Hamilton Kindergarteners Read Book,
Want to Know More

After Alissa Graham’s kindergarteners at Hamilton Elementary School finished reading the book, “Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship” by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu, they  wanted to know more .....   “In December 2004, a frightened young hippo, separated from his family by a devastating tsunami, bonded with an Aldabra tortoise named Mzee. The 130 year-old tortoise accepted Owen as his own, and an inseparable bond was forged.” – taken from the Owen and Mzee website http://www.owenandmzee.com/omweb/ 

With the help of teacher-librarian Suzanne Bernadt, the kindergartners made a list of  “have to know about” questions.  They decided to compare tortoises and hippos – just like in the story.  Preferred foods, living environments, enemies, swimming habits and physical characteristics were topics that the students wanted to know more about. They started their research using  reference books such as encyclopedias and nonfiction books about tortoises and hippos.  Then they searched on the Internet for some of the answers using some sites such as: “San Diego Zoo”, http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-turtle.html, where they learned about the differences between a turtle and tortoise and the animated “tsunami” website  http://www.curriculumbits.com/prodimages/details/geography
/geo0010.html, where they learned what a tsunami is and how weather affects coastlands.  They  even learned that tsunamis are caused by earthquakes in the sea. While searching further, the gorup found the official Owen and Mzee website, http://www.owenandmzee.com/omweb/     This turned out to be a most useful resource since it had the actual history and pictures of their subjects.  While on this site, the students found out that their home is called Boma, which means enclosure in Swahili.  There was an exciting game on this site where the students could guide Owen and Mzee to their home and along the way they met many of the animal friends that live in the Haller Park Sanctuary in Africa.  The students were really excited when they could sing along with music about the animals that lived in the Boma.

 After the research part was completed,  art teacher Melody York helped the students create pictures of each type of animal.  By using their art work, students described what they learned, such as what do hippos and tortoises eat, where do they live and what are the differences between the two types of animals.

As a culmination activity,  Graham’s class, as well as the other Hamilton kindergarten classes, took a field trip to “Animal Land” in Broadalban/Perth, New York.  At this zoo, the students readily recognized the Tortoise exhibit.  They were so proud that they could actually see a tortoise up close.  Students could really relate their classroom learning with real life!