He knew the delicate glass would never survive in such cold temperatures. In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act. The next day they were found frozen to death on the prairie. Feeling his way to the entrance, he went inside and spent the night curled up next to a hog, whose warmth protected him from the cold. 1/12/1938. The science of weather forecasting was new, and there was no technology that could accurately predict a stormâs strength or path. He looked worried. As the teachers gathered the kids in front of the school, they saw five horse-drawn sleds already waiting to ferry everyone home. The United States Air Force launches Operation Ranch Hand, a “modern technological area-denial technique” designed to expose the roads and trails used by the Viet Cong. She tied the children to each other with a rope and led them through the storm, sometimes crawling along the ground to escape the winds. When Walterâs father, W.C., learned that his youngest son hadnât come home, he and four neighbors headed back to the school, risking their lives. Spring thunderstorms unleash tornadoes and hail. Most dangerous of all was the low-pressure systemâa mass of unstable airâmoving across the continent from the northwest. Wasnât it odd that the temperature had jumped 40 degrees overnight? To make matters worse, many settlers arrived on the treeless plains without enough money to buy wood to build a proper house. These houses were dark and smelly. Minnie Freeman stands with her students outside their sod schoolhouse.  Â. Highlighted words: bearings, brewing, encrusted, ferry, jubilation, mobilized, Read and discuss the article. Nobody saw Walter as he jumped down from the sled and hurried back into the school. Send your essay to Blizzard Contest. The Graber boys, for example, were lost on the prairie until they saw a familiar tree, which helped them find their bearings and get home. How did the time and place of the blizzard contribute to the danger? All morning, Walter sat at his desk working on his arithmetic problems as his teacher walked around the room offering help, her skirts swishing and boots clicking against the worn wooden floorboards. Structure. The storm is still considered one of the worst blizzards in the history of the area. Give students three minutes to jot down their answers to this question on their own paper. The warm air that had delighted the kids that morning would soon meet a mass of freezing Arctic air coming down from Canada. If you lived on the prairie, you ate a lot of cornâcorn bread, corn soup, corn pancakes. Shabazz believed that Farrakhan was responsible for the assassination of her father in 1965, and sought to exact revenge through a hired killer. Learning Objective: to analyze how the time and place in which a blizzard occurred contributed to its danger  Â, As you read the article and study the images think about what life was like for settlers on the prairie.  Â. Walter Allen kicked off his quilt and scampered out of bed. Walter, 8, quickly got dressed. The teachers kept careful track of each child who climbed onto a sled, checking off names in their attendance books. Minnie Freeman, a young teacher in the Mira Valley in Nebraska, hoped to keep her 13 students safe in their tiny schoolhouse. The family lived in a four-room wooden house with a proper roof, glass windows, and even a piano. Few places on Earth have a more extreme climate, with frigid winters and boiling summers and spring thunderstorms that unleash tornadoes and hail. How did the time and place of the blizzard contribute to the danger? And then, he bumped into a small heap covered with snow. In total, an estimated 235 people across the plains died on January 12. We had a fine time the fore part of the night. Review as a class. There were other lucky children that day, saved by quick-thinking teachers and small miracles. The storm came with no warning, and some accounts say that the temperature fell nearly 100 degrees in just 24 hours. Reimagine the story of the Childrenâs Blizzard of 1888 in the form of a short graphic novel. Weather forecasters did the best they could, but they were often wrong. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled along the frozen ground, feeling his way inch by inch. Many homesteaders, as they were called, were immigrants from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, and Norway. In a well-organized paragraph, describe three reasons the Childrenâs Blizzard of 1888 was so dangerous. Walter understood that something infinitely more precious had survived the blizzard, something that could never be replaced: Walter himself.Â. The water inside would freeze and the bottle would shatter. When Walterâs father, W.C., discovered that his youngest son hadnât come home, he and four neighbors headed back to the school, risking their lives. The winter of 1887–1888 was ferocious and unrelenting. The blizzard was unlike any storm that settlers on the prairie had seen before. Above is a copy of their reunion brochure, “In All Its Fury,” which contained their recollections of the storm and its aftermath. As Walter lay freezing on the ground in Groton, thousands of other children across the Northern Plains were also caught in the storm. Have a volunteer read aloud the As You Read box on page 5. Most dangerous of all was the low-pressure systemâa mass of unstable airâchurning its way across the continent from the northwest. You have permission to edit this article. Snow and ice swarmed around his body like attacking bees. This is the story of one boyâs fight to stay alive. Some of the children at Walterâs school lingered outside on the rickety steps, marveling at the unusual color of the skyâgolden behind a veil of clouds. They arrived home to the jubilation of their parents. It was a Thursday afternoon and there had been unseasonably warm weather the previous day from Montana east to the Dakotas and south to Texas. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. The article should help students what it was like to live through this storm, as well as what life was like for settlers on the prairie in the 1800s. The teachers kept careful track of each child who climbed onto a sled, checking off names in their attendance books. Up and down, up and down. In some places, though, caution prevailed. But in those seconds, the sleds vanished, swallowed by the darkness. Some teachers had kept their children at school, gathering them together in front of wood-burning stoves. R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, W.2, SL.1, L.4, L.5, L.6, RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RI.6.3, RI.6.4, RI.6.5, RI.6.5, W.6.2, SL.6.1, L.6.4, L.6.5, L.6.6, RI.7.1, RI.7.2, RI.7.3, RI.7.4, RI.7.5, RI.7.6, W.7.2, SL.7.1, L.7.4, L.7.5, L.7.6, RI.8.1, RI.8.2, RI.8.3, RI.8.4, RI.8.5, RI.8.6, W.8.2, SL.8.1, L.8.4, L.8.5, L.8.6, 6.1, 6.2b,e; 6.4, 6.7; 6.10a,c,d; 6.17a,c; 6.19; 6.26; 6.28, 7.1, 7.2b,e; 7.4, 7.7; 7.10a,c,d; 7.17a,c; 7.19; 7.26; 7.28, 8.1, 8.2b,e; 8.4, 8.7; 8.10a,c,d; 8.17a,c; 8.19; 8.26; 8.28. They became lost, and the children died of hypothermia. The day before, the regionâs official weather forecast had appeared in newspapers throughout the Northern Plains. ...read more, An international panel overseeing the restoration of the Great Pyramids in Egypt overcomes years of frustration when it abandons modern construction techniques in favor of the method employed by the ancient Egyptians. Though the creators and the stars of the ...read more, On January 12, 1943, Soviet troops create a breach in the German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for a year and a half. But he kept searching. It took him just a few seconds to grab his bottle, stuff it in his pocket, and rush back outside. Preview vocabulary. (5 minutes) "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. All Rights Reserved. Wasnât there something spooky about the color of the sky? Miraculously, they made it to the boarding house where Minnie livedâcold but alive. But he kept searching. TM ® & © 2020 Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. by Jim Murphy (nonfiction)Â, Dark Water Rising Eleven-year-old Stephan Ulrich was lost, freezing, and nearly blind when he crashed into the side of a barn. It wasn't until later that night that he realized that his beloved perfume bottle had shattered. It was darkââlike day had turned to night,â one farmer later wrote in his journalâand sheets of snow and ice had begun to pound the school. After finishing each problem set, he took a tiny perfume bottle from his desk, removed the jewel-like lid, and poured a drop of water onto his writing slate. He told his 12-year-old daughter, Josephine, that sheâd be staying put that day. Girls wore calico dresses and petticoats. See our Contest Page for details. W.C. became so distraught that his neighbors had to carry him back to the sled. Instead of using paper, which was expensive, students used small chalkboards called slates. Have students work in groups to complete the activity sheet Analyzing Setting: The Childrenâs Blizzard. The larger boys formed a chain reaching to the coal shed and passed in at least a half ton of coal. The next day, parents made their way over five-foot snow drifts to rescue their children. For $12, any citizen or person applying to be a citizen could have 160 acres of land out west. It arrived suddenly, a gigantic wave of wind, ice, and snow that crashed over the prairie with virtually no warning. In 1843, Britain succeeded the Boers as the rulers of Natal, which controlled Zululand, the neighboring kingdom of the Zulu ...read more, On January 12, 1904, Henry Ford sets a land-speed record of 91.37 mph on the frozen surface of Michigan’s Lake St. Clair. The most famous story is about Minnie Freeman of Mira Valley, Neb., though this one may not be completely accurate. No credit card required. At the last moment, they allowed Walterâs 18-year-old brother, Will, to join them. It felt almost like spring. The water inside would freeze and the bottle would shatter. Temperatures would plummet rapidlyâin some places, to as cold as 40 degrees below zero with wind chill. Walter Allen kicked off his quilt and jumped out of bed. All across the Northern Plains that morning, thousands of kids set out for school just as Walter did, wearing only their school clothes. They were happy to be in the fresh air, free from musty wool coats and scratchy scarves and heavy overshoes. High in the sky, three separate weather systems were about to collide. Somehow in the chaos and confusion, they left without Will. Meanwhile, snow and ice swarmed around his body like attacking bees. Finally, my mystery photo. âLike a fairy tale,â one of them said. Then spend two minutes discussing their ideas. It soon changed to snow and by 3 o’clock we had to abandon study, it became so dark. Royce lost her feet to frostbite. His father, W.C., was a successful lawyer and business owner. It was darkââlike day had turned to night,â one farmer later wrote in his journalâand from out of nowhere, sheets of snow and ice had begun to pound the school. The blizzard of January 12, 1888, which became known as the “Children’s Blizzard” because so many children died trying to go home from school, was one of the deadliest winter storms in the upper Midwest. by Jim Murphy. Walter managed to stand one last time. Need help getting started? Use this helpful activity. âThereâs something in the air,â he told her with a worried glance toward the heavens. He was unconsciousâbut breathing. A hard rain could turn the dirt floor to mud. On January 12, 1888, the so-called “Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” kills 235 people, many of whom were children on their way home from school, across … The article weaves together narrative and informational passages. Most had been cooped up at home during the past two weeks⨠of dangerous cold, and it was a relief to be in the fresh air, free from their cramped and smoky houses, from musty wool coats and scratchy scarves and heavy overshoes. Of course, by then it didnât matter.