APPENDIX XXXVI
Research Project for Language Arts and Social Studies:
Animals of Tunisia, Peru, India and Ukraine
Some Suggested Animals for Reports:
India
antelope
Asiatic lion
barbet
bat (flying fox bat)
beetle
blackbird
blood pheasant
camel
caracal (a cat)
chital deer
cobra
cow (sacred)
crocodile
crow
egret
fairy bluebird
gharial (a kind of crocodile)
Indian elephant
Indian parakeet
Indian rhino
kuel
langur (also called leaf monkey)
leopard
markhor
mongoose
monkey (sacred animal)
moon moths
mouse
mouse deer
peacock (India’s national bird)
rose finch
snake (strong cultural significance)
spotted owl
tiger
Tunisia
addax (an antelope with spiral horns)
antelope
Barbary deer (protected)
boar
camel
cobra
desert locust
donkey
eagle
fox
gazelle
gazelle (protected)
genet (tree-climbing cat-like carnivore)
gerbil
goat
Peru
hare
hawk
horned viper
jackal
lizard
mongoose
oryx
ostrich
porcupine
scorpion
stork (strong cultural significance)
striped hyena
suslik (a cute, squirrel-like rodent)
wild sheep
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alpaca
anaconda (world’s largest snake)
anchovy (fish)
andean condor (world’s largest flying bird)
brown pelican
capybara (world’s largest rodent)
chinchilla
dog
fox
giant river otter
guanaco
Guinea pig
jaguar
llama
monkey
parrot
peccary (a pig-like animal)
sheep
snake
taruka (andean stag – a deer-like animal)
vicuna
Ukraine
Badger
bear
bison
deer
fox
elk
goose
hedgehog
muskrat
snowshoe rabbit
meadow mouse
mole
owl
stork
swan
wild horses
wild pigs
wild sheep
wren
Important Research Sources:


Online Reference Centre, , (LearnAlberta.ca) particularly
o SIRS Discoverer
o Grolier
 New Book of Popular Science
 Grolier Multimedia
 New Book of Knowledge
o World Book
Lepthien, Emilie. Llamas. 0516201603
Animal Stories from Peru, Ukraine, Tunisia and India:

Bash, Barbara. In the Heart of the Village: The World of the Indian Banyan
Tree. 1996, 1578050804. Describes the importance of a banyan tree to a village
in India, socially, environmentally, and spiritually.

Brett, Jan. The Mitten: A Ukrainian Folktale, 1998. In this adaptation of a
Ukrainian folk tale, Nikki loses a new hand-knitted mitten in the snow. A variety
of animals climb into the mitten, each one substantially larger. Eventually the
APPENDIX XXXVI
mouse climbs on the bear’s nose and its sneeze sends the misshapen mitten back
to its bewildered owner.

Brown, Marcia. Once a Mouse.… 1961, 0684126621. East Indian fable of a
mouse that has been transfigured by a magical hermit into increasingly larger and
more prepossessing animals until his pride as the tiger king of the forest makes
him quite insufferable.

Diaz, Katacha. Carolina’s Gift: A Story Of Peru. 2002, 1568996969. A young
Peruvian girl wants to get a gift for her grandmother so she visits the local market
to choose a gift. There are great pictures showing dress, lifestyle, etc.

Dorros, Arthur. Tonight is Carnaval. ISBN 014055467X. This is a story of a
Peruvian boy’s preparations for Carnaval with extremely good pictures that are
Peruvian artwork.

Galdone, Paul. The Monkey and the Crocodile. 1987, 0833507117. A humorous
retelling of a Jataka tale from India, featuring the artist’s characteristic vivid hues
and expressive figures. Twice the clever little monkey foils the attempts of the
crocodile to capture him.

Kipling, Rudyard. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. 1997, 0-06-058785-7. The detailed, fullpage watercolour illustrations will capture the hearts of a new generation of young
readers of this classic tale from Kipling’s Jungle Book. The little mongoose,
Rikki-tikki, demonstrates his courage, loyalty and cunning as he outwits the two
cobras that mean to bring harm and death to the household he guards.

Knutson, Barbara. Love and Roast Chicken: A Trickster Tale from the Andes
Mountains. 2004, 1575056577. A clever guinea pig repeatedly outsmarts the fox
that wants to eat him for dinner.

Krebs, Laurie. Up and Down the Andes: A Peruvian Festival Tale. 2008,
9781846862038. A lively trip through the Andes mountains of Peru on the way to
the festival in Cusco.

Loveseed, Amanda. Thunder King: A Peruvian Folktale, 1991, 0216930642.
The great bird Condor helps Illanti rescue his twin brother from King Thunder’s
ice palace high in the mountains.

Mayer, Marianna. The Boy Who Ran with the Gazelles. 2005, 0803725221. A
young boy from a desert village follows his tame gazelle into the wilderness,
where they join a herd of gazelles. The boy stays with the gazelles, and even
though men find him and capture him, he manages to return to live with the
gazelles. Although not a tale from Tunisia, the setting is Africa and very well
could have taken place in Tunisia.

McDermott, Gerald. Jabuti The Tortoise: A Trickster Tale from the Amazon.
2001, 0-15-200496-3. All the birds enjoy the songlike flute music of Jabuti, the
tortoise, except Vulture, who, jealous because he cannot sing, tricks Jabuti into
riding on his back toward a festival planned by the King of Heaven.
APPENDIX XXXVI

McDermott, Gerald. Papagayo The Mischief Maker. 1992, 0152594647.
Papagayo, the noisy parrot, helps the night animals save the moon from being
eaten up by the moon-dog.

Peters, Andrew Fusek. The Tiger And The Wise Man. ISBN 190455007X. Here
is another trickster tale from India.

Polacco, Patricia. Luba and the Wren: A Ukrainian folktale. 1999,
0698119223. Luba lives happily in her dacha in the country with her mama and
papa – until she helps a frightened wren. She only means to help the wren, as she
would any creature, but when the wren returns the favor, Luba’s life changes!
“Ask for anything you wish,” the wren says. Luba wants nothing, but her mama
and papa want many things.

Polacco, Patricia. Rechenka’s Eggs. 1988, 0399215018. Babushka’s Ukrainian
Easter eggs, that she has decorated for the festival in Moscow, are accidentally
broken by the injured goose she has been nursing. The goose then lays thirteen
miraculously-decorated eggs for Babushka before returning to the wild. The
thirteenth egg holds the best miracle of all for Babushka.

Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk. Enough, 2000, 1550415093. This spirited Ukrainian
story is set during the famine of the 1930s. Marusia’s ingenuity gives her the
opportunity to go on a magical journey to find more food for her village.
Generosity triumphs over greed.

Slobodkin, Esphyr. Caps for Sale. 1947, 0060257784. “Monkey see; monkey do”
is the key to a peddler regaining his wares. This story is taken from a Tunisian
folktale.

Thornhill, Jan. The Rumor: A Jataka Tale From India, 2002, 1897066279. The
original of the “Sky is Falling” folktale is retold. The form is much closer to an
early version from the Jataka Tales of India (a collection of stories of the former
lives of Buddha). The illustrations feature endangered species from Asia that once
numbered in the thousands and are now reduced to a mere handful.
Step-by-Step Research Project on Animals:
Proceed through the following steps:
1. Choose your animal.
2. Create or choose a critical research question.
APPENDIX XXXVI
In any research project, try to have students make a decision – such as whether a
certain animal would make a good pet and why or why not. Students need to
consider complex, interesting questions, and they need to indicate that they clearly
identify and understand the issue(s). Students should make a valid decision, and
clearly explain their conclusions, provide economical summaries of the evidence
that supports the conclusions, and display evidence of logical reasoning. For a
rubric to help evaluate student reports, see Rubric for Critical Research
Question Project.




Here are some sample research questions:
How is this animal significant to the country’s culture? Economy? Traditions?
Should people be killing this animal?
Is this animal endangered? Should this animal be protected?
Would this animal make a good pet? (see Would ______________ Make a Good
Pet? graphic organizer)
3. Divide your main topic into sub-topics. Fold a piece of regular paper into 4 squares.
Put a sub-topic in each square, such as:
Name of Animal ____________________
Appearance
Food
Habitat
Care of Young
4. Look up Your Topic in the Online Reference Centre (Learnalberta.ca - try New
Book of Knowledge, World Book, SIRS Discoverer, New Book of Popular
Science) and at least one other resource from the library. Skim-read the material to
see if it is useable.
5. Check for A.V. material that might suit your topic: filmstrips, study prints, tapes,
videos, magazines. Remember, the Online Reference Centre has lots of magazines –
look in SIRS Discoverer and Electric Library for these.
6. Record the key ideas from your resource material in point form in the correct subtopic boxes:
APPENDIX XXXVI
For example: Beaver — habitat
– ponds and streams
– in wooded areas
– Alaska to Northern Mexico
7. Rewrite the points under each topic in paragraph form:
Beaver’s habitat is usually ponds and streams in wooded areas ranging from
Alaska to Northern Mexico.
8. Write your final copy. Remember to start a new paragraph for each sub topic.
(Remember, too, to put those sub topics in your report as sub headings.)
9. Add illustrations, tables, graphs or maps to enhance your topic and make it more
interesting and to make it more informative.
10. Write your bibliography as a last page to your project. Put the resources you used in
alphabetical order by the author’s last name:
For example: Ulmer, Mike. M is for Maple: A Canadian Alphabet, 2001.
11. Display your finished project so that it all makes an attractive and interesting display.
APPENDIX XXXVI
Would ______________ Make a Good Pet?
Name: ______________________
My Habitat
What I Eat
My Name
My Life Cycle
What I Look Like
Habits
Why I Could or Could
Not Live With You
APPENDIX XXXVI
Rubric for Critical Research Question Project
4
Excellent
Clearly identifies and
understands the issues
Has made a valid decision
3
Proficient
Clearly identifies the issues
Clearly explains conclusions
Explains conclusions
Provides an economical
summary of the findings and
evidence that supports the
conclusions
Displays excellent evidence of
logical reasoning
Report is properly organized
and well written
Uses more than basic
supporting evidence, reasons
are relevant
Illustration enhances report
Illustration supports report
Has made a decision
Displays good evidence of
logical reasoning
Report is organized and well
written
2
Adequate
Makes an attempt to identify
the issues
Has tried to make a decision
1
Limited
Does not identify the issues
Has not been able to make a
decision
Attempts to explain
Does not attempt to explain
conclusions
conclusions
Provides only basic supporting Shows little use of basic
evidence, reasons supplied are
supporting evidence, reasons
adequate only and not always
supplied are limited and often
relevant
irrelevant
Displays a little evidence of
Little evidence of logical
logical reasoning
reasoning
Report organization and writing Report poorly organized and
not always sequential and
writing not clear
logical
Illustration goes with the report Illustration not relevant to
but does not support further
report
understanding