{"id":486072,"date":"2010-03-29T11:30:43","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T15:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/2573"},"modified":"2010-03-29T11:30:43","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T15:30:43","slug":"teaching-earth-science-with-children%e2%80%99s-literature-the-little-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/486072","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Earth Science with Children\u2019s Literature: The Little House"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the-little-house-book-cover-image.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n

Once upon a time
\nthere was a Little House
\nway out in the country.
\nShe was a pretty Little House
\nand she was strong and well built.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Virginia Lee Burton’s classic, The Little House<\/a>, was the winner of the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 1943. The pretty Little House sat on a hill and watched the countryside around her.\u00a0 The whimsical and detailed artwork and lyrical and nostalgic wording brings the Little House to life as she becomes the main character of this story of change over time.<\/p>\n

\n

She watched the sun rise in the morning
\nand she watched the sun set in the evening.
\nDay followed day,
\neach one a little different
\nfrom the one before\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We experience the changes of the sun, moon, and seasons, and the change of her surroundings as the lights of the city grow closer to the Little House.\u00a0 Eventually a road is built in front of the house. This is followed by gasoline stations, roadside stands, and more little houses. \u201c Everyone and everything moved much faster now than before.\u201d\u00a0 Then the countryside was changed as apartments and tenement houses, schools, and stores began to spread over the land.\u00a0 It became so crowded that she couldn\u2019t tell when Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter came.<\/p>\n

Then one day the great-great-granddaughter of the man who built the Little House sees the house and remembers stories that her grandmother told about living in just such a house, far out in the country. When the great-great-granddaughter discovers that it is the same house, she arranges to have her moved out of the city, to a hill in the country.<\/p>\n

\n

Once again she could watch
\nThe sun and moon and stars.
\nOnce again she could watch
\nSpring and Summer
\nAnd Fall and Winter
\nCome and go.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Little House can be used to introduce and\/or enhance many of the earth science Standards of Learning.\u00a0 The students can observe the countryside slowly change with the seasons through both the words in the story and the wonderful pictures.\u00a0 (VA SOL 1.7 & 2.7).\u00a0 The book has a wonderful illustration of the cycle of the sun rising and setting in the sky that can illustrate the basic patterns and cycles occurring in nature, such as day and night.\u00a0 Simple phases of the moon are also illustrated, including a simple calendar illustration of the moon cycles. (VA SOL 3.8a)\u00a0 Earth Resources can be investigated as the story explores how human influences affected the area around the little house and connect that to animals & plant life that may have lived around the house and how they may have been affected by these changes. (VA SOL 3.10)<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n