Canada's Arctic Comes Alive!

Integrated Subjects: Social Studies, Art (sculpture), Language Arts

Overview:
As part of our conclusion on the Arctic, students chose an Arctic animal that they were interested in learning more about. We had a discussion and came up with a list of questions they may want to answer when researching about their animal. After much sampling, students were able to use books to research their animals. They then took their information and put them into good sentences that included questions, exciting statements and "boring" statements (all of which is part of our writing/ reading program based on Smart Start by Joanne Moore).

To integrate technology, students were introduced to Microsoft Powerpoint, in which they created a slide with their typed information, a picture taken from the internet and some basic animation and design. We compiled our writing into a slideshow and I also printed the slides and created a class book for students to read!

One of the major focuses of studying their animal was to view and learn about its appearance. We used gum tape (which is used by butchers) to create 3D representations of our animals. We later painted with Tempra paint and added greater deatail to make our animals more realistic!