Polar Bear Project

Today we had a special visitor named Mr. Mckiel. He is a coordinator in our school division and he knows a lot about Polar Bears.

Last year he was able to spend a whole week in Churchill observing and learning about Polar Bears. He wrote about his adventure on a blog called "Chilling with Nanuq."

After showing us his photos and answering a lot of questions, he helped us with a very special project.  It's not ready yet but we can give you a hint.

It involves a green screen.....


Stay posted for updates!

Blubber!

We have been learning all about Polar Bears. We have been reading books, looking at photos and watching a live polar bear cam.

Today we learned that polar bears, and many other arctic animals, have blubber to keep them warm and help them float easily in the water.

We got to try out the blubber by sticking our hand inside a special glove made from two Ziplock bags with Crisco in between. We called it the "Blubber Glove."

We put both of our hands, one with the glove and one without, into a tub of icy water.  It was surprising how warm our hand with the glove was.

Polar Bears and Penguins

Today was an exciting day. The students stayed in the classroom during lunch to watch the penguins at the California Science Academy eat their lunch.

We were all sad that the audio wasn't working on their end but it was fun to see the penguins eating and interacting with the scientists.


In the afternoon Mr. Mckiel came to talk to us about his experience with polar bears.

I was so impressed with the connections students made between penguins and polar bears. Tomorrow we will be talking more about the differences and similarities between these two beautiful animals.

Polar Bears Part 1

This week we have been learning a lot about the Polar Bears in Churchill.  Today we talked on Skype with BJ from Polar Bears International while he was on a Tundra Buggy!

He answered all of our questions about Polar Bears and even showed us what the Tundra Buggy looks like on the inside.

Mr. McKiel came to hang out too.  He's the guy who gave us the stick bugs. He's also a Coordinator of Curriculum for the St. James School Division.

Tomorrow Mrs. Lowe will be going to Churchill to see the polar bears. We are hoping to talk to her on Skype from our classroom. 

We found a tiny polar bear in our classroom!