Nonfiction in First: The Arctic

Before winter break began, my first graders finished up their nonfiction unit. We reviewed the differences between fiction and nonfiction, learned a few text features and how they can give us information, and we learned lots of interesting facts about the Arctic and its animals.

We also learned about igloos! We labeled the parts of an igloo after reading an article and watching a few videos about how they are constructed and then we built our own. We did this activity at our Polar Party and it was their favorite!

No party is complete without dessert!

I got all the supplies at the dollar store: frosting, Styrofoam cups, paper plates, pop sticks for applying frosting, and mini marshmallows. Here's where I got the idea.

Another activity  I would recommend if you are learning about Arctic animals is this blubber simulation experiment. All you need is some Crisco, baggies, and ice water in a bucket. I've seen this idea many different times online and I am not sure where it originated but it's awesome. It's a really fun way to drive home some arctic vocab words like INSULATE and BLUBBER too ☺

The kids loved learning about Polar Bears so at our Polar Party we also created some multimedia Polar Bear art.

If you're studying the Arctic following my Pinterest board for some fun ideas.

We also did this adorable activity after reading Sneezy The Snowman. This free download is by Loving Teaching Inspiring. Thank you for the awesome idea and book recommendation!

Mix up some glue and shaving cream (I just eyed it) and add your snowman parts. I  googled "snowman parts printable" and found this resource for all the cute snowman accessories.

Our next unit is all about fictional characters and building reading fluency. I look forward to doing some Readers Theater and reading LOTS of Mo Willems!

Back to school on Monday. Time to go make the most of my final weekend of freedom.