Louisa May Alcott - Third Grade Presentation

Each third grade student at North chose a famous Massachusetts person to learn about, and Reagan chose Louisa May Alcott.  She read a biography and wrote an essay and a timeline.  Reagan and I started reading Little Women about a month ago, but it is long and kind of slow moving, so it will probably take us all summer to finish the book.  I wish I had chosen the children's edition!  At the time, I figured that since I was reading it aloud, the original edition was best, but I didn't consider the old fashioned language when I made that decision!  Oh well, we are still enjoying it!

Reagan and I visited Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott to learn a little more about her. We both thought it was fascinating.

The above picture is a building where one of Alcott's father's schools was held.  He had a few different schools, and in one school he used the Bible to teach the children and some parents were very upset about that.

We could not take pictures inside the house and we were not allowed to touch anything.  It's amazing how much you want to touch something when someone tells you that it is not allowed!

Here are a few things we learned:

• The four girls in Little Women were modeled after Louisa and her three sisters, and Orchard House is the setting of the book.
• The Alcotts were incredibly deliberate parents.  They raised 4 solidly independent (amazing for this time period) and talented daughters who each thoroughly pursued her passions.   Anna was an actress, Lousia a writer, Beth a pianist, and May a very accomplished artist.  May had a studio and whenever anyone visited her, she insisted on drawing his or her portrait. Through technology, a lot of these portraits have been restored on the walls where they were drawn; I thought this was SO COOL!!!
• Mr. Alcott built Louisa a desk for her writing.  At that time in history, most people thought women should not have their own desks!  She wrote Little Women on that desk in her room; it was very cool to see the actual desk where such an important literary work was written. She wrote part one in 6 weeks.
• The Alcott children kept two journals.  One was a heart journal where they wrote the private workings of their hearts.  The other was a journal that their mother (and maybe father?) read and wrote responses in.  I love that idea.  
• Louisa believed that you should run and play and do lots of housework in order to be a good writer.   
• She wrote sometimes for 16 hours a day.  She taught herself to write with both her right and left hand so that she could just keep going.  Her pen couldn’t keep up with her thoughts most of the time. 
• Mrs. Alcott came from privilege and money but gave it up to marry for love.  The Alcotts moved many times before finally settling in the Orchard House.  They were always struggling financially. Abigail worked to help support her family and found positions for her daughters to also work. Part of the reason Louisa wrote was to help support her family. 
• Louisa had a “mood” pillow.  It was set different ways on the couch to indicate Louisa’s mood.  If it was one way then it was safe to talk to her, if it was turned the other way she was in a mood, or busy writing and was to be left alone.  
• Louisa was a nurse in the Civil War, but she became ill and had to return home.
• Louisa’s book titled Flower Fables is a collection of stories that Thoreau told her as he walked with her through the woods.  She had a huge crush on him. I think he helped the family purchase Orchard House by giving them the money they needed. 
• The Alcotts were very involved in the suffrage movement.  Louisa and her mother went door to door encouraging women to register to vote.  In 1879, Louisa registered as the first woman to vote in the school committee election in Concord.

There was so much more and it was all so fascinating.  I'm happy we went!  After visiting Orchard house, Reagan and I ate lunch at Helen's on Main Street in Concord.

Later that day, I helped Reagan put together her trifold for the third grade presentation.

We could not take pictures inside Orchard House, so we bought a pack of postcards and used a few of them on the trifold.  The postcard on the left shows the desk where Louisa wrote and the picture on the right is the room where the Alcott sisters spent most of their time.

The third grade presentation was great.  They sang a few songs about Massachusetts and then we went to the classroom to see all of the trifolds.

Reagan chose this great shirt and pin (both purchased from the Orchard House gift shop) to put on over her dress for the trifold display portion of the third grade program.

She read us the essay she wrote about Alcott's life.

This was a great project.  We both learned so much, and I am looking forward to finishing Little Women soon.