Feb. 28, 2007: Polar Bears in Trouble

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain News. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).

Activities:

1. Make a series of polar bear trading cards. Use 3-by-5-inch cards. Draw pictures of polar bears on one side of the cards. Put interesting facts about them on the other side.

2. Make a collage of newspaper words and pictures of animals you associate with cold weather or cold places.

3. Talk with a group of friends about problems polar bears have. Make a list of three things you could do to help polar bears.

4. How do each of these characteristics help polar bears: (a) blubber, (b) webbed forepaws, (c) small ears, and (d) black skin?

5. Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about other animals whose lives and habitats are threatened by global warming. Use these questions to guide your research:

• What animal would you like to investigate?
• How big is this animal¹s population today?
• Where does the animal live? How is its habitat threatened?
• What are people doing to help save it?

Write several paragraphs discussing your findings.

This week's standards:

• Students understand the characteristics and life cycles of organisms. (Science: Life Science)
• Students understand the interactions of animals and their environments. (Science: Life Science)
  
  

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)