scene Includes all children Children are serious about subject, and voices are audible and understandable	accurate depiction of at least one of the listed items Most of children are active in the play Most of the children are serious about the subject and speak in audible voices.	Hard to understand which scene is being depicted All children are not active in play Children are not serious

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