Fire to Life
Title | Fire to Life |
Author | Pamela Freeman |
Illustrator | Philip Blythe |
Published by | Koala Books |
Date of Publication | 2006 |
Teaching Resources
This book can be used in two ways: to study the effects of volcanic eruption and tectonic plate movement (that is, earth science/geology) or to look at different habitats along a water course (water resources/biology).
It can also be used to start an activity about a specific habitats or animal (for example, the platypus).
- The second-last page of Fire to Life has an pictorial index of all the animals shown with their common names. Students can use this as a jumping off point for further research.
- Australia has no active volcanoes, but Antarctica does. Why is this? Students can research and map the tectonic plate on which Australia lies and discover which countries lie on the edge of the plate. What effect does this have on those countries?
- Two of Antarctica's volcanoes are called Mt Terror and Mt Erebus. Why is this? (Answer: they are named after two of the ships in Sir John Franklin's last expedition to the Arctic. See All for Love for the John Franklin story.) There is a scientific team from the USA studying Mt Erebus. They maintain a website at http://www.ees.nmt.edu/Geop/mevo/mevo.html. Be warned, though, the movies take a long time to download. Try the still photos instead. Why would scientists study volcanoes?
- When a new volcano emerges, as they sometimes do, who gets to name it? What would you name a new volcano, and why?
- The writing in this book is deliberately lyrical rather than informative. Find some informative texts about volcanoes and compare the language to that used in Fire to Life. This can be a useful exercise for understanding persuasive writing. Ask students to look for the use of adjectives, adverbs, rhythm, imagery, selection of facts. Find some unusual verbs which add atmosphere to the text.
- Look at the page Terror and Beauty. This depicts a coral reef. Ask students to write a lyrical description of this habitat which is intended to raise money for reef protection.
- Look at the page Swept along, left behind which describes the creation of mudbanks and riverbanks by soil deposition. Create an experiment using dirt and water in a clear plastic tube. Place one end of the tube in a bucket. Pour a mix of dirt and water into the tube and tilt the tube so that the water flows through to the bucket. Change the angle of the tube so that each time the experiment is repeated, the water flows through more slowly. As the water slows, more silt will be deposited on the bottom of the tube. For older students, note that the heavier particles fall out of the solution most easily (that is, at the faster speeds) while very small particles remain suspended even at slow speeds.