Economics and Geography Lessons
Sarah, Plain and Tall
MCPS Status of Book as of 4/4/96:
Approved as a Reading/Language Arts Core Book for Grade 3
Title: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, (A Charlotte Zolotow Book, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY, 1985)
Lesson Developed by Patricia King Robeson
Literature Annotation: This story is about two children who are being raised by their widowed father. Papa decides he needs a woman to help with the children and the household chores. He puts an ad in a newspaper, asking for a wife, and he receives a letter from Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, of Maine. Papa, Anna and Caleb write back and ask her to come. Sarah tells the children all about her home in Maine which is very different from her new home in the Midwest. (This book can be used for comparing a New England state with a Midwestern state.)
Grade Level: 5
Duration: 3 class periods after the book is read.
Economic Concepts: Interdependence, Consumption, Production
Geography Themes: Location, Place, Relationships; Human and Environment
MSPAP Outcomes and Indicators:
Economic Outcome:
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the historical development and current status of economic principles, institutions, and processes needed to be effective citizens, consumers, and workers in American society.
Indicators:
- Describe the relationship between available resources and the production of goods and services.
- Describe the relationship of supply and demand to the production and consumption of goods and services.
Geography Outcome:
Students will develop an understanding of geographic concepts and processes as needed to examine the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location and distribution of human activities.
Indicators:
- Locate places and natural features by interpreting and constructing maps using directions, legends, grid systems, boundary lines and scales.
- Predict the effects of living in a given geographic setting on people's lives.
- Examine different ways of defining a region.
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- Compare and contrast lifestyles in two different geographic regions.
- Explain how Jacob Witting used the available resources of his farm to satisfy his family's wants and needs.
- Interpret printed information and use it to draw and label a picture.
- Explain how Sarah's lifestyle changed when she moved to the Midwest.
- Make a travel brochure about Maryland.
Vocabulary: squall, spruce trees, sand dune, prairie, region
Materials:
Teacher Background: Knowledge of regions of the United States.
Lesson Development:
Review/Motivation:
- Think, pair, share activity: Write the word "Maryland" on the chalkboard. Explain to the students that they are going to help you make a web about our state. Instruct them to think about the geography and economy of Maryland and to think of items which they could take with them to another region that would show the resources available in Maryland. Allow two minutes for the students to think. Now instruct the students to share their information with a partner. Make a web around the word "Maryland" and list the information the students tell you.
- Explain to the students that they will be reading a story which took place about 100 years ago. The story describes life in two regions: New England and the prairies. Ask a student to locate Maine and Kansas on a map of the United States. Ask the students to identify New England states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut) and prairie states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota). Tell them that the prairie region is also called "The Heartland". Explain that the story is about a pioneer family whose mother has died. The father put an ad in a newspaper to get a mail-order bride. (Explain that this was often done during this time period.) Tell the students to think about the web on the board because they will be making a chart which will identify the characteristics of two other regions. Give students copies of the "Looking at Regions" worksheet and instruct them to complete it as they read the story.
- Read the story.
Activities:
Story Discussion:
Ask the following questions
:
- How did Jacob, Sarah and the children use the natural resources of the farm to satisfy their wants and needs? (They raised cows, sheep, chickens and grew corn and other vegetables for food. They used horses for transportation and to plow the fields. They built a windmill to pump the water out of the ground for irrigation. They planted flowers for seeds and beauty.)
- How did the family get other supplies which they did not grow but would have needed? (Jacob would sell the products he didn't need and use the money to buy items which were needed by the family. He may have also traded products for others which he needed.)
- What features made New England an identifiable region? (Located by the Atlantic Ocean, the seacoast had rocky cliffs and sand dunes that rise up from the sea; and the hills were covered with pine and spruce trees. People could make a living fishing offshore for flounder, sea bass and bluefish. People could travel by boat, train, foot, horse and carriage. The climate could be very cold with rain squalls and snow in the winter.)
- What features made the prairies an identifiable region? (Located in the middle part of our country, the land was flat with fields and some hills covered with grass. Cattle, sheep, chickens and other farm animals were raised. Grain crops such as corn and wheat were also grown there. Windmills were used to pump water to irrigate the land.)
- How might the people living in New England and on the prairies have earned a living by using the resources which were available to them.? (Many of the people in New England used the sea to earn a living. They were fishermen, ship builders, pilots of ships or members of the crew. People on the prairie farmed the land and raised animals. Their surplus products were traded for other goods and services or sold for money.)
- Do people living in these regions continue to do some of the same jobs which were done during the time of the story? Explain your answer. (Yes, many people in the New England continue to earn a living from the sea. However, technology has made their jobs somewhat easier, while years of fishing and some environmental damage may have done thhe opposite. The prairies continue to be the breadbasket of our country and, again, technology has helped farmers work more productively.)
- How were Papa, Anna, Caleb and Sarah interdependent? (Papa was in charge of a large farm, raising animals and crops which were used by all family members for food. Anna helped with the cooking and house cleaning, and Caleb helped chop wood for the stove for cooking and heat for the family. When Sarah came, she assisted with farm and household chores.)
- How did Sarah's lifestyle change when she came to live with the Witting family? (Sarah was still dependent upon other people for her livelihood. Sarah had lived with her brother, a fisherman in Maine; but, he was getting married so she needed to move. She preferred building bookshelves and painting to cooking; she enjoyed having neighbors living close by and walking to town. On the prairie, Sarah shared the house with the Witting family, cooked, cleaned, learned to ride a horse and to do farm work. She had no neighbors nearby and needed to try to please Caleb, Anna, and the man who would become her husband.)
New England and Prairie Activity:
- Place a transparency of the "Looking at Regions" worksheet on the overhead projector and have students take turns writing in information which they collected from reading the book. Discuss the characteristics of the two regions and explain how they are similar and different. Explain that each of these areas are called regions because it has a number of features in common.
- Give each student a sheet of plain paper and colored pencils. Remind them that when Sarah went to town she brought back blue, gray and green colored pencils. Caleb was excited about them because he said that Sarah had brought the sea. Instruct students to use these three colors to draw and label a picture which will represent the area of Maine where Sarah once lived. Instruct them to use their chart to help them choose the physical features they need to draw. Give each student another sheet of paper on which to draw a picture of the prairies. This time instruct them to use brown, green and yellow to draw and label their pictures.
Thoughtful Application:
- Ask students to bring in items which are native to Maryland. Remind them about the web which they help to make earlier. (Items which can be collected include a little bag of soil, sea shells, pine cones, dried flowers, a little bag of sand, a lump of coal, figurines of wildlife found in Maryland, boats, post cards of Maryland landmarks, on so on.)
- Divide the students into groups of four and give each group some of the items brought in by the class. Give the groups a post-it note for each item and instruct them to write a shhort explanation for each item of how it relates to our state. (Example: For a picture or shell of a small crab, say "During the summer, Marylanders catch and eat crabs from the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers near it.")
- Place items in the sense box and display it in the classroom.
- Give each student a copy of "Reasons to Visit Maryland" and instruct them to complete the worksheet. When it is finished they will have a brochure which could be used attract people to visit our state. Ask them to explain how this information will help them to understand why Maryland is in the Mid-Atlantic region. Instruct them to draw pictures or symbols in the two boxes on the brochure.
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Last updated on April 4, 1997
Maintained by John L. Day <jday@umd5.umd.edu>
