Laura Ingalls Wilder An Author’s Story Activity
BEFORE READING
Share the cover of the Big Book if available. Read the title aloud and ask children if anyone knows who Laura Ingalls Wilder is. Encourage children to share books that they may know by this author. Explain that she grew up on the plains of the United States in the 1800s. Help children start a chart with the following information: What I Know About Laura, What I Want to Know, and What I Learned. Fill in the first two columns as a group.
READING
To set a purpose for reading the book, ask children to look for prairie details as they read. Use questions such as these to guide the reading:
• What was it like to live as a child in the 1800s?
• How do you think Laura felt every time they moved?
• Why did Laura become a writer?
• Why do you think children still read her books today?
WORKSHEET & Sample PDF Activity
Sample PDF Activity
AFTER READING
Discuss what children learned from reading the story, and fill in the third column on the chart. Ask if anything they learned about Laura Ingalls Wilder surprised them.
Response Activities
An Interview
Materials: writing paper, pencils
Have children write questions they would like to have asked Laura Wilder. Then have children take turns pretending to be Laura and answering the questions.
Life on the Prairie
Materials: paper, pencils, crayons
Based on the book, have children write what it was like to live on the prairie in the 1800s. Invite them to tell what they would do in a day if they lived when Laura did. They can draw a picture to show how they might dress if they lived back then.
PHONICS FOCUS
Distinguishing Between Long and Short Vowels
Write this sentence on the board: Today we still read about Laura’s life. Point out that the vowel i stands for the short vowel sound in still and the long sound in life. Write the vowels a and o on the board. Ask volunteers to list words on the board in categories: words with short vowel sounds and words with long vowel sounds. Let children work in pairs to find more words. Ask pairs to share their lists.
MINI LESSONS
• READING STRATEGY
Recognizing a Biography
Remind children that the book is a true story about Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life. Tell them it is called a biography, and that biographies tell important facts about a person’s life. Invite children to list some facts in this biography and to tell how they know this is a true story of someone’s life. Ask children how the photos help tell about Laura’s life.
• LANGUAGE PATTERN
Identifying Possessive Pronouns
Reread aloud the last two sentences of page 3. Ask children what word tells whose book, whose life, and whose story this writing is about. Guide them to decide that the word her stands for Laura Ingalls Wilder. Say that her is a kind of word that shows something belongs to someone. Have children find other words that show belonging in the story (his, their). Ask volunteers to read aloud sentences they find.
