Elephants

Objectives:

• Students will be able to describe the physical characteristics of elephants.

• Students will be able to identify the behavioral characteristics of elephants.

• Students will be able to explain how elephants are organized into groups and how they communicate with each other.

Suggested Grades:

3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade

Lesson Procedure:

Print the reading comprehension worksheet passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions. Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt:

Elephants are the largest animals that live on land. The biggest elephants - African elephants - can weigh up to six tons, or 12,000 pounds! That's about the weight of more than two hundred average kids! An adult elephant can be more than 10 feet tall. Elephants are vegetarians. They eat fruit, plants, tree bark, grass and roots. These huge animals usually walk at pace of about four or five miles per hour, but they can charge (run) as fast as 25 miles per hour. It is very hard to stop a charging elephant, even for animals that can run much faster.

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