This week we are going to look at elephants. There are three learning opportunities based on the theme. The art for the week is based on the wonderful patchwork elephant, Elmer (created by David McKee). The maths workbook has a number of elephant-related maths challenges, whilst our literacy challenge is to create a page for a non-fiction book based on a choice of six different species of elephant.
Let’s start with the literacy challenge. I have modelled a non-fiction page based on the Asian elephant. It includes some basic information on the elephant, along with some additional information on the size of the elephant. You might choose to include a fact file on your species if you wish, or you might include a focus on a particular feature (eg trunk, tusks or ears). I chose a couple of pictures that were all a little bit different. You might prefer to include a drawing or a diagram? Think about the layout of your page. It should have a clear title. You might include a subtitle? It’s completely up to you how you lay the page out.
Here are the six species that you can choose from;
Savannah Bush Elephants
Borneo Elephant
African Elephant
Sri Lankan Elephant
Indian Elephant
Sumatran Elephant.
Have fun! Here’s my example;
Now for the maths booklet. The maths includes weights, measures and data.
For the artwork, we are going to look at Elmer for inspiration. You might choose to simply draw your own Elmer picture and colour it with colouring pencils of felt pens. You may prefer to paint an Elmer picture, or make an Elmer collage. If you’d like to be a bit more ambitious, here’s how to make your own Elmer out of a milk container. You could stick on your own coloured patches, or paint it with poster paints or acrylics! If you’d like some googly eyes to stick on at the end, I’ll leave some at the office and you could pop in and collect some!
