Go West Young Woman

Rhonda Lajko was a first-grade Talented and Gifted (TAG) cluster classroom teacher and now works in an ESL collaborative setting in Columbia Heights.  She has taught kindergarten through sixth grade.  She graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and has a Masters of Arts degree in education from the University of Minnesota.  She has attended numerous TAG training sessions through the Columbia Heights School District.  Ms. Lajko grew up on a farm in west-central Minnesota, attended a country school, and learned many pioneer skills from her family.  This is her tenth year teaching at Summer Academy.

Go West Young Woman

Extra!  Extra!  Read all about it!  As a newspaper reporter, you will have the chance to relive the experiences of pioneer families during the westward movement. Get the scoop on the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Travel to Scandia to report on customs of early Swedish pioneers and learn how to make hard tack and a braided rug!   Visit Gibbs Farm and step back into history as you personally experience typical prairie life.  Report on the relationships pioneer families had with the Native Americans.  Share with your readers the knowledge and skills of this era as you learn to make such things as butter, soap, a pioneer town replica, candles and other pioneer crafts.