Emu

Free lesson plan, writing template and printable word-search puzzles for kids

Best suited to:

K – Year 4

KLAs covered:

English, science

Australian Curriculum outcomes:

English: ACELY1646, ACELY1650, ACELY1651, ACELY1656, ACELY1660, ACELY1661, ACELY1667, ACELY1670, ACELY1671, ACELY1677, ACELY1680, ACELY1682, ACELY1688, ACELY1690, ACELY1694.

Science: ACSSU002, ACSIS011, ACSIS233, ACSSU017, ACSIS024, ACSSU030, ACSIS038, ACSSU044, ACSHE050, ACSSU072, ACSHE062.

NSW Syllabus outcomes:

English: ENe-4A, ENe-8B, ENe-6B, ENe-2A, EN1-4A, EN1-8B, EN1-6B, EN1-2A, EN2-4A, EN2-8B, EN2-6B, EN2-2A.

Science: STe-3LW-ST, STe-1WS-S, ST1-10LW, ST1-4WS, ST2-10LW, ST2-4WS.

Learning:

male emus – not female – sit on their eggs for eight weeks;
how emus hatch and how they look, feed and grow when they are born;
emus cannot fly but can run up to 40kms an hour;
how emus evade predators and protect their young;

Need to know:

the book is written in two narratives: the descriptive story of the emu family is on the left and the informative/factual text about emus is on the right of each double-page spread;
the language in this book is richly descriptive, introducing young children to words such as courting, hibernating, seldom and resounds;
similes, personification, onomatopoeia and alliteration are used throughout the book;
the book includes an index at the back enabling children to look up aspects of emu’s life;

Learning Objectives:

Literacy Objectives:

recognise and discuss literary devices and their purpose within the text;
develop a rich vocabulary to describe emus and their appearance and activities;
recognise and discuss different writing styles: descriptive narrative and factual informative;

Science Objectives:

understand and discuss life-cycle of emus;
understand diet, behaviour, shelter, predators and reproduction of emus;

Discussion Questions (before reading):

show the children the front cover and ask what they know about emus. Brainstorm and write the children’s answers on the class whiteboard. You can use a know-think-wonder structure to discuss and record what the children say;
read the title and show the children the names of the author and illustrator. For younger children, review and discuss the meaning of the words author and illustrator;
do you know any other books about emus? (children may mention Edward the Emu);

Discussion Questions (after reading):

ask children what they thought about of the book. Did they like it? Not like it? Why? Which was their favourite page?
go back to the know-think-wonder brainstorm you did before reading the book: what have you learnt? Are there any things you thought were true about emus but have found are not true? Have any of the things you wondered about been explained? Add to the know-think-wonder chart using a different coloured marker;
have a look at some of the pages and ask the children to pay attention to the illustrations. What do they notice? How do they think the illustrations have been done? (with twigs dipped in ink to simulate a feathery texture). Remind the children of the illustrator’s name (Graham Byrne). What kinds of colours has he used for the illustrations? (muted, limited palette – mostly blues, browns, black and white). Do the colours remind you of anything? (perhaps the colours of the Australian bush);
is Emu an imaginative, informative or persuasive text or is it a combination/mixture of more than one type? How do you know? Who do you think the book was created for?
look at pages 22-23 where the emus are zig-zagging away from the eagle. From whose perspective has the illustrator drawn this picture? Why do you think he did this? (to show the eagle’s shadow menacing the emus). How do you feel when you look at this illustration? (you feel the emus’ fear).
show the children a double-page spread of your choice. What do they notice about the font(s) used in the book? (there are two, one for the narrative story and one for the informative text). Why do you think this was done? Explore together whether you could read the story using only one of these aspects of the story. Does it make sense when you read the book this way? How does reading the book in these two different ways change the purpose of the text? Which of the two writing styles do you prefer?
show the children the index at the back of the book. What is an index for? How do you use it? What kinds of books usually have an index?
do you think an emu would make a good pet? Why or why not?

Whole-Class Activities

identify the events in an emu’s life as described in the book. Create a life-cycle diagram together on the classroom’s interactive whiteboard;
have the children re-tell the story verbally using a first-next-then-finally sequencing routine;
discuss the descriptive language used in the book. What do these phrases and words mean? What is the effect of using them?

interesting adjective: ” … honey-pale sunshine seeps … ” (page 6);
interesting adjective and alliteration: ” … eight granite-green eggs” (page 6)
an adjective used as a verb: “Emu gathers the egg under him and gentles down.” (page 8)
interesting adjective: “His hair-like feathers … ” (page 8)
personification: “As sunshine follows frost, and winds fetch rain … ” (page 10)
interesting noun: ” … winter-sleepers … ” (page 12)
a noun used as a verb: ” … the chicks caravan closely.” (page 22)

Individual Activities

children complete a written re-tell of the story, using a first-next-then-finally scaffold, and illustrate their work;
children complete a labelled diagram showing the different parts of an emu’s body. Older children can describe each part of the body and what it’s used for;
children complete a wordsearch using vocabulary from the book;
children write and/or draw a response to the book. They can draw or write about their favourite part or write about something they learnt from the book;

Additional Resources

emu is not an Aboriginal word. It originates from the Portuguese word ema which means “large bird”. The word was adopted by European explorers when they first encountered emus in the land that would be called Australia;
Video about emus (4 mins 36 secs): https://www.abc.net.au/education/our-animals-emu/102543068
Video about emu families (4 mins 16 secs): https://www.abc.net.au/education/our-animals-ep-11-emu-families-video/13605734
Feathers, Fur and Fins – a song about emus (1 min 47 secs): https://www.abc.net.au/education/feathers-fur-and-fins-a-song-about-emus/13757460
Old Man Emu – a song about emus (3 mins 26 secs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrs71AkeMt0