Sarah, Plain and Tall -...
Transcript of Sarah, Plain and Tall -...
• Fiction: – Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan – Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan – Caleb’s Story by Patricia MacLachlan – Dandelions by Eve Bunting – Dakota Dugout by Ann Turner – Sewing Quilts by Ann Turner – Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder – Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder – The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder – On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder – Going West by Laura Ingalls Wilder – If your Not from the Prairie by David Bouchard – Roughing it on the Oregon Trail by Diane Stanley – Twister on Tuesday by Mary Pope Osborne – Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne – Buffalo Before Breakfast by Mary Pope Osborne – Wagons Ho! by George Hallowell – Tucket’s Travels Series by Gary Paulsen – Brother Eagle, Sister Sky by Susan Jeffers
Literature Selection
Literature Selection • Nonfiction:
– Ten Mile Day: And the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad by Mary Ann Fraser
– My Prairie Year: Based on the Diary of Elenore Plaisted by Brett Harvey
– Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson
– Davy Crockett: A Life on the Frontier by Stephen Krensky
– Prairie Food Chains by Kelley Macaulay and Bobbie Kalman
– Lewis and Clark for Kids by Janis Herbert – How we Crossed the West: The Adventures of
Lewis and Clark by Rosalyn Schanzer – The Oregon Trail (True Books: Westward
Expansion) by Mel Friedman – They’re Off! : The Story of the Pony Express by
Cheryl Harness
Theme Study
• Students will participate in a thematic study on the book Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. This unit will integrate reading, writing, social studies, science, mathematics, art, music, and physical education.
• Students will develop an understanding of life and survival on the prairie during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, technological advances of the time period, and the transcontinental railroad.
Language Arts: Reading Activities
• Students will read Sarah, Plain and Tall in class as a large group, reading aloud, readers theatre, silent reading, and partner reading.
• Students will discuss the elements of the historical fiction genre.
• Teacher will read from fiction and nonfiction books that are related to themes presented in Sarah, Plain and Tall.
• Assorted fiction and nonfiction books related to the themes in Sarah, Plain and Tall will be available in the classroom for students to read.
• Students will read out loud several of their writing assignments from the unit.
Language Arts: Writing Activities
• Students will write entries in a journal while they read Sarah, Plain and Tall. They will write about what they read as well as other topics, such as what it is like to live on the prairie or move far away from home and start over.
• Students will write a letter describing themselves to someone that has never met them.
• Students will write a poem, using their five senses, about the prairie habitat.
• Students will write their own folk song after listening to different examples • Students will journal about the class garden. • Students will write up questions they would ask Sarah in an interview and
then write what they think Sarah would respond with. • Students will write a short story of what they think will happen in the next
book. • Students will write a skit in small groups and perform for the class.
Language Arts: Speaking Activities
• Students will participate in large and small literature discussion groups about the book.
• Students will share journal entries, letters, poems and/ or interviews that they wrote with the class.
• Students will get into small groups and write a skit retelling the story.
• Students will have a Pioneer Day where they act like pioneers; talk, work, dress, play games etc.
Language Arts: Listening Activities
• Students will listen to a lesson about the author. • Students will listen to Sarah, Plain and Tall being read. • Students will listen to Ten Mile Day by Mary Ann Fraser
when learning about the Transcontinental Railroad. • Students will listen to other stories about life on the prairie. • Students will listen to other students as they share either
their poem, interview or letter with the class. • Students will listen to each groups skits. • Students will listen to different songs (folk songs, hymns) of
the time period and will then write a folk song of their own – http://bettylou.zzruss.com/songsofthe1800s.htm
Language Arts: Viewing Activities
• Students will view historical photographs of life in the late 1800’s. • Students will view photographs of life on the prairie and on the east
coast. • Students will view videos of life on the prairie (see technology
ideas). • Students will view videos of the Oregon Trail. • Students will view videos relating to themes presented in Sarah,
Plain and Tall. • Students will view and appreciate art projects and final projects of
their peers. • Students will visualize the spellings of words on the word wall. • Students will watch skits presented by classmates. • Students will watch Sarah, Plain and Tall movie at the end of the
unit
Language Arts: Visually representing Activities
• Students will write statements for a KWL chart about pioneers. • Students will create an artistic background to accompany their
poem. • Students will draw a self portrait to accompany letter. • Students will build a landform project using the geography of
the Prairie or Maine. • Students will find words for the word wall of new vocabulary. • Students will create a comparison chart at the end of the unit
of Maine and the prairie using words and pictures. • Students will draw maps including the Oregon trail, the
transcontinental railroad routes and identify the prairie states, Maine and the ocean.
• Students will view pictures of prairie life then and now; tools, houses, lands.
Science Activities
• Students will plant a class garden and observe the different plants of the prairie and of the wood lands of the east coast.
• Students will journal predictions and outcomes of class garden. • Discuss weather difference along the coastline of the east coast
versus the prairie. • Discuss how they would survive weather changes; heat, snow,
storms, tornados. • Read Prairie Food Chains by Kelley Macaulay • Identify animals and habitats of the prairie versus the east coast
woodlands and seaside. • Draw pictures of the geographical features of the prairie versus the
east coast and seaside.
Mathematics Activities
• Students will calculate year differences practicing subtraction with regrouping.
• Students will practice estimation strategies using a jar and marbles.
• Students will measure distances using hula hoops and horse shoes and then graph them.
• Students will measure and graph plant growth from the garden.
• Students will calculate different distances such as specific railroad routes, the Oregon Trail, and distance between Maine and a point where they think the story took place and estimate how long it would take to get from place to place.
• Students will compare the cost of items from a historical time compared to prices of today. Then solve different story problems.
Social Studies Activities
• Examine geographical features of the prairie versus the east coast. They will then create a landform project using one geographical point and different habitats reviewed in science.
• Discuss the Oregon Trial and read: Wagons Ho! by George Hallowell and Roughing it on the Oregon Trail by Dian Stanley.
• Discuss the discovery of the west and Lewis and Clark by reading Lewis and Clark for Kids by Janis Herbert and How we Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark by Rosalyn Schanzer.
• Discuss the Pony Express and read They’re Off! : The Story of the Pony Express by Cheryl Harness – Other ways mail got places
• Find pictures of transportation choices in the late 1800’s – http://www.northwesthistoryexpress.com/timeline/transportation1800.php
• Read Ten Mile Day by Mary Ann Fraser and watch video clip about the railroad – http://www.history.com/topics/transcontinental-railroad/videos#transcontinental-railroad
• Identify and compare and contrast farming tools of the late 1800’s. – http://www.connerprairie.org/Learn-And-Do/Indiana-History/Artifacts-And-Collections/Argricultural-
Tools.aspx
• Map out the prairie states, Maine, the route for the transcontinental railroad, pony express routes, and the Oregon Trail.
• Discuss the impact Pioneers moving to the Prairie had on the land and Native Americans. Read Brother Eagle, Sister Sky by Susan Jeffers.
Music and Art Activities
• Listen to different songs of the time period. – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taNzYlFy_WE – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWXikm4Bsv8 – http://bettylou.zzruss.com/songsofthe1800s.htm
• Students will write a folk song of their own • Share pictures of different instruments used in the time period. • Students will draw a self portrait describing themselves to go along with their
letters. • Students will draw a picture that relates to their poems. • Students will create a landscape creation of prairie and/or the seaside. • Students will create a suitcase or wagon out of shoe boxes, and then fill them with
items you would take on your trip from the east to the west. Use Wagons Ho! by George Hallowell as a reference. – Food items (beans, sugar, bacon, flour), furniture (table, chest, dresser, bed), animals, clothes.
• Students will create a comparison chart using words and pictures of the prairie and east coast.
Physical Education Activities
• Students will play charades using different vocabulary of the prairie and the east coast.
• Students will play baseball using a stick and a cloth ball. • Students will play a game using hula hoops and wands and pass them back
and forth and catch them, they will roll them and chase after them and play other hula hoop games.
• Students will play horseshoes. • Students will have a “prairie relay”. They will go through different stations
such as; throwing horseshoes, plowing a fake field, driving a covered wagon made of hula hoops and cardboard boxes, carrying an egg on a spoon, three legged races and milking a cow (rubber glove and bucket). The first team to complete all stations and reach the end wins.
• Students will have a packing relay; students can make covered wagons with boxes and first to get all their belongings in box and to finish line wins.
Technology
• http://education.csm.edu/students/asoriano/new_page_3.htm – 1800’s website
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTA213e3V5Q – Photographs with music of the prairie
• http://www.schooltube.com/video/ca2792616b524611b1cc/Oregon%20Trail – Oregon Trail
• http://www.schooltube.com/video/2f702ae078564bd19f18/Oregon%20Trail – Oregon Trail
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1R-GeEd95c – Pony Express
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/teachers-resources/wild-west-guide/ – Videos of different people of the wild west
• http://www.jbit.org/guide/ – different pioneer activities
• http://www.history.com/topics/transcontinental-railroad/videos#transcontinental-railroad – Railroad video
• http://www.connerprairie.org/Learn-And-Do/Indiana-History/Artifacts-And-Collections/Argricultural-Tools.aspx – Farming tools
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taNzYlFy_WE – Folk Music
• http://bettylou.zzruss.com/songsofthe1800s.htm – Music
• TV Movie; Sarah, Plain and Tall 1991
Language Arts Strategies
• Activating background knowledge: students will think what they already know about the prairie and east coast.
• Brainstorming: students will think of many ideas related to the prairie and the west through their writing activities.
• Connecting: students will relate the topics to the world around them by journaling, creating comparison charts, and creating writings.
• Predicting and Monitoring: students will predict what will happen in the next chapters. They will predict the next book.
• Revising: Students will make changes to written activities and comparison chart.
• Visualizing: Students will use journals to visualize the setting of the story and draw pictures in their minds.
Grouping Patterns
• Large group activities: large group discussions, class garden, share writings, physical education games, reading social studies books and watching videos.
• Small Group activities: partner read, physical education games, math.
• Individual: journal, write poem, write what its like to live on prairie, write letter, Comparison of Maine and Prairie project, math.
Assessments
• Journal entries • Participation in large group discussions • Letter, story, and interview writings according to the 6 plus 1 writing
traits • Poem according to numerical scoring sheet • Math graphs • Science Journal; lab reports • Landform creation of prairie and/or east coast • Spelling tests with vocabulary words • Physical Education skills checklist • Accuracy of maps of the routes and places • Portfolio of work throughout the unit • Comparison project of Maine and the Prairie
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Language Arts Introduce book, vocab
words and author. KWL
chart on pioneers.
journal
Read chapter 1 & 2 &
3 Journal
Read chapter 4 & 5
Using self portrait write
letter describing oneself
Journal
Chapter 6 & 7
Journal
write a poem about
something about the prairie
Read chapter 8 &
9
Journal
Art/ Music Look at photographs of
the west, railroad and
east coast
Sketch a self portrait Make a suitcase or
wagon with items to
take along
Learn about folk songs/
dances. Hymns.
Landform
creations using
different material
Physical
Education
Charades in groups using vocab words, words of the prairie. And east coast.
Baseball with cloth
ball and stick
Play horseshoes Play hula hoop game with
wands
Prairie relay race
Math Take different years and work on subtraction with regrouping. Story problems.
Marbles in a jar and
estimation problems
Measure distances of
horseshoes and graph.
Measure distances of hula
hoops thrown and graph
Calculate distance
of Oregon trail
and railroad and
estimate time to
travel
Science Discuss the geography of
Maine and prairie
Talk about different
flowers, how to plant,
pars of plant
Plant flowers and journal
predictions
Discuss animals and
habitats of prairie and
Maine Read prairie food
chains
Weather
differences of
east
coast/prairie.
Twister on
Tuesday
Social Studies Map out states that
contain prairie and
where Maine is
Read Lewis and Clark
for kids. Map out
routes.
Discuss transportation.
Wagons Ho! Watch video
on Oregon Trail. Add to
map
Transcontinental railroad
information.
Read 10 mile Day.
Add route to map
Farming tools in
the late 1800s vs.
today’s