Goals:

1. Students will be able to relate to the relationship that Menno had with Anouk, the whale in the lake.

2. Students will get to write an interesting story about a relationship they had with a non-human object.

Resources:

1. Dekkers, Midas. Arctic Adventure, Meulenhoff Informatief, 1982. ISBN 0-531-05704-6

Teacher Background:

All aspects of teacher background will be found by reading the story Arctic Adventure by Midas Dekkers.

Time: The students should be given a total of three and a half hours worth of class time in order to complete this entire assignment.

Procedure:

Step 1- The teacher will lead a discussion about the special relationship that Menno had with Anouk. The teacher could give a special relationship that he or she has with a non-human object. Some people might have a special relationship with nature, a certain sport, animal, or work of art. Each of these relationships that we have are special for different reasons to different people. The teacher should discuss a relationship similar to this.

Step 2- Have each member of the class work with another student and let the students talk for about 10 minutes about a special relationship that they have with a non-human object.

Step 3- Have each student then make a web about all of the important characteristics this relationship means.

Step 4- Have students find a non-human object that represents something special in another culture. An object that might be thought of as sacred or special to a particular culture such as the turtle to the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin.

Step 5- Have the students write a paper about their special relationship (one page minimum). Tell the students to tell why this object is important to them similar to how the object they picked out in step 4 is important to that culture. This will be there first draft of the paper. Tell students to make a collage to go along with their paper.

Step 6- Have students work in pairs to proofread each otherís paper and make suggestions for improvement. Have the students brainstorm in a class discussion what are some of the important aspects of proofreading. Create a visual for the class that shows the key elements of proofreading the paper. Key elements should include does the paper have any spelling mistakes, punctuation mistakes, or grammatical errors. Then have the students look at the paper to see if the paper has an introduction and a conclusion. Then have the students make sure that each paragraph has an introductory sentence and that the last sentence of each paragraph leads to the next paragraph. If students donít come up with all these ideas on their own make sure that these are higlighted.

Step 7- Have the students make corrections to the paper then rewrite their story.

Step 8- Students then should exchange their papers one more time with a different student and again the students should follow the guidelines set up in Step 6 for proofreading.

Step 9- Students then make any final corrections and then write the final draft and then present a brief overview of their story along with their collage to the class.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed according to the following rubric.

Students will be assessed according to the following three rubrics:

4 points= No spelling and (or) grammar errors.

3 points= Small amounts of spelling and (or) grammar errors.

2 points= Adequate amounts of spelling and (or) grammar errors.

1 point= A lot of spelling and (or) grammar errors.

4 points= Paper contains interesting ideas and insights.

3 points= Paper contains some interesting ideas and insights.

2 points= Paper lacks interesting ideas and insights.

1 point= Paper doesnít contain interesting ideas or insights.

2 points= Collage shows evidence of thoughtfulness and time.

1 point= Collage shows lack of thoughtfulness and time.

Curricular Strands and Major Concepts:

Communication Arts- Reading the book Arctic Adventure by Midas Dekkers. Students also will be using communication skills discussing their special relationships and by presenting their collage. Students also will be writing a paper and proofreading another student's paper.

Social Studies- Students will be gaining an understanding of certain objects that different cultures view as sacred or important. This will help the students to recognize and appreciate other cultures.

Art- Students will be creating a collage around the theme of their special relationship.

Possible Extensions:

1. Student could make a visual comparing their relationship between the non-human object and a special relationship that the student has with another person.

2. Student could write a letter to the non-human object explaining why this object means so much to the student.

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