North-pole

Vida and Bekke, in XP, introduced the North-pole as part of our all school investigation of North America.  Our research will begin with the northern most reaches of our continent and we will slowly travel south as the weather warms.

As with most studies we follow a KOWL approach...

• what do you know, 
• what do you observe, 
• what do you wonder and 
• what did you learn?

Vida began with a lively investigation into what the children already KNEW about the North-pole and here is a peek into what they had to share:

Fisher              There are no trees.

Abbot              Santa lives there.

Eloise              There are reindeer.

Til                    It's not very green and there are not much green things, or trees.  You just walk on 

                         snow.

Vida                 How do you walk on snow.

Tillie                You use big boots.

Quinn               It is white and there are lots of snow flakes falling down

Teddie              Penguins are at the North Pole.POLAR BEARS at the North Pole.

Vida                 Great idea Teddie.  Actually, I learned something cool, penguins are at the South Pole           

                         and Polar bears are at the north pole.  I always thought they lived together but they 

                         don't.

Fisher              It never gets sunny there.

Sebastian         It never, ever, ever gets warm.

Sadie               Because the sun never shines.

Eloise              There are no people, except for maybe Santa and elves.

Fisher             When you put your tongue on the pole at the North Pole you can never get it off.

Sadie               And in the summertime the sun doesn’t shine in the North Pole either

Vida                How does it feel at the north pole.  Show me with your bodies.... Everyone shivers

And after the conversation the XP teachers fostered a sense of wonder about WHY the North-pole might be so darn chilly.  Vida turned on a light positioned in the center of the rug and demonstrated how the earth, in its daily rotation on its axis, experiences night and day using a classroom globe.  She then does the same for the annual rotation and together they observe how the position of the axis affects the light on the globe, specifically the North-pole.

We look forward to deepening our understanding in the weeks and months ahead.

Note:

We will be exploring North America throughout the remainder of the school year, if you have some interesting materials or experiences to share please let your teachers know.

It's always an exciting opportunity for us to learn about regions, biomes and cultures... Stay tuned.