Image Map

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

This week we are learning about the Northern & Southern Hemispheres.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE science.  I am a bit of a geek freak nerd ah hem guru? NO, fan when it comes to science!  This post is specifically centered on the Northern Hemisphere, or even more specific, The North Pole and polar bears. 
Did you know???? {source Wikipedia}
  • At the North Pole all directions point south!
  • The N.P. lies amid the Arctic Ocean, which is made up of constantly shifting ice.
  • This shifting ice makes it impractical to construct a permanent research center.
  • In the summer the sun is continuously above the horizon.
  • In the winter the sun is continuously below the horizon.
  • No time zone has been assigned to the North Pole.
  • The N.P. is significantly warmer than the South Pole. -45 degrees compared to the S.P.'s -128.6 degrees {lowest ever recorded in Fahrenheit}
  • There is NO ACTUAL LAND on the North Pole ... Just a lot of Arctic ice.
  • No country currently owns the North Pole.
  • Animals found on the N.P. include: Polar Bears {they are not found on the South Pole}, seals, zoo plankton, whales, walruses & migratory birds such as the Arctic tern, Snow goose & puffin.
Speaking of animal life on the North Pole, we are focusing our study on one specific animal ... Polar Bears.
 We love this book:
Check out this adorable video of a mama polar bear and her cubs emerging from their den.  I can't wait to show this to the kids! {By BBCWorldwide}
A bear hunting a seal .... Does the seal get away???  You will have to watch to find out! {By BBCOne}
I LOVE EXPERIMENTS!  My kiddos LOVE this one.  This is a great tutorial for the "Blubber Glove" By Steve Spangler Science
We are going to make these SUPER CUTE polar bears on Friday, and I am SOOOOO excited!  Photo and tutorial by Sally at Fairy Dust Teaching.  If you haven't checked out her blog, YOU NEED TO!
THANKS Sally for letting me share this!
 
We will also be filling out this little fact sheet to accompany our artwork:
YOU CAN GET IT TOO!  Just click either link:
TPT or TN
 
Give me a ROAR if you have a comment or question!!
 

1 comment :

  1. Wow! What a great unit! I love those videos of the real polar bears as well. And who knew! No country owns the North Pole! Great work!

    ReplyDelete