Teacher’s Guide | Polar Bear Horizon 1

Teacher’s Guide

Polar Bear Horizon by Janet HalfmannOceanic Collection

It's early spring at the top of the world and snow stretches to the horizon and beyond. Polar Bear and her two cubs are growing hungry after spending the cold winter months in their den. When they emerge, Polar Bear checks for danger and waits for the cubs to acclimate to the ice. Learn about their long and dangerous journey to sea as this arctic adventure unfolds. How will Polar Bear find food and protect her hungry cubs?

Content Area: Life Science • Grade Levels: Pre-K to 3

Tap Prior Knowledge

• What do you already know about polar bears?

• Where do they live? • Is there anything special

about where they live?• What do they look like?• What do you think they eat?

Check For Understanding

• What’s special about where the polar bears live?

• Why do polar bears have blubber and white fur and pads on their feet?

• How do those things help the polar bears in their environment?

Summarize Learning

• What did you notice about the polar bear?

• What did you notice about its habitat?

• What surprised you about the polar bear?

• What questions do you still have?

Key Vocabulary: environment, mammal, Arctic, den, North Pole, northern lights, breathing hole, cub, directions (north, south, east, west), seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall)

Core Concepts: Habitats, Life Cycles, Adaptations, Seasons, Predators/Prey, Conservation

Pre-, Formative, and Summative Assessment Questions: These questions can be used as starter questions during the launch, explore, and summary phases of your lesson to help students connect with big ideas. Record students’ answers on class anchor or KWL (Know/Wondering/Learned) charts.

Make Connections: Work with students to generate a class venn diagram to compare and contrast polar bears with themselves. Talk about their habitats, their life cycles, their adaptations, and what they do that’s similar or different to what polar bears do in their environment. Students can write compare/contrast statements to describe how they compare to a polar bear.

Teacher’s Guide | Polar Bear Horizon 2

Content Area Crossover: Polar Bear Horizon provides young learners with an introduction to polar bears and the core concepts of life science. It can also be used to teach, reinforce, and assess objectives in other content areas.

Science, Reading, & English-Language Development:

• Phonics & Word Recognition: Reinforce awareness of common sight words and new vocabulary using the app’s tap word features. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3c

• Fluency & Speaking: Use the Read It Myself and Record & Share features together as a center activity to measure students’ fluency. Have students read sentences or full pages depending on age/ability. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.4, 2.4, and 3.4; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.5 and 3.5

• Reading to Learn: Read other Smithsonian book apps with students and compare/contrast polar bears and their habitat, life cycle, and adaptations with that of other animals. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.9, 1.9, 2.9, and 3.9

Science & Math:

• Measurement & Data: Use Google Maps or Google Earth to locate and explore where polar bears live. Work with students to estimate and accurately measure how far the polar bears’ homes are from your school. CCSS.Math.Content.2.MD.A.3

Science & Social Studies:

• Conservation & Social Responsibility: Polar bears are listed as “threatened” by the endangered species list. Encourage students to research what’s threatening them and what can be done to protect them. Use new media (blogs, Twitter, Pinterest, Wikis, etc) to gather text and images that advocate for the conservation of polar bears.

Science & Art:

• Make a Movie: Using the images and graphics you gathered during your conservation activity, make a mini documentary or public service announcement about protecting polar bears. Using your mobile device’s camera, record your students relating facts about the polar bear and ways to protect it, then edit the footage and share the movie online through Youtube, Vimeo, and Twitter.

Extend the Learning:

• Interview an Expert: Have students brainstorm more questions about polar bears and enlist their help in drafting an email to an expert on polar bears in order to invite him/her to do a video conference with your class via video chat (Skype, FaceTime, or Google Chat). Students can interview the expert to learn more about the polar bear, their habitats, adaptations, and life cycles, as well as how to protect them.

Related omBook Apps:

L to R: Penguin’s Family, Otter on His Own, Alligator at Saw Grass Road, Whale of a Tale, Ice is Nice