Watch a Video: The Great Giraffe Rescue
After watching the video, ask: How were the giraffes rescued from the island?
Students will examine a problem some giraffes face and learn how experts are solving it.
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Lesson Plan - Giraffes on the Go
Learning Objectives
Text Structure
Description; Problem/Solution
Content-Area Connections
Life Science
Standards Correlations
CCSS: RI.4.1, RI.4.2, RI.4.3, RI.4.4, RI.4.5, RI.4.6, RI.4.7, RI.4.8, RI.4.10, L.4.4, SL.4.1
NGSS: Earth and Human Activity
TEKS: Science 4.9
1. Preparing to Read
The Great Giraffe Rescue
Watch a video to learn more about this unique rescue mission.
Preview Words to Know
Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.
- peninsula
- poachers
Set a Purpose for Reading
Point out the As You Read question and challenge students to identify some challenges involved in moving the giraffes.
2. Close-Reading Questions
1. What is the section “Planning a Rescue” mainly about? This section is mainly about how rescue workers used a raft called a barge to transport the giraffes across the lake.
(RI.4.2 MAIN IDEA)
2. Why did the giraffes need to be rescued? The island that the giraffes were stranded on used to be a peninsula. But heavy rains caused the lake levels to swell, and this cut the giraffes off from the mainland. As a result, they needed to be rescued.
(RI.4.3 CAUSE/EFFECT)
3. What is the purpose of the map on page 3? The purpose of the map is to show giraffes’ habitat range in Africa and to compare the animals’ current and former ranges. It shows that the current range is much smaller than the former range.
(RI.4.7 TEXT FEATURES)
3. Skill Building
FEATURED SKILL: Write a Summary
Use the Skill Builder “Be a Summary Superstar” to have students evaluate a summary of the article using a checklist, then write their own summary
Text-to-Speech