Investigating Polar Regions Using a KWL Chart

We'll be investigating polar regions this month.  We started by creating a KWL chart together.  We filled in what E Knows about polar animals as well as what we Wanted to learn.  We took the opportunity to practice shared writing as E wrote the words she could sound out herself like "fish."

Not everything she stated for the know column was accurate, but that will be discovered as we complete the unit of study.  We will add what we Learn as we work.

One of the questions E asked was, "Do polar bears like the cold?"  We found a educational video clip on YouTube that said the polar bears are happiest in the winter because as the water freezes they have more surface area to walk on.

To investigate this concept, we used our sink to create an arctic ice simulation!  The sink surface represented the land, the water the ocean, and the colored ice we made was the frozen parts of the ocean or icebergs.

We discussed how ice floats.  E had the polar bear swim from the land to the frozen pieces.  We talked about how the polar bear would climb out of the water to balance on the ice.

E was inspired to draw a polar region mural independently.  We will continue to learn about polar animals, including penguins, in the weeks to come!  We'll be gathering resources to answer more of our KWL Chart questions at our local library next week.

This post is part of the Saturday Science Blog Hop!

Check out these other Saturday Science posts:

Snow Melting Science Experiment from Little Bins for Little Hands

Melting Icebergs from Stir the Wonder