Little House, Big Prairie

Another stellar day today.  We started out the morning with conversation about whether the students would rather live in a big city or in the countryside.  The students overwhelmingly said they would like to live in the countryside.  They talked about seeing the stars at night, about the beautiful prairie, and about how peaceful it is in the country.  After our morning conversation, we moved into our classroom instruction and English Language Learning.  In my class, we discussed pioneer life and the frontier and in Amy's class, they learned about Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

After lunch, we got in the van and drove up Highway 81 and across Highway 14 to De Smet, SD.  Along the way, we say many pelicans, herons, egrets, and cormorants.  Once we got to De Smet, we visited the Ingalls Homestead.  As always, we had a blast.

Here are Daisuke and Takeru playing on a seesaw and the girls taking a spin on the merry-go-round:

Eisuke, Fumiaki, and Takashi watching Takeru pump water from the well:

Shunsuke and Eisuke petting a 3-weel old kitten:

Taiga, Shunsuke, and Amy learning how to make a pioneer toy out of a button and a piece of string:

Shoko, Rina, and Saori made a new friend!

Farmer Keisuke plowing some fields:

The group going on a covered wagon ride:

Takeru, Tadashi, Daisuke, Takashi, Rina, and Eisuke on the wagon; schoolgirls in the schoolhouse below:

The class paying rapt attention to our teacher; Eisuke, Shunsuke, and Saki helping lead the lesson:

After school was let out, Rina and Eisuke got to drive the covered wagon!

On the way to and from De Smet, the students also learned about another important South Dakota pastime:  waiting for pilot cars in road construction.  ;)

It was another fantastic day!