Monday 10 November 2014

Learning About The Arctic: Teaching Tools & Mini-Unit Plan

Winter is slowly drawing nearer and in both the classroom and at the kitchen tables of homeschooling families everywhere learners are drawn to lessons about snow, sledding, and chilly weather. One great topic to learn about during the winter is the Arctic. This environment is one that can grab the attention of students through topics polar bears, ice bergs, and extreme temperatures. Here are some great resources to supplement your study of the Arctic.

Lapbook

This is a lapbook I created to supplement student's investigation of the arctic environment. They look at the adaptations of different animals and complete 'can, have, are' organizers for four different arctic animals, learn about the 24 hours of darkness and daylight in the arctic, high arctic, low arctic, and some of the natural features and resources in the arctic. If you are interested you can get it here.  These pieces can also be used in an interactive notebook instead.



Books

Here are a variety of great resource books that students can use to investigate the arctic environment and the animals that live there.


 


Videos


The video I suggest above all others to supplement your study of the arctic is the 'Ice Worlds' episode from the Planet Earth BBC series. It looks at the Arctic and Antarctic through stunning time lapse videos, the video footage of the polar bear swimming because of melting ice is truly powerful. You can buy this by the episode for a very reasonable price through Amazon or as part of the full series.




There is also a good webcast about the tundra, and a video that visualizes the midnight sun in an easy to understand way.

Websites

Here are a variety of websites to investigate to learn about the animals and environment of the Arctic. 


Mini-Unit Plan

I have a brief mini-unit plan that goes through the lapbook and additional activities day by day. You can view it here

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