Posted by Laurie Sullivan at 1/27/2008 12:00:00 PM

What fun that it snowed on the day the 4th graders were learning about the Arctic and Antarctica! I joked with the 4th graders that I ordered the weather especially for our lesson. The International Polar Year is a large scientific program focused on the Arctic and Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009. The Arctic in the far North, and Antarctica down South, may seem remote and distant from the places where most of us live. But they are a crucial part of the entire Earth system. To learn more and watch videos, you may want to visit POLAR PALOOZA.

At science stations in the Discovery Lab students classified animals as living in the Arctic, Antarctic or both. They read books about the poles. Students used the computers to learn about polar animals using National Geographic’s Discover Antarctica Interactive Map.

At another station the 4th graders learned about polar bears in the Arctic. Polar bears have many adaptations that help them survive in the cold Arctic. The students discovered how fur keeps the polar bear warm. They also tried on a blubber mitt in icy cold water to learn how the blubber acts as an insulator.

We watched a video clip from Arctic Tale

. The movie follows Nanu, a polar bear cub, and Seela, a walrus pup. I highly recommend that you watch the movie.

If you would like to learn more about Antarctica, please visit the websites I listed on the Project Discovery Blog(scroll down the page to the links).

a post