Role Play
Have the students pretend that they are early settlers in the community in which they reside. They are to make their living by farming. Have them draw a sketch of their first home and of the outbuildings they will need for the farm work. Although they may base the sketch on what they know of log-built structures, encourage them to take into account their own ethnic heritage and the predominant pre-railroad building type of the area. The point is to acknowledge not only the important role the Finns played in establishing the log cabin as a practical and popular form of housing, but also the vital role that folk housing of all ethnic groups played in establishing American values and continuing ways of life.