The Whales' Song
by Dyan Sheldon; paintings by Gary Blythe
web page created by Katy Hobson for second grade
About the book: Lilly's grandmother tells her a story about seeing whales and hearing them sing. She tells Lilly that she used to take the whales something special, and they would sing a song in return. Lilly's great-uncle says that never happens, but Lilly wants to find out for herself. She drops a yellow flower into the water and waits to see if the whales will come.
About the author: Dyan Sheldon was born in Brooklyn, New York and moved around a lot. She ended up moving to London, England. She has written many books for children of all ages. Her idea for the book The Whales' Song came from a memory that she had of sitting on the beach as a child and watching porpoises swimming. She also wrote the book because she was mad that so many animals are in danger of being caught in fishing nets.
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Before you start reading or working on the activities, print off this checklist to guide you through the activities. Remember to do all of the activities!
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Pre-reading: Do these activities before you read The Whales' Song.
1. Read "What is a whale?" and do this worksheet.
2. Print this KWL chart. Fill in the K and W sections.
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Reading: Do these activities while you read The Whales' Song.
1. After reading the page that ends, "Once or twice, I heard them sing," listen to whale songs. Imagine that you are at the beach and you see and hear a whale. What does it look like? How does it sound? What would you do? Print this paper and write your answers in a story.
2. "There, enormous in the ocean, were the whales. They leapt and jumped and spun across the moon." After reading this page, write a poem about whales. Your poem should be at least ten lines long. Print the page off, and illustrate in the box provided. A group called "Save the Whales" is making a poetry book, and we will be sending our poems into them once the poems are completed.
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Post reading: Do these activities after you read The Whales' Song.
1. Fill in the L section of your KWL chart.
2. Choose a whale word hunt activity, and print it off. Complete the worksheet. Try to find at least ten different words.
3. Complete two of these whale math puzzles. Only print one at a time to work on.
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Congratulations! You have finished the activities. Now, print off this rubric. Staple your checklist, the activities, and the rubric together. Turn them in to me.