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Economics and Geography Lessons

On The Way Home


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


Title: On The Way Home: A Dairy of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri in 1894 by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Harper Trophy, New York, NY, 1976)

Lesson Developed by Patricia King Robeson

Literature Annotation: This book contains Laura Ingalls Wilder's dairy of her trip from the Dakota Territory to Missouri. Laura with her husband, Almanzo, and seven-year-old daughter,, Rose, moved from their drought-stricken farm in the Dakota Territory in 1894 to a new farm in the Ozarks. In this dairy, Laura describes the towns, rivers, people and events that happened along the way.

Grade Level: 5

Duration: 3 class periods; this lesson could be used with lessons on migration, especially those related to the westward movement.

Economic Concepts: Scarcity, Opportunity Cost, Interdependence

Geography Themes: Location, Place, Relationships: Human and Environment, 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.

Indicators:

Geography Outcome: Students will develop 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.

Indicators:

Objectives: Students will be able to:

Vocabulary: bluff; prairie; prairie schooner; frontier; emigrant; homesteading; opportunity cost; migration; natural; capital and human resources

Materials:

Teacher Background: Knowledge of opportunity cost, westward movement and migration.

Lesson Development:

Review/Motivation:

  1. Explain to the students that when Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65 years old, she began writing stories about her childhood on the frontier in the 1870s and 1880s. Little House in the Big Woods was her first book, and it was very successful. Within 11 years she had completed eight volumes of her Little House series. Her books contain family photographs, maps, dairy excerpts and newspaper accounts of the time.

  2. Use the transparency, "Tracing the Wilder Family's Route" to explain the chronological list of the places the family lived. Have students take turns tracing on a U.S. map, the route of all the places the family lived.

  3. Ask the students to explain how the titles of Wilder's books relates to geography and economics. (Each book identifies physical feature: {woods, prairie, creek, grove, shore} and each place contains natural resources which people need for survival.)

  4. Explain that people traveled in wagons called prairie schooners which were ordinary farm wagons with a canvas top. The wagons got their name because the white canvas cover looked like big white sails on ships called schooners. Explain that Laura, her husband, Almanzo, their daughter, Rose, and many others often sang a song. Show the students the "O Dakota Land" transparency.
    O Dakota land, sweet Dakota land,
    As on thy burning soil I stand
    And look away across the plains
    I wonder why it never rains,
    Till Gabriel blows his trumpet sound
    And says the rain has gone around.
    We don't live here, we only stay.
    Cause we're too poor to get away.
    Ask these questions:

  5. Explain that when Laura lived in Dakota Territory she worked as a dressmaker from six o'clock in the morning to six o'clock at night and earned one dollar a day. She worked six days a week to save enough money to move from the Dakota Territory. Almanzo got a day's work here and there: he drove teams of horses, did carpentry work, painted, and once was on a jury. For his service, Almanzo was paid two dollars a day for five straight weeks. He saved all the money. The Wilders left for "The Land of the Big Red Apple" when they had $100. Family friends, the Cooleys, moved with them.

  6. Divide students into groups of four and give each group a copy of "Prairie Schooner" {without the contents}. Instruct them to think about the Wilder and Cooley families' journey and list ten items these families may have packed to take their new home. Give the groups the answer key and have them match their list with that of the Wilders and Cooleys. Discuss why the items listed were taken.

  7. Ask the students to explain what a dairy is and what they might include in a dairy entry if they were on a trip.

  8. Give each group of four students copies of "On the Way Home - Dairy of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri in 1894" and the two page of discussion questions. Instruct them to read the information from the diary written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and answer the questions. Encourage them to discuss the answers as a group before writing them on their paper.

    Activities:

    Mapping:
    Give each group of students a copy of "A Map of the 650-mile Journey." Instruct them to reread the dairy notes and highlight the places on the map which are listed in the dairy. Help students trace the route on a map of the United States.

    Story Discussion:
    Discuss the story using these questions:

    1. The Homestead Act of 1862 offered free land to the Wilders and other families who were willing to help settle in the West. Many families, however, had difficult times and their farms failed. What were the natural disasters which caused the Wilders and the other 400,000 families to fail at farming? (They were driven off their land because of drought, grasshoppers, fire, hail, and blizzards.)

    2. What economic factors influenced the Wilders and other families to move from the Dakota Territory. (Lack of jobs, climatic conditions caused crops to fail.)

    3. How many days did it take to make the 650-mile journey? (45 days - if conditions were good, they could travel about four miles an hour; they tried to cover 15 to 20 miles in a 16-hour day.)

    4. About how long do you think it would take to make this trip today traveling by car instead of horse and wagon? Explain why you think it would take this long. (If one traveled about 65 miles an hour when not driving in the cities and allowed for 25 miles an hour in cities plus time for lunch, gas and rest breaks, the trip could possibly be made in 13 to 14 hours.)

    5. What changes in technology, other than the mass production of automobiles, have occurred since 1894 that would make it possible for you to travel during the time frame you suggested? (Travel on paved roads instead of dirt road; restaurants for eating with no need to prepare meals, do dishes and pack and unpack the wagon. You would need to stop for gas, but this takes less time than watering, shoeing and resting horses.)

    6. How did pioneer families change the environment to meet their needs? (Built road and bridges. Cleared land for building homes, farms and towns. Planted orchards.)

    7. Why did pioneer families followed the rivers when possible? (Land was flatter along the rivers which made travel easier; rivers were used to water the animals and wash clothing.)

    8. Besides having to find Old Pet, what problems did the Wilders and other families encounter as they traveled? (Lack of water was a major problem as were insect stings and bites, lack of heating and cooking fuel, and the need to shoe horses.)

    9. As the Wilders traveled through towns and cities, they saw new types of technology. What types of technology were described in the dairy? How was each used? (Windmills pumped water for irrigation; elevators were used to store grain; telegraph wires were used to send and receive messages; electric street cars provided transportation in cities; motor cars provided travel for people; railroads transported people and goods.)

    10. How did the Russians adapted and used the land to meet their needs. (Cleared the land to build homes and farms, used the clay to build adobe houses, built windmills to pump water for irrigation, grazed animals on the land.)

    11. How do you think the Wilders' standard of living changed as a result of moving to Mansfield? (The land around Mansfield was good for farming; they were able to grow crops which they could sell for a profit. Eventually they planted a successful apple orchard.)
    Conclusion/Closure:
    Give each student a sheet of drawing paper and instruct them to fold the paper into four sections. Have the students label each section of the paper with the names of the states through which Laura and her family traveled (South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri). Instruct the students to reread Laura's dairy and use the map of her journey to draw a picture for each state that depicted the sites she described. The sites should include physical and human-made features.

    Thoughtful Application:

    1. Distribute four "Postcards" to each student. Instruct them to cut out the cards and on one side of each to draw a picture depicting a sight they would see today if they were to travel from South Dakota to Missouri. On the other side, address the postcard to a friend or family member and write a note to that person describing how, because of technology, the landscape has changed, and economic life has changed.

    2. Divide students into groups of four and give each group a copy of the "Decision Tree." Tell students to think about the Wilder family decision to leave the Dakota Territory and move to Mansfield, Missouri. Instruct the groups to complete the worksheet using information from the dairy. When students have completed the decision tree, have them share their information with the class. Instruct them to label the alternative the Wilders did not choose as their opportunity cost and explain what the Wilders' opportunity cost was when they decided to move.

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    Last updated on April 2, 1997
    Maintained by John L. Day
    <jday@umd5.umd.edu>