Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for Sarah, Plain and Tall

Use Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan to turn your read aloud or small group work into a time to improve comprehension and talk about the text in purposeful ways.

This classic story of Sarah, Plain and Tall is the perfect choice for students who are beginning to read chapter books. The story of family, friendship, loss, and love is one that will hold students' interest, making it easy to track characters across a longer text.

Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with Sarah, Plain and Tall in the drop down below.

Instructional Overview

The first page of Book Club for Sarah

Instructional Overview

The instructional overview includes instructional background for tracking characters, instructional objectives for each of the Book Club meetings, and a list of the materials and preparation necessary to Sarah, Plain and Tall Book Club.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Management Resources

Plain and Tall Instructional Overview

Management Resources

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.

Meeting 1

Being able to keep track of characters is essential for deep comprehension of the text. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan provides a strong backdrop for practice exploring characters across longer texts.

Meeting 2

One of the ways that readers learn more about characters is to make inferences using clues from the text. This Sarah, Plain and Tall Book Club focuses on using the text to make logical inferences.

Meeting 3

Author Patricia MacLachlan includes both primary and secondary characters in Sarah, Plain and Tall. Through discussion, readers will learn how to differentiate primary and secondary characters.

Meeting 4

Sometimes characters that impact the storyline are not introduced right away. This Sarah, Plain and Tall Book Club explores the reasons why some characters might be introduced later in the text.

Meeting 5

This final Sarah, Plain and Tall Book Club meeting focuses on exploring the importance of tracking characters across a longer text. Students will be challenged to provide a description of a character when he/she is named.

Vocabulary Connections with Sarah, Plain and Tall

The first page of Vocabulary Connections with Sarah

Vocabulary Connections with Sarah, Plain and Tall

This set of vocabulary development resources for Sarah Plain and Tall highlights the words that are most important for students to know and understand while reading the book.  Through engaging in fun word games, matching words to definitions, and practicing how to categorize words, students will develop the vocabulary necessary to comprehend this story and many others.

Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Focus Assessment and Rubric

The first page of Book Club for Sarah

Focus Assessment and Rubric

Use this six-question assessment to determine whether or not students understand the key concepts associated with character tracking.

Running Record with Sarah, Plain and Tall

Thumbnail for Running Record with Sarah

Running Record with Sarah, Plain and Tall

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with Sarah, Plain and Tall. Track meaning, structure, and visual accuracy using the first 100 words of the text to determine whether or not this book is a good fit for the readers in your classroom.

Management Resources - Spanish

Plain and Tall Instructional Overview

Management Resources - Spanish

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.

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About the Book

Plain and Tall Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources
Title: Sarah, Plain and Tall
Author: Patricia MacLachlan
Genre: Historical Fiction
Themes: Adventure, Family, Friendship, History, Award Winners
ISBN: 9780060241018
Publisher's Summary:
Set in the late nineteenth century and told from young Anna's point of view, Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of how Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton comes from Maine to the prairie to answer Papa's advertisement for a wife and mother. Before Sarah arrives, Anna and her younger brother Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she sing? Will she stay?
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