Polar Animals ~ Sweden and the Minke Whale

I think that the other ladies have already concluded their units on Polar Animals, but we started a week late and had just a little more we wanted to accomplish before we finished. This week we wrapped up our study by learning about Sweden and the Minke Whale.

Before starting, we tied up some loose ends by editing and revising our information paragraphs on the Snowy Owl as part of our WriteShop Primary Book A lesson. These paragraphs were written off of a story web created by the kids.

The Snowy Owl

by Brynne

We saw snowy owls at the zoo. My owl has yellow eyes. 

The owl looks at me. The male snowy owl is all white to 

blend into the sky and snow. At the zoo, they make it 

really cold so the snowy owl can live. I am so glad to have a 

snowy owl at the zoo.

The Snowy Owl

by Eli

Snowy owls are the snowiest creatures on Earth. 

The male snowy owl is all white. Males need to blend 

into the sky and snow. The owls have sharp claws 

to swoop down and get food and for protection. 

Snowy owls are Arctic animals.

We took a two-day break from our current read-aloud to read Snowshoe the Hare by Kathryn White and Ruth Rivers. It was a fun book about how snowshoe hares turn white in the winter to camouflage themselves.

We colored the Swedish flag and read facts about Sweden. The video on the National Geographic website was about the Sami people, which was very interesting.

Then we read a small book called My World of Animals: Whales by Frences E. Ruffin. Although it wasn't about Polar whales, it did give good general facts about whales. (With our limited library, I just take what I can get.)

We read specific facts about the minke whale, we played a whale migration animated game (this was a really fun and educational game!!), and did the ever-fun blubber experiment.

Finally, for art we completed an "Under the Sea" drawing of whales from Deep Space Sparkle (love that site!).

Eli, well, doesn't enjoy art much. So his drawings are usually fairly simple.

I like how Brynne added the baleen of the whale without even being instructed.

And that concludes our study of Polar Animals and the Polar regions where they live. This has been a fun study for us and we enjoyed our time collaborating with The Usual Mayhem, No Doubt Learning, Montessori Tidbits, and Childhood Beckons.

You can click on the Polar Animals tag below to read all of my posts from this unit.