The Sea Chest
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Cover ©2002 by Mary GrandPré

Curriculum Connections for The Sea Chest

Ten Thematic Strands in Social Studies

The Sea Chest has broad curriculum connections, particularly in the Social Studies content area.  It may be used to address five of the Ten Thematic Strands in Social Studies that underlie the NCSS (National Council for the Social Studies) Standards as published in Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies:

Strand II. Time, Continuity and Change

The Sea Chest also offers many curriculum connections in the Language Arts.  It may be used to address 5 of the 12 standards as published in Standards for the English Language Arts by the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) and the IRA (International Reading Association):

Standard 3 (strategies for comprehension, interpretation, evaluation, and appreciation of texts)

Standard 5 (strategies for writing and using writing process elements)

Standard 6 (applied knowledge of language, media, and genre)

Standard 7 (research process)

Standard 8 (use of technology in research and communication)

BOOK PAIRING

What is it like to live at a lighthouse?  Help to build students' understanding with these books: Beacons of Light: Lighthouses by Gail Gibbons, Lighthouse: Living in a Great Lakes Lighthouse, 1910 to 1940 by Megan O'Hara, and Women of the Lights by Candace Fleming.

FIND OUT MORE

About the Author: Students may wonder what life experiences led Toni Buzzeo to write an adoption story.  Read more about her childhood, and view photographs, at her website.

About Teaching about Lighthouses: Explore the topic of lighthouse teaching from the links on the author's Teaching About Lighthouses webpage.

SAMPLE CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES (A complete standards-based curriculum guide for Dawdle Duckling is available in the book Toni Buzzeo and YOU)

Invite A Speaker (Live or Virtual): If you live in an area of the country where there are lighthouses (Atlantic coast, Gulf coast, Great Lakes, or Pacific coast) contact one of the Lighthouse Associations below and invite a speaker to come to talk about lighthouse history and lighthouse preservation:  

American Lighthouse Foundation
Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society
Delaware River and Bay Lighthouse Foundation
The Florida Lighthouse Association
The Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association
The Lighthouse Preservation Society
Long Island Chapter, U.S. Lighthouse Society
New England Lighthouse Lovers
The New Jersey Lighthouse Society
Outer Banks Lighthouse Society
The United States Lighthouse Society

If you live in another part of the country, invite someone from one of the Lighthouse Associations to join you in an online chat using AOL Instant Messenger.

Lighthouse Keeper's Log:Light keepers were required to keep a daily journal in which they recorded the operations of their lighthouses in a very spare manner. Often, keepers were instructed to write the events of each day in a single line across two pages.  If the Inspector came, if the supply boat arrived, if any unusual event occurred, that would be noted.  Otherwise, the state of the weather, including the direction of the winds, was the essential information. (For more information and sample log entries, see "The Keeper's Log" at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore site).  Ask students to write the entries for the Hendricks Head keeper's log for several days preceding the night of the big storm.  Then include the log for the big storm and the following day when the sea chest washed ashore.