Animals of Polar Regions: Lessons

Appropriate for Grades K-5

Pete & Barbara's Penguin Page - Antarctica

Here are ideas for educational activities for students from Kindergarten through 12th grade. These are mostly in idea format (i.e., they don't give you all the materials you need), but they have come up with several different ideas and they do provide information at this site to answer many of the questions they pose.

Life Science Standard 5: Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms (animal features)
Life Science Standard 6: Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

Activities Related to Penguins - Antarctica

Designed for grades 1-3, several of these activities would make a great addition to classes studying the Antarctic or reading "Mr. Popper's Penguins." The Penguin Shuffle is a lot of fun if the rules are clearly spelled out beforehand and it is made clear that students cannot bump into their competitors.

Life Science Standard 5: Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms (animal features)
Life Science Standard 6: Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

Antarctica Theme Unit

Suitable for grades K-4, these handouts will save a lot of time in preparing your Antarctic/Penguin unit.

Life Science Standard 5: Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms (animal features)
Life Science Standard 6: Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

Penguins of Antarctica

Designed for students in grades 2-3, this worksheet has some factual and a few higher order questions that can be answered using the six featured Internet sites. Click on a View button to see the sites and the content.

Life Science Standard 5: Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms (animal features)
Life Science Standard 6: Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

Perfectly Penguins

A webquest for students in grades K-3 (if used with kindergartners, they may need reading partners to help them read the information). The navigation is a little difficult (especially the Process step), so you may want to present the information via a projector if using this one with younger students. Overall, an excellent activity.

Life Science Standard 5: Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms (animal features)
Life Science Standard 6: Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

Arctic Animals of Alaska

A webquest that has students learn about a wide variety of Arctic animals in order to make a brochure. The reading level of the included websites is variable, so doing this project in groups may be helpful.

Life Science Standard 5: Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms (animal features)
Life Science Standard 6: Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

Appropriate for Grades 5-9

How Many Penguins Does It Take?

This lesson for grades 5-8 allows students to do a hands-on activity that illustrates population fluctuation. It will help students more easily remember the terms "carrying capacity" and "limiting factors." Designed by a teacher who participated in the Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic program.

Life Science Standard 6: Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

Antarctic Marine Ecosystem

This lesson developed for students in grades 7-9 allows students to get familiar with the Marine Ecosystem associated with Antarctic waters. It provides informational pages that can be viewed online or printed, as well as an activity and a self-assessment. The definitions of linked words pop up on the page when clicked, rather than directing the student to another page. This reduces the complexity of the site navigation, making it more student-friendly.

Life Science Standard 6: Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

Appropriate for Grades 9-12

Penguin Preferences - Antarctica

This lesson allows students (grades 9-12) to use telemetry data to track penguins to determine preferred feeding areas. The lesson was prepared by a teacher in the Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic program. Use the links at the bottom of the page to see the pages designed for the student and more information for the teacher.

Life Science Standard 6: Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment