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Humphrey the Lost Whale

Author: Richard Hall and Wendy Tokuda
Illustrator: Hanako Wakiyama
ISBN: 0893463469
Summary: Describes how a migrating humpback whale mistakenly entered the San Francisco Bay in 1985 and swam sixty-four miles inland before being led back to the sea by people concerned for his welfare

Literature Based Unit Study by Andrea Dean

Social Studies

Geography: California
Put story disk on California (specifically near the San Francisco Bay).
California was the 31st state in the USA; it was admitted on September 9, 1850. The capital of California is Sacramento, and it is the third largest state in the United States. Major Industries include various agriculture products, oil, mining, electronics, movie making/entertainment, and tourism.

Printables:
California state flag
California state map
California state bird (California Quail)
California state flower (California Poppy)
California state bird and state flower coloring page

Look at a Map, trace Humphrey's route through the Bay, and up the Sacramento River. You may also want to introduce California's other two rivers to your student (and have him mark them on his map)-- Colorado River, San Joaquin River

In the Hands of a Child California Lapbook

Language Arts

Vocabulary

Pilings- a structure composed of wooden pile

Bay- an inlet of a body of water (such as the ocean)

Pod- a social group of whales. The bond between mother and calf is the strongest. Members of a pod may protect one another.

Whale Vocabulary (your student may want to make a minit book of whale terms and add it to her notebook or lapbook; make sure to include the word pod --see above)

Breaching- when a whale jumps out of water; this may be for play, it may be done to loosen skin parasites, or it may even have a social meaning

Spyhopping-when a whale pokes its head out of the water and turns around.

Lobtailing-when a whale sticks its tail out of the water into the air, swing it around, and then make a loud sound by slapping it on the water's surface.

Logging- when a whale lies still at the surface of the water, resting, with its tail hanging down.

Migration-to pass from one region or climate to another usually on a regular schedule for feeding or breeding

Calf-a baby whale

Blowhole-a nostril in the top of the head of a whale

Other words you may want to add to the book-- spout, mammal, cetacean, blubber, flipper, plankton, fluke
You can also give your student the challenge of putting his book together in alphabetical order

Non-fiction
Discuss what non-fiction means (based on a true story). Ask your student to write or narrate a story based on a real life event.

Art

Aerial View
Some of the pictures are from an aerial view. Point these out to your student. Set some objects on a small stool in your home. Take note of them (with your student) from different views focusing on an aerial view. Encourage your student to draw a picture from an aerial view.

Science

Whales: Different Types

Humphrey is a humpback whale. Your student may be interested in studying different types of whales. What's the difference between a baleen whale and a toothed whale?

Whales at Enchanted Learning
(at the top of the page there is a link for whale information sheets; you could print the pages for each different whale and your student could complete them and compile them into his very own Whale Book using cardstock for covers).

Some other whale questions to research--
Why could Humphrey not survive in the fresh water of the river?
Why do whales migrate?

You may want to check-out the Humpback Whale report forms on Homeschool Share's Animal Forms page.

Whales: Fish or Mammal?
There are many different classes in the Chordata Phylum of the Animal Kingdom. Your older student may wish to research and study Mammalia (mammals), Osteichthyes (bony fish), and Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) during the week you read this book.

For your younger student, you may want to simply introduce him to the class called mammals. What are mammals? What make them different from birds or fish? Many people assume that whales are fish because they live in water and swim; however, they aren't. Compare and contrast whales with fish (you could even make a Venn Diagram). Although they share the same environment, there are lots of differences. Consider the following questions as you discuss this with your student:

1. How do they breathe? (Whales breathe air into lungs! Fish breathe through gills)
2. How do they swim?
3. How are their young born? (live birth, not eggs AND they give their babies milk through mammary glands)
4. What kind of skin do they have? (not scales!)
Whales are warm blooded, have a four-chambered heart, and have some hair; they are definitely mammals.

Circle the ocean mammal print-out from bry-back manor

Applied Math

Calendar Skills
Humphrey was "lost" for 26 days. Count them on a calendar. He was first sighted on Oct. 10, 1985, what day did he return to the ocean?

Whale Story Problems
1. A pilot whale is 28 feet long (8.5 meters). A narwhal is 20 feet long (6 meters). How much longer is the pilot whale?
2. A blue whale calf drinks 130 gallons of milk a day. How much milk will it drink in two days?
3. A gray whale travels 6 mph. How long will it take the whale to travel the 5000 miles from the Arctic to Mexico?
Can you and your student write (and solve) more story problems based on other whale facts you have learned this week?

Measurement
Some whales can hear each other making sounds from 100 miles away! How far can you hear from? Experiment with how far away your student can hear someone speaking (you may have to get dad involved, too!). Check for accuracy by making sure the listener can repeat exactly what the speaker said. Measure the distance at which they can still understand each other.

Resources

Books:
The Whales Go By by Fred Phleger
Whales Passing by Eve Bunting
The Life Cycle of the Whale by Paula Z. Hogan
Whalewatch! by June Behrens
Whales by Gail Gibbons
Ibis: A True Whale Story by John Himmelman
Baby Whales Drink Milk by Barbara Juster Esbensen
Listening to Whales Sing by Faith McNulty
The Whale's Song by Dyan Sheldon
I Wonder if I'll See a Whale by Frances Ward Welle

Links:

Find out how whales stay warm
Graph and compare sizes of different species of whales
Also Enchanted learning has addition and subtraction sheets with fun puzzles for whales
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/homework/index.html -run the search on whales

http://gpn.unl.edu/guides/rr/56.pdf
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Whalemobile.shtml

Rabbit Trails
Learn about other animals that migrate (and why)
Golden Gate Bridge

Find out why California is called the Golden State (California is called "The Golden State" because the grass dries up and turns gold in the summer season when there isn't any rain. As you look at the mountains, they appear golden; it is green again in the winter).
Study the Gold Rush of 1849 and the 49ers. (Easy Reader: Gold Fever by Catherine McMorrow)
Learn more about the Pacific Ocean