Reader's Theatre Script

For my integrated Social Studies unit, I had to write a Reader's Theatre Script. My unit is designed for 5th grade and is focused on Westward Movement using Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series as a basis. I have lots of activities included and this is just one of them. I balked at the project at first and was irritated that we had to write an original script. Once I got going, I really enjoyed it. I would write one of these again to use in a class room and I feel that this one is good enough to use too! I wanted to share some of my hard work with you, so...here it is:


The Ingalls Family Heads West
Written by Yvonne Huffaker

Overview: The Ingalls family is packing up the covered wagon for the move west to a new home on the prairie. As Pa packs, the girls ask him questions about the trip and they discover what adventure lies ahead.

Readers: 7

Suitable for ages: 9-12

Roles: Narrators 1-3, Pa, Ma, Laura & Mary
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Narrator 1: In the mid 1800’s, many people lived on the east coast and the eastern part of the United States and made the decision to pack up and move out west. People had started to move into Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakota’s.

Narrator 2: Some went further west, but many just moved around in that area, trying to find something that was just right for them.

Narrator 3: Some people moved because of religious reasons, some were looking for work, some wanted a better life for their family.

N 1: Some thought that their town was getting too crowded and overpopulated and some, just liked the idea of adventure.

N 2: Charles Ingalls seemed to fit into that last category. He wanted to get out of the crowded area where his family lived. He did not want to listen to the chop of an ax or the bustle of the building and traveling that were going on in his front yard.

N 3: So, Pa built a covered wagon and he and Ma packed up the family and all of their belongings and headed Westward.

N 2: Westward-ish.

N 1: You see the Ingalls family moved from Wisconsin and then south to Kansas and back and forth in between. When they finally settled down, it was in South Dakota, which WAS west of where they had started from in Wisconsin, but it wasn’t very far.

N 2: They moved around a lot, trying to find somewhere that they liked, that was not owned by the government, or had too many Indians, or was too far from a town.

N 3: This is the story about packing up, and leaving.

N 1: It’s about what they took with them and what they left behind.

N2: They left a well established settlement to go out on their own. Alone, with no wagon train and with no help. They didn’t really even have a plan for where they would end up.

N 3: Pa planned to go, until he found a place that “felt” right.

Pa: Well girls, I am almost done building the wagon. Why don’t you come out and give me a hand?

Mary: Pa, why is the wagon so big when it is only going to be You, Ma, Laura, Carrie and Me?

Pa: Well, Mary, we are going to take some of the furniture, the blankets, lots of food, cooking pots and some things that are special to our family with us. There has to be room for all of that AND us in this wagon!

Ma: It sounds like so much! We are taking a lot, but we won’t need to take the beds, table and chairs because Pa can always build new ones when we find our new home.

Laura: We will take your little china woman, too. Right, Ma?

Pa: Of course Laura, your Ma has had that with her on every move that she has made, and she won’t take up much room at all. We will pack her up deep inside of the flour barrel so that she won’t get jostled during the trip.

Ma: We will put the eggs in there too, to keep them from breaking during the ride!

Mary: Don’t forget your fiddle box, Pa. We will have to have that so that we can listen to music when we stop in the evening!

Pa: I won’t forget Mary, I already have it tucked away safely, right here behind the bench seat!

N 1: Other supplies that they would carry with them would include smoked meat, sugar, salt, baking soda, dried beans, dried fruit.

N 2: Rice, vinegar, corn meal, ginger, raisins, and molasses.

N 1: They would also have rope, canvas tarpaulins, an ax, shovel, tools, knives and tin dishes.

N 2: A water keg, iron pot and skillet, feather beds and blankets.
N 3: They carried everything that they had and that they would need during the journey and when they set up a new home.

Laura: Pa? Where will we sleep while we are traveling?

Pa: In the wagon, mostly. We will stop at night and cook on an open fire and then snuggle down together under the quilts! It will be just like camping!

Mary: Why are we going Pa? Why can’t we just stay here in our house in the Big Woods?

Pa: There are just too many people here in the Big Woods Mary. I don’t like hearing the chop of an ax that isn’t mine.

Ma: And the road in front of our house is always busy with wagons coming and going. Why, it isn’t even safe for you girls to go out front and play!

Laura: Why are we leaving now Pa, when it is still so cold and the house is so warm and cozy? Don’t most people wait until spring to travel?

Pa: We have to go now Laura, before the ice breaks on the Mississippi River. It is far too wide and deep for the horses to swim across! When we get to the Missouri River, we will be able to ride a ferry! But we have to walk across the Mississippi, and we can only do that while it is still frozen.

Ma: Are the new horses ready for the journey, Pa?

N 1: Ma was worried that the horses wouldn’t hold up to the long trip.

Laura: Can I name the horses Pa?

Mary: No! I want to name them, can’t I please?

Pa: Well girls, seeing as how there are two of them, I suppose that you can each name one!

N 1: The girls chose the names

N2: Pet

N3: and Patty.

Pa: Girls, did you know that oxen always have the same names when they are used for a wagon train?

Girls: No, Pa!

Pa: Well, they do! The oxen on the left are named “Buck” and the ones on the right are named “Bright”. All of the teams are named that way, so that anyone can drive the team if need be. Think how confused those animals would be if they got new names any time that they were sold!

Laura: Are we coming back?

Mary: How long will it take us?
Laura: Will we still have to do chores?

Mary: What will we eat?

N 1: The girls shot questions at Pa faster than he could answer.

Ma: Now girls, give your Pa a chance to answer.

Pa: Well, now… where do I start with that list of questions!? You two sure are curious, aren’t you?

Laura: Start with me, Pa… start with me.

Pa: O.K. Half-pint, I will start with you! I don’t believe that we will be coming back here Laura, I think that we will find a new home and we will settle down and that we won’t ever see the Big Woods again.

N 2: At that news a tear slid silently down Ma’s cheek, for she knew that Pa was right and that she would probably not ever see her family or her home in the woods, again.

N 3: Although she was excited about the trip, she was nervous and fearful. After all, she had three young children to look out for and there were many dangers on the trail.

N 1: As it turns out, the family did return for a short time to the Big Woods, but only to visit and make plans for the next move, but that is another story.

Ma: And to answer your other question, yes Laura, you will still have chores. You will fetch water, help with the cooking, wash dishes, help your Pa to collect wood and shake out the blankets and make the beds before we start off every day.

N 2: Laura was disappointed, she had hoped for “time off” from chores during the journey, but she still felt satisfied that there would be less work than there was at home.

Pa: Now Mary, to answer your questions.

N 3: Mary looked expectantly at her Pa.

Pa: We will eat biscuits, potatoes, bacon, cracklings, dried meat, crackers, dried fruit, cornmeal, beans and eggs, while they last. We can’t take much milk with us, because we will have no way to keep it from spoiling.

Ma: But, some of it we will make into “wagon butter” to enjoy on our first few days.

Mary: Wagon Butter!? What ever is that, Ma?

Ma: We will put the milk in a jug and hang it off of the side of the wagon and all of the jostling will churn it right into butter!

N 1: The girls clapped excitedly at the news of fresh butter for the biscuits.

Pa: As for how long it will take us to get where we are going, well, I don’t rightly know. Mostly because I don’t really know where we will stop, only which direction we will be heading! I guess we will know how long it took, when we arrive! I can say that it will be some time and that we will all be tired when we finish.

N 2: The average wagon could only travel about 10 to 15 miles in one day.

N 3: That’s about as far away as Disneyland!

N 1: Can you imagine it taking an ENTIRE DAY to just get from our school, to Disneyland?

N 2: It only takes us about a half an hour to go that distance in a car!

N 3: Not to mention the fact that if it were raining or muddy, they could only go one mile! That is only as far as the grocery store!

N 1: In a covered wagon, it might take you five or six days to go as far in one full hour as you can go today.

N 2: The horses and oxen didn’t go very fast, and they had a very big load to pull.

N 3: This is why it was such a big deal to go west. Or to go anywhere, really. It was not like packing up and heading to Grandma’s house for the weekend.

N 1: It was a big production and there were lots of risks and danger.

N 2: But people were courageous, and went.

N 3: They went for adventure.

N 1: They went to find a new home.

N 2: They went to make a name and a life for themselves and their families.

Ma: Are you ready girls? I think that we have everything packed up and ready to go. It is time to kiss your cousins goodbye!

N 3: They said their good-byes, climbed into the wagon and slowly rolled away from the Big Woods.

N 2: They went because they were pioneers, and they were ready to discover something new.

N 3: Laura rode in the wagon, looking back on where they had come from and what they were leaving behind.

N 1: She thought to herself, “What a grand adventure my life is. What awaits us on this journey? What will our new home be like?”

N 2: She pondered these questions and then thought, “This will be a story that I will tell my children, and maybe even my grandchildren, someday.”

N 3: And that,

All: Is exactly, what she did.