Polar News and Notes Reading

Three of the Web Seminars scheduled by the National Science Teachers Association in May will offer teachers at all grade levels an opportunity to enrich their teaching about the polar regions. Each seminar is presented at 6:30 p.m. on its scheduled date and lasts for 90 minutes. Participation is free.
Presenters for the two-part seminars on […]

Our second issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine contains several articles to help you include expository text in your reading instruction, support struggling readers, integrate children’s literature, and assess student misconceptions. Interested? Check out the following highlights from this month’s issue:
Expository articles for students
This month’s feature story, “Dinos in the Dark,” discusses […]

April is National Poetry Month – a perfect time to incorporate this engaging and enjoyable form of literature into your science classroom! We’ve suggested science poetry before, including writing diamante poems after viewing webcam images of polar animals and locations and “Where I’m From” poems. Haiku and acrostic poems are also popular in elementary school […]

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 “Learning From the Polar Past” and provides […]

March 20 is Sun-Earth Day 2008, an annual event scheduled on or near the date of the spring equinox. It is sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to engage K-12 schools and the public in space science activities and interactions with space scientists.
This year’s theme is Space Weather Around the World. […]

 Photo courtesy of Travis S., subject to a Creative Commons license
Did you know that Saturday, March 1, marks the ceremonial start to the 36th Iditarod?
Known as the “Last Great Race,” the Iditarod is a race across the beautiful yet rough terrain of Alaska. Covering more than 1,150 miles, mushers and their dogs cross frozen rivers, […]

NEA’s Read Across America Day is almost here, and teachers and students across the country are busy making plans to join the nation’s largest reading celebration on March 3, 2008. One teacher is doing it up in a big way – she is sponsoring an online collaborative project where students from across the country and […]

Photo taken at Lake Bonney in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, by Carol Landis, subject to a Creative Commons license

Did you know that Antarctica was once a warm place? It is hard to imagine, but millions of years ago, the coldest, driest, and windiest place on earth was actually ice-free and inhabited by trees, plants, dinosaurs, and […]

photo taken by batintherain; subject to a Creative Commons license
Did you know that while the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by continents, Antarctica is a continent surrounded by oceans? While this sounds like a simple play on words, it represents a profound difference in the geography, climate, and ecology of the two regions.
Did you […]

A photograph by Spiritwood Images; subject to a Creative Commons license
Did you know that polar bears live only in the Arctic? Many people wonder why polar bears don’t eat penguins, another animal popularly associated with the poles. In fact, these two animals live at the opposite ends of the earth! The giant marine mammals […]