Remember when you first read "Little House on the Prairie"?

Reading and living the story is an annual rite for Bluffton third  graders. Here's Beth Raeburn's class on May 12, as the teacher explains:

"The entire third grade reads 'Little House on the Prairie,' by Laura Ingalls Wilder, each spring as a novel in our reading classes. 

"As a culminating event, each classroom has a Little House day. We start off with a prairie breakfast. Parents and teachers help to provide and cook the food that is similar to what the Ingalls family would have eaten while on the prairies of Kansas in the early 1870s. 

"The menu includes pancakes, bacon, cornmeal mush, and cornbread muffins. In the afternoon, Judy Green from Toledo is our guest speaker. Judy is a Laura Ingalls Wilder expert and has many replicas of things Laura writes about in all of her books. 

"She speaks to the students as Laura, telling them all about the adventures and hardships of being pioneers. She also shares her items with the students and she allows them to examine them and ask questions. 

"For this special day, our students are encouraged to dress like one of the main characters in Little House on the Prairie. Judy has presented to our third graders for about 10 years and this is the 24th year for a prairie breakfast in my classroom."