Economics and Geography Lessons

Going To Town

MCPS Status of Book as of 4/4/96:
Not Evaluated

Title: Going To Town by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., USA, 1932)

Lesson Developed by Barbara S. Yingling

Literature Annotation: This picture book, adapted from Little House in the Big Woods is about a young pioneer girl and her family who leave their house in the Wisconsin woods to make their first trip into town to visit the general store.

Grade Level: 2-3

Duration: 60 minutes

Economic Concepts: Resources, Trading, Interdependence

Geography Themes: Place, Location, Movement

MSPAP Outcomes and Indicators:

Economic Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the historical development and current status of economic principles, institutions, and processes needed to be effective citizens, consumers,, and workers in American society.

Indicator:

• Describe the impact of economic specialization on the growth of communities.

Geography Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding of geographic concepts and processes as needed to examine the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location and distribution of human activities.

Indicator:

• Locate features of the school and community by interpreting and constructing maps using simple grid systems, cardinal directions, relative distances and sizes, and symbols explained in a key.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

• Use information from the text and illustrations to create a map of the route to town from Laura's house in the Big Woods.
• Relate the specialization of Pa as a farmer to his need to trade for other goods that the family needs and wants.
• Use a map of farm products raised in Wisconsin today to decide what crops Pa may have taken to town to trade.
• Barter with each other.

Vocabulary: map elements (key, symbols, compass rose, title); bartering; trading

Materials:

• Book: Going To Town
• construction paper
• poster paper
• glue
• 4 magic markers, 4 pencils, 4 scissors, 4 pieces of plain white paper
• "Farm, Mineral, and Forest Products in Wisconsin" map, 1 copy for each student
• On-line Resources
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder: Frontier Girl gives information about the author's life and homes
  • Pictures of of the replica cabin and Lake Pepin Wisconsin

Teacher Background: Producers specialize in making the goods(s) and/or service(s) most suited for their resources. Interdependence occurs because, when we specialize, we must buy or barter for what we cannot or do not produce.

Lesson Development:

Review/Motivation:

1. To introduce or review the concept of trading, hand out these materials to a demonstration group of 4 students:
   • Student 1 holds 4 pencils
   • Student 2 holds 4 sheets of paper
   • Student 3 holds 4 pairs of scissors
   • Student 4 holds 4 magic markers
   Say: "Suppose I ask each of you to make a birthday card for our school principal. What problems might you have in making the card with just the resources I gave you?" (You can't make the card with just scissors, for example.) Ask how would a system of trade help the students obtain the resources they need to make a card. Have the 4 children demonstrate the bartering or trading situation. Collect the supplies.

2. Tell the children you will be reading a story in which the Pa has to barter or trade to get some of the goods he and his family need and want.

Activities:

1. Read the book with the students.

2. Help students construct "Torn Paper Maps". Give each group of 4-5 students a poster size piece of paper, construction paper of various colors, and glue. (Do not give scissors or pencils.) Tell them they will be creating a map of the landmarks Laura and her family saw on the way to town by tearing scraps of construction paper and gluing them in position on the poster paper. For example, a torn scrap of green paper might represent a tree in the Big Woods. They will also need a road, a river, Laura's cabin, the garden for Pa's crops, and houses and shops in the town. After completing the torn paper parts of the map, the students may use markers to add the missing map elements (title, compass rose, key.)

3. Distribute the product map, "Farm, Mineral, and Forest Products in Wisconsin." Explain that the story did not say exactly which products Pa produced on his farm and traded with the storekeeper, but the class can research the kinds of products produced in Wisconsin today and draw conclusions about what products Pa traded years ago. Have each student fold a piece of notebook paper in half; on one half, write the title, "Products Pa Might Have Produced". (Vegetables, corn, hay, poultry, dairy products, oats, maple syrup, hogs, and beef) Have students use the map to identify and list products Pa might have produced. Have the students use the information in the text and illustrations to list the products available to Pa in the store on the side labeled "Products Pa Got By Trading". (Salt, sugar, fabrics, boots, hammers, nails,, candy, and so on.)

Conclusion/Closure: Have the students take turns saying which products they would load into the wagon to take to town, and which items they would trade for in the store. Decide if any of the store items should have a higher priority than others. Discuss why the Ingalls family didn't produce everything they wanted for themselves.

Thoughtful Application:

1. Tell the students your class will be holding a "Swap" market. They may bring in up to 3 small items to try to trade with other classmates. Be sure to notify parents or guardians so the items can be checked and be sure to make arrangements to provide small items for students who have nothing to bring. Allow students time to barter with each other for items they might want. After the bartering activity, direct students to respond to the following questions in their journals:
   • Which items seemed the most popular? Why?
   • What items did you trade for? Why did you barter for those items?
   • Were there any items that no one seemed to want? How could that be a problem for the person who needs to trade that item to get what he/she wants?
   • What problems would there be if we had to get all of our needs by bartering?
   • Does money make trading more difficult or easier than barter?

2. Have students each write a short response to "How Would My Life Be Different If There Were No Trade?" in their journals. Tell them to be sure to discuss wants, needs, goods and services in their explanation. Allow time for students to share their journal entries.

Extension:
Read The Ox Cart Man and compare what was produced on the farm with what came from the store in the two stories. Discuss possible economic and geographic reasons for the differences.

Return to the Economics and Geography Lessons introduction page .

Return to the Social Studies Overview .

Last updated on April 1, 1997
Maintained by John L. Day

<jday@umd5.umd.edu>