Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Pioneers in the 1800s didn’t have the kinds of supermarkets we have today. Where and how did they get their food? What challenges do you think pioneer families faced in keeping their food safe to eat? How do you think the seasons affected what kinds of food were available to pioneer families?

Teaching Suggestion: Before addressing the question, students might review or investigate pioneer life in the 1800s, focusing on the lack of modern stores like supermarkets. This will provide context to better understand the complexities involved in obtaining and storing food, and connects to the theme Hard Work and Self-Reliance in Frontier Life. As a short follow-up activity to this prompt, students might work in small groups to plan meals for a week for a pioneer family. What foods would be available? What factors in addition to the season might affect their choices? How would they ensure that food is safe and plentiful?

• This page from The Food Timeline details the types of food available to pioneers in the 19th century. (Content Warning: The information includes mentions of alcoholic beverages.)
• This article from NCpedia describes food storage methods from the 19th century.

2. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books are often categorized as historical fiction, but they are also based on her own life. What are characteristics of historical fiction and autobiographies? What important considerations should readers keep in mind while reading these genres?

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful to provide a brief biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder for context on her life, including a timeline that shows the publication years of this work and other books. As students progress through the novel, encourage them to identify moments in which they think Laura Ingalls Wilder uses direct experience versus when she might be embellishing or altering facts for the sake of the story. After reading, you may wish to ask students to consider how their perspective on the story might have been different if it were purely fiction or purely autobiographical.

• This biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder provides background knowledge for the life of the author.
• This article from Humanities: Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities points out moments of historical inaccuracy in the series as a whole and offers an explanation for why Wilder might have changed some of the facts.  (Teacher-appropriate; not student-facing due to vocabulary, word connotation, and content.)

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

What is one modern-day activity you think you could easily give up? What activity would be too hard to live without?

Teaching Suggestion: Students might begin with a class or small group discussion about modern conveniences and activities we often take for granted. Examples might include smartphones, video games, fast food, electricity, and running water. After listing modern conveniences, students might look at the list and pick the one they could most easily give up and one they could not live without. They might explain their reasoning in a think-pair-share or in reading journals.

Differentiation Suggestion: Artistic students and students who benefit from writing strategies might create a visual representation of their modern-day activity. Students who best express themselves through speaking might explain their reasoning during class discussion.