Leah's Pony Unit Study & Lapbook

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Leah’s pony was swift and strong. Together they would cross through cornfields and over pastures, chasing cattle as they galloped under summer skies. Then came the year the corn grew no taller than a man’s thumb. Locusts blackened the sky. The earth turned to dust. Gone were the cornfields and pastures where Leah and her pony once rode. It was the beginning of the great drought. Now Leah’s papa faced losing the family farm.
from Leah’s Pony summary at amazon.com

Our Leah’s Pony unit study offers a giant variety of lessons to go with this sweet story. You’ll find lessons for ponies, The Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, penny auctions, grasshoppers, seeds, alliteration, and more! Grab the free Leah’s Pony unit study and get started.

Thanks to Celia Hartmann for writing the lessons for this Leah’s Pony unit study.

Leah’s Pony Unit Study Lessons

This unit study includes lessons and printables based on the book Leah’s Pony by Elizabeth Friedrich.

Here are some sample lessons from the Leah’s Pony Unit Study.

History – The Great Depression & The Dust Bowl
Discuss October of 1929 and the years following. The Great Depression was a hard time for our country. People didn’t have extra money; sometimes they couldn’t even buy or get what they needed, so they improvised. The Great Plains had another struggle on top of the Depression; they were experiencing the Dust Bowl as well. The Dust Bowl was a period of major drought (no rain) in the Great Plains area. The dryness of the land led to soil erosion (the wind began to blow the dirt away). The drought began in 1933 and lasted through 1940. During this time, the farmers weren’t able to farm the land. People experienced Dust Storms (it was if the earth was raining dirt and dust). Since the land wasn’t yielding any food, the farmers couldn’t make any money. This was on top of an already depressed economy (due to the Great Depression). People couldn’t pay their taxes. Farms were foreclosed. Businesses failed. The Dust Bowl was hard on the land, the animals, and the people. Read the author’s note at the end of the book with your child for further information.

History – Penny Auctions
Help your child understand that Leah’s father needed to borrow money from the bank to be able to plant corn, but that the corn did not grow and so he did not have any corn to sell to repay the money. The bank decided to sell the farm and everything on it to get back the money that Papa borrowed. Help your child understand what an auction is. Then explain that a “Penny” Auction was auction where neighbors would place a bid far below what the item was worth and no one would bid against them. Then they would give the items back to family. Read author’s note at end of the book.

You can grab a copy of the entire Leah’s Pony Unit Study and Lapbook in an easy-to-print file at the end of this post.

Leah’s Pony Lapbook Printables

In addition to the unit study lessons, the file also includes these mini-books so your student can create a Leah’s Pony lapbook or notebook:

Seeds Tab Book
Grasshopper Legs Flap Book
Windy Weather Word Find
All About Alliteration Side by Side Book
Interview Pocket
Wind Copywork Pocket
Leah’s Pony Vocabulary Fan
Insect Characteristics Wheel
Grasshopper Predators Petal Book
How Does a Grasshopper Breathe? Simple Fold Book
Grasshopper Coloring Page
Horse vs. Pony Venn Diagram Flap Book
The Effects of the Wind Simple Fold Book
What Do Plants Need? Flap Book
Dust Bowl and Great Depression Shutterfold Book
Kindness Matchbook
Being Resourceful Petal Book
Sacrifice Flap Book

How to Get Started with Your Leah’s Pony Unit Study & Lapbook

Follow these simple instructions to get started with the Leah’s Pony Unit Study:

Buy a copy of the book, Leah’s Pony, or borrow one from your local library.
Print the Leah’s Pony unit study.
Choose the lessons you want to use with your student (a highlighter works great for this).
Choose and prepare the Leah’s Pony lapbook printables you want to use with your student.
Enjoy a week of learning with Leah’s Pony.