Amazing Arctic Animals - vanmaritime.com...Arctic animals play an important role in the lives of the...

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Amazing Arctic Animals

Transcript of Amazing Arctic Animals - vanmaritime.com...Arctic animals play an important role in the lives of the...

Page 1: Amazing Arctic Animals - vanmaritime.com...Arctic animals play an important role in the lives of the Inuit, in the past and still today. The animals provide food, clothing, tools,

Amazing Arctic Animals

Page 2: Amazing Arctic Animals - vanmaritime.com...Arctic animals play an important role in the lives of the Inuit, in the past and still today. The animals provide food, clothing, tools,

Amazing Arctic Animals

Vancouver Maritime Museum – Field Trip Guide

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Table of Contents Program Description ...................................................................................................... 3 Curriculum ...................................................................................................................... 3 Learning Objectives ....................................................................................................... 4 Program Outline ............................................................................................................. 4 Guidelines for Adult Helpers ......................................................................................... 4 Pre-Visit Activities .......................................................................................................... 5

Learning Chart ........................................................................................................................ 5 Arctic Discussion Questions ................................................................................................. 5

Post-Visit Activities ........................................................................................................ 6 Our Changing Environment Science Experiment ................................................................ 6 Arctic Animal Letter ................................................................................................................ 7 Printmaking ............................................................................................................................. 7

Background Information ................................................................................................ 8 Arctic Overview ................................................................................................................................. 8 Climate ............................................................................................................................................... 8 Adaptation .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Inuit ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Animals .............................................................................................................................................. 9 Global Warming ............................................................................................................................... 10

Children’s Story Books ................................................................................................ 12 Arctic Animal Songs .................................................................................................... 12 Useful Resources ......................................................................................................... 13 Feedback Form ............................................................................................................. 13 Photo Waiver ................................................................................................................ 14

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Program Description Curriculum

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Learning Objectives Through discussion and hands-on activities, students will:

• Examine animals unique to the Arctic environment. • Identify basic geographic landmarks and oceans. • Describe what life is like in the Arctic. • Identify how physical environments affect living creatures.

Program Outline • The program begins with an introduction to life in the Arctic. • Students will split into groups and rotate between two activities:

o Reading a story featuring Arctic animals and making a polar bear mask in the Children’s Museum Discovery Centre.

o Touching skulls, furs and taking a close look at photos to learn more about the polar bear, narwhal, musk ox, caribou, ringed seal, arctic fox and walrus in the shelter and aboard the St. Roch. This an opportunity for children to use all their senses to learn about our world and engage through discussion with the docents and each other.

• The program will wrap-up with a chance to come together as a group to share what we learned and sing a few songs to say farewell.

Guidelines for Adult Helpers Thank you for your continued support of our educational field trips. The role of adult supervisors is very important to the success of the program. Trained education volunteers lead small groups of students through hands-on and participatory activities designed to stimulate creative and critical thinking. Volunteers use a series of questions to engage the student. Please give the students an opportunity to answer the questions. Please help the volunteers with the following:

• Stay with your assigned group throughout the visit. • Help keep the students together. • Escort the students to the washroom if needed. • Assist with the distribution and collection of program supplies. • Help supervise the students while climbing ladders. • No food or drinks are allowed during the program. • Please turn your phone on silent and refrain from using it.

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Pre-Visit Activities Learning Chart Help your students track their own learning to identify what they know and notice new learning. This is sometimes called a schema map.

1. Find a spot to keep the learning chart up through all the lessons. This could be on the whiteboard, a wall, chart paper, or a poster.

2. Before beginning teaching about the Arctic and Arctic animals, record what students already know about these topics on sticky notes. Write down all of the students’ answers, even if they are incorrect (these misconceptions will be addressed later).

3. During the lessons, record new learning on a different colour of sticky notes.

4. If a misconception is discovered, discuss why it is inaccurate.

Extensions:

• Group new learning based on theme (ex. Sea animals and land animals; or herbivores and carnivores)

• Add knowledge that expands on a previous topic. If new learning connects with something already learned, add a new sticky note attached to it.

Arctic Discussion Questions Introduce your students to the geography and climate of the Arctic region. Ask them to compare it to their own local environment.

• Where is the Arctic? Is it land or water, or both? • What would make it difficult/easy to live there? • What would you need to bring if you were going on an arctic adventure? How

would you prepare for the cold, icy environment? • How do Arctic animals look and act differently to animals in your own

neighbourhood?

Arctic Animals

Our New Learning

What We Know

I used to think, but now I know…

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Post-Visit Activities Our Changing Environment Science Experiment Begin a discussion about climate change and the warming of the Arctic. There are notes in the “Background Information” section. Experiment What happens when the ice begins to melt? Practice inquiry skills by thinking about the cause and effects of a warming climate. * This activity can be done as a class demonstration, or in groups. Materials:

- Clay or playdough - Water - Stick (or ruler) - Bowl or container - Tray of ice cubes - Marker

Instructions:

1. Create the environment. In the bowl, place a wad of clay into one half. This will make the land.

2. Pour water into the bowl to make the ocean. • What time of year does this represent in the Arctic? What is it like in the

summer? 3. Add the ice cubes into the water. With a stick, mark the water level.

• What time of year would this be in the Arctic? What is it like in the winter? • It’s very warm in our classroom. What do you think will happen to our little

Arctic? 4. Leave the experiment. Measure the water depth throughout the day until the ice

is melted. • What happened? What changed? • How might the lives of the Arctic animals change as the arctic warms up?

Extensions:

• Compare two different experiments. Keep one out in the warm classroom, and the other in a fridge or freezer. How do they differ over the day?

• Can lead into a discussion of climate change. How are the lives of the animals and Inuit changing as the Arctic warms up? Are there any changes we can make to help slow this down? Create a list of things we can do inside and outside our classroom to help.

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Arctic Animal Letter Pretend to be an arctic animal and write a letter to an animal friend in a different part of the world. Tell them about what it is like to live in the Arctic. Who are your neighbours? What do you eat? How do you stay warm? What does the Arctic look like? Learn basic formatting of a letter by adding a greeting, salutation, and the date. Printmaking Arctic animals play an important role in the lives of the Inuit, in the past and still today. The animals provide food, clothing, tools, and other materials. Inuit art often shows the special bond and respect they have for animals. Printmaking is a relatively new artform for the Inuit, beginning in about the 1950s. There are different ways to do printmaking and different materials that can be used, including etching, screen printing, or stonecutting. Using the artform of printing allows them to make multiple copies easily to share with others around the world. Cape Dorset, in Nunavut, has become the center for this art. Examples of Cape Dorset prints: https://www.historymuseum.ca/capedorsetprints/introduction/ Classroom printmaking art activities:

• Using paper and paint: https://www.historymuseum.ca/capedorsetprints/media/pdf/teachers_corner/Create-Your-Own-Prints-1-8.pdf

• Using foam and paint: https://tinkerlab.com/printmaking-for-kids/ • Using rubber bands and paint:

http://kristensbloglife.blogspot.com/2009/04/spring-art-rubber-band-prints.html

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Background Information Arctic Overview The Arctic is the region around the Earth’s North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. The boundary of the Arctic region is the Arctic Circle and includes the Arctic Ocean, which overlies the North Pole, and parts of Canada, Greenland, Russia, the United States, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The Arctic region consists of a vast ice-covered ocean and surrounded almost entirely by treeless permafrost. The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of Earth’s 5 major oceans and the shallowest. For part of the year it is covered in darkness and for the other half of the year there is 24 hour daylight. Part of the ice pack melts and breaks up for the summer months (3 – 5 months) while the remainder of the ice stays frozen all year. Climate The Arctic’s climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow. Average winter temperatures can be as low as -40 degrees Celsius, and the coldest recorded temperature is approximately -68 degrees Celsius. The coastal regions of the Arctic generally have warmer temperatures and heavier snowfalls than the colder and drier interior areas due to oceanic influences. Adaptation Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human communities. The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth’s ecosystems. The animals in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples, the Inuit, have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. Inuit The Inuit have thrived in the harsh Arctic environment by valuing the animals and depending on them for clothing, tools, transportation, food, and shelter, in the past and today. Every part of the animal is used. The Inuit continue to have a special relationship with the Arctic animals.

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Animals Muskox (Inuktut: umingmak, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ) Muskox are large animals with curved horns and a long shaggy coat. They use their horns to protect their young from predators, such as arctic wolves. Muskox are herbivores, they eat grass and willows. Their coat has an outer and inner later. The outer layer of their coat is a coarse hair that reaches almost to the ground. When snow and ice to their outer coat they shake it off. Underneath is their dry, warm inner wool (quivit). The Inuit use the coarse outer layer of hair as to sleep on. It is not very comfortable so it is not usually used as clothing. The inner quivit layer, however, is very soft and warm so the Inuit use it to line their boots and gloves. Polar Bear (Inuktut: nanuq, ᓇᓄᖅ – translates to “the great white one”) Polar bears are large mammals. The polar bear is a carnivore. It has a large nose to sniff out its prey and very sharp teeth. Their favorite food is the ringed seal. It hunts for them over seal breathing holes in the ice. Polar bear fur is white. Each hair is hollow like a straw. These traps air inside and keeps them warm. They also have black skin, which absorbs the sun’s heat and helps to keep them warm. Under their skin is blubber to keep them warm in the ice-cold water of the Arctic Ocean. The blubber also helps them stay afloat (buoyancy). Polar bears have large feet to help them walk on snow (like snowshoes) and help them swim (like flippers). The Inuit also use the polar bear fur for ground cover and for sleeping on. The Inuit consider the polar bear to be wise and powerful.

Caribou (Inuktut: tuktu, ᑐᒃᑐ) Caribou fur is also hollow to keep them warm. The Inuit use their soft fur to make clothing. The Inuit also hunt caribou for food. They make caribou antler and bones into tools.

Arctic Fox (Inuktut: tiriganniaq, ᑎᕆᒐᓐᓂᐊᖅ) Arctic fox change colours: their fur is white in the winter and brown in the summer. Why have they adapted to change colours? To camouflage, to hide from predators (eagles and wolves) and blend into their environment. Their fur is very soft and is used to make warm clothing.

Ringed Seal (Inuktut: nattiq, ᓇᑦᑎᖅ) Ringed seals are named after the pattern on their fur. They hunt for fish in the ocean. To breathe, they carve a breathing hole in the ice using their claws and teeth. Polar bears hunt for ringed seals at these breathing holes. Ringed seal’s skin is a very important

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material for the Inuit because it is waterproof. It is used for kayaks, gloves, and the bottom of boots.

Narwhal (Inuktut: tuugaalik, ᑑᒑᓕᒃ) Many Arctic animals also live in the ocean. The narwhal has a long tooth that grows out of the upper lip. These tusks are usually on male narwhals and can be 3 metres long. What do you think the tusk is for? Scientists do not know for sure, but they think it may be to sense temperature or for social ranking. Narwhals eat fish, squid, octopus, and mollusks. They migrate in the spring and fall as the ice changes. The narwhal’s skin is a very valuable source of vitamin C for the Inuit. Narwhal tusks were traded in the past by Europeans for money, sometimes pretending it was a unicorn horn.

Walrus (Inuktut: aiviq, ᐊᐃᕕᖅ) Walrus are large, noisy mammals. They live on the ice and in the ocean in large groups (herds). They have thick skin and blubber to keep them warm. Their four flippers help them swim and walk on land. They have big teeth called tusks. What do you think they use their tusk for? They use their tusks to get up on the ice and to fight. Their whiskers help them find shellfish. The Inuit hunt walruses for food and to carve their tusks into knives and other tools.

Snowy Owl (Inuktut: ukpik, ᐅᒃᐱᒃ) Many birds also migrate to the Arctic in the summer months to feed. Some of these are the loon, tundra swan, Canada goose and Arctic Tern. Most birds are not able to survive the winter months in the Arctic, but one that remains all year round in the snowy owl. The owl is covered in white feathers to help it survive the cold winters. It’s legs and toes also have feathers. Owls normally are nocturnal. Living the Arctic, the snowy owl has adapted to hunt in daylight during the summer months when the sun does not set. The snowy owl mostly eats lemmings. Lemmings look like small, round, tail-less mice with hidden ears and feet. Global Warming Due to global warming, the Arctic is changing. The animals and people who live in the Arctic are experiencing these changes firsthand.

• Winters are getting shorter. Why is this a problem? o Most animals hunt in winter, like the polar bear.

§ What happens if there is less food? Less food to feed the young. Hungry.

o The ice is melting. § Polar bears hunt on the ice.

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§ Walruses have their babies and keep them safe from predators on the ice.

• There are more insects in the warmer summers. They bother the animals and humans and spread diseases.

• Animal migration patterns are changing. This affect affects the Inuit communities that depend on those migrations to feed them.

It is everyone’s responsibility to help slow the consequences of global warming. The inhabitants of the North may feel the effects sooner, but we will all be affected. What are simple actions we can take every day to make a difference? Who else could we ask in our local and globally community to also take action?

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Children’s Story Books Arctic animal books:

• Arctic Animals (Who’s That?) by Tad Carpenter • Over in the Arctic by Marianne Berkes and Jill Dubin • The Arctic Habitat by Molly Aloian and Bobbie Kalman • In Arctic Waters by Laura Crawford

Polar bear books: • The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale by Lydia Dabcovich • The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett

o Try comparing this book to Goldilocks and The Three Bears. What’s similar? What’s different?

Walrus books: • Tooth Trouble by Jane Clarke and Cecilia Johansson

Climate change books: • The Polar Bears’ Home: A Story About Global Warming by Lara Bergen and

Vincent Nguyen • Save the Arctic by Bethany Stahl

o Video version available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArgzDJxMKeI

More book lists: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/books-arctic-animals/

Arctic Animal Songs

Move Like a Polar Bear Polar Bear, Polar Bear turn around. Polar Bear, Polar Bear touch the ground. Polar Bear, Polar Bear bend down low. Polar Bear, Polar Bear touch your toe. Polar Bear, Polar Bear slide on the ice. Polar Bear, Polar Bear spin around, twice. Polar Bear, Polar Bear reach up high. Polar Bear, Polar Bear touch the sky.

Polar Bears Have Fur That’s White (Tune: “Mary Had a Little Lamb”) Polar bears have fur that’s white, Fur that’s white, fur that’s white. Polar bears have fur that’s white It lets them hide from sight. Polar bears are big and strong, Big and strong, big and strong. Polar bears are big and strong, They swim the whole day long. Polar bears have lots of blubber, Lots of blubber, lots of blubber. Polar bears have lots of blubber, To keep them nice and warm.

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Useful Resources Active Wild – The Arctic Facts for Kids

This website provides a written overview of where the Arctic is and what it is like to live there. https://www.activewild.com/the-arctic-facts-for-kids/

Arctic Animal Songs and Educational Videos

This website provides arctic animals resources, including songs and rhymes for circle time, as well as links to educational videos. https://livingmontessorinow.com/free-arctic-animal-songs-educational-videos/

Saskatchewan Schools – The Arctic

A site designed to explain the various adaptations of Arctic animals and how they live in such a harsh environment. http://saskschoolsinfo.com/arctic/index.html

Exploring the Arctic for Kids: Arctic Animals and Climates for Children

20-minute video showing the Arctic in different seasons (summer and winter) and describing how many animals have adapted to live there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kA-_aro3lI

Inuktut Tusaalanga A glossary including audio clips and syllabics to learn Inuktut, an Inuit language. https://tusaalanga.ca/

Feedback Form Your feedback is very important to us. Please take a few minutes to complete this online evaluation about your experience at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. https://forms.gle/yZMNfdHo8a7GiYPg9

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Photo Waiver