edHelper.com
Wild, Wild West

Making a Home

Making a Home
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 3 to 4
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   3.36

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    droppings, manure, settler, original, settled, layer, schools, chips, pioneer, move, mostly, attend, overnight, part, rented, strips

Print Making a Home
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Making a Home  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Making a Home
     Leave your feedback on Making a Home  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Making a Home
By Mary Lynn Bushong 		  
1     If you move to a new part of the country, are things different? You have schools, stores, and homes just like those you left behind. If you had lived in the 1800's, that might not be true. You would have to build a house. The nearest store might be a trading post. People did not mind. They could finally have their own land.
 
2     Why did people want their own land? In many countries only the rich could own land. Most people rented their farms. The owner did not have to let people live on his land. If a family owned land, not everyone could stay on it forever. Some people had to move away and live somewhere else.
 
3     Many people moved to America in hopes of owning their own land. Much of the land in the original colonies was too expensive for them to buy. The West was being opened up, and land was available at a price they could afford. They did not want to lose this chance!
 
4     When a settler or pioneer arrived on his new land, there was much work to do. There was usually no home, barn, or fences. There was probably no road, either.
 
5     The first thing a pioneer family did was make a shelter. A home could not be built overnight. Sometimes they would live out of the wagon in which they crossed the prairie. Sometimes it would be a large tent.

Paragraphs 6 to 13:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper