Materials
small stand-alone water table
potting soil (fertilizer free)
variety of seeds
plastic garden tools: rakes, trowels, and spades
watering cans
gardening gloves (4 pairs)
aprons
sun hats
sunglasses
small boxes
shredded brown
paper bags
plastic vegetables
dried or plastic flowers
plastic flower vases
Instructions
* Cut enough paper "ice floes" for each child to stand on; tape them to the floor.
What to Do
1. Give each child an ice cube in a closed sandwich bag. Have them describe
the ice (white or clear, cold, hard).
2. Show the polar bear picture to the children. Compare it to the ice cube (color,
needs cold places to survive).
3. Ask what is happening to their ice cube, and explain that polar ice caps are
enormous sheets of ice, so when the water gets warmer, pieces break off into
ice floes that float away.
4. Read The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett. Who had a problem with ice floes?
Who needs cold weather?
5. Play musical ice floes using musical chairs rules and the ice floes taped to the
floor. Take away floes when the music stops until one child remains on a floe.
6. Ask the children how they felt when their ice floe disappeared, and how they
think polar bears feel if their ice melts.
Teacher - to - Teacher Tip
* Put your ice cube near a heat source to make the melting more visible. Ask
the children why yours melted more than theirs did.
Assessment
Consider the following:
* Can the children describe what has happened to the ice?
* Do the children make a connection between what happened to the ice cube
and what is happening to the polar ice caps?
