Wizard of Oz
Activities ©1998 Nancy Polette
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TOPIC TALKING (Lang Arts)
TOPIC FOCUSING:
Answer by guessing the correct number.
  1. A tornado is about _____yards across.
  2. Its winds blow at _____ miles per hour.
  3. The average tornado sweeps a path ____miles long at a speed of ____ to ___ miles per hour.
  4. How much time does it take to complete its destruction in any one place?_____minutes.
3. CREATIVE WRITING:
Using metaphors to describe the dusty gray funnel. Looks like? What does it do that a person does? Where?
4.VOCABULARY (Reading/Lang Arts)
prairie whirlwind amazement luscious
sorceress Munchkins hesitate bondage
civilized journey curious danger
earnest tedious witch dismal
reproach confidential patient oblige
enchanted inconvenient prosperous anxious
astonished motionless dangerous misfortune
awkward enable industrious monstrous
discouraged aroused fragrance reflection
spectacles clumsy Scarecrow cruelty
Dorothy destroy weapons companions

Sentence structure: Use all the words in one column in one sentence to describe Dorothy's arrival in Oz.
5. PRE READING JOURNAL
Choose one and write for five minutes. Share orally with a small group.
  1. In a civilized country people....
  2. A lighted match can cause trouble when....
6. DOROTHY THE IMMIGRANT(S. Studies)
One who arrives in a new land to live is called an immigrant. A rich mix of people in any nation results in creativity and change. Choose two famous immigrants and compare them using this pattern:
If I were (name)
I would (accomplishment)
And I'd (more information
But I wouldn't (accomplishment of 2nd person)
Because (name) did that.
7. THE ROAD THROUGH THE FOREST (Social Studies)
Trees protect the forest by picking up intruders in their branches and tossing them back on the road. It takes 75,000 trees to produce one Sunday edition of the New York Times. Brainstorm: In two minutes, how many ways can you list to save paper? Forecast what will happen if we lose all of the forests in North America.
8. THE TIN WOODSMAN WANTS A HEART (Science)
In 1900 when Baum wrote this story, there were no heart transplants. In the future it is predicted:
  1. Replacement organs will be grown from a patient's own cells.
  2. Wires from a TV camera to a blind person's brain will allow the person to see.
  3. Most people will live to age 150.D. Artificial ears that work will be common.
9. PROVERBS (Reading comprehension)
Tell how the proverb is related to one of the characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
  1. A. Don't cry over spilt milk.
  2. Still waters run deep.
  3. Let sleeping dogs lie.
  4. Actions speak louder than words.
  5. Two wrongs don't make a right.
10.SEARCH FOR THE WICKED WITCH
The Wicked Witch of the West sends a pack of wolves to attack the travelers but the brave band survives. (Science)

WOLF DATA BANK
Eats Lives Has
moose/deer packs/forests pointed ears
fox wilderness fears of humans
mice National parks long tail
caribou Arctic fur
What it does
barks, hunts to survive, kills sick animals
shares work, talks with ears, roams

Use the information in this pattern:
If I had the________________ of a wolf,
I would (3 things)
but I wouldn't____________
because killer bees do that.
11. THE DISCOVERY OF OZ,THE TERRIBLE
Oz is a humbug who cannot grant the friends' wishes.
Use at least four of these items in a excuse the Oz might give as to why he cannot give the Tin Woodsman a heart.
An old shoe a crazed rabbit vanishing cream
six crows a giant fish moaning oak tree
a troll blackberry pie a singing toad
a red cape quicksand a collapsed bridge
12. Have a contest!
Which team can name two things found in nature that begin with each letter of
R A I N B O W ? Do not include animals.
13. TRUST, FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE
In a future global village, perhaps the most important qualities will be trust, friendship and love...themes of L.Frank Baum's classic. Share My Love for You by Susan Roth...is larger than one bear, taller than two giraffes....(add more animals up to ten).