Ship Introduction and Mural

Goals:

  1. The students will improve their ability to name and label the ten main parts of a ship.
  2. The students will recognize the parts of the ship as they are mentioned in Treasure Island.
  3. The students will cooperatively work in teams to create a part of the ship.
  4. The students will cooperatively work with each other to put the entire ship together by creating a class mural.

 

Resources:

  1. Well labeled illustrations of a ship and its parts. (E.g. - The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, Encyclopedia Britanica, etc.)
  2. Multiple copies of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, adapted by Lisa Norby
  3. Copies of the ship with part indicated, but not labeled
  4. A large wall and mural paints or paper to cover a large wall and tempera paints

 

Time:

5.5-6.5 hours

Procedure:

 

  1. If you have not already, assign the book Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson.
  2. Ask the students to name and explain the use of as parts of a ship they know based on prior knowledge. (If a student's parents, friends or family owns a boat or spend a lot of time on a boat, that student may be a valuable resource.)
  3. Present the illustration of the ship with its major parts labeled. This can be done with an overhead or large illustration.
  4. The teacher or students name each ship's part and explain the job it plays in the sailing of a ship.
  5. Distribute two copies of the blank ship and ask the students to fill one out in class based on the illustration.
  6. After each student has labeled the ship's parts on his/her diagram, give the students ten to fifteen minutes to study their diagrams.
  7. Give an ungraded oral quiz to the class on the parts of the ship. Assign the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and have the students look for the parts of the ship mentioned.
  8. Quiz the students on the parts of the ship by handing out a blank diagram and letting the students fill it in. Ask the students for the parts of the ship they found in Treasure Island.
  9. Organize a selection process in which each student chooses a part of the ship they want to design for the class mural.
  10. Students will be given the date for which they need to have their design finished so that the students can collaborate on how the parts will fit together. (Suggested Date Due: Friday of the week assigned)
  11. Each student will be assigned to a team based on where his/her part lies on the ship. (Divide the ships into thirds with a front, middle and rear)
  12. The teams will collaborate as a whole class on how their ship will be constructed (E.g. - colors, size). In this step, the teacher will be a facilitator, but the discussion should be mainly run by the students.
  13. Before creating the mural, the students will retake the quiz on the parts of the ship.
  14. The students will be given an afternoon (probably the second Friday of this two week curriculum) to create their ship mural on a wall or large sheet of paper to be displayed in the classroom or somewhere in the school.

 

Assessment:

  1. The students will take two graded quizzes on the parts of the ship. (Criteria for success - An improvement from the first quiz to the second quiz or better than an 85% on the second quiz. Extra credit can be given to those students who find the parts of the ship mentioned in Treasure Island.)
  2. The students will write a journal entry. Possible questions to ponder are "Did knowing the parts of the ship help you in understanding the story? or "Could you take us on a tour of a ship?" (Criteria for success - Correct usage of the ship terms.)
  3. Each team will hand in its design of its part of the ship with a list of resource material discovered. (Criteria for success - Description or original picture of their part of the ship along with a list of at least three different sources.)
  4. Students will evaluate each team member by writing a small paragraph about each team member's contribution and cooperation. (Criteria for success - Using the Team Member Assessment Rubric, the students will be successful if they score a 2 or greater on all criteria. Also the teacher should take into account any written comments from the students.)

 

Curriculum Strands and Major Concepts:

  1. Language Arts - Reading the novel Treasure Island.
  2. Art - Creation of individual ship parts and the mural.
  3. Social Studies - Study of the ship's parts and individual findings of what different parts of ships can look like based on historical ships and current day ships.

 

Possible Extensions:

  1. Teachers can take their students on actual ships. Actual journeys could be taken at the Manitowac Maritime Museum.
  2. Students can do presentations on boats they have boarded or toured during vacations (if this is applicable to any student).
  3. Students can show how ships they have boarded differ in terms of its parts compared to the parts of the ship mural.

 

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Schedule and Summary of Lessons

Lesson Plans List