Plot notes for the teacher 1914: Milo Thatch, grandson of the great Thaddeus Thatch works in the boiler room of a museum. He knows that Atlantis was real, and he can get there if he has the mysterious Shepherd s journal, which can guide him to Atlantis. However, he needs someone to fund a voyage. His employer thinks he's dotty, and refuses to fund any crazy idea. He returns home to his apartment and finds a woman there. She takes him to Preston B. Whitmore, an old friend of his Grandfathers. He gives him the Shepherd s journal, a submarine and a 5-star crew. They travel through the Atlantic Ocean, face a large lobster called the Leviathan, and finally get to Atlantis. But does the Atlantis crew have a lust for discovery, or something else?
Finding the Lost Empire After introducing the topic and playing parts of the DVD (clips detailed at the bottom of this plan), it is time to get on with your class activity. The activity is for the students to make an ancient map showing the way to the treasure buried under Atlantis which child wouldn t get excited about that?! The difference about this map is that it is written in the old Atlantis language, so groups of children will need the Key of Language (opposite) to complete their maps! Making the Map Paper This part is entirely optional! You can do this on standard white A4 if you lack time or materials, but with just a little bit of preparation, you can make really authentic map paper! The night before class, soak your white A4 in strong tea and leave for 30 minutes. Carefully take out the paper and leave to dry. When it s dry, screw the paper up into a ball to form creases, straighten it out and carefully burn the edges with a cigarette lighter. Two points I would like to make here first, don t burn too much otherwise you ll have to start again from scratch and secondly, burn the paper outside in an open area. Setting fire to your home, your school, or yourself is definitely not cool! When you have finished, the map paper should look like the example I made myself below. Great or what?!
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Drawing the map This is where the kids can be really creative. They get to choose the shape of Atlantis and the features that Atlantis has! Before drawing, perhaps you could pre-teach them several things which Atlantis might have i.e. waterfall, cave, river, monsters, mountains, forest, dragon, treasure you are only limited by your imagination! Remember that any features that the kids want to label on the map must be written in Atlantis words. For this, each group of students will need a Key of Language to decipher the code. Alternative Activities Before class, get a giant A3 or A2 piece of paper and make your own ancient map at home. Draw and label lots of fantasy places on your map, for example, Skull Mountain, Ghost River, etc. Label it in Atlantis language! Bring the map to school and tell them that there is hidden treasure somewhere on the map which the kids need to find. Hand out some directions to find the treasure in Atlantis language and the kids have to translate it into English to locate the treasure. This is perfect when teaching directions or prepositions of place! This is also a good activity for students just getting into using full sentences, where their spelling and word order might be a problem.
Parts of the DVD to watch Scene One (Start from the beginning until 4:23mins) The opening scenes show what Atlantis was and what happened to make it disappear. Atlantis is thousands of years ahead of technology these days, but a huge tidal wave swallows it. Keep the clip going to show the main character, Milo, giving a talk about Atlantis and The Book of Shepherds. This scene also introduces the language of Atlantis, which is key for your lesson! Stop the scene as the phone is ringing. Scene Two (07:55 mins to 12:20 mins) Show Milo going into his house and being driven to meet Preston B. Whitmore. The idea of the Shepherds Journal is furthered and the submarine used to find Atlantis is shown. Stop the scene at 12:20 as Whitmore is near the fire. Scene Three (18:54 mins to 25:22 mins) Milo is welcomed onto the bridge of the submarine and gives a talk of where Atlantis disappeared to. They are chased by a sea monster and escape. Exciting for the kids! Stop the DVD at 25:22 as the sub surfaces. Scene Four (36:36 mins to 38:28 mins) Milo gets out of his tent to go for a walk. A plague of fireflies descends and sets fire to everything. All must escape! Stop the scene as the bridge snaps and they fall into oblivion! Scene Five (40:00 mins to 43:29 mins) First contact is made with the Atlanteans. They dig through a world to discover Atlantis. Attempts are made to communicate. Stop the scene as they are driving over the bridge over the lava lake. Scene Six (51:24 mins to 53:26 mins) Milo and Kida climb vines to the top of a mountain. This gives them (and your class) an awesome view of the kingdom. After they get down, you get a glimpse of everyday life in Atlantis. Stop the DVD as the two young children run into the strange house at 53:26 mins. Good luck!