When completed, this page will describe the Elephant Biographies project.
Brief summary: This was a project wherein 1st and 2nd grade students used ClarisWorks to create their own Elephant Biographies using information from the Elephant Sanctuary web site. The integrated thematic curriculum unit on the Elephant Sanctuaries endangered Asian Elephants had many positive learning outcomes.
Students presented their book (using the ClarisWorks slide show feature) to classmates, parent and grandparents. This group of students was also featured on the Nickelodean channel in a story Nick News did on the Elephant Sanctuary and endangered Asian elephants.
Additionally, students were rewarded by their work for one elephant in particular. While they were involved in the Elephant Biography unit, the students learned of Winkie, and abused elephant living in a zoo in Wisconsin. Through letter writing and a fund raiser, the students and the school did their part to help Winkie be released from the Wisconsin zoo so she could live at the Sanctuary. They learned about what it took for the Elephant Sanctuary make a commitment to care for Winkie for the rest of her life. Asian Elephants have an average life span of 60 years!
Students saw their dream realized. In September, 2000, Winkie was brought home to the Sanctuary!
To learn more about the fund raiser and letter writing that took place on "Winkie Day" visit our Civics section.
To learn more about Winkie, visit her biography on the Elephant Sanctuary web site at www.elephants.com/winkiestart.htm.
