1. Topic-
Polar Bears
 
2. Content-
Students will learn about Polar Bears,their environment, physical appetites, and the impact that global warming has on polar bears. Key Vocabulary: Arctic, Blubber, Carnivore, Cub, Seals, Threatened
 
3. Goals: Aims/Outcomes-
TEKS: 112.13. Science, Grade 2,
(3) Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student knows that information and critical thinking, scientific problem solving, and the contributions of scientists are used in making decisions. The student is expected to:
(A) identify and explain a problem in his/her own words and propose a task and solution for the problem such as lack of water in a habitat
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows that living organisms have basic needs that must be met for them to survive within their environment. The student is expected to:
(A) identify the basic needs of plants and animals;
(10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms resemble their parents and have structures and processes that help them survive within their environments. The student is expected to:
(A) observe, record, and compare how the physical characteristics and behaviors of animals help them meet their basic needs such as fins help fish move and balance in the water;
 
4. Objectives-
1.Students will learn about polar bears
2.Students will then do the blubber gloves activity and explain what they learned from the activity
 
5. Materials and Aids-
Book: I Love Bears By:Steve Parker
 
6. Procedures/Methods-

A. Introduction-

1. Students will learn about polar bears. They will learn about what makes them unique, their diet, their environment and how the two are linked
2. They will then do the blubber glove activity. In this activity, the students will learn how blubber keeps polar bears warm in the frigid ice water of the arctic
 

B. Development-

1. This activity will be done in three groups. One volunteer from the group will place their hand into a bowl of ice water for fifteen seconds or until they get too cold to keep it in the water
2. The rest of the group will keep track of the time. 3.They will then record how the water affected the volunteer(hand turned red, cold to the touch, etc.)
4. The volunteer will then place their hand in the "blubber glove" (two plastic beads with a layer of shortening between them to simulate the polar bear's fat layer)
4. The blubber glove hand will be placed into the ice water for fifteen seconds
5. The group will then record what, if any, changes they saw in the hand.
6. Finally they will analyze the difference between the two observations
 

Accommodations (Differentiated Instruction)-

1. For older children and gifted and talented students, I would like to have the children make their own blubber glove out of different items (shortening, butter, etc.) and then analyze the different results
2.For younger students, I would do the experiment and have the children tell me what was happening
 

Checking for understanding-

1.At the end of the experiment, we would discuss the observations and why the results occurred.
2.We would also discuss how the polar bears swim from ice raft to ice raft. We will talk about how global warming melts those ice rafts making it harder for the polar bears to find food
 

Closure-

1. If I were to teach this in a real class, I would follow up with some more books
2. I would also like to follow up with talking about what we can do to help with global warming and possibly a class project with it.
 

This Lesson Plan is available at (www.teacherjet.com)