I love teaching students how to gather information from non-fiction books. One of my favorite ways to do this is by learning about animals. Polar Bears are the perfect animal to learn about in winter. Here are some of the activities we did in my classroom and in the home school setting.
First, you have to gather some non-fiction books from your school or local library. You can also find information ALL over the internet. Just google kid friendly videos on _____ (whatever you are studying).
Then, I like to use tree maps to help them organize what they learned. These also help them learn how to write a paragraph or a couple sentences and stay on topic.
It's also really nice when your Scholastic reader just happens to be on the same topic! haha
Then, we have to do a craft! But, to justify it, we use it to display our informational writing.
I also love to do thematic math journals. This pic came from a TK class. She doesn't do math journals but she uses my prompts on construction paper. This little friend made theirs 3D-- I seriously LOVE the creativity!!!
We practice polar bear sentences. These can be used in a pocket chart or just like this mom did for home school.
Searching for Letters.
Practicing some Polar Bear addition.
Last but not least, the science experiment!
How in the world do Polar Bears not freeze?!?!
Because of all that blubber!
Kids love this experiment. It can be placed in their science journals or simply filled out and sent home.
You can find all of these fun activities in my Polar Bear unit!
Thanks for stopping by!
