A Visit to the Great White Cafe

Learning Intention:

I am learning to use a variety of texts for research when planning my writing so that I can add more depth to my creative ideas.

 

Success Criteria:

• I can identify key points in a non-fiction text
• I can locate related information to a text through my own research
• I can incorporate factual information I have found into a creative idea

 

Understanding text:

Before reading the article, watch the Seahorse Race scene from Shark Tale. Discuss the way the scene combines elements of life on land (e.g., racetrack, television screen, billboards, grandstand) with underwater elements (e.g., sea creatures, bubbles, underwater movement).

Ask students to close their eyes and imagine what a Great White café would look like (encourage them to be as imaginative as possible - they may like to use the Seahorse Race video as well as the illustration from the magazine text as inspiration). Pose questions such as:

• What might the décor look like?
• Who would the waitstaff be?
• What might be on the menu? Would they have any chef’s specials?
• Would the sharks sit at tables? Would there be booths? Would they have a swim-thru option?

After a few moments, ask students to share their ideas with the class. Have the students read the article independently or in their reading groups. If possible, you may also wish to have students conduct further research online about the Great White Café or the diet of a shark using credible sites such as National Geographic Kids.

 

Creating text:

Inform students that they are going to design a menu based on their own idea of what the Great White Café would look like. To do this, they should find key points in the article and any research they have done. They should then discuss what conclusions they draw from these points and how these may inform their ideas. These may include:

• Sharks dive down between 460 to 910 metres (the café is deep under the water)
• There is a treasure trove of rich food and vegetation where sharks were feeding on small fish, phytoplankton and squid (there is plenty of nutritious and delicious food available)
• The popularity of this café doesn’t seem to be fading anytime soon (there are a lot of customers visiting the café!)

Explain to students that in their menu design, they need to come up with a café name, logo, menu items and design. In creating their menu they should take information from the article and use it to help them with different aspects of their ideas. For example:

• Their café may be called the Deep Sea Diner
• It may serve dishes such as plankton pie and small fish stew
• Their logo may be a shark with a serviette over its fin
• Their design may have ocean colours.

Once completed, students should share their menu designs with the class or their reading group.

 

Assessment of/as learning:

 

With a trusted classmate, partners will share their creative writing piece. Each partner will use the success criteria to evaluate how successful the piece has been at achieving each of the identified criteria:

• I can identify key points in a non-fiction text
• I can locate related information to a text through my own research
• I can incorporate factual information I have found into a creative idea

Using the two stars and a wish peer assessment strategy, each partner is to comment on two items that have been successful, and one inclusion that needs to be factored in.