An Instructional Guide for Literature: Sarah, Plain and Tall


Book Description

This simple story will have young readers enjoying every moment of Sarah's journey with a small family to become the mother-figure they desperately need, by completing fun, challenging lessons and activities provided in this instructional guide for literature. This guide will encourage readers to explore the humanity of the characters who long to be loved. The lessons and activities are rigorous yet engaging and will encourage students to learn such skills as analyzing and comprehending story elements in multiple ways, practicing close reading and text-based vocabulary, and determining meaning through text-dependent questions. Add rigor to your students' explorations of rich, complex literature by implementing this instructional guide for literature into your classroom today!




Sarah, Plain and Tall


Book Description

"Did Mama sing every day?" Caleb asks his sister Anna. "Every-single-day," she answers. "Papa sang, too." Their mother died the day after Caleb was born. Their house on the prairie is quiet now, and Papa doesn't sing anymore. Then Papa puts an ad in the paper, asking for a wife, and he receives a letter from one Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, of Maine. Papa, Anna, and Caleb write back. Caleb asks if she sings. Sarah decides to come for a month. She writes Papa: I will come by train. I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall, and Tell them I sing. Anna and Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she like them? Will she stay?




Journey


Book Description

Journey is eleven the summer his mother leaves him and his sister, Cat, with their grandparents. He is sad and angry, and spends the summer looking for the clues that will explain why she left. Journey searches photographs for answers. He hunts family resemblances in Grandma's albums. Looking for happier times, he tries to put together the torn pieces of the pictures his mother shredded before her departure. And he also searches the photographs his grandfather takes as the older man attempts to provide Journey with a past. In the process, the boy learns to look and finds that, for him, the camera is a means of finding things his naked eye has missed--things like inevitability of his mother's departure and the love that still binds his family.




A Parent's Guide to Sarah, Plain and Tall


Book Description

Our Parent's Guide to Sarah, Plain and Tall is a comprehensive book guide that allows you work with your child on this text without actually having to read the book yourself. It is designed to allow you to talk about what your child has read and be confident in assessing their responses. It will allow you to get a sense of how well your child understand what they read and also how to support them in boosting their comprehension. Our book guides for parents include: -A explanation of each section of the book guide that provides suggestions about how best to use each section to boost your child's comprehension. -An explanation of the genre of the book. -Various background materials that will help to provide a better understanding of the context of the story. -A summary of the entire book so you have a good idea of the major events that take place in the story. -An in-depth look at the various themes that will be developed throughout the book and what types of questions to ask your child as you explore these themes together. -"Big Idea" Questions that are designed to give you a sense of the deeper understands your child should take away from reading this book. -An overview of the developmental concepts that apply to children of this age and what happens in the story. It is designed to inform you about where children typically are in developing their concept of the larger world and how best to work with them to further this development as they explore the events in the story and how it applies to their own understanding and world view. -A guide to the chapter sections so you know how best to use them as your child reads this text. Each chapter guide includes: -Important vocabulary your child show know before reading the chapter so that it doesn't get in the way of their comprehension -A detailed summary of the chapter so that you can be familiar with the events from the chapter without having to read it yourself -Text-Based Questions with example responses: These questions address the events of the story with basic recall questions. Each question comes with a sample answer so you have a good idea of what your child should say in response to these questions. -Critical Thinking Questions with example responses: These questions push your child to think about the events of the chapter in a more challenging way. Each question comes with a sample answer so you have a good idea of what your child should say in response to these questions. -Theme Based Questions with example responses: These questions are designed to help child connect the events of the chapter to the development of the themes throughout the story. Each question comes with a sample answer so you have a good idea of what your child should say in response to these questions. -Making Connections Questions: These questions challenge your child to make connections between the events of the story and things that may have happened to them in their own lives. Everyone's experiences are unique, so there are no sample answers here. Once you arrive at these questions, you'll have a good idea of what an appropriate response would be like.




The Truth of Me


Book Description

Patricia MacLachlan, Newbery Medal–winning author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, weaves a poignant story that celebrates how our unique "small truths" make each of us magical and brave in our own ways. When Robbie spends the summer at his grandmother Maddy's house, he revels in his grandmother's easy, relaxed ways. Robbie has always felt as if something is missing in his life—his parents don't always act like they love him. Maddy helps him understand that an experience his mother had long ago is at the heart of the problem in his family. With this knowledge, Robbie finds the courage to try to make things right. Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book ALA Booklist Notable Children's Books Nominee New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing




Sarah, Plain and Tall


Book Description

A study guide to accompany the reading of Sarah, plain and tall in the classroom featuring suggested discussion questions, vocabulary work, work sheets, related Bible passages and further readings.




A Guide for Using the Yearling in the Classroom


Book Description

Provides many activities to use when presenting The yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Projects include: pre-reading activities, biographical sketch, book summary, vocabulary lists, and book report activities.