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Kath's Korner My Little House on the Prairie Page I have always been a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I can't remember how old I was when I first read the Little House books. But I am still reading them. I was excited to find out about the Prairie Primer written by Margie Gray. This talented lady has written a unit study on all nine of the Little House books, full of questions and activities to do. Sure, I could of just done some activites that I thought of as we read the books, but the primer has really become part of our curriculum and made our homeschooling sooo much fun! (For me as well as my children J). This page has links for those interested in finding out more about the Prairie Primer, those wanting activities to do with the books, and some links for those fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder. As in all my pages I only have quality links, that is, only links to the most informative pages. If you find any others could you please email me. I would love to hear from you. I'm also going to add ideas that I come across to supplement the PP. I've found a couple so far, check down the bottom of the page.
Prairie Primer Links Cadron Creek - The official home of the Prairie Primer. Includes a sample chapter as well as FAQ's. Details on how to order. At yahoo groups there are currently two email lists for Prairie Primer users.. Just put Prairie Primer in the search box. Prairie Primer Page - This site has info about the Prairie Primer. It also has the topics covered in the PP and some links that can help to teach those topics.
Activities This small collection of links goes to sites that have activities that can be done while reading the books. Have fun! Little House in the Big Woods - Written by a homeschooling mom. The activites here supplement the PP. Perkins Family - Perkins Family page on Little House in the Big Woods. The Perkins family have web pages with great graphics on all of them, this one being no exception. They have some language arts ideas, some links to some activities and some links about animals in the book. A Printable Pioneer Town - A paper pioneer town for kids to cut out, colour in and glue together. Should keep them quite for a while J).
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frontier Girl - A place to find out more about Laura, her houses, and her friends and family who were made famous in her Little House book. You can also listen to the songs played on Pa's fiddle and see pictures of the real Ingalls and Wilder families. They also have a kids page and put out a newsletter. My Little House on the Prairie Home Page - Jennifer Slegg's page. The most comprehensive site on Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books. Also has info on the Little House movie and details on births, deaths, and marriages.
Some more Activities Here are some ideas that I've picked up along the way, some from other people, and some from books. Have fun! Corn Cob Dolls 1. Save your corn husks and silk hair from your corn on the cob. Dry them in the sun for 3-4 days. (You will need around 13 leaves per doll). 2. On the day of doll making soak them in warm water for about 10minutes. 3. To make the head: crumple a husk into a ball (about the size of a large marble) . Fold another husk over the ball like a large hood. Gather the husk snuggly just under the ball and tie tightly with string. We used jute rope. The husk should extend several inches below the tie. 4. To make the arms: Roll up a husk in a pencil. Pull the pencil out keeping the husk tightly rolled like a drinking straw. Place the arms in between the husk that extends below the tie. The arms should be centered just below the head. Then take a crumpled up piece of husk and place it under the arms inside the extended husk piece. Tie the husk pieces together below the stuffing to form the waist. 5. Now to make the shoulders: To make your doll more sturdy take two pieces of corn husk. Criss cross them on either side of the head and over the arms. The husks will be criss crossed on the front and on the back of the doll like sashes. Tie again at the same place on the waist. 6. Now to make the skirt (The skirt can easily be turned into pants for your sons): The skirt is attached to the doll upside down. First make the back: take three large smooth husks and spread them on the table like a fan (the leaves will overlap). Place the doll face up over the point of the fan. The skirt appears to be upside down behind her. Tie tightly at the waist. Do the same for the front. Carefully bend the husks down over the tie and voila you have a skirt. To turn into pants just separate your skirt into two and tie at the bottom. Carving In the book Little House in the Big Woods, Pa carves with wood. A much safer idea is to give children soap and butter knives to carve with. Jonathon (9yo) really enjoyed this. Science experiments to explain what sap does OSMOSIS: All trees draw water from deep beneath the ground right up into their leaves, acting like a natural pump. Many trees are over 50m tall and pump hundreds of litres of water a day. You can suck a drink up through a straw, but trees cannot use this method. Experiment 1 To find out how difficult it is to suck up water, carefully join together straws with sticky tape. The longer the straw, the more difficult it is for you to suck up the drink. The best mechanical pumps can only manage 10m. Instead, trees use a method called osmosis to force water upwards. Osmosis works because there is a difference between the sap, or juice, inside the roots and the water in the ground outside. Sap contains large amounts of sugary substances. Ground water contains only tiny amounts of dissolved nutrients. We say that sap is more concentrated than the ground water. Osmosis forces water from the soil (where concentration is low) through minute holes in the root skin to inside the root (where concentration is high). Experiment 2 You will need: large potato, chopping board, peeler, knife, teaspoon, 2 shallow dishes , water, sugar and food colouring (optional). 1- You will need a large, smooth potato about 10cm long and 6cm across. Carefully peel the potato using a chopping board to protect your work surface. 2 - Cut the peeled potato in half and then slice off the rounded ends. You will now have two round potato slices. Each slice should be about 3cm thick. 3 - Use a teaspoon to scoop out a hollow in each potato slice. Place each slice in its own shallow dish and fill the dishes with water to about 1cm in depth. 4 - Half fill both hollows with water and food colouring. Add 1/2 tsp of sugar to one hollow. Cover and leave for one day. 5 - The level of liquid in the sugary hollow has risen. Osmosis has made more water move into this potato from the dish. The level in the other potato has not risen. Tough-walled tubes carry the water up the trunk and into the leaves. The water evaporates from the leaves through tiny holes. As it evaporates, more water moves up to take its place. Experiment 3 Trees and other plants move water upwards through tubes called xylem vessels. You can easily see these tubes in celery. Cut 1cm from the end of a stick of celery. Put the stick into a beaker of coloured water for one day. Cut across the bottom of the stem to get a good view of the xylem vessels.
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