Home Plan - [GR2-L6-U1-LC1-21 Elephants]

The document covers various aspects related to elephants. It begins by providing educational tips and objectives for students to understand informational texts about elephants, introducing relevant vocabulary and facts. Then, it delves into the distinctions between African and Asian elephants, highlighting physical differences and living environments. This section also discusses the role of matriarchs in elephant families and how adults care for calves. Finally, the document explores elephants’ herbivorous diet, nomadic behavior for food and water, herd formations, and their protective measures against elements like insect bites. It also addresses the challenges elephants face due to illegal ivory trade, emphasizing conservation efforts through protected park areas.

Contents

• Pages 1—24: Elephant text study.
• Pages 25—43: Elephant species differences.
• Pages 44—64: Elephant eating habits.

This section of the document provides tips and learning objectives for students related to understanding informational text about elephants. It includes vocabulary words such as endangered, herbivores, minerals, matriarch, and water hole. The objectives include using content words, asking and answering questions, identifying main ideas, and understanding vocabulary. Additionally, there are sections where students are prompted to read text about elephants and answer questions to demonstrate comprehension. The text also introduces interesting facts about elephants, such as their size, body features, and how they use their trunk. Students are encouraged to engage with the content by asking questions and practicing new vocabulary words.

The section describes the differences between African elephants and Asian elephants. African elephants are larger, have thinner bodies, bigger ears that cover their shoulders, trunks with two “fingers,” and long tusks. They mainly live in grasslands. On the other hand, Asian elephants are smaller, have rounder bodies, smaller ears that do not cover their shoulders, trunks with one “finger,” and short tusks (some females have no tusks). Asian elephants typically live in forests. Additionally, the text touches upon elephant families, highlighting the role of a matriarch in leading and caring for the family. It also mentions the behavior of adult male elephants and how they leave their mothers to live with other males. The section ends with information about baby elephants, called calves, and how adults protect them from danger, mirroring how they care for and nurture the young ones.

Elephants are herbivores and eat various plants like grass, leaves, bark, branches, fruit, flowers, and seeds. They are always on the move looking for food and water, consuming so much that they cannot stay in one place for long, allowing plants to grow back after they leave. Elephants sometimes form herds with multiple families traveling together to find food and water. These herds often move in single file, following a matriarch, and take the same routes year after year. Elephants also shower with dust and mud to protect their sensitive skin from insect bites and the sun’s heat. The tusks of elephants, made of ivory, are valuable, leading to illegal killing of elephants. Some countries protect elephants by creating special parks to decrease hunting.