As I read the story I felt compassion and sympathy for the lovely zookeeper who never forgets about his animal friends. Even though he works hard everyday in the zoo he finds time to spend with his friends: elephant, turtle, penguin, rhinoceros, and owl. What was very cute is that all the animals were given human like qualities. We hear of an owl that is afraid of dark and penguin who was shy. That would certainly make children associate with the story as we all had our fears and troubles while growing up. The story has a deep and warm message of friendship, love for the others. I loved the scene where elephant was playing chess with Amos and elephant thought before making each move in the game. The story gives us some idea of comfort that when there are difficult times we have our friends to support and encourage us.
In the classroom we would talk about the zoo, animals we love. I would have students write about their best friends, the moments when their friends really did something special for them. We would discuss about friendship and why it is so important to us. I would have children brainstorm the words they associate with friendship.
No comments:
Post a Comment