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 February 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 March when we discuss the Polar Plants issue. 

Sure, you’ve heard of emperor penguins…but what about giant petrels, skuas, or sanderlings? This issue, co-produced with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, explores the amazing birds that live in or migrate to the polar regions.

Let’s go to the February issue (http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/index.php?date=February2009). 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 “How Do Birds Stay Warm?” (http://tinyurl.com/aauygy)

This article discusses the adaptations that help birds survive in cold weather. 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 two researchers recording bird sounds in the high Arctic.

Go back to the issue page (http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/index.php?date=February2009) and go to the In the Field: Scientists at Work department. Click on the Researcher Stories link – you’ll get to the article “Nunavut, Canada: The Sounds and the Silence.” (http://tinyurl.com/bxolsg) Take a minute to skim the article. What type of bird were Gerrit and Martha trying to record?

You can hear some of Gerrit and Martha’s recordings in this month’s podcast in the Professional Learning department. (http://tinyurl.com/dejo7n). We are now creating a new episode each month to accompany the current issue. You can see all three of our episodes on the new podcast index page in the header. (http://tinyurl.com/d3xtpu)

Which podcast episode most interests you? How might you use this new feature?

Now let’s click on the column “Misconceptions” in the Professional Learning department. (http://tinyurl.com/dbc4df)

Scroll down to the misconceptions about Bird Behavior. 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/df5vr9). Spend a few minutes looking at the breadth of activities – then report back on one that you find interesting.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology also offers many citizen-science projects. We have an article about using these projects to promote inquiry-based learning in your classroom. Let’s take a look at “Kids Becoming Scientists through Schoolyard Inquiry” in the Professional Learning department. (http://tinyurl.com/blh4xf)

Take a minute to skim the article. Can you see using one of these projects in your classroom?

We also have a bookshelf in the Science and Literacy department (http://tinyurl.com/baefuk). 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/asodyo) 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, “The Dance of Life,” introduces students to the sanderling, a bird that migrates to the Arctic to breed during the spring and summer. As associated template at the end of the article helps students practice questioning techniques. Learn more about questioning in the Literacy Content Knowledge article in the Professional Learning department (http://tinyurl.com/ahvau2).

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 February issue page (http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/index.php?date=February2009) 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.