Historical Fiction, Here We Come! Sarah, Plain and Tall

Well, my fourth graders and I are NEARLY finished with our feature articles unit…and, boy, have we had a blast! They have learned so much about different text structures, how to take a topic and “spin” it to make it more appealing–not to mention all the new tech skills they learned like inserting photos with citations, and so on.

Getting ready to teach historical fiction using Sarah, Plain and Tall as a mentor text.  Sarah, Plain and Tall novel study, historical fiction book clubs
So…next on the list? Historical fiction! I LOVE historical fiction! I think it is a fantastic way to tie our content to our literature and to really help students see how history really IS a story! Every year I start my unit with a few of my favorite pictures books, but one of my mentor texts for the unit is always “Sarah, Plain and Tall”. I don’t know why–but I absolutely love this little novel. 

Getting ready to teach historical fiction using Sarah, Plain and Tall as a mentor text.  Sarah, Plain and Tall novel study, historical fiction book clubs
We study how Patricia MacLachlan uses language…how the characters change…how the setting is SO important…how the book is filled with similes and other little word gems. We read the book in literature circles/book clubs, and it is the only novel I read “whole class” all year. We then move into book clubs of historical fiction and independent book selections. Last year after finishing Sarah, half of my class begged to read “Skylark” and then several of those kiddos finished the entire series!

This whole week I have been working to realign my unit “stuff” with the Common Core, and it was a big relief to finish that tonight! Take a peek if you want–it was quite an undertaking for me! And this collage is touches the surface!  I love how I can practice so many different skills with this unit!  Just click any image on this page or RIGHT HERE to take a peek at it.

CLICK HERE to read how about how I got my students to prepare for their “Sarah, Plain and Tall” discussion groups.

Getting ready to teach historical fiction using Sarah, Plain and Tall as a mentor text.  Sarah, Plain and Tall novel study, historical fiction book clubs

Interested in some other posts about historical fiction?  Try these!
CLICK HERE to read about how I get my students engaged in some meaningful writing about historical fiction (although these lessons could be done with other fiction texts as well)
CLICK HERE to read about how I used a few different texts to work on summarizing and more!
CLICK HERE to read more about book clubs with historical fiction!

Meg