Teacher sheet · Ages 6–7 · about 45–50 minutes
Brrr! The coldest places on Earth
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/polar-regions/ages-6-7/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/polar-regions/ages-6-7/print/
Learning aims
- The Arctic is in the north, Antarctica in the south.
- The Arctic is a frozen ocean; Antarctica is land covered in ice.
- The poles are cold; summers have constant daylight and winters long darkness.
- Polar bears (Arctic) and penguins (Antarctica) have ways to stay warm.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Starter: find the top and the bottom of a globe. Which animals live there? |
| 10 min | Read the text; act out a penguin huddle in the classroom. |
| 15 min | Blubber glove experiment. |
| 5 min | North or south? game. |
| 5 min | Quiz. |
| 10 min | Worksheet drawing. |
Materials for the experiment
- Four zip-lock sandwich bags
- Vegetable shortening (solid cooking fat), about 4 big spoons
- A spoon
- A bowl of cold water with ice cubes
- Paper towels
- A timer
Safety: Keep hands in the ice water for no more than 10–15 seconds; stop if it hurts. Check for food allergies first. The adult handles the fat. Mop up spills so no one slips, and wash hands afterwards.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| Polar bears and penguins live together. | Polar bears live in the Arctic in the north; the penguins in this lesson live in Antarctica in the far south. |
| The North Pole is on land. | The Arctic is mostly frozen ocean; Antarctica is the land. |
| Polar bears have white skin. | Their skin is black; their clear hairs make the fur look white. |
Worksheet answers
- A drawing of a polar bear with fur and fat, or penguins standing close together in a huddle.
- Land.
- The hand in the blubber glove.
Quiz answers
- Where do polar bears live? In the Arctic. Polar bears live on the Arctic sea ice and coasts.[8]
- What is Antarctica? A huge land covered in thick ice. It is a continent under an ice sheet with ocean all around.[1][5]
- What keeps a polar bear warm? Thick fat and fur. It has blubber and two layers of fur.[8]
- Why do emperor penguins stand close together? To keep warm. A huddle keeps them warm in the cold.[10]
- What is summer like near the North Pole? Light all day and all night. The Sun does not go down in summer.[3]
Going further
Make a class 'midnight sun' clock: draw a day in summer at the North Pole with the Sun shown at every hour.
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] How does Antarctic sea ice differ from Arctic sea ice? (National Snow and Ice Data Center (University of Colorado Boulder)): reliability High
- [2] Why sea ice matters (National Snow and Ice Data Center (University of Colorado Boulder)): reliability High
- [3] Science of Arctic weather and climate (National Snow and Ice Data Center (University of Colorado Boulder)): reliability High
- [4] Arctic Circle (Encyclopaedia Britannica): reliability High
- [5] Antarctic factsheet and geographical statistics (British Antarctic Survey (UK Government Web Archive copy)): reliability High
- [7] Sea ice (NASA Earth Observatory): reliability High
- [8] Polar bear (OLogy card) (American Museum of Natural History): reliability High
- [9] From penguins to polar bears (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Oceanus magazine)): reliability High
- [10] Penguin huddle makes waves (Australian Antarctic Division (Australian Government)): reliability High
Full list with links and a note on each source's reliability: echoesof.science/school/polar-regions/sources/
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