Don't Forget the Elephants
Procedures for Teachers is divided into two sections:
Prep -- Preparing for the Lesson.
Steps -- Conducting the Lesson.
Prep
Materials and Equipment:
To create illustrations, any number of traditional drawing and painting tools can be used. Watercolor, pen and ink, markers, and scratchboard all can work well. Students should use the media of their choice. If a scanner is available, students can scan sketches and color them on the computer with any color paint software. KidPix is an excellent, easy-to-use paint program for all students. More sophisticated programs like Adobe Photoshop are also available for the more experienced students.
Computer Resources:
You will need a computer with Internet access to complete this lesson.
While many configurations will work, we recommend:
Modem: 28.8 Kbps or faster.
Browser: Netscape Navigator 3.0 or above or Internet Explorer 3.0 or
above.
Macintosh computer: System 7.0 or above and at least 16 MB of RAM.
IBM-compatible computer: 386 or higher processor with at least 16 MB
of RAM, running Windows 3.1. Or, a 486/66 with at least 16 MB of
RAM running Windows 95.
For more information, visit "What You Need to Get Connected" in
wNetSchool's Internet Primer.
Bookmarks:
Bookmark the following sites:
Ivory Haven- Laura the Elephant's House
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/2248/
How Can You Go to Bed With an Elephant in Your Head?
http://brian.com/Romain/Ele/Ele0.html
Elephant World
http://user.tninet.se/~you369p/elephant/
Steps
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Students visit the NATURE site at http://www.thirteen.org/nature/elephants/html/intro.html to
view the pages related to elephants. Ask students to write their own imaginative stories with illustrations about elephants.
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Have students view the following sites:
How You Can Go To Bed With An Elephant In Your Head? written and illustrated by Trevor Romain.
This site serves as an example of professional illustrations coupled
with an imaginative story.
Laura the Elephant's Story Page
This site has many educational and entertaining activities to explore
that are all related to a real elephant named Laura. Students are
invited to email the author Laura@fan.net if they have any
"elephantine" questions.
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Have students work in teams to create
their own "elephant stories." The finished work should be creative,
imaginative, and fictional. The students should be encouraged to
work together on both the stories and the illustrations. If a scanner is
available, students could work with traditional drawing and painting
tools to create illustrations that can be scanned into the computer. While
early drafts of the stories could be done in longhand, all stories
should be word processed in their final form.
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Have students use email to send their final work to the following
site (or post them to your school site, if one exists):
Elephant World
This Internet magazine about elephants invites people to send their
articles, photos, links, and information about elephants to the site.
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Submit a Comment: We invite your comments and suggestions based on how you used the lesson in your classroom.
