Welcome to Chapter 7: “The Journey to the Great Oz!” This post offers classroom-ready resources to help students analyze plot structure, teamwork, and perseverance.
Be sure to check out the Introduction to the Book Study for pacing ideas and setup tips if you’re new to the series.
Tips on pacing, setup, and how to use the materials across grade levels.
Includes word lists, bookmarks, word wall cards, and more – great for planning ahead.
Get vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, and organizers for this chapter.
🐯 Summary
Chapter 7: “The Journey to the Great Oz”
The next day’s travels turn into an adventure for Dorothy and her companions. They come upon a large ditch, and after thinking it through, the Lion decides he can jump across. One by one, he carries each member of the group safely to the other side.
The travelers continue through a dark and gloomy forest until they reach a second ditch, much wider than the first. The Scarecrow uses his brain to come up with a plan. He asks the Tin Woodman to chop down a tree to form a bridge. As they begin to cross, two Kalidahs, fearsome beasts with tiger heads and bear bodies, charge after them. Following the Scarecrow’s instructions, the Tin Woodman chops down the tree bridge just in time, sending the Kalidahs tumbling into the ditch.
Finally, the group arrives at a river. The Tin Woodman starts building a raft so they can cross. It’s a big job, so he works through the night while the others rest.
Chapter 7: “The Journey to the Great Oz”
Mentor Sentences
One way to turn classic literature into a powerful teaching tool is to pull mentor sentences straight from the text. Instead of random worksheets, students get to see grammar, punctuation, and style in action—inside a story they’re already reading.
1. But, seeing they were bigger than the Lion, and remembering that there were two of them and only one of him, the Kalidahs again rushed forward, and the Lion crossed over the tree and turned to see what they would do next.
📌 Focus: Comparative Adjectives (-er words)
- “bigger”
- Practice: Students brainstorm comparative adjectives and create a sentence.
2. The Lion was about to reply when suddenly they came to another gulf across the road. But this one was so broad and deep that the Lion knew at once he could not leap across it.
📌 Focus: Adjective Placement
- Emphasize descriptive adjectives following was.
- Practice: Rewrite a plain sentence (“It was a stream.”) with vivid adjectives.
3. “How shall we cross the river?” asked Dorothy.
📌 Focus: Question Marks in Dialogue
- Notice how the question mark sits inside the quotation marks.
- Practice: Students write their own dialogue with a question.
🌲 🌊 Would You Rather Question
Would you rather travel through a dark forest or cross a wide river with wild creatures?
Pop-Up Scene
Students create a pop-up scene card with the ditch and the log bridge. The background (ditch, forest) is drawn or collaged, and the bridge is a fold-out paper mechanism that “flips down” when opened. Add small paper figures of Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion that can be moved across the bridge with tabs.
Focus Skills
Constructed Response Skill – Summarizing Key Events
Students explore the group’s adventurous journey toward Oz, identifying major plot points and problem-solving moments. A foldable organizer helps students break down the sequence of events—from the Lion’s leap across the ditch to the Tin Woodman’s overnight raft-building—and reflect on how each character contributes to the group’s progress.
Standards: RL.5.2, RL.6.2, RL.7.2
Language Arts Skill – Correcting Vague Pronouns
This chapter provides rich opportunities to clarify vague pronoun use. Students examine sentences where pronouns like he, they, or it could refer to multiple characters or objects. Using a foldable organizer, students revise sentences for clarity and explore how precise pronoun use improves comprehension.
Standard: L.6.1.A
Click here to download the FREE Chapter 7 resource.
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3 comments
Hey!
I love this unit! I’m not sure why, but when I click the chapter seven download nothing shows up! Help!
Author
The link is working at my end: Here it is: http://bookunitsteacher.com/reading_oz/oz7.pdf
Thanks for your quick reply, I’m not sure what happened but its working again!