Tonight at 7pm EST we’re having an online chat in the TappedIn online learning community - http://tappedin.org. We’ll be working our way through the January 2009 issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears online magazine. If you can’t join us, you can still take “our tour” below. We meet the first Thursday of each month - hope you can join us in February when we discuss the Arctic and Antarctic Birds issue.What is a mammal? And what kinds of mammals live in the polar regions? This issue, co-produced with the American Museum of Natural History, explores the mammals of the polar regions and the adaptations that help them survive in harsh environments.

Let’s go to the January issue:

http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/index.php?date=January2009

You’ll see that we have five departments and then columns within each department. By the way – all issues are laid out the same way.

Let’s go to the department Professional Learning and click on the Science Content Knowledge link – you’ll get to the article “What Is a Mammal? Answers from Ross MacPhee.” (http://tinyurl.com/9ajotl)

This article is based on an interview with Ross MacPhee, a researcher and curator at the American Museum of Natural History. Take a minute to scan the article. Do you see anything interesting?

We’ll come back to the Professional Learning department in a bit. First, let’s learn about MacPhee’s research.

Go back to the issue page:

http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/index.php?date=January2009

and go to the In the Field: Scientists at Work department. Click on the Researcher Stories link – you’ll get to the article “What Killed the Mammoths? Ross MacPhee Looks for Answers.” (http://tinyurl.com/868taj) Take a minute to skim this article. In MacPhee’s opinion, what killed the woolly mammoths?

Now let’s click on the column “Misconceptions” in the Professional Learning department. (http://tinyurl.com/9×4zvz)

Scroll down to the misconceptions about Polar Mammals. Have you heard any of these before?

Of course, we also have lessons to use with your students. Let’s take a look at the “Lessons and Activities” article in the Science and Literacy department (http://tinyurl.com/8z76bu). Spend a few minutes looking at the breadth of activities – then report back on one that you find interesting.

We also have a bookshelf in the Science and Literacy department (http://tinyurl.com/9jsk6u). Are you familiar with any of these titles?

We also write our own informational texts for K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 students that go along with the theme of each issue of the magazine. They come in text, illustrated, and electronic versions. When you click on the Feature Story link (http://tinyurl.com/87ej8o) and scroll through the document, you’ll see the text of the feature story, illustrated and printable versions, and then electronic versions of the story.

Our Feature Story, “White Wolf,” introduces students to the life of an arctic wolf. Associated templates at the end of the article help you assess students’ listening comprehension skills. Learn more about listening comprehension in the Literacy Content Knowledge article in the Professional Learning department (http://tinyurl.com/8n8gxp).

All the informational texts can be found by clicking on the Stories for Students link in the header - http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/information.php?topic=stories. Click on the link and look a few of the stories. Which ones do you think your students would like?

Go back to the January issue page:

http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/index.php?date=January2009

and spend a few minutes looking at the other columns that we didn’t go to.

You can see that there is a lot of other content that we didn’t cover! Hope you enjoy exploring the rest of the issue.