Welcome to Chapter 11: “The Wonderful City of Oz!” This post features teaching strategies that focus on setting analysis, character expectations, and comparing perspectives.
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🏙️ Summary
Chapter 11: “The Wonderful City of Oz”
Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion arrive in the Emerald City and learn that they may each visit the Great Oz, but only one per day. Dorothy is led to a beautiful green room for the night. The next morning, she and Toto enter the Throne Room, where Oz appears as a giant head. He tells Dorothy that he will only help her return to Kansas if she kills the Wicked Witch of the West.
After her visit, Dorothy describes Oz’s appearance to her friends. The Scarecrow expects to see the same giant head, but instead encounters a beautiful lady. Oz gives him the same task: to kill the Witch. When the Scarecrow questions this, Oz replies that he doesn’t care who completes the task as long as it’s done.
Next, the Tin Woodman visits Oz. Having heard Dorothy and Scarecrow’s accounts, he is unsure what to expect. Oz appears as a terrifying beast and orders him to join the quest.
Finally, the Lion enters the Throne Room with a plan to face all three forms of Oz. But he meets a foe he cannot overcome, a blazing ball of fire.
Chapter 11: “The Wonderful City of Oz” Projects
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. There were many people–men, women, and children–walking about, and these were all dressed in green clothes and had greenish skins.
📌 Focus: Compound Predicate
- “wore green clothes and had greenish skin.”
- Practice: Students add two verbs about themselves in one sentence.
2. There was a soldier before the door, dressed in a green uniform and wearing a long green beard.
📌 Focus: Comma with Participial Phrase
- “dressed in a green uniform” renames people.
- Practice: Students write: “The ___ was full of ___, all ___.”
3. But I cannot!” exclaimed Dorothy, greatly surprised.
📌 Focus: Adverbs (greatly)
- Review how adverbs describe verbs.
- Practice: Students insert adverbs into plain sentences (“She ran quickly”)
Would You Rather
- Would you rather live in a sparkling green city or a cozy farm in Kansas?
- Would you rather wear green glasses forever or never be allowed to wear green again?
- Would you rather live in a city where everything is green or a city where everything is gold?
Focus Skills
Constructed Response Skill – Character: The Great Oz
Students explore how Oz appears differently to each character. Dorothy sees a giant head, Scarecrow sees a beautiful lady, Tin Woodman sees a beast, and Lion sees a ball of fire. An organizer invites students to draw each form, write a short description, and reflect on why Oz might choose different appearances. Students support their ideas with evidence from the text.
Standards: RL.5.3, RL.6.3, RL.7.3
Language Arts Skill – Prefix [uni-]
This chapter offers a great opportunity to introduce or reinforce the prefix uni- (meaning “one”). Students identify words such as unicorn, unify, and unique, then use a foldable organizer to define, sort, and create new words using the prefix.
Standards: L.5.4.b, L.6.4.b, L.7.4.b
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