Polar Habitats in Kindegarten

I admit this post is a little tardy to the party, but I really wanted to share with you all the fun we have been having.  I had part of it started a few weeks ago, but well, things like being sick got in the way of me finishing it.  So here it is.  Hopefully you can find something useful  in it or pin it for next year.

It seems like most kindergartens study polar habitats in January.  In my classroom we did too.  We started off the new year learning all about penguins and will be finishing up this week polar bears. We have read quite a few fabulous books.  I am amazed at all the facts my students can remember.

I bought Penguins, Penguins Everywhere last month  from Scholastic.  I did just find it on their site now for only $1. Not sure if this is a special sale or what, but $1.

I purchased Ice Bear with the audio from Amazon.  My kids loved hearing the bears in the background.

To show my kids how certain animals  survive freezing temperatures due to their blubber, we tried a little experiment.  We used some shortening,  two ziplock bags and duct tape.  To make the blubber bag, I first put shortening into a large ziplock bag.  Next I turned the second ziplock bag inside out and pressed the seal seams together.  To make sure nothing escaped I sealed the edges with duct tape.

Next came the testing it out with the kids.  First they put their hand into a ziplock bag  and then into a bucket ice water.  Then we tried it with cotton balls sealed between two bags.  Their hands were a little warmer, but they could still feel the coolness of the water.  Last they tried the blubber bag.  Most students said they couldn't feel the cold water at all.  

We learned a lot about penguins and how the father is the caregiver of the eggs.  We even practiced waddling about in a huddle with our own eggs.

I also used two fabulous units created by my sweet blogger friend Deanna Jump.  There was so much information packed into these things that it took several weeks to get through both of them 

To show off our knowledge we've been writing this week about polar bears, but I forgot to take photos of their writing.  I'll try to remember tomorrow so I can post them.

Today was our 100th day and this girl is tired, BUT I really wanted to finish this post to share all the fun we have been having.