Uncle Elephant
By Arnold Lobel
0-590-32764-X
Set the purpose:
What happens when you open the door? (You are generating the idea that
it is the beginning of something. By opening the door, the elephant
is beginning an adventure with his Uncle Elephant.
Read the first chapter:
Uncle Elephant Opens the Door
Discuss:
What does it mean when the elephant has more wrinkles than
----- a tree has leaves?
----- a beach has sand?
----- the sky has stars?
Why is elephant
sitting in the dark? How do you know? (Using your head and reading the
story make you realize that the elephant is sitting in the dark because
he is sad.)
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Chapter two: Uncle
Elephant Counts the Poles
What do the elephants
do to pass the time on the train? (Find answer in the book and read
the sentences)
What do you do in
the car on a long car trip to pass the time? (Connect the story to your
lives)
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Chapter three: Uncle
Elephant Lights a Lamp
What do the elephants
wish for? Read the sentences that tell you the answer.
If you had a magic
lamp what would you wish for?
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Chapter four: Uncle Elephant Trumpets the Dawn
What is Uncle doing
in the garden? How does he help his nephew feel welcome? (Read in the
book where you find the answers.)
What do your aunts
or uncles or grandparents do in their special place? (Connecting to
your life)
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Chapter five: Uncle
Elephant Feels the Creaks
Where does Uncle
Elephant feel his creaks? How does he feel better? What does he do to
feel better. (Find in the story and have the kids reread where they
find the answers.)
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Chapter six: Uncle
Elephant Tells a Story
How is the story
like what is happening with Uncle Elephant and the baby elephant?
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Chapter seven: Uncle
Elephant Wears His Clothes
What does the elephant
do to cheer up the baby elephant?
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Chapter eight: Uncle
Elephant Writes a Song
This is the chapter
for WORKING WITH WORDS. There are a lot of rhyming pairs in the song
that Uncle Elephant writes for the baby elephant. Do the ROUNDING UP
RHYMES activity with this chapter.
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Chapter nine: Uncle Elephant Closes the Door
Before reading the
book, remind the students that the first chapter was Open the door.
Reread the first chapter. Then make predictions about what will happen
in the last chapter.
Read the story.
Discuss --- did
the predictions come true, what adjustments in your predictions were
needed?
