PAGES 4-5 FEATURE ARTICLE

MAGICAL MANATEE ENCOUNTER

Emphasis on: reading comprehension, motivation for discussion

Students read about a little boy who got to bottle-feed an orphaned manatee.

Vocabulary preview: experience, abandoned, purification.

Word to teach: Teach the word "automatically" in context as follows: "My mom likes to have fresh coffee the minute she wakes up, so our coffee maker is set to automatically go on at 7 am."

Before reading: Ask students if they ever wished they could see a certain sea creature up close. Which ones would they like to see? Why? What would they like to do if they had the chance? (Swim with dolphins, feed a sea lion, watch a whale leap out of the ocean, etc.) Then tell them they are about to read about a boy who always wanted to meet a manatee.

Discussion Questions:

How did Mark try to learn about manatees? (He read books, visited Web sites on his computer, read Dolphin Log.)

What did he hear about that he wanted to do? (He wanted to visit the orphaned manatee program at SeaWorld in Florida.)

What did Mark notice right away? (Why sailors used to mistake manatees for mermaids.)

What does Mark say Pedro and the other people on the manatee crew remind him of? (Emergency rescue workers.)

What is special about the water at SeaWorld? (All the water must be kept at the proper temperature and have the correct amount of salt for the animals.)

What did Mark get to do? (He got to give a baby manatee a bottle of formula.)

Follow-up ideas:

1. Have students write about a sea creature they wish they could "meet" in real-life. Have them describe what they would do, and what it is they like about the creature they have chosen.

2. Have students read J. Rooker, Manatee by Jan Haley. This is an excellent book that features the rehabilitation of an injured manatee at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Florida.

 

 

PAGES 6-7 FEATURE ARTICLE

WORKING WITH MANATEES

Emphasis on: reading comprehension, motivation for discussion

Students read an interview with animal care specialist Pedro Navarrete.

Vocabulary preview: capacity, nutritional

Word to teach: Teach the word "occasional" in context as follows: "My dad doesn't really love the ocean but he does join us on an occasional trip to the beach."

Before reading: Ask students if they have ever wanted to work with animals or thought of becoming a veterinarian. Then tell them they are going to read about a man who works with animals.

Discussion Questions:

When did Pedro know he wanted to work with animals? (When he was a child, and helped his father, who was a veterinarian.)

Why does he add oil to the formula he feeds baby manatees? (To make sure it has the same fattiness as a manatee mother's milk.)

Why is the water "special" at SeaWorld? (They have to make sure the water is the same as the water the animals would live in and drink in the wild.)

Follow-up ideas:

1. For fun, ask students what their dream jobs are. Ask them what qualifications they need for the professions they desire.

2. Students might enjoy researching a marine careers site on the web: http://www.marinecareers.net.

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