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2 Laura Ingalls Wilder: Voice of the Prairie

3 Setting the SceneWho’s Who

4 Words to the WiseWhat’s the Story

6 From the PlaywrightRead More About It

7 From the Director’s Chair

8 A “Little House” Recipe from Father Dom

9 Pack Your Wagon

10 Q & A

By Kathryn Shultz Miller

Directed by Andrea Urice

c o n t e n t s

2004–2005 SEASON

2

By Kathryn Shultz Miller

Directed by Andrea Urice

Scenic and Costume DesignLou Bird

Stage ManagerBrian Peters

Director of EducationMarsha Coplon

Artistic SupervisorJeffery Matthews

The Company(in order of appearance)

Almanzo, Narrator, Doctor, Indian / Matt McGaugheyPa, Southerner, Alfred A. Knopf / Alan Knoll

Ma, Northerner, Mary, Rose / Meghan BrownLaura, Citizen / Kymberlee Thompson

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is grateful for support of Imaginary Theatre Company programming from the following:

AmerenUEEnterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation

William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank Trustee

Financial assistance for this theatre has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the Missouri Arts Council, a stage agency; the Artsand Education Council of Greater St. Louis; and the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission.

MISSOURI ARTS COUNCIL

3

Laura Ingalls Wilder is a strong-willed, intelligent girl,

who grows up in the wilderness of theAmerican Frontier.

Caroline Ingalls (Ma) is Laura’s mother. She is a brave woman who

works hard to keep her family safe.

Charles Ingalls (Pa)

is Laura’s father. He has a strong sense of adventure and longs to build a good life

for his family.

Mary Ingallsis Laura’s older sister. She is a kind soul who

becomes blind after suffering a strokebrought on by scarlet fever.

Almonzo Wilder (Manly)is a good, young farmer who helps the

Ingalls family after a hard winter. He andLaura fall in love and are later married.

Rose Wilder is the daughter of Laura and Manly. She has the same sense of adventure as her grandfather, which takes her

on travels around the world. Rose is a gifted writer who publishes many books

of her own.

Alfred Knopfis a publisher whom Rose convinces to

publish her mother’s manuscript.

In the 19th century, Laura and her family were part of a great movement toward westwardexpansion in the United States. In those days, America was still a young country, with new territorybeing discovered every day. Like Laura’s father, many men wanted to take theirfamilies west to find their own land. This pioneer spirit was born of stories relatedby explorers and missionaries, full of images of vast, open landscapes, abundantgame, rich soil and pristine rivers.

During this time, young America was a country of progress. It was growing byleaps and bounds as new territory was discovered and acquired. Some of the veryfirst pioneers settled in Oregon in 1842 after traveling the Oregon Trail. The goldrush of 1849 saw thousands of prospectors heading toward California. In 1860 thePony Express began operation, and delivered mail across the country in the fastesttime ever. In 1861, the telegraph was invented and saw the end of the Pony Express,as information was sent over the wires. By 1869, easterners could stop writing lettersto their relatives in the west and go on a cross-country rail trip via thetranscontinental railroad.

Though new and exciting things were happening everyday, early Americanpioneers saw their share of hardships as well. In the large, open west, settlers sawvery harsh weather, with blizzards, hail storms and insects often destroying wholecrops. Because of this crop loss, many new farmers went bankrupt and were unableto keep the land they had traveled across the country to acquire. Disease and illness were also aproblem for settlers in the new territories. In small towns there were far fewer doctors and hospitalsthan in the large eastern cities, and diseases such as scarlet fever and diphtheria saw the death ofmany. Native Americans also presented a dangerous challenge for pioneers. As Americans movedwest and invaded Native American lands, bloody battles were fought, resulting in many deaths onboth sides.

� WHO’S WHO? �

� SETTING THE SCENE �

The year Charles and Caroline Ingalls aremarried, the country is in turmoil, nearing acivil war. A young Charles reads the headlinesand hears the call of freedom ring throughoutthe nation. Though Caroline is wary aboutleaving her home, Charles convinces her thatthey can find a better life if they go west insearch of land. The young couple packs theirbelongings and departs.

A few yearslater, Charles andCaroline are settled ona farm in Wisconsin,and are living happilywith their twodaughters, Laura andMary. One night Laurahears her parentstalking about movingand she worries aboutleaving her home. Pa comforts her, telling herthat they will always be safe as long as they aretogether.

Pa packs the covered wagon to move hisfamily, and as they ride, they pass throughseveral years of their lives. The family movesthrough many states and homes before settlingagain in a new house that Pa built. The girlsadmire their new home, complete with metaldoor hinges and glass windows, but throughthe new windows they see their family’s nextchallenge. As the family watches helplessly, allof their hard work is destroyed as a swarm ofhungry grasshoppers destroys their wheat crop.

Later that year, Mary falls ill with scarletfever. Though they try, Ma, Pa, and the townDoctor cannot help Mary and she has a strokewhich results in the loss of her sight. Laura isvery saddened by her sister’s loss, but is resolved

to help her see again by explaining everythingthat she sees in the world. As Laura describes allof the colors in a beautiful sunset, Mary tellsLaura that someday she should be an artist,because she can paint with words.

As the girls talk, Ma and Pa discuss thepossibility of another move. Ma wants to live ina safe place where the girls can go to school

and church. Paconvinces her that theycan find the perfect landfurther west, and thenthey won’t ever moveagain.

In the new town,Pa enters a GeneralStore to buy salt pork. Atthe store, he sees an oldIndian man who warns

Pa that there is a terrible storm approaching.Pa takes the news home to Ma, who doesn’tbelieve the Indian, but Pa is worried. Days latera blizzard sweeps through town coveringeverything with snow. The family burnsthrough most of their firewood and has toresort to making logs out of straw. Pa fears thatthey will run out of food and asks a youngfarmer in town for help. The farmer, AlmonzoWilder, has no wheat to spare, but agrees tohelp Pa buy some from another farmer.

Laura is very grateful to the youngAlmonzo, and though the two are shy, theystrike up a long friendship that results yearslater in a marriage proposal. Laura lovesAlmonzo, but she worries about spending herlife farming like her parents. Laura consents tomarry Almonzo, but only after he agrees to herone requirement: if, after three years, they areunable to make a life of farming, he mustpromise to try another way of life.

4

� � � � � � � � � � � � � �WHAT’S THE STORY?

� � � � � � � � � � � � � �

WORDSTO THE

WISE

�covered wagon:a large wagon coveredwith an arched canvastop, used especially for

prairie travel

�scarlet fever:

a disease occurringpredominantly amongchildren and charac-terized by a high fever

�pioneer:

someone who venturesinto unclaimed or

unknown territory tosettle

�Dakota

Territory:a territory of the

north-central UnitedStates organized in

1861 and divided intothe states of NorthDakota and South

Dakota in 1889

agreement, and consents to move with Laura tofind a new life. As they pack to leave, Ma andPa give Laura the gift of a writing desk andencourage her to write about her life andadventures.

As they travel, several years pass andLaura decides that farming is the best life forher family. They settle in the Ozarks of Missourion Rocky Ridge Farm, and a grown Rosepersuades her mother to finally use that writingdesk. Laura writes a memoir of her life, which,with a little help from Rose, becomes apublished bestseller.

Rose, who is a writerherself, travels all over theworld writing and living a lifeaway from the farm. One day,far into the future, an elderlyLaura is asked to speak at abook fair. While a nervousLaura approaches the stage,

Almonzo hopes that Rose will come home tosee her mother speak. As Laura speaks abouther books, she sees her daughter in the crowd.Happily, Laura continues to reminisce aboutthe life she has led, and Rose hopes that shecan live up to her mother’s example.

5

The young couple is married andmoves into a beautiful little house thatAlmonzo has made for Laura. A year later, thewheat crop is bountiful and Laura gives birth toa healthy baby girl, Rose. It seems as thoughtheir luck is changing, until suddenly, an earlywinter hail storm sweeps through destroying allof their hard work. To make matters worse,Laura and Almonzo are both stricken withdiphtheria. Ma and Pa take Rose to their houseto keep her from catching the illness. After afew weeks in bed, the young couple is on themend, but Almonzo, fearing the loss of theirfarm, returns to work too earlyand has a stroke resulting in acrippled leg.

Laura worries about herfamily, but Almonzo soon healsand returns to work on thefarm. One day, while he isworking far from the house, anaccident in the kitchen resultsin a fire that burns down their house. Laurasaves the deed box with their possessions andmoney, but they lose everything else to theflames.

Since they have been trying to farm forthree years, Almonzo honors their wedding

bushel:a unit of dry measureequal to four pecks, or2152.42 cubic inches

�diphtheria:

a disease of the throatand other respiratory

passages, causingdifficulty in breathing,

high fever, andweakness

�deed box:

a strongbox used forholding money and

valuables

�manuscript:a typewritten or

handwritten version of a book, especially

the author's own copy,prepared andsubmitted for

publication in print

�half-pint:

slang for a smallperson or animal,

also Pa’s nickname for Laura

�Laura Ingalls was born just after

the Civil War to a time of nationalgrief and hope. As a young woman,she saw a great forward motion ofenergy, a whirlwind of frontiersconquered, railroads forged, then

telephones, radios, even television.She lived through two horrific World

Wars and a crushing Depression. At theend of her life, U.S. advisors had touched downin Vietnam and satellites circled the planet.

In the writing of Laura Ingalls Wilder:Voice of the Prairie, I tried to set downAmerican events in the context of Laura’s life.But this is not a history for schoolbooks—this is the inner, gently rolling landscape of anAmerican heart and soul. One of the mostfascinating aspects to her books is the detail sheimparts to ordinary things. How to do thelaundry properly and which day of the week itshould be done. How to mold a pat of butter sothat the pretty side is on top. And in the midstof ordeal, how to twist hay for fuel and how touse a coffee grinder to make meal for bread.Laura did not like to teach school but shesurely educated us all, showing us how to

cherish the peaceful history of our nation, onesmall accomplishment at a time.

Laura knew she had the talent and thedesire to write, but it was her daughter Rosewho knew how much Americans would clamorfor her books. Rose was a thoroughly modernwoman who rejected much of the life Lauraloved. But in the end it was the writing thatbrought them together. There is a lot ofspeculation as to how much of the writingshould be attributed to Rose. I don’t care much about that—the two women held handsacross a sea of change and left us with amarvelous gift.

As a girl, Laura hated to think that theevents then happening would one day be goneand lost to the distant past. But Laura found away to keep that from happening. She set it alldown, simply and gently, so that we could enterher long-ago world any time we liked. I hopethis play will send young readers to the libraryto visit Laura again and pass her gift along tothe next generation—and the next and thenext.

Kathryn Shultz MillerPlaywright

6

Pioneer childrendidn’t have thenumerous toys andelectronicentertainmentdevices thatchildren havetoday, butthey still hadfun—whenthey were notworking on theirnumerous chores.The following are afew of the toys andcrafts they liked tomake. If you do notknow what some ofthese are, visit thewebsitewww.olywa.net/tumwaterhistory/games-text.htmto find out!

Cornhusk Doll

Fresh Butter

Whirligig

Pincushion

Thaumatrope

Berry Jam

Family Tree

Block Puzzle

Whimmydiddle

Jacob’sLadder

� � � � � � � � � � � � � �FROM THE

PLAYWRIGHT� � � � � � � � � � � � � �

The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. HarperTrophy; 1994 (Reprint). Although these books are avail-able in many different editions and formats, this is anicely illustrated boxed set available in most bookstores.Frontier House (2002) is a PBS series accurately recreating the experience of frontier life. The series is available on DVD or VHS from PBS. Visitwww.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/project/index.htmlto learn more about the series, or for informational articles, lesson plans and other classroom resources.

READ MORE

ABOUT ITWe encourage you to examine these topics in-depthby exploring the followingbooks, websites and videos.

�

7

I’ve been re-reading the Little Housebooks recently and in doing so have beentransported back to my childhood. The firsttime I read the series of books was nearlythirty years ago. Yet as I reacquaint myselfwith the Ingalls family, the sights, sounds,smells and tastes of a winter in the Big Woodsand a summer on the prairie come floodingback with surprising, joyful familiarity. Insharing the story of her own childhood,Laura Ingalls Wilder created a world richwith sensory details—the taste of maplesugar, the smell of burnt grass, the sounds ofan Indian war cry and the image of a cabinencircled by wolves in the moonlight.

Wilder also created a rich, warm worldwhere the family was everything and allevents of life were treasured. Pa was acharismatic storyteller and lively fiddler onthose long, cold winter evenings. Ma’s quietstrength steadied the family through a seriesof moves across the Midwest. Jack, thevigilant bulldog, protected the familythrough thick and thin. And a Christmasstocking filled with a tin cup, peppermint

candy and a shiny penny broughtunparalleled joy to Laura and her sister Mary. These rousing stories of a life fully anddeeply lived provide ballast in the midst ofour own chaotic and complicated times.

In Kathryn Shultz Miller’s delightfulplay Laura Ingalls Wilder: Voice of thePrairie, the remarkable life of the titlecharacter is captured from her early days inthe Big Woods of Wisconsin through heryouth and marriage in South Dakota to heradult years in southern Missouri. With quick,sure brush strokes Miller evokes both thevivid sensory world and the loving familycircle that surrounds Laura. As we watch alittle girl grow, become a woman, a motherand an award-winning author, Miller traces a parallel journey through a period ofequally astonishing growth and change inthe country. We welcome you to this powerfulindividual and national story of strength,perseverance and achievement.

Andrea UriceDirector

Like kids today,pioneer children alsoloved to play games.However, instead ofbuying games thatcame in a box, theyplayed games thathad been memorizedand passed downfrom generation togeneration. Have you played any of the pioneer gameslisted below?

Hopscotch

Blind Man’sBuff

Jump Rope

Marbles

Jackstraws

Hide and Seek

Game ofGraces

Apple HarvestGames

� � � � � � � � � � � � � �FROM THE

DIRECTOR’S CHAIR� � � � � � � � � � � � � �

The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Classic Stories. HarperTrophy;1989. If you would like to try your hand at some of the pioneer recipes described in Laura’s books, this cookbook contains over 100. It is written to be historically instructive and suitable for young people as well.

The website “Laura Ingalls Wilder: Frontier Girl” is located at http://webpages.marshall.edu

/~irby1/laura/frames.html. The site gives adetailed history of Laura’s life, including descriptions offriends and family as well as a map of Laura’s travels.A guide to Native American sign language is availableonline at www.inquiry.net/outdoor/native

/sign. The website gives a written description and picture of each sign.

A Recipe With a “Little House” Flavor From Father Dom

While Laura was growing up on the frontier, most breads were made from cornmeal. Smallcakes made from cornmeal, milk, oil and molasses went by various names: johnnycakes,hoecakes, corn dodgers (made of cornmeal, sour milk and bacon grease), corn daubs, andcornpone, just to name a few. Sometimes they were fried in a skillet like pancakes, or bakedlike biscuits on tin sheets in an open hearth fireplace. Children often mixed the batter thickand wrapped the lumps of dough in corn husks and left them in the embers of a fire to bake.Later cast iron pans were produced with molds shaped like ears of corn, and these molds arestill available today.

Fr. DominicGarramone,OSB, is aBenedictine monk of Saint Bede Abbeyin Peru, Illinois. Whilehis primary ministry is teaching highschool religion andtheatre, he is bestknown as the host ofhis cooking showBreaking Bread with Father Dom onpublic television.Mixing recipes withhumor, history andspiritual insight,Father Dom teachesbaking in a way thatmakes his viewerseager to try out hisrecipes. “It’s bread,”he says, “It’s going to forgive you!” Fr. Dominic is an avidherb gardener andthe author of threecookbooks as well as a book of spiritualreflections. He has no spare time tospeak of.

Fr. Dom will bringdramatic new recipes to share withThe St. Louis Foodand Wine Experienceaudience on January29 & 30 at the ChasePark Plaza Hotel!These premierebreads are a culinaryreflection of the richcultural diversityproduced on The Rep’s stages and inspired by Fr. Dom’s love oftheatre!

Corn Sticks

2 cups yellow corn meal

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup sour cream

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400º F. and place corn stick pans in oven to preheat as well. Place cornmeal,sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium size bowl and stir until thoroughlyblended. In a separate bowl, combine sour cream and egg and beat until smooth. Add eggmixture to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened—do not over mix. Grease thepreheated pans generously, and be sure to grease the top of the pan as well, as the battertends to escape the mold somewhat. Fill each mold with batter to just below the top of thepan. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from pans and cool brieflyon wire racks. Serve warm. Makes 12 to 14 sticks.

8

� CORN STICKS �

�

9

Laura spent much of her life in a covered wagon, moving from place toplace in search of the ideal homestead. As a girl, Laura traveled with her familyfrom Wisconsin to Missouri and through Kansas, Minnesota, and South Dakotabefore finally settling with her husband in the Ozarks of Missouri. With eachmove, Laura and her family had to decide what was most important to take withthem, and what they must leave behind. They had to take necessities such as food,water, and blankets, while trying to leave room for their most prized possessions,like Pa’s fiddle. In the spirit of Laura and her family, pack a covered wagon foryourself. What can you leave behind? What is necessary for survival? What will youneed to face challenges like rivers and wild animals?

In packing your wagon, you can only take 1,500 pounds worth of items.Use the table below to get the weights of common items. If some of your cargo isnot included in the table, you will have to estimate its weight. Compare your list of items to thelists of others in the class. Did they pack something important that you forgot, or vice versa? How do you intend to compensate for the items that you are not taking with you (for instance, a stove or a rifle)?

(MO: MA1, SS2, SS4,

SS5, CA1, CA3

IL: 1, 4, 6, 15, 16, 17, 18)

FOOD LBS.

apples 45bacon 100barrel of water 355buffalo meat 300carrots 12chicken 4chocolate 20coffee 20cornmeal 50dried beans 50dried beef 55flour 100nuts 13oatmeal 85oil 8onions 12peaches 28pickles 15potatoes 100pumpkin 9raisins 10raspberries 8salt 20salt pork 25spices 4split peas 23squash 35strawberries 18sugar 50tea 7

TOOLS LBS.

animal trap 20animal whip 1anvil 200axle 23fishing pole 1grinding stone 80hammer 4hatchet 10hoe 4hunting knife 2pick ax 8pistol 5pitch fork 6plow 63rifle 8rope 3saw 8shovel 8wagon canvas 24wagon wheel 16

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS LBS.

baby cradle 60bench 75blankets 20bookcase 90broom 2butter churn 45candles (set of 20) 2chest of drawers 125clock 1coffee grinder 6coffee pot 1cooking utensils 3curtains 2dishes (set of 8) 25feather mattress 10hope chest 125iron cooking stove 1,200kitchen chair 25kitchen table 175lantern 3mirror 30piano 1,000picture frame 2pitcher and bowl 6rocking chair 55rug 35soup kettle 60spinning wheel 75stool 8wooden bucket 15

PERSONAL ITEMS LBS.

banjo 4bible 4books 2boots 6box of hair clips 2doll 1dress 4fiddle 4first aid kit 6harmonica 1jump rope 1kaleidoscope 1longjohns 3pair of pants 4shirt 3shoes 4snowshoes 7stationery 1wooden top 1wool coat 10

� PACK YOUR WAGON! �

�

10

� Communication Arts

B e f o r e t h e P e r f o r m a n c e

1In Laura’s time, large portions of theAmerican West were mostly unsettled,and still occupied by Native Americans.

With new American settlers arriving every dayto join the various Native American tribes, itbecame important for all to learn tocommunicate with those who did not speakthe same language. In his encounter at thegeneral store, Pa sees an Indian using signlanguage to communicate. Think abouttalking to someone who cannot speak yourlanguage. What are some of the mostimportant signs you may need to know? Make a list of words you will need tocommunicate and look up the description ofhow to sign these words. You can find adictionary of Native American sign languageonline at www.inquiry.net/outdoor

/native/sign/index.htm. Practice wordswith a partner. Can you understand eachother in sign language? (MO: CA1, CA3, CA6,

CA7 IL: 1, 4, 5, 21, 28, 29)

A f t e r t h e P e r f o r m a n c e

2Although Laura experienced manyfascinating events in her life aboutwhich she could write, if it had not been

for Rose, Laura’s work would likely havenever been published. Pick an event fromyour life that was very meaningful for you,and write two pages about it. After you havefinished, exchange your paper with someoneelse in the class. Examine your friend’s papercritically, and try to find ways in which toimprove it. Are there certain aspects of theevent about which you would like more orless detail? Are there people you would likedescribed more thoroughly? Rewrite your ownpaper taking into account the suggestionsmade by your partner—and remember,learning to accept criticism graciously is oneof the best ways to learn. (MO: CA1, CA2, CA3,

CA4, CA6, CA7, FA2, FA3, FA4, FA5 IL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

25, 27)

These questions andactivities are designed tohelp students anticipatethe performance and then to build on their impressions andinterpretations afterattending the theatre. The activities andquestions are divided into “B e f o r e t h e

P e r f o r m a n c e ” and “A f t e r t h e

P e r f o r m a n c e ”categories. While most ofthe exercises providespecific instructions,please feel free to adaptthese activities toaccommodate your ownteaching strategies andcurricular needs. To assistyou in incorporating thesematerials into yourexisting curriculum, we have provided thenumbers of some of thecorresponding MissouriKnowledge Standards andIllinois LearningStandards. In addition,the majority of thecontent integrates orallows demonstration ofthe following MissouriPerformance Goals: 1.5, 1.9, 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5and 4.1.

Q&A

� Fine Arts

B e f o r e t h e P e r f o r m a n c e

1Throughout the play, Laura and herfamily live in several different places.As a class, discuss how you would use

scenery to show these different homes andareas of the country. What specific props andsettings could be used to distinguish onehome from another?

• Laura’s first little home in the big woods ofWisconsin

• The home Pa built them that had glasswindows and metal hinges

• Laura and Manly’s first home in South Dakota

• Rocky Ridge Farm in the Ozarks ofMissouri

(MO: FA1, FA2, FA3, FA5, CA1, CA3, CA6, CA7, SS2

IL: 1, 2, 4, 5, 16, 25, 26, 27)

2Laura and her family encounter severaladventures and trials. What aredifferent ways you could use props and

scenery to depict the following scenes fromthe play? Draw a sketch of your scenic designconcept for each of the following:• Traveling in a covered wagon• Swarms of grasshoppers eating crops• Fire burning the house• Driving horses through a blizzard• A hailstorm destroying the crops(MO: FA1, FA2, FA3, FA5, CA1, CA3, CA4, CA6, CA7,

SS2 IL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 25, 26, 27)

11

A f t e r t h e P e r f o r m a n c e

3In the play we travel through time with Laura from her childhood to herold age. How do the actors show the

passage of time? What are other actions/props/scenery that you would use totheatrically show the movement throughtime? (MO: FA1, FA2, FA3, FA5, CA1, CA3, CA6, CA7,

SS2 IL: 1, 2, 4, 5, 16, 25, 26, 27)

4In speaking of Laura Ingalls Wilder:Voice of the Prairie, by Kathryn ShultzMiller, Director Andrea Urice has stated

that there are three levels of art/life reflectedin the story:

1) The actual life ofLaura Ingalls Wilder2) The Little House

series, whichwhile based oncertain details ofLaura’s life, alsocontains fictionalelements

3) Our play itself,which blendsLaura’s life, herbooks andAmerican historytogether. Thisives the play both historical context andan educational platform.

The popular TV series, Little House on thePrairie (starring Michael Landon andMelissa Gilbert), takes significant libertieswith the details of Laura’s books. As a classresearch project, have the students watchepisodes of the TV show and compare them tothe actual events of Laura’s life. How manyaspects of the show can they identify thatwere factual, and how many can they findthat are fictionalized? Have them compile alist of the similarities and differences betweenthe TV show and the books. (MO: FA1, FA2, FA3, FA4, FA5, CA1, CA2, CA3, CA4,

CA6, CA7, SS2 IL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 25, 26, 27)

� Social Sciences

A f t e r t h e P e r f o r m a n c e

1When she was a grown woman,Laura’s daughter Roseconvinced her to write a story

about her life. Laura wrote of thingsthat were common in her day:raising chickens, gathering eggs,going to school, and making meals.These things may have been thenorm in Laura’s time, but today theyare tasks that we know very littleabout. Using Laura’s technique, writea short story about your life that youthink would be interesting to peoplein the future. What day-to-dayactivities do we engage in now thatmay change dramatically in thefuture? (MO: SS2, SS3, SS4, SS5, SS6, CA1, CA2,

CA3, CA4, FA1, FA2, FA3, FA4, FA5 IL: 1, 3, 5, 14, 15,

16, 17, 18, 25, 26, 27)

2In the play we see Laura’s life progressthrough the major headlines of theday. From the Civil War to the

transcontinental railroad to the introductionof the first Bell Telephone, the world aroundLaura changed rapidly. Research a few of themajor events that have occurred during yourlife. What headlines have been important?What news will people remember? Now dothe same with your parents. What majornews do they remember? In what ways hasthe world changed since your parents werekids? Are the events that they recall similar tothe events that you recall, or are they verydifferent? Support your answer. (MO: SS2, SS3,

SS4, SS5, SS6, CA1, CA2, CA3, FA1, FA2, FA3, FA4,

FA5 IL: 1, 4, 5, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 25, 26, 27)

3During Laura’s lifetime, people livingin the large cities in the east had avery different life than the pioneers

who traveled west into the prairies. Howmight Laura’s life have been different if shelived in a big city? What things would shehave to do on a farm that she would nothave to do in a city? (MO: SS2, SS3, SS4, SS5,

SS6, CA1, CA2, CA3, FA1, FA2, FA3, FA4, FA5 IL: 1,

4, 5, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 25, 26, 27)

Laura andAlmonzo

�Rose Wilder

North Dakota

South Dakota

Nebraska

Kansas

Oklahoma

Missouri

LEYTESVILLE 1868–1869

MANSFIELD

PEPIN

1869–1871 INDEPENDENCE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

WALNUT GROVE 1874–76, 77–79

DESMET 1879–1941

Iowa

Wisconsin

Minnesota

THE INGALLS' TRAVELS

12

A f t e r t h e P e r f o r m a n c e

1Laura’s travels took her over much ofthe Midwest in her lifetime. With thehelp of an atlas, estimate the distances

Laura traveled between each of the locationslisted below. A covered wagon could travelabout fifteen miles a day. At that rate, howlong would each trip have taken? Record themileage and time required for each trip.

1867 – Laura is born in Pepin, Wisconsin.1869 – The family moves to Independence

in Montgomery County, Kansas.1871 – Ingalls family returns to Pepin,

Wisconsin.

1874 – Family moves to Walnut Grove,Minnesota.

1879 – Family moves to the DakotaTerritory near DeSmet.

1894 – Laura, Almanzo and Rose leaveDeSmet for Mansfield, Missouri.

Now compute the same journeys if travelingby car at an estimated 60 miles per hour. If the average speed of travel by coach is 15 miles per day, and the average speed bycar is 60 miles per hour, how much faster is traveling by car compared to traveling by coach? (MO: MA1 IL: 6)

� Mathematics