Literature Focus Unit EDU 315 By: Brittany Oster

 Moby DickBy Allan Drummond  A Garden of WhalesBy Maggie Davis  A Humpback Whale TaleBy Justin Spelvin  A Killer Whale’s WorldBy Caroline Arnold  Baby BelugaBy Ashley Wolff  Baby Whales Drink MilkBy Barbara Juster Esbensen  Big Blue WhaleBy Nicola Davies  Discover WhalesBy Ice Water Press  Do Whales Ever…?By Nathalie Ward  Humphrey the Lost WhaleBy Wendy Tokuda and Richard Hall  Is Blue Whales the Biggest thing there is? By E. Wells  Listening to WhalesBy Alexandra Morton

 Orcas Around Me By Deborah Page  O is for OrcaBy Andrea Helman  Sleep Safe, Little WhaleBy Miriam Schlein  StrandedBy Jan Ramage  The Whales’ SongBy Dyan Sheldon  Three WhalesBy Suzanne Kita  True Blue FriendBy Cheryl Block  Whales in the WavesBy Luce Daniels  Whales Passing By Eve Bunting  Whales, The Gentle GiantsBy Jayce Milton  Whales on StiltsBy MT Anderson  When the Whale Came to TownBy Jim Young

 Students will take part in a thematic unit on whales. This unit will integrate reading and writing with social studies, science, mathematics, art, music, and physical education.  Students will develop an understanding of the different types of whales and how they live, what they eat, how big they get, etc.

 Students will read various fiction and non-fiction books, poetry and writing song books about whales through silent reading, partner reading, guided reading, reading aloud, and reader’s theatre.  Students will read their favorite poem or story about a whale.  Students will share the story of the experience they spent as a whale.  Students will review the word wall about whales.

 Students will write in their journals about what happens in the book Moby Dick by Allan Drummond. They will also express if they enjoyed the book or not and why.  Students will write a story of their life if they were to be a whale in the big sea. They can be as creative as they one but have to incorporate some of the sight words in their story as well.  Students will write and reflect on how they felt as a whale and what they could do to help the real whale be safe from fisherman.  Students will research poems about whales and get some ideas, then create a haiku poem of their own.  Students will add sea terms and whale terms to their word wall.

 The students will do a writing activity about whales and then they will use the author chair to present their story of the experience they had living the life as a whale.  The teacher will give out short poems about whales at the beginning of the unit and they are to memorized the poems so they can bring it to life in from of the class.  The class with participate in small groups and large groups discussions about whales.  Students will put an a mini readers theater that they wrote on whales and how they live in the sea.

 The teacher will read a book to the class about different types of whales. Then the students will go back and reflect on what they heard by drawing a picture that could describe the story.  The teacher will have an audio tape on the sounds whales make. Then the students will get in to groups and try to make a whale sound themselves. Fun!  The students will listen to their peers whale sounds that they can do.  The teacher will read A Garden of Whales By Maggie Davis to the class.  Students will listen to their peers as they are in the authors chair telling about their experience as a whale.

 The teacher will have flash card with pictures of different whales and some information on the back that the teacher could tell to the class to give hints.  The students could play a home made memory game that would give them the chance to review different kinds of whales.  The teacher will show a video of whale and how they live in their habitat. The children will then get into small groups and talk about the information they found interesting.  The students will view the readers theater performance.  Students will view the following websites: and

 Students will organize picture of whales into the correct groups.  Students will paint pictures of whales to hang from the ceiling.  Students will create a Whale Word Wall.  Students will share their poems to the class in an artistic presentation.

 Research and discuss different species of whales.  Discuss where whale live.  Students will learn what whale eat.  Talk about the specific habitat needs of a whale.  Discover the main parts of a whale. Make whale blubber. Materials Required: baggies, ice, Crisco, combs, toothbrushes, pepper, dishes Directions: Experiment with Whale Blubber (You will need baggies and Crisco) Smear Crisco into one baggie place another baggie inside that allow the kids to put their hands in the baggie then into a bowl of ice this will demonstrate how whales stay warm. You can also demonstrate the difference between whales teeth. you will need combs, toothbrushes, and pepper Baleen whales have bristles for teeth. their teeth filter across the surface of the ocean for feeding. fill a bowl full of water and sprinkle heavily with pepper. Let the kids dip the combs into the water. Combs ( normal whale teeth) do not collect enough pepper for a full meal. Now, dip the toothbrush in the water. This will demonstrate how baleen whales are able to eat.

 Students will find out how much whales eat every day and have a chart of the differences between eating habits.  Students will find out the populations of different whales.  Study the whales lengths – Talk about feet, inches, meter, centimeters.  Students will work on adding, counting, math sentences (could use Goldfish whale or cut out whales) Ex = 8, but the numbers could be placed in a whale picture.  Students will play a math games involving whales on this website:  Students will work on math codes to reveal the answer to the question.

 Students will learn about when whales were first recorded in history.  Take a field trip to a museum or watch a video on whales.  Students will study the different oceans where certain types of whale live.  Students will learn about different types of whales.  Students will learn the most endangered whales and why that is happening.  Students will learn what cultures have used the whales for – eating, clothing, tools, etc.

 Students will participate in a whale dance and use movement.  Students will water paint a whale of their choice, then cut it out and but it on a blue back ground to represent the ocean  Students will learn how to draw whales.  Students will make their own whale sounds.  Students will listen to the music whales make.  Students will make a sea scene for the Readers Theater performance.  Students will use different instruments to create a whale song.

 Students will play whale tag. - This is when the children play tag but they have to hop with both feet together as if they were whales.  Students will pretend they are whales and play a relay game that consists of them running and gathering “fish” to eat.  Students will play whale basketball which is a game of “Pig” but will use the word “Whale”. - This is where the children shoot a basketball if the they make it the next person in line has to shoot from that same spot and if they miss they get a “W”. The person who ends up with “WHALE” first, loses. The winner is the one with the least letters of the word “WHALE”.  Students will get into groups of 4 or 5 and make a line that would represents a whale and weave through an optical set up in the gym or outside.

  e.shtml e.shtml         Video: National Geographic’s – The Great Whales (VHS)

 Activating background knowledge: Students will think what they already know about whales.  Brainstorming: Students will think of the book they have heard of that involved whales. The students will think of the time they have seen a whale either in person or in picture, what were their thoughts.  Connecting Students will think of ways they could help save the whales.  Predicting and Monitoring: Students will predict the measurements of different whales.  Playing with Language: Students will use language creatively through stories, poems, and journals.  Revising: Students will make changes to writing activities and also in their Readers Theater.  Visualizing: Students will picture what they will paint before they get their tools.

 Print: Students will recognize words on the Whale Word Wall and also pictures of whales in the flash cards and memory games.  Comprehension: Students will recognize literary genres of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Students will compare and contrast the different whale types and where they live and eat.  Language: Students will apply various skills in their writing activities: Stories, journaling, poems, readers theater.  Reference: Students will make the word wall on whales and graph the types of whales by their size.

 Large Groups: grand conversations, field trips, building the Readers Theater set, word wall, viewing videos, singing songs, whale relay, listening to peers, talk about whale facts.  Small Groups: playing whale memory, readers theater, whale music, obstacle course on being whales, peer conferencing, small group discussions, making whale goo, playing the whale memory game.  Individual: writing stories, poems, and journaling, painting and drawing pictures of whales, researching whale pictures, work on whale math, listing to whale sounds.

 Journal entries and KWL chart: Rubric  Participation in grand conversations  Analytic Writing Traits Rubrics and peer conferences for stories and poems  Informal observation of author’s chair, reader’s theater, small groups, games, and science experiment  Math graphs and social studies map  Spelling test with words with words from the word wall  Active participation in physical education and music performances.

Morning MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday Language Arts  Grand conversation  Read aloud: The book Moby Dick – Start Journal  Listen to poetry and create own about whales  Start memorizing poem  Start on Readers Theater information  Brainstorm words for the word wall  Practice Readers Theater  Share their poems to class  Play memory games  Share stories about the day they were a whale  Perform Readers Theater Art/Music  Paint pictures of whales  View pictures of whales  Make memory games  Listen to whale sounds and in small groups to make their own songs  Continue making songs if not done  Start making Reader Theater set  Create a whale dance that goes along with music P.E.  Play Whale Tag  Play the obstacle course game pretending they are whales  Play “whale” basketball  Play the whale relay game  Play whale and fish game (another tag game) Afternoon Math  Graph different whales lengths  Graph different whale weights  Play Whale adding game on computer  Use whale shapes to work on addition and counting  Graph the seas with the whale populations Science  Research and discuss different types of whales  Find out what the whales habitat is and what they eat  Make whale blubber  Find out the differences between some whales  Talk about the whale “families” Social Studies  Learn about whales and when they were first discovered  Take a field trip to a museum or a zoo to find more information  Study different whales and what ocean they live in  Discuss ways to save whales from dying or getting hurt  Make a map on where different types of whales live