O’Dell, 1960

LANUGAGE ARTS IN CONTENT AREA SCIENCE AND

SOCIAL STUDIES
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Objective/Vocabulary: Students will understand the following six pillars:

Empathy is the understanding the feelings of others and relating to the circumstances surrounding
Ludivineem,2014
one's environment.
Honesty is being open and sincere in one's words and actions.

Integrity is to have the courage to do what is right even when it is costly as well as being trusted is held
in high regard and one of the greatest achievements possible.

Loyalty is being serving and protecting your family, friends, school, and community.

Responsibility is being dependable by following through on what is required.

Trustworthy is the ability to keep promises and stand on one's word and the ability to keep something
secret and not betray someone's confidence.

Time and Place: Written in 1960 mostly on the California coast.

Standards: Supports learning standards in character education, language arts, and social studies.
Students understand the individual responsibilities of citizenship and promoting civil society.
Students demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills enhanced by finding good fortune,
self-reliance and survival.

Themes: Dealing with Grief and Loss, Learning about Oneself, and Others, Self-Reliance, Wild Animals in
the Wilderness
Materials: Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O'Dell, Character Worksheet, Sentence Strips for Chain of
Trust, Table or Poster of cave, cliff, island, ship, sea life, and village.
Summary/Plot Pinterest, 2003

Scott O'Dell's "Island of the Blue Dolphins" is a story about twelve years old girl named, Karana being
stranded on an island for most of her teenage life alone. Her tribe had already left many years ago.
She has a sibling and his name is Ramo and they both live in a village called Ghalas-at. The Indian
tribe she is a part of feed on mostly roots and fisheries. One day, the Aleuts, led by the Russians
named Captain Orlov came to the island and asked the natives to allow them hunt sea otters in return
for other goods. Unfortunately, the Aleuts stole from the islanders and simply leave without paying.
The chief Chowig decides to speak to them about it and they incite a war, but lives are lost on both
sides. Most of the tribesman's lives were lost including Karana's father and the Aleuts finally decide to
leave the island. They still paid very little for the sea otters they hunted. The next appointed chief,
Chief Kimki chooses to leave the island and travels to another in the East. All islanders are urged to
accompany the new chief due to a storm coming. Ramo, Karana's brother goes to get his fishing gear
and but does not return timely. Karana goes after him and the ship leave without them.

Characters

The characters are Karana, Rontu, Tutok, Ramo and the Aleuts. Karana is the protagonist and
narrator of the story. She spends 18 years of her life as the only living person on the island. Ramo is
Karana's brother and he is known for being too excited which lead to them both being left behind.
Ulape is Karana’s fourteen years old sister likes jewelry and paints her face. Rontu is leader of the
pack of wild dogs brought by the Aleuts to live on the island. Tutok is an Aleut girl comes with a
hunting party for Karana. The Aleuts are another Native American Indian tribe that visits Ghalas-at to
just to hunt sea otters.
Island of the Blue Dolphin Island Survival

INTRODUCTION LESSONS

Self-Knowledge and Empathy

Lesson 1:
Students will complete a Coastal Map of where the story takes
place to become familiarized with the protagonist, Karana also
known as Won-a-pa-lei or Juana when she went to the
mainland. Saint Nicholas is one of several islands off the coast
of Southern California. History tells us that although it was
settled by Indians in 2000 B.C., it was unknown to Spanish
explorers until 1602. The Indian inhabitants of the island were
left relatively undisturbed until 1835.
(Teacher Recreated Resources Inc. pg. 125)

Activity One:
Draw a picture of what San Nicholas, or the, "Island of the Blue
Dolphin," would look like. Use a scale to calculate about how
far it is to the surrounding islands and to the California coast.

Then, on the back of this respond to this discussion question:

Why do you think the book is called the Island of the Blue
Dolphins? Beachcalifornia, 2014
MAPPING DESCRIPTIONS
Knowing Your Surroundings as a Survival Tool…
Students learn to know their surroundings as a survival tool. Although they may not have a clear
picture of an area they can relate to the setting of the book by creating their own map using symbols to
represent mountains, lakes, river, and other landmarks by creating their own actual pictures. Students
can create their own symbols by referring to a map's legends.

The main character, Karana describes the island in the beginning of the story. Reread her
description to visualize in your mind what it looked like. Then create your own map below. As you read
the story, add details to your map describing the places that Karana frequents throughout her years on
the island. Develop your own symbols to represent each landmark. Remember to keep record of all of
your symbols in a key so everyone will understand your map when they read it.

Discussion Question: Answer on the back of this paper, What is the good fortune the islanders
experienced?

The Island of the Blue Dolphin

Siddanthi Bigfoot, 2008

, 2014
CHARACTER: INDEPENDENCE AND RESPONSIBILITY

Students can learn the importance of being responsible, trustworthy and loyal as
well as being honest after viewing this map.

Discussion Questions:
What could Ramos have done differently to save himself from the wild dogs?
How did he make himself and his sister outsiders?

Singh, 2013
CHARACTER PILLARS: EMPATHY, HONESTY, LOYALTY, INTEGRITY, AND TRUSTWORTHY

In Karana's tribe, the men and women have different roles in the family. The men serve as protectors by
defending their families, hunt for food, and build canoes. The women attend to gathering food, making
clothing, and preparing the food. All this was done to keep peace amongst the tribes so they could
survive. All members had to be empathetic, honest, loyal, responsible, and trustworthy.

Discussion
In our communities, we live in a different day and time, but many families still function quite in the
same. In what way do men and women still have the same roles? Do men and women have certain duties
around the home? What roles do they have? Do you agree with these roles?

Make a list of jobs in you home and who is responsible for them and Tell which character pillar is needed
to complete the job successfully.

Jobs Who Performs Agree/ Character

Disagree
Honesty and Loyalty

Students can explore all possibilities of a cave, cliff, island, ship, sea life, and village on a
poster or table. Then invite students to read Karana's Message in the Bottle and Father
Rubio at the Mission Santa Barbara.

Activity: Students can create their own message in the bottle for homework.

MISSION SANTA BARBARA

KARARANA’S MESSAGE
$200 Reward!
Help! Need information leading to the
I am Alone on an rescue of Karana, an Indian girl
left on the island of San Nicholas.
Island of Blue People needed:
Dolphins •To chart the island
•To research the natives
Find Me, •To study the wildlife on the
KARANA island
Father Gonzales Rubio
O’dell, 1960 Beachcomber, 1991 O’dell, 1960
My personal core values are those virtues which are held very true and dear to me. My philosophy is to
bring integrity to all I commit myself too in the home or workplace. It is paramount to show compassion
and empathy to children in adverse circumstances. Also, my aim is to be truthful and honest in my
actions which are tempered and flexible when needed. It is always important to be careful to hold in
confidence what is private and personal to others and myself. My efforts are to try to be as reliable as
possible although one can spread themselves to thin. As a role model, it is my mission to keep my
promises and be as dependable as one is able to be.

My personal strengths as a moral model are to uphold what is upright and true at all times. I seek
knowledge and try to be teachable at all times by attending trainings and reading literature related to the
morals and principles which are essential to living. It is crucial to be well-informed so I can prepare my
clients and family for changes in our government and environment. Currently, I try to bring my
knowledge, life experiences, and community resources to help families in need by educating them to
improve their functioning. My home has been a serious of changes which were deliberate to for spiritual
growth; but hopefully with determination and power to the course all will work out well.

It is my goal to be a future role model as an educator and facilitator of students that speak other
languages and develop curriculum. One of my greatest ambitions is to teach abroad and continue my
education to strengthen my family. It is my calling to be an educational leader and though one may be
used for a time in other fields of learning; love brings them back to who they are. Moral leadership
greatly interests me since I want to learn to write curriculum to help develop and shape young minds of
tomorrow. It is a passion and hopefully it can be a reality. Specifically, I would like to learn more about
conflict resolution since the mention of it oftentimes makes me feel uneasy. It seems everywhere one
looks; people are in trauma. Sometimes it is long-term or short-term but many lack the coping skills to
deal with it. Unfortunately, behaviorists are needed just as psychologists to help us transform the
children today who may grow up as confused adults of tomorrow. It is simple I am very interested in
learning more about moral behavior and exploring better new ways which are more beneficial to the
growth and development of children for their own morality.
 REFERENCES

• O'Dell, S. (1960).[Cover Image File].Island of the blue dolphin. New York: McGraw Hill. Retrieved
from http.www.cherryloloa.com

• Ludivineem.(2014) [Image File] Retrieved from: www.pinterest.com

• Singh, H. (2013) [Image File] Retrieved from: www.ubhavaastu.com

• Beachcalifornia. (2014) [Image File]. Retrieved from: www.beachcalifornia.com

• Eastern Bay Trading Company.(1991) [Image File] Retrieved from: www.easternbaytradingcompany.com

• Denny,P. (2004).A guide for using island of the blue dolphins in the classroom. New York: Dell Publishing
Teacher Created Resources, Inc.