Support Materials For "Playful Sea Lion of Los Ilotes"

Support Materials for  

Playful Sea Lions of Los Ilotes

Four Useful Tools for introducing and expanding the story of the sea lions are included below

Nonie's Words: Vocabulary to introduce

Nonie's Into: Activities to Prepare for reading

Papa's Beyond:  Ideas for follow-up at different levels of complexity

Standards Not Standardization: California Grade Level Standards supported by Playful Sea Lions of Los Ilotes

Nonie's Words: Vocabulary

Some words you might want to introduce before reading the story

adventure: an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience 
barren: land too poor to produce much or any vegetation
cave: a large underground chamber, typically of natural origin, in a hillside or cliff.
circumnavigation: a sailing trip all the way around the world
Creola:   the name of Nonie and Papa’s sailboat
fins: an underwater swimmer's flipper
flipper: a flat rubber attachment worn on the foot for underwater swimming
gear: equipment that is used for a particular purpose (see scuba gear in Nonie's Into)
Gulf of Mexico: The body of water bordered by Cuba, Mexico, and Texas through Florida in the U.S.
Los  Ilotes: two small rocky islands in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico,  that are a rookery for the California sea lion
Mexico: A country bordered by the United States on the north and central America to its south
nibble: take small bites out of 
Pacific Ocean: The largest ocean in the world lying between north and south america and asia
pictures: a photograph
quibble: a slight objection or criticism
scuba: acronym from self-contained underwater breathing apparatus., an aqualung
somersault:  an acrobatic movement in which a person turns head over heels in the air, on the ground, or under water and lands or finishes on their feet
Spicey: the name of Nonie and Papa’s dinghy
tunnel: an artificial underground passage, esp. one built through a hill or under a building, road, or river

wander: walk or move in a leisurely, casual, or aimless way

wonder: a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable

Nonnie's Into

If you scroll down on this blog you can find information helpful to "framing" the story.

 There, you might want to review “The Adventures of Nonie and Papa”, “Who Are Nonie and Papa?”, and “Who Are Creola And Spicey?”.

Additional ideas for introducing (into) the story.

Build shared understanding with the students about the following:

    What is a sea lion?
    Where do sea lions live? (fresh water or salt water?)
What do sea lions eat? (sea lions are carnivores, They eat fish, shell fish)
    Where is Mexico?
    Where are the Los Ilotes islands?
    What is scuba gear?
        Mask
        Regulator
        Tank
        Fins/Flippers

Papa's Beyond

Questions to Explore Different Levels of Complexity

Knowledge-Remember:
Who swam with the sea lions?  Where did the sea lions live? What are some things the sea lions did? What did the mother sea lion do? What “toy” did the sea lion bring?
Understand-Describe, Explain:  
Why did Nonie and Papa go to Mexico (“follow the Mexican sun”)? Why did the sea lions all go away? When Nonie does a somersault, what did the sea lion do? What does “monkey see and monkey do’” mean?
 Apply:Sea lions really like to play. What are some words that rhyme with “play”? What questions would you like to ask Nonie and Papa?
Analyze: Explain why did Nonie and Papa wear scuba gear? Do you think the sea lions liked playing with Nonie and Papa? Why? 
Evaluate: If you wanted to swim with sea lions like Nonie and Papa, what would you have to do?        
Create: Sea lions cannot breathe under water. They have to hold their breath just like people. Draw a picture of a sea lion wearing scuba gear so they can stay under water for a long time.
Here is photo of sea lion at Los Ilotes. Write a verse of poetry to go along with this photo.

To Teachers: Feel free to add questions that have worked in your class. Simply add you question, it's Bloom's level and the grade level you teach to the comment section below. We will periodically add them to this list. Thank you for contributing to helping others.

For more detail on question stems go to www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm

Standards Not Standardization

Using "The Playful Sea Lions of Los Ilotes" 

can help attain the following standards:  

Pre-K Standards 

Reading and Comprehension and HighReach Learning Objectives

Recognizes rhyming words

Attends to story for more than five minutes

Identifies parts of book

Holds book appropriately

Retells a story

Responds to questions

Demonstrates understanding of new vocabulary words 
Uses new vocabulary words in conversation

Listens to book, story, or poem
Demonstrates an understanding of rhyming words

Retells story in own words

K-3 Standards to Come

 

The First Book Is Printed and in the Mail

Wander The World- Wonder The World ProductionsTM

Announces Its First Publication

"The Playful Sea Lions of Los Ilotes"

 

The Playful Sea Lions of Los Ilotes is printed and in the mail to preschool and primary teachers in California. The field review process has begun and following the response from teachers and children in northern and southern California, the final edits will be made.

Been Hanging on The Computer Writing Stories

Nothing Too New Here!

Spent the last several days rewriting one of The Adventures of Nonie and Papa series into a small book highly illustrated with photographs. The learning curve has been a bit steep with the publishing software, Publisher, that comes with Microsoft Office 2007.

The challenge is getting it printed. The local internet does not have "Publisher" on it's beautiful MACs. So I'm in a sort of intersystem limbo. The local printer wants to send it off island, Guam to be exact. This will take a month. OH, for a Kinko's! month. Great news, local cruisers have a printing set-up that fits our needs. Linda and I have made editorial changes to the text and layout and will print the latest version on 9.9.09.

This is the cover of the new book titled, Playful Sea Lions of Los Ilotes. Available soon at Amazon.co, tee hee.



Don't forget to -

Wander The World -Wonder The World TM

Who Are Creola and Spicey?

Who is Creola?

Creola is a pretty blue sailboat that Nonie and Papa sail on the oceans. She is six years old and is 49 feet long. Creola was made on an island in the Pacific Ocean called Taiwan. You can find Taiwan on your map.

Why Did You Name Her Creola?

When you get a new boat you have to give her a name just like you give a new baby a name. Many people have asked Nonie and Papa why we named our boat Creola. We tell them that Creola means to create and we like to create. But, the real reason is because we like a song called Creola, by a man named Jimmy Buffett. The song is about leading a spicy kind of life. So, that’s why she is called Creola.


This is Andre. Andre is driving Creola. Creola has a big steering wheel that is made out shiny silver metal. Andre drove her right between an island and the land. It was a little scary, but he did a really good job.





Here is another pictures of Creola. We are sailing her in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. You might have found the Sea of Cortez on your map before.

Who Is Spicey?

Look carefully at the picture of Creola. Do you see a little white boat being towed behind her? That’s Spicey, our trusty dinghy. Spicey is only ten feet long, has a 15 horsepower outboard and she goes really fast.




We take Spicey to the beach and to docks whenever we are not sailing Creola.

























We named her Spicey because she can go really fast and helps find interesting places. She helps take us to places where we can scuba dive and snorkel.

Finally, here is a recent photo of Creola. She is on a mooring at Sam's Tours in Koror, Palau. Beautiful, isn't it?

Who Are Nonie and Papa

Who Are Nonie and Papa?

Who is Nonie?

Nonie grew up on a ranch in central California. She used to swim in the irrigation canals and catch crawdads. Here she developed the love for animals, because there were many chickens, rabbits, sheep, cats and dogs on the ranch. Nonie learned to sail boats on a lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Nonie has six brothers and sisters and she has three children of her own, but they are older now. Nonie loves her nine grandchildren and is married to Papa.


Nonie is a teacher. She taught children in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. She taught gifted children and special education children. Nonie has worked in Alternative Education with students at the high school level and with students and parents who home school. Nonie has taught swimming to hundreds of people from 3 months of age to over 60 years old.


Nonie loves to scuba dive, snorkle, cook, sail and visit new and different places around the world. She has sailed in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America and the South Pacific She can’t wait to take Nonie and Papa’s boat, Creola, around the world.

Who Is Papa?

Papa grew up in the central valley of California, too. He played in the river delta, made forts and caught crawdads. Here he developed his love for the water and the soil. He learned to sail boats in the San Francisco Bay. He does not have any brothers and sisters, but has three children like Nonie. His children are older now. He has been married to Nonie for over 22 years and loves his nine grandchildren.

Papa was a teacher of high school biology, chemistry, and landscaping. He was a principal. He wrote materials and provided training for educational leaders for twelve years in California. Papa believes in coaching one another so we all get better. He was a director of secondary education in a school district in California. He has written two books, lots of poetry and is learning how to paint with watercolor.

Papa loves to scuba dive, especially with Nonie. He loves to snorkel, sail, paint, write, photograph and visit new places around the world. He has sailed in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America and sailing Creola, Nonie's and Papa's boat, in the South Pacific Islands.

Professional Resumes available on request.

The Adventures of Nonie and Papa are:

* A collection of stories from the travels of Nonie and Papa aboard the sailing vessel Creola

The dinghy, Spicey, at anchor in a hoa in Rangiroa, second largest atoll in the world

* stories written for young people from preschool through early teens.

Chute Flying aboard Phoenix in Rangiroa

* stories for teachers wishing to enrich the curriculum with geography, culture, nature, history and adventure

Papa overlooks Machu Picchu in Peru

* stories for parents and grandparents who wish to entertain,
expand experiences and broaden the interests of children

The "Bone Yard" of Japanese planes destroyed in World War II. Taroa Island, Maloelap, Marshall Islands

*stories that touch the heart and spirit

Miguelito, the wayward Galapagos Tortoise, Bahia Carquez, Ecuador