This is an activity based on the picture book Pepetuna.
This book may no longer be available for purchase.
Students will be able to track and record the time involved in different two side-by-side narratives using the units of year and season.
Students will be able to represent time on a linear scale.
Time can be represented on a linear scale with equal units such as the year.
The unit of 1 year can be divided into 4 equal units called seasons.
Pepetuna by Denise Whitmore
This book may no longer be available for purchase.
Life Lines
This activity is based on the picture book Pepetuna
Author: Denise Whitmore
Illustrator: Denise Whitmore
Publisher: Puffin (2008)
ISBN: 9780143504962
Summary:
The amazing 5-year life cycle of the pepetuna-puriri moth is told alongside the drawings depicting the first 5 years of a young boy’s life. Children of Aotearoa/New Zealand will recognise many of the events, settings, plants and animals from their own lives.
Lesson Sequence:
- Prior to reading collect some photos from your life if you have them- baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult. Select photos that have you and other people and that represent important events and family times. Prepare a long wide strip of coloured paper that will be your “Life Line” (numberline). Ask students to suggest what order the photos should be in and how old they think you are in each one. Spread them out along the line noting the ages under each photo. Try to create an even spread so you can make a number line in years.
If I had another photo of when I went on camp when I was 12, where would that photo fit on my Life Line?
I got a dog I named Duster when I was 8 and he died when I was 15. What part of my Life Line did I share with Duster?
Between when I was 5 and 6, 1 year passed, but how many months was that? - Read the story asking students to make observations about the two narratives going on in the story (one is of the moth told in words and coloured illustrations and the other is of the boy told only in line drawings).
- Re-read the story this time creating a Double Life Line where the group records the events and ages of the boy on the top and the moth underneath. Focus on how they know a year has passed (the author uses season to depict the passing of years and developmental milestones such as walking and birthdays and a new sibling). Compare the activities of the boy and the moth.
- Ask the students to create a life line for themselves with a long strip of wide paper. Create the line and then divide the line into segments noting the years at markers like a ruler. Stress that each segment represents 1 year in their life. If you want, students can also record the actual year (eg 2004) under each age number. Ask them to think of something that happened in each year of their life. They may need to interview their family/whānau to fill in some places. See if they can get 1 or 2 photos or create drawings of some of the events on their life line and attach these.
- As follow up, research the life spans of different animals and create a bar graph with strips of coloured paper (eg 12cm per year: 1cm = 1 month) representing the “length” of time for each life line.