International Polar Bear Day

What an exciting week in our classroom! 

 Our learners have been asking lots of questions. We have been continuing to build our knowledge about polar bears through researching and watching videos. We sent some of our artwork to Polar Bears International and they invited us to join them for International Polar Bear Day. Our learners wondered what this was, so we began to explore their website for more information.
http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/our-work/international-polar-bear-day
We realized it was about saving the polar bears because their habitat is changing and the ice is melting. Throughout the week, we investigated what this meant and what we can do to help. They created signs to help other people in the school learn about 'Polar Bear Day'.

Our classroom door so people walking by would see our posters.

 

This picture book taught us about the concept of 'Global Warming' and ways we can help prevent climate change

 The students were inspired by the polar bears in the book to make signs to tell people about what is happening to the polar bears.

When Polar Bear Day finally arrived, our learners were so excited! We did many things in class to celebrate the day. We saved energy throughout the day by keeping our lights and computers off. Students brought their stuffed animals and we had a story at the 'campfire'.

Writing about their stuffed animals

A.S had a polar bear sweater and sutffies!

C.M's polar bear pyjamas 

Polar Bear crafts 

To encourage other students and teachers to help save the polar bears, our learners created presentations in small groups to share with other classes. They worked incredibly hard to write their script, practice and them present. We are SO proud of them!

Here are their presentations:

A.A- what is special about today?

I.S- it is polar bear day

E.B- ice is nice. Ice is melting

M.R- don’t make garbage 

C.M- walk instead of the car

E.W- it’s polar bear day

L.R- how do we save the polar bears?

A.P- stop polluting

M.S- the people can help 

Y.M- save the polar bears

 M.F- did you know it is polar bear day?

M.L- what is polar bear day?

N.B- it is a day to save the polar bears

I.D- turn off lights when you are not using them

M.F- and we can plant trees

M.L- don’t cut down trees

                                                                                                        N.B- and turn off TV

J.T- today is polar bear day

E.B- you can help the polar bears

J.T- how?

I.L- plant some trees

H.W- turn off lights

E.B- save the polar bears

H.W- the ice is melting

 A.S- save the polar bears

J.C- turn off the lights

M.A- turn off the computer

A.H- the ice is melting so turn off everything you’re not using

D.M- polar bears are losing their food so we need to five them some food

J.C- ice is nice!

A.R- what can we do to save the polar bears?

D.A- turn off the lights

L.L- plant more trees

U.M- make no garbage

J.B- take the subway instead of driving

D.A- turn off the tap when you don’t need it

A.R- take a train

They then presented to our class and the other kindergarten classes. They will be presenting to some of the primary and junior classes this coming week.

We really hope you'll take some time to look into the plight of the polar bears and do your part to reduce pollution and energy waste. 

Save the polar bears!

Non-Fiction Text Features

A broad experience with a variety of stories, informational books, and poetry is fundamental to children's continuing growth in reading and writing.

- Martinez & Teale (1988)

During small group lessons, we have been reading non-fiction books and noticing the different features they have. We found lots of features that help us learn information. As a group we created a list of all the different text features we found. We also found out that not all non-fiction books have each feature in it, the author chooses which feature they want to use.

We used this information to then make our own non-fiction books about animals from our animal inquiry. We have been wondering about these animals and learning lots of information. This small group gathered information and put it into a book to teach the rest of the class.

Students worked in pairs to brainstorm information about their animal (giraffe, polar bear and squirrel).

They then began to add the information into a book, using some text features we learned about.

It was so wonderful to watch the students eagerly search out new information or share what they already knew. They talked with their partner to share ideas about organizing their information and what needed to be in the table of contents. We were so impressed with their conversations, research skills, writing skills and imaginations that we thought we would share their books. We hope you learn something from these books, we know we sure have!

All About Giraffes by J.C.

All About Giraffes by D.M.

All About Squirrels by A.A.

All About Giraffes by A.R.

All About Polar Bears by I.D.

All About Polar Bears by L.L.

All About Squirrels by A.R.