Here are some ideas for an integrated thematic unit on the Wizard of Oz! (The movie Wizard of Oz, not the book which has a more complex plot.) Alicia Odom of SMD Teacher will kind enough to share with me her resources from when she did a Wizard of Oz Unit. Here is a week-by-week outline of what we will be doing. Monica from Eliminating the Box did a similar unit and shared resources as well. Some of the resources we will be using are the Wizard of Oz Free Printable Pack, an old issue of News-2-You and Pete Well's Sensory Story.*
*As you can see below we will be basing much of the unit on Pete Well's Wizard of Oz Sensory Story, which sadly is no longer online; so I will link to a copy of each section in my Google Cloud for reference. Unfortunately it is just for reference because the Power Points loose something in their move to the cloud.
Week One
- Art: create multimedia tactile symbols for each character in the Wizard of Oz to use with the sensory stories
- Science: Will the Wind Blow it Off? Experiment
- English/Language Arts: News-2-You from September 2009 (If time read about F.L.Baum)
- Math: Sequence the Story of the Wizard of Oz
- Cooking: Emerald City Pie
- Leisure: Wizard of Oz Dominoes (made by my amazing assistant teacher/artist in residence)
Week Two
- Sensory Story Part One: Dorothy in Kansas until her House Lands in Oz Power Point and Script
- Art: Switch Adapted Spin Art in Rainbow Colors
- Science: Tornado Tubes
- English/Language Arts: "Dorothy is... I am..." Writing Assignment (compare and contrast)
- Math: Survey and Graph "How many people living in your house?"
- Cooking: Kansas Honey Shortbread (Kansas's state insect is the bee)
- Life Skills: Would you find it in a house? Sorting Activity
- Leisure: Tornado Bingo (log into Boardmaker Share to download)
Week Three
- Sensory Story Part Two: Meeting Glinda through Meeting the Scarecrow Power Point and Script
- Art: Scarecrows (if time Crow Paper Weights)
- English/Language Arts: "If I had Ruby Slippers..."
- Math: Would the Ruby Slippers Fit You? Measuring Shoe Sizes
- Cooking: Mini Witch Leg Cookies
- Life Skills:
- Leisure: Teacher Made Board Game
Week Four
- Sensory Story Part Three: The Mean Apple Trees through the Field of Poppies (including meeting the Tin Man and the Lion)
- Art: Coffee Filter Poppies
- English/Language Arts: "If I only had a ________. I would ______." Writing Activity
- Math: Measuring and Graphing: How far can you throw an apple?
- Cooking: Microwave Applesauce (Log into Boardmaker Share)
- Life Skills: Nice vs. Mean sorting activity
- Leisure: Wizard Of Oz--Uno
Week Five
- Sensory Story Part Four: Emerald City and the first interaction with the Wizard Power Point and Script
- Art: DIY Shrinky Dink Art (tracing coloring pages)
- English/Language Arts: Poems with Wizard of Oz Vocabulary
- Math: Venn Diagram Sorting - Household Item or Transportation? (With a broom being both!)
- Cooking: Emerald Rice Crispy Treats
- Life Skills: Sorting green vs. yellow
- Leisure: Wizard of Oz Bingo
Week Six
- Sensory Story Part Five: Melting Witch through The End Power Point and Script
- Art: Scrapbooks (of what we have done this summer)
- Science: Will It Melt? Experiment
- English/Language Arts: Choosing quotes from the movie for our scrapbooks and "There's No Place Like Home" Adapted Writing (students complete sentences describing their home using symbols)
- Math: Survey and graph of favorite characters
- Cooking: Flying Monkey Ice Cream
- Life Skills: Planning a Party
- Leisure: Wizard of Oz Party
Through out the entire unit we will have the Power Point and related activities on the computer for use with switches and the following apps on the iTouch and/or iPad:
- Wizard of Oz by Magic Ink - Interactive Storybook
- The Wizard of Oz by Blue Finger - Interactive Storybook
- Wizard of Oz Memory Match
- Wizard of Oz Sound Board
