Mako shark

Mako shark

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about using information in a poem to make inferences.

Read the poem Mako shark by Ann Mace (pages 30-31, Junior Journal 21, 1999). Then answer the following questions.

Question 2Change answer

a)  At the start of the poem, why does the writer think the shark is beautiful?
     

Question 2Change answer

b)  How does the shark know when there is food nearby?
     

Question 2Change answer

c)  Why are the shark's eyes gleaming in the middle of the story?
     

Question 2Change answer

d)  In the middle of the poem it says, "He doesn't look very beautiful now."

Why does the shark not look beautiful?      

Question 2Change answer

e)  What do the dots at the end of the poem tell the reader?
     
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pen and paper or online (without auto-marking).
 
Copyright: 
Mako Shark - Text was first published by Learning Media Limited for the Ministry of Education.© Ann Mace, 1999. Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holder. Illustrations - by Falcon Halo, © Crown.
Level:
2
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking
Keywords: 
poetry, comprehension, ellipsis, junior journal, retrieve, inference
Description of task: 
Students read a poem then use information from it to make inferences. Text not provided.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use comprehension strategies
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at:  http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Making sense of text: processing system, set 3
Reading for literary experience, set 3
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
 

Y4 (11/1999)

a)

Any 1 of:

  • It is shiny.
  • It is sleek.
  • It is not angry/attacking/showing its teeth.

moderate

b)

He can smell its blood/it.

easy

c)

Any 1 of:

  • He has found food/caught a fish.
  • He is attacking/eating a fish.

difficult

d)

Any 1 of:

  • He is biting/tearing at the fish.
  • His teeth are showing.
  • There is blood.

[Do not accept: "He looks evil/ferocious."]

moderate

 
e)

Any 1 of:

  • The cycle repeats/goes back to the start/begins again.
  • The shark is going to catch some more food.

Any 1 of:

  • The story is not finished/goes on.
  • There is more to come.
  • To be continued.

 
2 correct – very difficult

 


1 correct – moderate