We will travel back to the pioneer days of the 1800s. Through this one-time class students will get to know Laura Ingalls Wilder and what life was like for her and her family during the cold winter days in Wisconsin. We will read the picture book "Winter Days in the Big Woods" (A My First Little House Picture Book) and students will have many opportunities to engage and discuss the many characteristics of life during this time. Students will engage in geography as we find important places on the U.S map and create our own pioneer trails to Wisconsin. Students will learn some basics about the Pioneers and their arduous journeys across America. Students can choose to keep their hands busy during our reading time and color their own little cabin in the woods. They will also engage in a little science as together we do Laura's favorite chore: butter making! In this class students will learn through discussion, lecture, visuals and hands-on activities. 

This class pairs with the My First Little House picture book series. However, if a student has read the original "Little House in the Big Woods"  at least through chapter 2, they will also have lots of fun in this class! 

Saddle up the horses, load the wagon and come join Laura, Ma, Pa, Mary, Carrie and their good old bulldog Jack. 

Laura called out softly, "What are days of auld lang syne, Pa?" "They are the days of a long time ago, Laura." Pa said. "Go to sleep, now." But Laura lay awake a little while listening to Pa's fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods. She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the firelight gleaming on the honey-brown fiddle. She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting. She thought to herself, "This is now." She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago. 
 -Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House in the Big Woods" 

Please be advised the class may go over by up to 5 minutes depending on the varying lengths of time it takes to make the butter. :) Also, please see below for necessary supplies to get the most out of the class.