Dr Seuss School: Ice is Nice

Dr Seuss’ Ice is Nice book is perfect for bringing together all of the work we have done over the past two unit studies, being about both the arctic and the antarctic.

We have done so many activities with snow and ice is was hard to find authentic and fun learning activities to go with this book that we hadn’t done before.  Sooo, I decided to focus on the geography because ultimately our Antarctic unit study and Arctic unit study were geographical units.

Reading

These books are meant for ages 6-8 and are for emergant readers.  A6 has become quite the reader this year and so I had her read the book to me.

Compass Point

We have done some work already on the points of a compass but this time I really wanted them to understand and to remember, so I worked on this for a few minutes each day until I knew it had gone in.

• First they watched this video:

• Then we played Simon says:

I put some signs reading North, South, East and West in the front garden, free downloads from here:

And we played Simon says using the cardinal directions as instructions.  For example, ‘Simon say take two steps North’, ‘Simon says take five bunny jumps West’.  The first time I did it I asked the older children to join in, so the younger two would see what to do.  Next I hid a treat under a bush and directed them using cardinal directions to find it.  A6, who understood very well, was leader and C12 helped B4:

• After, I photocopied this sheet for them, which allowed them to find the treasure using the cardinal directions given:

• As well as this one, just to make sure A6 really got it and had remembered:

• Finally, the girls made some paper plate compass roses to remind them what they had learnt:

Why are the top and bottom of the world cold?

Using our mini globe and an orange as a sun, I demonstrated how the earth rotates around the sun:

source

The top and bottom of the world therefore do not get much direct sunlight or warmth from the sun.

We also discussed why the Antarctica is colder than the Arctic when they both get the same amount of sun.  I showed them that the arctic is surrounded by land (warm) whilst the Antarctic is surrounded by ocean (cold):

Also the Antarctic is dry and high.  In fact it sits at an average elevation of 7500 feet, and the higher you go the colder it is.

Ice Cream in a Bag

This was just a little treat to celebrate the end of our Arctic Unit Study which I posted about yesterday:

This brings us to the end of our Arctic and Antarctic unit studies.  Next up is South America.