Little House in the Big Woods

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Grades 2-3; Genre - Historical Fiction; GRL Q; AR pts. 5.0

The Ingalls family is snug in their Wisconsin house in spite of blizzards, wolves, and the lonely forest.

Comprehension Questions

Chapter 1

1. Describe the setting in this story. 1800’s; Wisconsin when only a few settlers had begun to develop the land
2. Who’s the main character and her family? Laura, her older sister Mary, Carrie her younger sister, and her Ma and Pa p.2

Chapter 2

1. List and describe the chore/day you would enjoy the best. Listen to your child’s answer p.29
2. What’s comforting to Laura during the long cold winter? Safely being inside the cozy cabin with the fire p.38

Chapter 3

1. Summarize this chapter. Laura and Mary helped Pa clean and load his gun; Pa told a story when he was young about how he should have listened to his father and being alone in the woods in the dark p.45

Chapter 4

1. Compare how traveling was back in the early settler days to our day today. Early days, they traveled in sleds pulled by horses all covered in blankets and bundled up; today, we can jump in a vehicle, train, or plane and have a heater to keep us warm p.64
2. Describe how the children made “pictures”. They’d fall from a stump and land in the snow, trying not to touch and make other prints in the snow p.65
3. Summarize the story Uncle Peter shared and why it was so scary. Aunt Eliza wanted to go to the spring, but the dog wouldn’t let her; later they found a panther had been in the tree above the spring; the dog saved her from the panther p.68

Chapter 5

1. Describe a Sunday for Mary and Laura and compare it to your Sunday. Mary and Laura’s-take bath Saturday night; sit quietly all day; couldn’t play with toys or each other; couldn’t sew; could look at pictures in the Bible or animal book; listen to your child’s answer p.84

Chapter 6

1. Tell me the stories of the two bears in this chapter. 1^st bear: It was dark, and Laura went to help her mother milk the cow; they thought the cow had gotten out of the barn; there was a gate, but mother couldn’t open it all the way to get to the cow, so she slapped the cow and realized it was a large bear; she and Laura hurried to the house and made it safely in; 2^nd bear: Pa was coming home from town in the dark and saw a bear standing in his way off the road; Pa didn’t have his gun, so he picked up a branch and ran at the bear; when he hit the bear he realized it was just a large stump p.104

Chapter 7

1. Explain sugar snow. It’s a spring snow that keeps the trees just cold enough to extend the the maple syrup harvest p.127

Chapter 8

1. Was this a fun chapter to read? Why, or why not? Listen to your child’s answer

Chapter 9

1. Why hadn’t Laura known the sky was so large? She and her family lived in the woods with trees all around them, they couldn’t see the vastness of the sky p.164

Chapter 9

1. Why is Laura jealous of Mary? Mary has golden hair, she looked good and sweet, the storekeeper commented how pretty she was, she kept her dress clean and minded her manners, her candy had a poem on it p.175

Chapter 10

1. How did Pa get honey in this chapter? He found a bear eating honey from a tree; he chased the bear away, cut down the tree and filled all the containers he brought from home p.195

Chapter 11

1. Can you answer Laura’s question? How is Charlie a liar? He cried out like he was in trouble three times and there wasn’t anything wrong p.211
2. Does this remind you of another story? The boy who cried wolf

Chapter 12

1. Summarize this chapter. Ma and Laura made hats out of straw; It was time to harvest the garden and grain; Pa convinced his neighbor to hire a threshing machine to come and separate the wheat; it took all day and the girls helped their Ma prepare dinner p.221

Chapter 13

1. Why didn’t Pa shoot any animals when he went hunting? He was too curious watching them p.232
2. Tell me a part of this story you really enjoyed. Why? Listen to your child’s answer