Read Aloud Polar Bear Nonfiction Books

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Nonfiction Polar Bear Books

My last post was focused on polar bear fiction books and included a variety of activities to go with them, so today I’m going to share some nonfiction titles that make good read-alouds.  Criteria for inclusion in this list includes narrative style with nonfiction text features, large format for group sharing, and of course plentiful facts for learning!

Day in the Life of a Polar Bear  A Day in the Life of a Polar Bear – by Sharon Katz Cooper
Follows a mother polar bear throughout her day with her cubs as they hunt for food, swim, play, bathe, and go to sleep.

I like this book because it includes action-packed photos that actually relate to the information being shared, rather than just stock photos of random polar bears walking around.  The text is quite child-friendly and lends itself to a chronological retelling by students (perhaps even using a Judy clock to reinforce the skill of telling time).  Includes a “Polar Bear Lifecycle” diagram and some critical thinking questions.

Do You Really Want to Meet a Polar bear  Do You Really Want to Meet a Polar Bear – written by Marcie Aboff, illustrated by Daniele Fabbri
The hero of our story, a bored student researcher, decides to visit the Arctic and learn about polar bears firsthand.

This book (which is part of a series that includes a dozen other animals) is a great introduction to an animal research project, and presents a perfect opportunity to compare primary and secondary information sources.  It’s also told in the second person, addressing the listening audience directly.  The author includes a collection of simple facts, along with a glossary and a bibliography of additional books and websites for curious readers.

Polar Bears Hunters  Polar Bears: Hunters of the Snow and Ice – by Elaine Landau
Learn all about the life of a polar bear, including its characteristics, habitat, diet, mating season, and threats to its way of life.

The text in this book is a little more dense than the previous two, but it’s still relayed in a second-person conversational style that will grab listeners’ attention and put them in the center of the action.  Most of the photos are large and clear (although the book itself is not oversized) and there are a few nice closeups of the clawed paw and hollow fur.  The author includes a page of fun facts about polar bears, along with a glossary and a bibliography of additional books and websites for further exploration.

A Polar Bear's World  A Polar Bear’s World – by Caroline Arnold
Find out what happens in a polar bear’s world when mother and her two cubs venture from their warm den into the Arctic  world.

Physically, this is the largest of these four books, measuring almost 11″ x 11″ and it features cut-paper illustrations (versus photos) that are easily seen in a group setting.  The main story is told in narrative fashion, with caption boxes providing additional facts and statistics on each page, and follows a mother and her cubs for the first two years of their lives.  Labeled illustrations of other arctic animals the bears encounter are included, although no other information about them is provided.  The author does include a map of their native habitat, a list of polar bear fun facts, and a glossary.  The author also shares a variety of follow-up activities for her books on her website.

If you have a favorite nonfiction polar book to use with students, I hope you’ll share it in the comments!

 

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Polar Bear Books and Activities for Learning in the Library

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Polar Bear Fiction Books

We haven’t had any snow (yet) this year, but that won’t stop us from enjoying some polar bear fun in the library!  After all, February 27 is International Polar Bear Day and these animals need our help.  Polar bears happen to be one of my all-time favorite animals, thanks in part to the amazing polar bear exhibit we used to have at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC.  There was an underwater viewing window in their habitat where I would gaze completely enthralled at the playful bears, just longing to swim with them.  That exhibit closed long ago, so now I have to settle for tuning into a polar bear zoo cam.  (I’ve included links to a few at the end of this post.)

Polar bear live cam image

In the meantime, I can enjoy sharing polar bear books like these with my students:

The Bear Report  The Bear Report – written and Illustrated by Thyra Heder
Sophie seems a little bored by the polar bears she’s supposed to be reporting on, but when one (named Olafur) appears and takes her on a tour of his home she becomes a big fan. Includes an author’s note about her trip to Iceland.  And may I say, I really love these light-infused illustrations!

It’s obvious that this book makes a great introduction to a unit on researching and writing about animals, and the idea of Sophie taking a tour of a polar bear habitat provides a natural introduction to using videos as information sources in addition to using print resources.  Along with presenting facts (in narrative style) about polar bears, this book also touches on whales, seals, arctic foxes, and glacier mice as well, which makes it a good segue story into other polar animals.  And there’s also a mention of the northern lights, which would make a perfect prompt for a watercolor project.

You can also share a video school visit presentation by the author.

  You’re Snug With Me – written by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Poonam Mistry
A mother bear has given birth to two cubs, and as they snuggle cozily together she shares a lyrical description of what the world is like beyond their warm den.  Try to use a document camera or ebook version of this story when sharing with students, because the dazzlingly intricate illustrations deserve close-up examination.

As someone who enjoys zentangle and mandala drawing myself, I was immediately inspired to pick up a pen and create some drawings of my own, so I searched out some line-drawing clip art of polar animals to give my students so they could try some patterns themselves.  If your kids don’t have time to draw their own patterns, Teaching Books has some coloring sheets available for download.  The author also provides some activities on her website.

Note there are two other gorgeous books in this series: You’re Safe with Me about a mama elephant, and You’re Strong with Me about a mother giraffe.

Hush Little Polar Bear  Hush Little Polar Bear – written and illustrated by Jeff Mack
Follow a little polar bear through his dreams to places anyone would love to visit: the beach, the farm, a waterfall, the jungle, and more until finally he drifts into the home of a sleeping girl who dreaming of polar bear travels herself.

The rhyme scheme of this book totally lends itself to singing the words (to the tune of Hush Little Baby), although it’s a bit long for a performance.  Naturally it makes a wonderful bedtime book to send home with your younger students, and it would make a sweet bedtime song.  You can find instrumental versions of the song on YouTube.

I like to use this book as the basis for an art exercise, where I read the words to the students but I don’t show them the pictures.  Students then either activate prior knowledge about the locations in the story or use their research skills to find out about them.  They then create their own illustrations to share with the class.

Three Snow Bears  The Three Snow Bears – written and illustrated by Jan Brett
A retelling of the Goldilocks story substituting polar bears for woodland bears, Brett incorporates elements of the Inuit lifestyle into this entertaining story.  As we enjoy the tale of Aloo-ki investigating the bears’ igloo and then getting caught by them, we also follow the story of the bears’ day out as well as the adventure her own huskies have when they float out to see on a loose patch of ice.

This is another book that students will want to get a good look at, as the drawings in the margins are rather small, so a document camera or a small-group setting would be best.

Brett always scrupulously researches clothing when she’s drawing characters from other cultures, and the designs she used in this book can be compared to the Indian patterns in You’re Snug With Me.  For this book she traveled to Iqualuit, capital of the Nunavut Territory in northern Canada, to meet and learn about the Inuit people. Read her newsletter to learn more about how she prepared to write this book.

This makes a great addition to a fairy tale comparison unit, but it’s also a fun stand-alone story.  You could also compare it to similar books by Brett, such as Trouble With Trolls (inspired by a trip to Norway), and The Mitten which has a Ukrainian influence.  Or you could contrast it with her Three Little Dassies which features bold African printed clothing, and the Persian folktale The Tale of the Tiger Slippers.

Tomorrow I’ll share some of my favorite nonfiction Polar Bear books.  In the meantime, please share your favorite polar bear books and resources in the comments, and here are the links to the Polar Bear Cams I promised you:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our Librarian Won’t Tell Us Anything!

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I’m putting my 5th graders on notice this week that it’s time to start thinking about being prepared to move on to middle school next year, so they need to step up their game when it comes to library skills.  I want them to be able to walk into their new library next year and know how to use the OPAC, how to use call numbers and library signage to find what they’re looking for, how to choose appropriate sources for research assignments, and how to choose books for pleasure reading.

  Toni Buzzeo has written a great picture book on this very topic that makes a great read-aloud for older students.  Our Librarian Won’t Tell Us Anything tells the story of Robert, the new kid in Mr. Dickinson’s class, Carmen, the disgruntled classmate assigned to accompany him to the library for the first time who warns Robert that their librarian is NOT helpful, and Mrs. Skorupski, who wants all of her patrons to become Library Success Stories.  She makes the most of every “teachable moment” to meet her students at their point of need and show them how to find the answers themselves, whether it’s selecting a useful online article, choosing a project idea, or locating snake books in the nonfiction section.

The ongoing feud between Robert and Carmen (who are assigned to the same research team) adds humor to the story, and things come full circle at the end of the book when Robert is asked to escort the next new student to the library.

After reading the story aloud, I introduce the students to Toni Buzzeo and the real Mrs. Skorupski.  Finally I have my students complete an exit slip so I can see whether they understand what it means to be a Library Success Story.  Isn’t that what we all want for our students?

Helpful Resources

Our Librarian Won’t Tell Us Anything Exit Slip 

Our Librarian Won’t Tell Us Anything Reader’s Theater Script

 

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Creating Spine Poetry

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Until I sat down to create my first book spine poem (a unique poetry form made popular by Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes) I didn’t really know what was involved in creating one.  Now that I’ve written one myself, I’ve learned that there’s more going on with book spine poetry than meets the eye!
I’m sure the creative process is different for everyone, but in my case wandering around the library staring at row after row of titles (my first approach) DID NOT result in a stack of books that formed a poem.

Wandering around the library and catching sight of The Long  Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder did spark the idea for my poem, but once I settled on a topic it took at least a dozen OPAC title searches to come up with a list of 15 or 20 promising books.  (I searched for snow, cold, frozen, winter, snowfall, blizzard, sleet, icy, windy, storm, snowfall, chilly, and spring, and those are just the words I remember looking up.)  Then I went and found each book on the shelf, and finally I arranged and rearranged them to create my poem.

book spine poem

The Long Winter by Lori June
Click to Enlarge

Think about that:  Choose a topic.  Develop a search strategy.  Perform the searches.  Write down the titles and call numbers.  Locate the books on the shelf.  THAT’S AN ENTIRE LIBRARY SKILLS LESSON DISGUISED AS A FUN POETRY WRITING ACTIVITY!  I am getting a jump on National Poetry Month and trying this with my 5th graders this week.  Here are some photos of some of the students stacking and arranging their books:

spinepoetry2      spinepoetry1

Have you done spine poetry with your students?  Please leave me a comment; I’d love to hear about it!

Images:
SML Books / 20090903.10D.52431 / SML‘  Found on flickrcc.net
Bookshelves Elsewhere‘ Found on flickrcc.net

 

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Reflecting on 2014-2015

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I often use this blog as a place to “think on paper” and reflect on different aspects of my job.  As the 2014-2015 school year draws to a close, I’m scratching my head and wondering where the year went!  Robert Browning tells us that our reach should exceed our grasp, so I suppose it’s okay that I had more plans than I was able to implement this year.  But in looking back over the ideas that did come to fruition, here are some of my favorites:

  • Our annual Comic Book Read-In is always a hit with students, and this year I was able to help teachers connect it to the curriculum with my companion workshop Comics in the Classroom.  I went on to share those resources at the S.C. Association of School Librarians conference in March of this year.
    Boys on Beanbags
  • This year I celebrated International Dot Day: Make Your Mark with all of our 5th graders.  I shared the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds on the Promethean board via Tumblebooks, and we discussed the importance of trying new things and giving yourself permission to experiment with new things.  We then used Microsoft Paint to create digital dot art, which I displayed in the library and online.
    Dot Art
  • Our 2nd graders practiced their research skills and their technology skills with our African American Biography Timelines.  They learned how to use Encyclopedia Britannica Elementary (part of the SC DISCUS suite of databases) to gather facts and photos, then synthesized their information into an online timeline using the ReadWriteThink timeline tool.
    Timeline
  • We discovered some budding poets through our Found Poetry project with 4th grade.  We examined various nonfiction print sources to create word banks of important facts, then used the elements of poetry to communicate the information in more lyrical ways.
    Down Deep in the Ocean
  • The Quest teacher asked me to lead an Hour of Code with the gifted and talented students at my school and the other elementary school she serves.  We used a Scratch project, and the kids astounded themselves with their results!  “Wow, I’m really good at this!”  (Those types of comments are music to my ears!)
    scratch animate your name
  • My LOOK! NEW BOOKS! new book preview for teachers this year included a QR Code twist!  Many of the new books on display in the library contained bookmarks with QR codes that teachers could scan to access additional teaching resources for using the books in the classroom.  I created the codes with QR Code Monkey, which I really like because it allows you to upload a logo or photo as part of your code.
    How to Write an Ad QR Code
  • I created several technology tutorials for teachers using the free screencasting tool ScreencastOMatic.  When I can’t provide assistance in person, a screencast video is the next best thing!
    Promethean Timer

What did you try this year that was a hit with students or teachers?  Tell us about it in the comments!

 

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The WWW is Back!

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One of the ways I’ve shared technology with my teachers in the past is to email them a WWW (Weekly Wednesday Website) to share an online resource that might be useful in the classroom.  Starting today I’m resuming those emails, and I’ll be sharing the sites here as well.  I’ve also created an archive of all the sites I’ve shared so far so that teachers can find a particular website without having to search through a list of emails.

Today’s WWW is…

discuskids    DISCUS Kids

The South Carolina State Library provides access to $2.2 million worth of research, reference, and learning resources for students in our state via the DISCUS website.
These resources include:

  • Britannica Elementary (general encyclopedia)
  • BrainPop Jr.  (early elementary lessons and online activities)
  • CultureGrams (social studies resources)
  • Kids InfoBits  (general encyclopedia, with magazine and newspaper articles)
  • NovelList K-8 Plus  (fiction and nonfiction book recommendations)
  • Searchasaurus  (kid-friendly search engine)
  • Biography in Context (biographical information, including photos and videos)

If you don’t live in South Carolina, I’m sorry to say that you can’t access these databases.  If you do live in South Carolina, I hope you’ll take advantage of them!

Discus Kids   http://scdiscus.org/discus-kids

 

 

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Book Spine Poetry = Library Skills Practice

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Until I sat down to create my first book spine poem (a unique poetry form invented by Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes) I didn’t really know what was involved in creating one.  Now that I’ve written one myself, I’ve learned that there’s more going on with book spine poetry than meets the eye!

stack of booksI’m sure the creative process is different for everyone, but in my case wandering around the library staring at row after row of titles (my first approach) did not result in a stack of books that formed a poem.

 

Wandering around the library and catching sight of The Long  Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder did spark the idea for my poem, but once I settled on a topic it took at least a dozen OPAC title searches to come up with a list of 15 or 20 promising books.  (I searched for snow, cold, frozen, winter, snowfall, blizzard, sleet, icy, windy, storm, snowfall, chilly, and spring, and those are just the words I remember looking up.)  Then I went and found each book on the shelf, and finally I arranged and rearranged them to create my poem.

 

book spine poem

The Long Winter by Lori June
Click to Enlarge

 

Think about that:  Choose a topic.  Develop a search strategy.  Perform the searches.  Write down the titles and call numbers.  Locate the books on the shelf.  THAT’S AN ENTIRE LIBRARY SKILLS LESSON DISGUISED AS A FUN POETRY WRITING ACTIVITY!  Thank goodness Travis Jonker is a benevolent genius who shares his great poetry ideas, and not an evil genius who keeps them to himself.

I plan to try this with my 5th graders next month; I’ll let you know how it turns out.  Maybe you’d like to try it with your students too, in which case you can leave a comment and let me know how it turns out!

 

Images:
SML Books / 20090903.10D.52431 / SML‘  Found on flickrcc.net
Bookshelves Elsewhere‘ Found on flickrcc.net

 

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