SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL
Patricia MacLachlan
Pat Vaughan
Elmwood Elementary
501 N Morgan
Elmwood IL 61529
Promoting
Geographic Knowledge Through Literature Workshop
July 7-19, 2002
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson will act as an introduction to the novel, Sarah, Plain and Tall. Sarah moves to the prairie to become the wife of a widower and mother of two and experiences changes in location and culture.
PURPOSE OF LESSON
The students will demonstrate an awareness of the location of Maine and the prairie of Kansas, the movement necessary to get there, and comparison of those regions.
CONNECTION TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS
1. World in spatial terms standard #1
2. Places and Regions standard #4
3. Human Systems standard #12
State Goals 17A and 17C
SUGGESTED GRADE LEVELS - 3-5
TIME 1-2 class periods
PRIMARY QUESTION What changes are experienced with a move from Maine to the prairies of Kansas?
1. Where are the locations mentioned in the novel?
2. How would the movement from Maine to the prairie be made?
3. How does Maine compare with Kansas?
1. U.S. political map for each student with Portland, ME, and Topeka, KS, marked.
2. Pictures of landscapes of Maine and Kansas.
3. Internet access
4. Almanac of state facts
5. Book Sarah, Plain and Tall Patricia MacLachlan ISBN 0-590-97409-2
6. Book Travels Across America-The Northeast Elspeth Leacock, National Geographic ISBN 0-7922-8693-6
7. Book Travels Across America The Midwest Elspeth Leacock, National Geographic ISBN 0-7922-8688-X
INTRODUCTION OF SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL
1. Using the U.S. map, locate Maine and Kansas.
2. Display a mixture of pictures of each and have students sort according to state. Tell why decisions were made.
3. Have students use pencil to draw the path of travel through the fewest states, from Portland, ME, to Topeka, KS. Name the states in between.
4. Using the map, pg. 15, from The Northeast (attached), discuss the lack of manufacturing in Maine and predict what people do.
1. Use the U.S. map and scale of miles to determine the distance from Portland to Topeka.
2. Discuss methods of travel that could be used from Maine to Kansas in the late 1800s.
3. Use Internet site www.gslis.utexas.edu/~schapa/page.html. Click on prairie, dunes and seashore, and 19th century railroad travel.
4. Using an almanac or the The Northeast and The Midwest books, compare facts of Maine and Kansas, such as size, population, altitude, etc.
1. Class discussion of location, movement, and regions of Maine and Kansas.
2. Evaluate the map path of journey.
1. Use Internet sites with activities:
www.ukans.edu/heritage/prairie/
www.gslis.utexas.edu/~schapa/page.html
www.kidsreads.com/series/series-sarah-plain.asp
2. Compare with Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. Watch movies Sarah, Plain and Tall and Skylark. Hallmark. Compare the novels to the movies.
4. Read and compare to novel: My Prairie Year by Brett Harvey (ISBN 0-590-46592-9 or All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan , Scholastic Books, ISBN 0-439-05505-9