Lesson Plan #: AELP-ANM0200

Animals of the Poles


Source: School Library Media Activities Monthly, (6:4, December 1989)

Grade Level: 3, 4

Subject(s):

Library Media Skills Objectives:
The student will arrange notes based on an outline about the subject of the notes.
The student will use an outline to structure ideas obtained from an audio-visual presentation.

Curriculum (subject area) Objectives:
The activity may be used in connection with a science unit on animals of various regions of the world.

Resources :
Films and Video Programs
Animal Adaptations in a Northern Environment. BFA , 1970. 1 16mmfilm. 12 min.
Animals on the Arctic. Macmillan Films , 1979. 1 16mm film. 16min.
Antarctica: Coldest Continent. AIMS , 1968. 1 16mm film. 14 min.
Arctic Border Lands in Winter. Coronet, 1978. 1 16mm film. 12 min.
Birds of the Arctic. Coronet, 1974. 1 16mm film. 12 min.
Ecology of the Arctic. AIMS, 1973. 1 16mm film. 11 min.
Fishing Arctic Style. Eskimo Land Pictures , 1955. 1 16mm film.11 min.
Journey to the High Arctic. National Geographic Society , 1971.116 mm film. 50 min.
Life on the Tundra. Encyclopedia Britannica , 1965. 1 16mm film.14 min.
Penguins of the Antarctic. AIMS , 1972. 1 16mm film. 13 min.
Polar Bear and the Seal. Macmillan Films , 1964. 1 16mm film.10 min.
Prowling with the Mighty Polar Bear. Document Associates . 116mm film. 24 min.
The Smile of the Walrus. Churchill Films , 1978. 1 16mm film.22 min.
White Wilderness Part I-- The Arctic Region and Its Polar Bears. Walt Disney, 1958. 1 16mm film. 28 min.
White Wilderness Part II-- The Lemmings and the Arctic Bird Life. Walt Disney, 1958. 1 16mm film. 21 min.
White Wilderness Part III-- Large Animals of the Arctic. Walt Disney, 1958. 1 16mm film. 22 min.

Print Support Materials
Ahlstrom, Mark. The Polar Bear . Crestwood, 1986
Allan, Doug. The Penguin in the Snow . Gareth Stevens, 1988.
Antarctica. Readers Digest, 1985.
Sabin, Francene. Arctic and Antarctic Regions . Troll, 1985.
Soule, Gardner. Antarctica . Watts, 1985.
Stone, Lynn. The Arctic . Children's Press, 1985.

Instructional Roles :
The activity may be used by the classroom teacher with assistance from the library media specialist. It may take several class sessions for introducing the movie, watching it, taking notes, and arranging the notes. The library media specialist may help by obtaining the materials and supporting the note taking and outlining activities.

Activity and Procedures for Completion :
The classroom teacher may select at least one film about animal life at each of the earth's poles (a total of two films -- one on South Polar life and one on North polar life) as part of a general unit on the animals and ecology of the polar regions. The students may be introduced to note taking and outlining material derived from more than one source. They will use a note taking technique designed to facilitate combining facts/information from more than one source.

The students may be introduced to the strategy. The classroom teacher may explain that they must use the following process at least twice:

1. Watch the first film.
2. Take notes.
3. Review the notes and underline ideas which seem most important.
4. Circle the ideas which seem subordinate to or less important than the underlined ideas.
5. Watch the second film.
6. Take notes.
7. Review the notes and underline ideas which seem most important.
8. Circle the ideas which seem subordinate to the underlined ideas.
9. Discuss the main ideas and see if they may be categorized.
10. See if some ideas are more or less important than others.
11. List ideas which have been underlined and retained as most important.
12. Arrange ideas in a logical pattern.
13. Begin outlining.

The classroom teacher may explain that the students must follow this process to help them understand the information which they see and to help them retain the information.

Students must develop "x-ray vision" to understand the structure beneath the surface that provides organization and meaning to a presentation. The process helps students recognize major points, sub topics, and supporting details.

The classroom teacher may use this as a thinking skills activity designed to clarify relationships between ideas (sequential and logical organizationsof main points) and to classify information in meaningful categories. Students must be ready to analyze the relationships and to synthesize the ideas. The outlining process requires that students be introduced to a consistent system for arranging ideas.

After the students have written a draft outline, they may be asked to review it as if they were planning an informational film about the animals of both poles. The students may revise their outlines based on this purpose.

Evaluation :
The student will take notes and prepare an outline of information about animals of the poles. Evaluation should be made on the basis of the arrangement of the information derived from the two (or more) films.

Follow-Up: The students may:


These integrated lesson plans and suggestions for teaching library and information skills in connection with various classroom subject areas are provided by LMS Associates and were originally published in "School Library Media Activities Monthly". Lessons may be used for the non-commercial purpose of education. All materials are held in copyright by LMS Associates for the magazine, "School Library Media Activities Monthly". For more information, contact, LMS Associates; 17 E. Henrietta Street; Baltimore, MD 21230 410-685-8621.