These ideas were given to me by Jane Albright of the International Wizard of Oz Club; Susan Bradshaw, a kindergarten teacher in St. Louis, Missouri; Deb Polun, a graduate student at the University of Connecticut; Sara Parker, a gifted K-5 teacher in Georgia; Merewyn DiLiberto; and the L. Frank Baum Oz Festival's Education Task Force in Aberdeen, South Dakota. I've also added a few ideas of my own, and the contributors of other individual ideas are also acknowledged. Don't let the somewhat arbitrary labels throw you, there is a lot of interdisciplinary learning here, and I give some suggestions of what other areas similar lessons can be applied.
"There's no place like the home page..."I teach mythology to high school seniors in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I use The Wizard of Oz in my Hero Quest unit. I do so because the hero is female instead of male which is very hard to find. By this time in the course, the students have already covered archetypes, how they are used in fairy tales and myths from around the world, and Joseph Campbell's 15 steps to the hero quest. After seeing the [original] Star Wars trilolgy to learn the Hero Quest, and reading a classic hero quest from my reading list, we then watch The Movie, along with A Christmas Carol, The 13th Warrior, and The Matrix for practice in identifying all aspects of the Hero Quest. They are all in there, believe me. The source I use for the Hero Quest is Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces.—Shari Tarbet
For teaching parts of speech in my language arts class I often try to find a song of skit that will help the students remember. "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead" is a fun song and skit to be acted out using word cards with the emphasis on the adverbs (most words that end in -ly). Kids have fun acting this one out.—Mary Edo
You could do a bulletin board for student of the week revolving around the courage to make the right decision (Lion), the heart to do the right thing (Tin Man), and the brains to know the difference between right and wrong (Scarecrow).—Debbi Grabow
A letter to 9th Grade Students
This project is a collaborative effort between our 9th grade Art Students and the Henry Neill 3rd grade Physical Education students. You will begin by working in groups of 3-5 students depending on the number of students in class.
Your job will be to read/research four of the Ozian character groups (some, you may not have heard of before). The group names are: The Winkies, The Gillikins, The Munchkins, and The Quadlings.
You will need to answer various questions about the character groups like, What are their personalities like, How do they act and talk, What do they look like, etc. to decide what each of the groups are like. From this information you will need to write a description of these characters for the 3rd grade students. You will need to write the information clearly and in an "easy to read" format.
You will be listening to some music from an "Oz" album — you will need to choose the song which you feel would be best for your "character group" (we will need to come to consensus with all of the 9th grade students regarding the song).
You will then draw a picture of the characters from your description. The 3rd grade students are going to read your descriptions and also draw a picture of the character. The following week we will exchange the drawings so each of you will have an individual student to write to. At that time, you will compare/contrast ideas from the drawings and we will email a note/letter back to your 3rd grade "partner." Who in turn will e-mail a note back to you. You may be able to communicate like this a few times. We'll see how it works.
Once all of the information has been shared the 3rd grade students will be creating a dance/gymnastics routine to the music you have chosen (using the dance/art information you provide on shape, line/pathways, texture, color, pattern, and space). At that time, you will be creating masks for these third graders to wear during their routine.
The final process will be a costumed dance/gymnastics routine performed by the 3rd graders. Video and still photos will be taken by selected 9th grade students. We will then do some simple editing by adding the video, the still photos, and text.
Our finished product will be our video. Hopefully, it will be aired on TV. Maybe shown at the "OZ Festival" or if you have more ideas, let me know.
The 3rd grade students are really going to "Look up to you"! Basically, you are going to be the "Producers" while they will be the "Workers". Please be polite, kind, helpful and understanding, be a good role model for these students!!!
"There's no place like the home page..."![]()