SW08 Home |  Sawfish Information sheets |  Teaching Units |  Live webcasts |  Seaweek events |  Photo Gallery |  Other species Info |  Sponsors

Teaching Ideas
“Exploring Sawfish” - Ideas for English

Literature-based approach

Activities linked to grade levels 4 - 7

• Read the poem “A wondrous world - The Sea” with the class.

A wondrous world - The Sea

• Discuss the poem, its characters, the setting, the problem and the solution. (4 – 7)
• Exchange information about the poem’s problem, and how it might be solved. (4 – 7)
• Make predictions halfway through the poem. (6 – 7)
• Glean new words, use as a basis for spelling and word knowledge activities. (4 – 7)
• Read to an audience and test reactions. (6 – 7)
• Create a cartoon strip about there characters mentioned. (6 – 7)
• Discuss values that arise from the poem. (5 – 7)
• Write a character description for the animals cited in the poem. (5 – 7)
• Brainstorm new storylines and adventures. (5 – 7)
• Build models, sculptures or constructions relevant to the poem and explain them. (4 – 7)
• Write a poem review. (6 – 7)
• Brainstorm a list of questions about the sea and its animals to ask a friend. (5 – 7)
• Set up a promotional display about the sea for Seaweek 2008. Compose snappy titles, design posters, and illustrate characters in their habitat. (4 – 7)
• Write letters to book publishers requesting more texts featuring the sea. (5 – 7)

Designing

Activities linked to grade levels 3 - 10

Design a T-shirt, logo, bumper sticker, poster, or newspaper headline, promoting the protection of the sea and its animals. (5 – 10)
Design badges and fridge magnets promoting awareness of the threats affecting the animals of the sea. (5 – 10)

Design a poster promoting awareness of the sea’s threatened species. (3 – 10)

Design material for an advertising campaign that promotes the sawfish as a threatened species. (5 - 10)

Make a class book about the sawfish. (3 – 7)

Make a big-book to be shared across the school about the sawfish. (3 – 7)

Create a pamphlet to inform people about why they need to get involved in protecting the sawfish. (5 – 10)

Using Media Releases

Activities linked to grade levels 5 - 10

Allow students to read a range of Media Releases available on the MESA website www.mesa.edu.au Let them absorb the news and to read up on stories that are of interest to them.

Use the media releases to highlight local issues affecting the sawfish. (6 – 10)

Keep scrapbooks to follow issues. (6 – 9)

Allocate an issue to a group of students. Ask students to write out the main points of the article or share a verbal explanation in their own words to others. (6 – 10)

Use Blooms Taxonomy levels and:

Knowledge (5 – 10)
• Define 10 words found within the media releases.
• Draw a map of the places where sawfish are found inclusive of the area mentioned in the media release.
• Devise a list of words that relate to the issue on the sawfish.
• Write an acrostic poem about the sawfish and the issue featured in the media release.

Comprehension (5 – 10)
• Write a letter to someone using vocabulary from the list of words.
• Explain a media release about the sawfish to a younger student.
• Identify the issue in the media release.
• Prepare a one-minute talk. Use any information from the media releases.
Analysis (7 – 10)
• Compare the sawfish with a threatened fish species from another country.
• Design a flow chart that shows why the community needs the sawfish.
Synthesis (7 – 10)
• Devise a centrespread, multimedia presentation, a report or a brochure that conveys detailed information about the sawfish.
• Market the sawfish, what it provides and how it is managed to an audience. Some possible forms of expression include a web page, a brochure, segment for a television show or radio program, case study for a journal or piece of art.
Evaluation (5 – 10)
• Write an editorial for your local newspaper to discuss the issues affecting the sawfish. Consider what our responsibility is towards this species and what we can all do to help it. Reflect on who/what might benefit from our actions.
Application (5 – 10)
• Act on the information that has been discovered in the course of the media investigation and communicate conclusions to other classes, community members, members of relevant organisations.

Write a Centre-spread feature on the Sawfish

Activities linked to grade levels (6 – 10)

Guidelines:

• Include an interesting and eye-catching headline.
• The opening paragraph should draw the reader into the story and include who, what, when, where and why.
• Use sub-headings to break up the text.
• Include a by-line on the page.
• Use short paragraphs.
• Include photographs or illustrations you have drawn or find some pictures from travel brochures.
• Include a mention of the resources you have used.
• Decide whether it will be a background piece or an analytical piece.
• The centrespread should be planned out well. Plan your centrespread with headlines, sub-headings, text, illustrations/photographs and resources.
• The feature should be 1000 words to 1200 words long.

A guide to feature writing
A feature story is sometimes about a particular topic that is currently in the news. One aim can be to provide background information or it might be an analytical piece explaining what has happened and what might occur in the future.

A good feature should contain clear and concise facts. It must be easy for the reader to understand. Instead of including specialist terminology, rewrite it in simple terms.

A checklist:

• Have you researched the topic?
• Have you selected sub-headings that will be of interest to the reader?
• List what you would like to find out about the topic.
• List some of the questions that you want answered.
• Have you checked the spelling, grammar and punctuation?
• Are your sentences too long?
• Has anyone else read your story for errors?
• Have you included illustrations/ pictures/ photographs to break up the slab of information?
• Have you asked your library for copies of centrespreads that have been written in papers? This might give an indication of layout.