Excellent Lesson Plan for The Teashop Girls!

An AMAZING teacher in Florida, Donna Sakuta, created a wonderful lesson plan for The Teashop Girls. Please feel free to use it for your classroom or book club discussion! Thank you to Ms. Sakuta for so generously sharing her work with the whole Teashop Girls community. Tea cheers!

Tea Shop Girls

Chapters 1-4

Vocabulary:       impromptu          proprietary         cascading             cantata               cacophony

1. Where does Annie want to work, why?
2. Who is Louisa?
3. Who is Jonathan?
4. Who gave the girls the name Tea Shop Girls?
5. Why was Anne a “little embarrassed” when the girls asked to see the handbook?
6. What grade were the girls in when they wrote the handbook?  What grade are they in now?
7. Where were the girls concerned about?  What do they plan on doing about it?
8. Why did Zoe’s family always eat “dinner at precisely the same time” everyday?
9. What is “different” about Genna’s family life?
10. Are there any similarities between your family and Annie’s?  What are they?
11. Who is Zach Anderson?
12. Why did Anne “go out” with Kenny White?
13. Why do Anne and Genna worry about Zoe?
14. Why did they need “some tea to inspire them”?        Chapter 5-6

Vocabulary:  dissertation     gregarious     apocalyptic       rooibos       precarious       conglomerate

Questions:

1. What kind of job does Anne’s mother have?
2. Who are Beth, Molly, Billy, and Luke?
3. Have you seen the Chihuly glass exhibit?  If not check  this out:

https://www.visitstpeteclearwater.com/articles/chihuly-collection

4. Would you be embarrassed if your father wore “hideous T-shirts” when out in public with you?
5. How many cats are in Anne’s family?
6. What state does Anne live in?  What time of year is it?
7. How did the use of the “teabag” originate?
8. What tradition did Louisa do every year for Anne?
9. What is Anne’s favorite tea?
10. What mean things did Zach say to Anne?
11. Is herbal tea really tea?  Why?
12. How long has the tea shop been open?
13. What kind of “notice” did Louisa receive, why?
14. What did the girls do with chalk? 

Activities:  Make a tea trading card.

Chapter 7-10

1. What did they girls forget to check before they made their chalk drawings?  What happened to the drawings?
2. What does Jonathan suggest?
3. What did Anne write her essay about?
4. How did tea become the international drink of England?
5. Who brought tea to America?
6. What is feng shui?
7. What new changes does Jonathan now suggest?
8. Why did Ceylon stop growing coffee?  What did they now grow instead?
9. How did Jonathan present his ideas to Louisa?
10. How does Louisa feel about making these changes?
11. How did they transform the tea shop over the weekend?
12. How did Louisa feel about the things being removed from the shop?
13. What is the “most romantic thing” that ever happened to Anne?
14. What do you think about the changes they are making to the tea shop?

Chapter 11-12

Questions:

1. What do the old customers think about the changes?
2. Why did Zoe get benched for the tennis tournament?
3. What do you think of Zach?  Is he a protagonist of antagonist in the story?
4. What were the girls still hoping to do?
5. What is Annie always making, considered by some to be an OCD obsession?
6. Which ideas from Annie’s list do you think will help save the tea shop?

Activities:  Design some of her ideas. Example: flyer, coupons, etc.

                    Write a newspaper article about the tea shop?

Chapter 13-15

Questions:

1. How did the spa agree to help?
2. Why does Zoe want to take meditation lessons?
3. How can tea help a sun burn?
4. What are Zach parents planning?  Why does this worry Anne?
5. Why did they choose ginger peach tea to give as samples?
6. What confession did Jonathan make?
7. Why did Mr. Anderson come in the tea shop?

Chapter 16-18

Questions:

1. How did the girls make hot water for the tea at school?
2. How did things go; giving samples on “Treat Day”?
3. What happened in the principal’s office?
4. How did iced tea become popular?
5. Why do you think chain stores are successful?
6. What did Genna make a picture of?
7. What is Phase Four of Operation Save the Leaf?

Activities:

 Write a report on advantages and disadvantages of chain establishments.

Chapter 18-20

1. What did Beth buy for her father’s birthday?
2. Where do you think they went to eat for dinner?  (free breadsticks, chain restaurant)
3. How did Annie express how long dinner was taking?  How long did it take to get their drinks?
4. Why was Annie so anxious for the diner to be over?
5. Who is Jonathan interested in?  How did Annie feel about this?
6. What did Zach say to Anne about the tea shop?  What did he say was going to happen “this summer”?
7. Have you eaten cucumber sandwiches?

Activity:  Look up some cucumber recipes, how do they compare with Annie’s?

Chapter 21-24

1. Where is Genna going for the summer?
2. List the three things Annie is upset about?
3. What did Anne and Genna argue about?
4. How many people showed up for the poetry night?
5. What cure was not available on the herbal remedy chart?
6. Do you think people would really be happy if the “always got exactly what we asked for”?
7. How did Louisa help Annie feel better?
8. How is Annie treating Genna?
9. Where did Annie go with her father?
10. How do young tea leaves differ from older ones?

Activity:  Find images of tea plants paint or draw a picture of one?

Chapter 25-27

Vocabulary:      evanescence                 nefarious

1. What did Louisa decide to do about the tea shop?
2. What was the anniversary party now going to be?
3. What did Annie make to give to all the little girls?
4. How did Zoe feel about what Annie did?
5. How did Genna say she felt when Annie got a job a t the tea shop?
6. What did the girls discover about their friendship?
7. What was helping Zoe deal with her parents?
8. What announcement did Louisa make at the party?

Activities:

Design a tea shop girl’s button.

Design Tea Shop Girls T-Shirt with the 10 rules and tea cup.