Grade Level: 6-8
Content Area: Language Arts
GeographyScience
Music
Concepts: The Black Pearl
ocean terminologyBaja region
ocean poetry
Phase One: Ocean talk/Think Quick
Goals: Students will discuss opinions about ocean terminology related to The Black Pearl.
Materials: chalkboard
chalk
Time: 45 minutes - 1 hour
Procedure:
1. The teacher should make five columns on the chalkboard. Each column should have one ocean word from The Black Pearl at the top. Words you could use: manta ray, pearl, oyster, shark, waves, harpoon, and needlefish.
2. Students should write the first word that comes to mind when they see each concept. For example, if the word was shark, a student might write on the chalkboard the word jaws. Allow five students at the board at a time to reduce crowding.
3. After every student has had an opportunity to put a word under each concept go through all the answers. Ask the students why they put certain words down to describe the concepts. This is a fun exercise to teach the students about different opinions and it also gets them thinking about the book again for the next exercise.
Assessment: Student will have gone to the chalkboard and written down words. Observation rubric can be used here.
Phase Two: The Black Pearl Crossword Puzzle
Goals: Students will complete a crossword puzzle related to The Black Pearl to check how carefully they read the book.
Materials: writing tool
Crossword puzzle (one for every two students, see attached example. (You can use the Macintosh program Word Cross 2.0 to create the crossword.)
Time: 45 minutes - 1 hour
Procedure:
1. Allow the students to pair up.
2. Give each pair a crossword puzzle.
3. The pair will complete the crossword puzzle.
4. When everyone is finished, have each pair switch with another pair to correct.
5. Allow students to volunteer answers but make sure you relate the answers to The Black Pearl.
6. Students should receive a score at the top.
7. Record scores- each individual gets the score the pair received.
8. Allow time for any questions.
Assessment: Success will be measured by at least 80% correct on the crossword. If there are ten clues, an 8 out of 10 or higher will equal success.
Goals: Students will understand where various cities and landmarks, mentioned in The Black Pearl, are in Baja.
Materials: poster board (one for every two students)
drawing tools- markers, crayons, colored pencilshandout with the outline of Baja and a list of specific cities and landmarks that must be on each map (see Baja attachment)
atlas (as many as you can get)
Time: 2 hours
Procedure:
1. Students should be in pairs of two.
2. Give each pair a copy of the Baja handout that has an outline of the country (see attached sample).
3. Teacher should tell students to use the handout to help them sketch the country on the poster board.
4. The students will find and label the following on their maps:
a. Vermilion Seab. La Paz
c. Pichilinque Bay
d. Loreto
e. Santo Tomas
f. Isla Cerralvo
g. Punta Maldonado
h. Guaymas
5. Students should use the atlas to help them locate these places.
6. Once the places are found, the students should put a symbol by each that represents what happened there in the book The Black Pearl. For example, the student could draw a picture of Ramon on La Paz because that is the city in which Ramon and his family lived. A shipwreck could be the symbol for Punta Maldonado since that is the place where Ramon's father and the crew perished.
7. Teacher can display the posters around the room.
Assessment: The student will have created a map of Baja that has been accurately labeled and includes appropriate symbols. Correctly locating and giving symbols to six of the eight landmarks measure success. Observation rubric can also be used.
Goals: Students will become familiar with ocean poetry.
Materials: Instruments- cymbals, triangles, sticks, maracas, etc. (as many as you
can borrow from the music department at your school)ocean poetry (a different poem for each group, see resources at end of
Peer Review Rubrics (one for each student, see attached)
Time: 2 hours
Procedure:
1. The class should be divided into groups of four or five.
2. Give each group an ocean poem that the students can later file in their ocean folder.
3. Each group will read the poem and decide on its meaning.
4. The group will then decide how to help the class understand the meaning of the poem by reading and acting it out.
5. The group can use instruments, cymbals can be used to symbolize the crashing of waves for example, hand gestures, human noises or anything else they can find in the classroom to help bring the poem to life.
6. Give the groups enough time to practice acting out their poems. (Time may vary depending on the difficulty of the poems.)
7. The group should decide who will play what part. Who will read? Who will hit the cymbals when the reader says the word "crash"?
8. Once students are done practicing their poems, they will present them to the rest of the class.
9. While groups are presenting, the rest of the class and the teacher will use the Peer Review Rubric to evaluate them.
10. When the group is done presenting, they will discuss what they think the poem means and why they chose certain things to help them act out the poem.
11. Students who evaluated the group are free to offer any comments or suggestions.
Assessment: Peer Review Rubric. Success in presenting the poems equals a 3 or 4 on each criterion.
Resources: Suggestions for ocean poetry- Break, Break, Break by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Neither Out Far Nor In Deep and Once by the Pacific by Robert Frost can all be found at http://www.yahoo.com
Cecil, Laura (1993). A Thousand Yards of Sea: A Collection of Sea Stories and Poems. New York: Greenwillow. ISBN#0688114377
Extension: Students could write their own ocean poetry.