{"id":3321,"date":"2020-02-27T07:30:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T12:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teachersfirst.com\/blog\/?p=3321"},"modified":"2020-02-11T16:25:24","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T21:25:24","slug":"international-polar-bear-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/international-polar-bear-day\/","title":{"rendered":"International Polar Bear Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/teachersfirst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2020-FEB-Polar-Bear-Day.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3410\" src=\"http:\/\/teachersfirst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2020-FEB-Polar-Bear-Day-200x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2020-FEB-Polar-Bear-Day-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2020-FEB-Polar-Bear-Day-683x1024.png 683w, https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2020-FEB-Polar-Bear-Day.png 735w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>February 27 is International Polar Bear Day. This day offers an opportunity to pay attention to polar bears and the dangers they face due to climate warming. It is also an excellent way to engage students with real-world connections to animals, climate, environment, habitats, and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One way to engage students in learning is by creating an environment that piques their interest. Consider preparing an arctic scene within your classroom, starting with an interesting door decoration. A quick search of Google should give you several ideas. Take a look at how<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/funinfirst.com\/arctic-adventure-day\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fun in First<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">transformed her classroom into an Arctic Adventure! Throughout the day, students participated in math, coding, spelling, and reading activities with an arctic theme.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, immersing students in a full-day adventure takes careful planning and preparation. Here are some ideas to get you started:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lesson Planning:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cpalms.org\/Public\/PreviewResourceLesson\/Preview\/35388\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Polar Bear Lesson Plan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; this lesson plan for kindergarten guides students through nonfiction text about polar bears. Easily adjust the reading material and questions for older students<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldwildlife.org\/teaching-resources\/toolkits\/polar-bear-toolkit\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">World Wildlife Fund Polar Bear Toolkit<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; this site provides a variety of activities for grades 3 -5, including science, social studies, physical education lessons, and more.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/study.com\/academy\/lesson\/polar-bear-lesson-plan.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Study.com Polar Bear Lesson Plan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; this lesson plan is part of a larger unit about animals and habitats. It is easily adaptable for grades four and older.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Polar Bear Websites:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/polarbearsinternational.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Polar Bears International<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; find facts and updated information about polar bears and their environment. Consider sharing a link to the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/polarbearsinternational.org\/story\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Polar Bear Basics Story<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as a fact-finding journey for students.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/zoo.sandiegozoo.org\/cams\/polar-cam\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">San Diego Zoo Polar Bear Cam<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; unfortunately, it isn\u2019t very easy to observe polar bears in their natural environment; however, the zoo webcam lets us take a peek into the activities of polar bears. After viewing the webcam, browse the links on the page to learn more about the use of technology to track and monitor animals in the wild.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crafts and Experiments:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/littlebinsforlittlehands.com\/winter-polar-bear-blubber-science-experiment\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Polar Bear Blubber Experiment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; try this hands-on experiment for students to learn how blubber helps animals survive in the arctic. One tip &#8211; when I did this activity in my classroom, there was always one student who was determined to keep their hand in the ice water longer than necessary, keep an eye on this, and set a reasonable time limit so that no one walks away with frostbite!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/littlegiraffes.com\/teaching-ideas\/818\/how-to-make-a-milk-jug-igloo\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make a milk jug igloo<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; a milk jug igloo is just the right touch to use as a reading or writing center and bring an arctic environment to life in your classroom. Here are some things to keep in mind when preparing and building your igloo (found from first-hand experience):<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure to ask students to bring in jugs that have been thoroughly cleaned and dried (they stink if not done correctly). You might even want to set up a cleaning and drying center in your room to be sure the jugs are cleaned out correctly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Igloo building provides several opportunities to explore math concepts. As you build the igloo, ask students to predict how many jugs it will take, find the diameter of your igloo, or have older students estimate the cost of all of the gallons of milk purchased.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu\/issue\/polar-festivals\/hands-on-science-activities-for-your-polar-festival\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hands-on Science Activities for Your Polar Festival<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; browse through the many ideas found on this site. Learn how to create salt dough maps of the arctic, experiment with melting ice cubes, or try to float an iceberg.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s take a look at how this might look when put together for your students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Complete activities in centers throughout the day.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use Choice Boards or another option to allow students to pick and choose information based on their interests.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wke.lt\/w\/s\/bZVcWz\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This Wakelet collection<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> provides a look at how to offer student options. Add a text box at the beginning of a collection to give details on student choices and expectations, then add any links needed for students to complete their activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bookcreator.com\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Book Creator<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.teachersfirst.com\/single.cfm?id=17988\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TeachersFirst review<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and have students create a digital book sharing their learning. Book Creator offers many options for personalizing ebooks, including adding video, audio, text, and links. It is an excellent way for students to share their learning in a very personal way. Use this<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bookcreator.com\/2015\/05\/penguin-research-gone-digital\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">penguin research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> example as a guide to get started.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/flipgrid.com\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Flipgrid<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.teachersfirst.com\/single.cfm?id=17677\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TeachersFirst review<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) to pose open-ended response questions. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/admin.flipgrid.com\/manage\/discovery\/4513\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This grid<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> asks students to respond to the question of who would win in a polar bear vs. grizzly bear conflict.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make it easy for students to find online resources used during your Polar Bear Day activities by curating them in one place and sharing the link on classroom devices. Share the link on your class website so that they have the opportunity to look at them further at home. As an example, this<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wke.lt\/w\/s\/tyyfXA\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wakelet collection<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> contains all of the resources shared on this blog.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What could be more fun than spending a day learning about polar bears? Providing student choice and engaging them through hands-on learning is a sure formula for success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is your favorite activity for learning about polar bears and animals? Perhaps you have engaged students with changing the classroom environment as part of your lesson. We would love for you to share your ideas with our readers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>February 27 is International Polar Bear Day. This day offers an opportunity to pay attention to polar bears and the dangers they face due to climate warming. It is also an excellent way to engage students with real-world connections to animals, climate, environment, habitats, and more.\u00a0 One way to engage students in learning is by &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/international-polar-bear-day\/\" class=\"more-link\">read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[173,14,46],"class_list":["post-3321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classroom-application","tag-classroom","tag-edtech","tag-lesson-ideas"],"modified_by":"Karen Streeter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3321"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3408,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321\/revisions\/3408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}