The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Chapter 13

Welcome to Chapter 13: “The Rescue!” This post in our Wonderful Wizard of Oz book study focuses on plot twists, teamwork, and character growth. You’ll find flexible teaching materials that support comprehension and critical thinking.

If you’re just joining us, be sure to start with the Introduction to the Book Study for pacing tips and setup ideas.

Learn how the Oz novel study is organized, with details on the full unit, free sampler, mentor sentences, and chapter handouts.

Mentor sentence lessons, student practice pages, and grammar-focused writing tasks are included.

Download the free handout for this chapter, complete with instructions and materials for the activities described here.

🐺 Summary

Chapter 13: “The Rescue”

The Winkies feast and dance to celebrate their freedom from the Wicked Witch of the East. Dorothy and the Lion don’t join the celebration because their friends are missing. They ask the Winkies for help.

First, the Winkies, Dorothy, and the Lion locate the Tin Woodman. After three days and four nights of repairs, he returns to his original form, good as new. Then the group sets out to rescue the Scarecrow. He is reassembled and stuffed with fresh straw.

The Winkies invite the Tin Woodman to stay and become their ruler, but he chooses to return to the Emerald City with his friends to receive his heart. Before they leave, the Winkies present each traveler with a special gift made of gold and diamonds.

Chapter 13: “The Rescue” 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.

📌 To be sure, there were several patches on him, but the tinsmiths did a good job, and as the Woodman was not a vain man he did not mind the patches at all.

Focus: Contrast with but*

Notice how but flips meaning.
Practice: Students write: “He was not ___, but ___.”

📌 Now that they were reunited, Dorothy and her friends spent a few happy days at the Yellow Castle, where they found everything they needed to make them comfortable

Focus: Compound Subject

Two characters share one action.
Practice: Students pair two classmates into one action sentence.

📌 The Cowardly Lion was much pleased to hear that the Wicked Witch had been melted by a bucket of water, and Dorothy at once unlocked the gate of his prison and set him free.

Focus: Comma in Compound Sentence

Point out how the comma separates actions.
Practice: Students write a two-action sentence with a comma before and.

Chapter 13: The Rescue – True/False Color‑by‑Number

This comprehension activity turns review into a creative challenge. Students begin by answering a shared set of true/false questions based directly on Chapter 13, “The Rescue.” Once their answers are checked, they choose one of three character pictures — the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, or the Cowardly Lion — to complete.

Each illustration is divided into numbered sections that correspond to the answer key. Correct answers guide students to the right colors, producing a polished final image, while incorrect responses create mismatched colors that make it easy to spot areas needing review. The result is a low‑prep, high‑engagement way to reinforce accuracy, celebrate comprehension, and add a splash of fun to your Wizard of Oz unit.

Focus Skills

Each chapter in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Novel Study includes a constructed response question and a skill-based graphic organizer. These two pieces are part of the full-paid unit, which includes comprehension questions, skill lessons, assessments, answer keys, and Google Slides versions.

The free handout linked below includes the activities from the blog post for this chapter. If you’d like the complete set of constructed responses and skill organizers for all 24 chapters, you’ll find them inside the full unit once it is released.

Constructed Response Skill – Character Change: The Tin Woodman

This chapter highlights how the Tin Woodman grows in leadership and loyalty. Though honored by the Winkies’ offer, he prioritizes his original goal and chooses friendship and emotional fulfillment over power.

Standards: RL.5.3, RL.6.3, RL.7.2

Language Arts Skill – Suffixes

Focus on suffixes like -ion, -tion, –ation, –ition, and –cion. Students identify, define, and sort words with these endings, then create new examples using a foldable organizer.