WT third graders learn about life in the 1800s through Laura Ingalls Wilder series

WT third grader Braxton Murill puts some muscle into cutting up the apples Friday, April 17 during Laura Ingalls Wilder day at Washington Township. (Photo by Ranee Fladung)

For more than 20 years Phyllis Casper, Mid-Prairie Elementary Media Specialist, has brought pioneer days to students in the Mid-Prairie District through the Laura Ingalls Wilder series.
The last 15 years Sandy Gingerich at Washington Township and her third grade class have prepared and eaten a prairie lunch of minestrone soup, homemade baked porridge, fruit salad, home churned butter, homemade bread, applesauce, Laura’s gingerbread and cornbread.
Friday, April 17, along with the help of 18 parent volunteers, the third graders at Washington Township gained some knowledge about what it might have been like to live in the late 1800s.
Students dressed in period clothing and constructed log cabins, made church babies, did a weaving project and tin punch activity.
The class also viewed a PowerPoint presentation showing the places where the Charles Ingalls family lived from Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Kansas and Missouri.
Casper said she has been interested in Laura Ingalls Wilder for many years and has enjoyed bringing these activites to the students in Mid-Prairie.
In the last few years, she has helped to start Laura Ingalls Wilder Days at Kalona Elementary and Wellman Elementary schools.
The classes read many books about Wilder including Little House in the Big Wood, Little House on the Prairie, Farmer Boy, and On the Banks of Plum Creek.