Polar News and Notes Lesssons and activities

Would you like to add some real-time data to your penguin unit this year? Thanks to education outreach resources from an Antarctic research team, you can!
Dr. David Ainley studies Adelie penguin populations in Antarctica. His long term research of 30 years has recently shown indication of the penguin populations reacting to climate change. His web […]

September 24 will be the officially designated Sixth International Polar Day. Polar days are held every three months during the two-year-long scientific program focused on the poles, the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY). The days are occasions for schools, science centers, and museums to engage their audiences in learning about the importance of the poles […]

Interested in integrating science and literacy? Need to find quality children’s literature and expository text to use in your classroom? Check out the Science and Literacy department in Issue 4 of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears - Weather and Climate: From Home to the Poles!
In this issue:
Learn about how hands-on science can assist in vocabulary […]

Tuesday, May 27 was the first of five scheduled Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears web seminars. The free, online seminars are run through a partnership between the National Science Digital Library and the National Science Teachers’ Association. 47 educators participated, representing a wide variety of geographic locations (across the U.S. and even Sydney, Australia!), teaching […]

The National Science Teachers Association in partnership with the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) are showcasing the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears magazine in the next free web seminar in the NSDL series:
Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears Series
Integrating Science and Literacy for the K-5 Classroom
Seminar 1: Polar Geography
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
6:30pm-8:00pm Eastern Time

NSTA Web Seminars […]

Interested in integrating science and literacy? Need to find quality children’s literature and expository text to use in your classroom? Check out Issue 3 of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears - Polar Patterns: Day, Night, and Seasons!
In this issue:
Learn about cause and effect relationships and strategies to help your students master this difficult concept.
Integrate literacy […]

Interested in teaching your students about patterns found in seasons and day and night? Check out Issue 3 of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears - Polar Patterns, Day, Night, and Seasons!
In this issue:
Learn more about seasons and discover sites to develop your own content knowledge.
Find integrated science and literacy lessons to use in your classroom.
Learn […]

The northern lights over Kulusuk, a small island on the east coast of Greenland. Photo courtesy of Nick Russill and subject to a Creative Commons license.
Want to learn more about the northern and southern lights - the aurora? Look to Issue 3 of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears - Polar Patterns, Day, Night, and Seasons!
In […]

A new month brings a new issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine! The online magazine is written for elementary teachers to help develop their content knowledge of the polar regions and use best practices in integrating science and literacy instruction. Our second issue is called “Polar Patterns: Day, Night, and Seasons” and […]

Meet Pierre 
A recent news article profiled Pierre, a 25 year-old African penguin at the Academy of Sciences. Biologists became concerned when Pierre, who was going bald, refused to swim in the penguin tank and shivered on the sidelines instead. Unlike polar bears, seals, and other marine mammals, penguins do not have an insulating layer of […]