polar bears past bedtime and polar bears and the …...help them use the information as part of a...

Educators’ Guide

ACTIVITIES FOR Polar Bears Past Beadtime

The Land Before TimeFrostbite in the Arctic or snake bites in the Amazon are but a few of the dangers faced by explorers on journeys to strange and exotic lands. Those not assisted by Morgan’s magic, like Jack and Annie, must pack supplies and equipment for “survival.” Students will prepare for a 7-day expedition to one of the habitats visited by Jack and Annie. Have students develop an Expedition Checklist of things to pack, based on animal life and geographic and climatic conditions, including all food, clothes, medical supplies, camping gear and other equipment. Older students can estimate amounts of supplies needed and approximate costs of their expeditions. Don’t forget to include travel costs in the absence of Magic Tree House availability!

CURRICULUM: Science • Math • Geography

Polar Bears Past Bedtime and Polar Bears and the Arctic:

A Nonfiction Companion to Polar Bears Past Bedtime

ABOUT Polar Bears Past Bedtime The Magic Tree House transports Jack and Annie to the freezing

Arctic. There, they must solve the final riddle to become master librarians. But it’s not going to be easy—especially when they have cracking ice, a seal hunter, and a prodigious polar bear to deal with. Will they be able to solve the riddle before they get iced themselves?

ABOUT Polar Bears and the Arctic: A Nonfiction Companion to Polar Bears Past Bedtime

WHY IS THE arctic so cold? How do polar bears cross thin ice? How did people learn to survive in that harsh climate? Find out the answers to these questions and more in Jack and Annie’s guide to the arctic.

PB: 978-0-679-88341-8EL: 978-0-375-89469-5Grades: 1–4F&P: M • Lexile: 440L

PB: 978-0-375-83222-2EL: 978-0-307-97534-8Grades: 2–5F&P: Q • Lexile: 730L

ACTIVITIES FOR Polar Bears and the Arctic: A Nonfiction Companion to Polar Bears Past Bedtime

Getting StartedStudents benefit from seeing that scientists and researchers start with questions and find answers as well as answer questions that other people give them. Here are a few questions to use as examples when getting the students started:

What kinds of plants grow in the Arctic?

What nutrients or qualities are needed in soil in order for plants to be able to grow?

Are there ice caps other than the Polar Ice Caps?

How do Arctic animals get the water they need?

Why are the Northern Lights in different colors?

Can we see the Northern Lights where we live?

What materials are worn by native people, researchers, and adventure-seekers around the world to stay warm? Are there any synthetic fabrics that compare to animal skin or fur? What rating scale is used to compare materials? How does your winter jacket fare on the scale?

How Cold Is Cold?Use a thermometer to measure the temperature in your home. Then use a number line to compare the temperature with the lowest recorded temperature in the Arctic. Then use a number line to compare the temperature at school with the lowest recorded temperature in the Artic. You can also compare winter and summer temperatures. It is to the students’ benefit to see that numbers are organized on vertical and horizontal scales.

It’s Dark Outside!How does the position of the earth/sun change the amount of daylight you have in your community throughout the year? Compare the average amount of daylight your area experiences during each month of the year and the average amount of daylight in the Arctic. Contact your local news/weather station to find information specific to your region.

Debunking MythsThe Polar Bears and the Arctic Fact Tracker gives the scientific explanation behind many myths we may have believed about the Artic, its animals, and the people who live there. Have students contrast myths with reality as they read through the nonfiction text. Students can use the Debunking Myths reproducible activity sheets to help organize their thoughts and findings.

One Thing Triggers Another: The Effect of Global Warming on Polar BearsHave students describe global warming as a newscaster. They should include a visual, such as a poster or flip book, to show the causes and effects of global warming.

Behind the Northern LightsIn this Fact Tracker, students learn what the Northern Lights look like, as well as where and when they can be seen. Help them use the information as part of a fictional story about how the lights came to be or what they represent. Many cultures over the years have created myths to explain what they see in the sky. Encourage the students to be creative and tell a tale that no one has thought of yet. Give them specific instructions regarding the quality of writing mechanics you expect according to their developmental levels.

Teaching ideas by Rosemary B. Stimola, Ph.D., former professor of children’s literature at City University of New York, and Beth Fawley, the 2006 Magic Tree House Educator of the Year, who is the K–12 Gifted and Talented Coordinator at Columbia Heights Public Schools in Minnesota. MagicTreeHouse.com

Debunking Myths: Part I

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Directions: In Polar Bears and the Arctic, the authors mention several myths that have now been explained through science. After reading the book yourself, see if you can explain things in your own words. If you get stuck, remember that topics included in a nonfiction book are also listed by page number in the index. Be sure to write the truth in complete sentences

Activity for Polar Bears and the Arctic: A Nonfiction Companion to Polar Bears Past Bedtime by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce

Polar bears and penguins both live in cold places.You can find them near each other in the wild.

All land in the Arctic Circle looks the same.

The North and South Poles are both continents.

Arctic people prefer to be called Eskimos.

Long ago, Arctic people lived in igloos year-round.

The Myth The Truth in My Own Words

Debunking Myths: Part II

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Native people in the Arctic all follow traditions from the past in the way they dress, travel, and build homes.

Polar bears in the wild are friendlyto humans.

Polar bears are white.

Arctic people didn’t tell imaginative stories to each other.

The Northern Lights are magic.

The Myth The Truth in My Own Words

Directions: In Polar Bears and the Arctic, the authors mention several myths that have now been explained through science. After reading the book yourself, see if you can explain things in your own words. If you get stuck, remember that topics included in a nonfiction book are also listed by page number in the index. Be sure to write the truth in complete sentences

Activity for Polar Bears and the Arctic: A Nonfiction Companion to Polar Bears Past Bedtime by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce

Educators’ Guide

ACTIVITIES FOR Dinosaurs Before Dark

The Land Before TimeWhen Jack and Annie are whisked off to the time of the dinosaurs, they find themselves in the Cretaceous Period, the last part of the Mesozoic Era, whose ending is marked by the great extinction of the dinosaur population 65 million years ago. Details provided in the story help to paint a picture of this post-Jurassic period, which, for 80 million years, provided a nourishing environment for its many reptilian inhabitants.

Identify with students the different dinosaurs that lived during this period, labeling them as “carnivores” or “herbivores.” Highlight how distinguishing physical characteristics enabled them to draw on aspects of their environment to survive as plant or meat eaters.

Using a cardboard box with its front cut out, bring the Cretaceous Period to three-dimensional life through the

Dinosaurs Before Dark and Dinosaurs: A Nonfiction Companion to Dinosaurs Before Dark

ABOUT Dinosaurs Before Dark

“ With an entertaining blend of fact, farce, and fantasy, Osborne tells the story of Jack and his sister, Annie, who take a trip in a magic tree house and land in a time 65

million years ago. They find dinosaurs and volcanoes and adventure. Veteran storyteller Osborne builds the power of reading into the story: it’s the books in the tree house that give the kids the magic to travel and see far, far away.”—Booklist

ABOUT Dinosaurs: A Nonfiction Companion to Dinosaurs Before Dark

Who invented the word dinosaur? What was the name of the biggest dinosaur? In Dinosaurs: A Nonfiction Companion to Dinosaurs Before Dark, Jack and Annie explain everything you ever wanted to know about the real-life world of dinosaurs.



construction of a diorama. Students can create the natural landscape of hills and valleys, open plains and volcanoes, tall grasses, ferns, and magnolia trees from a combination of paint and natural materials. Dinosaur figures can be made from clay.

CURRICULUM: Science • Arts

Activities for Dinosaurs: A Nonfiction Companion to Dinosaurs Before Dark

Be a Fact Finder!Jack and Annie collect many facts during their research. To make the information easy to find, they created an index–an alphabetical list in the back of the book. Using the index, have students find 10 dinosaurs and list a fascinating fact about each one, including the page number where the fact was found. Students can create a chart to record the information.

CURRICULUM: Science

Who’s My Kin?Students learn that dinosaurs are classified as reptiles. Have students generate a list of the characteristics of reptiles and of dinosaurs. Then have them compare and contrast present day reptiles, such as snakes, turtles, and lizards, to the dinosaurs and illustrate.

CURRICULUM: Science • Arts

Can You Dig It?Paleontologists are scientists who study dinosaur fossils. Discuss how these scientists locate fossils, and describe the tools necessary for excavation. Place items in a tray and cover them with sand. Use string to construct a grid to divide the areas to be studied. Students can record their findings in a notebook similar to Jack and Annie’s.

CURRICULUM: Math • Science

What’s in a Name?Jack and Annie learn that dinosaurs are named in various ways. Have students create their own “Sillyaurus” (p. 33) dinosaurs by using different parts of dinosaur names. Ask students to name their dinosaurs and write about what they eat and how to care for them. Then have students draw their new dinosaur creations to exhibit in a Dinosaur Hall of Fame.

CURRICULUM: Language Arts • Art

Teaching materials provided by Jamay Johnson, second grade teacher; Melinda Murphy, media specialist, Reed Elementary School, Cypress Fairbranks Independent School District, Houston, Texas; and Rosemary B. Stimola, Ph.D., former professor of children’s literature at City University of New York, and educational and editorial consultant to publishers of children’s books.

MagicTreeHouse.com

Educators’ Guide

ACTIVITIES FOR Sunset of the Sabertooth

Viva the Evolution!Upon entering the cave home of Cro-Magnon Man 25,000 years ago, Jack and Annie see first hand how these ancestors, from whom many believe we have descended, distinguished themselves from earlier Neanderthal Man who became extinct.

Discuss the differences between the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era and the Ice Age of the Pleistocene Era in terms of time, climate, vegetation, human, and animal inhabitants.

Based on Jack’s note-taking techniques, have students write an “Eyewitness Report” in which they provide factual information on Cro-Magnon Man, as hunter, toolmaker, artist, and music maker as well as on the animals that lived during the Ice Age.

CURRICULUM: Science• Language Arts

Sunset of the Sabertooth and Sabertooths and the Ice Age:

A Nonfiction Companion to Sunset of the Sabertooth

ABOUT Sunset of the SabertoothJack and Annie are whisked all the way back to the Ice Age in this compelling Magic Tree House time-travel adventure where they meet woolly mammoths, cave people . . . and fierce sabertooth tigers!

ABOUT Sabertooth and the Ice Age: A Nonfiction Companion to Sunset of the Sabertooth

What was it like to live in the Ice Age and why was the world so cold? Who made the first cave paintings? What ever happened to sabertooth cats and wooly mammoths? Find out the answers to these questions and more in Jack and Annie’s guide to unlocking the mysteries of the Ice Age!


PB: 978-0-375-82380-0EL: 978-0-307-97530-0Grades: 2–5F&P: S • Lexile: 590L

ACTIVITIES FOR Sabertooths and the Ice Age: A Nonfiction Companion to Sunset of the Sabertooth

Future Fossil FactsFossils provide researchers with information about the past. Several Internet sites give students opportunities to learn about fossils and the facts they provide.

Have students make modern fossils. First, they should select an object that represents something about modern life—a state quarter, a pen, a key, or any object that reflects modern culture in some way. Pour plaster of paris into paper muffin cups, filling the cup about halfway. When the plaster of paris begins to harden, ask students to press the object into the top. After the “fossils” are hardened, put them in a fossil bed, a container large enough to hold all of the fossils.

Students should then become a researcher from the future. Have them suggest what someone from the future might think the item is, and write a description for the fossil that could appear in a museum, indicating what the fossil is, and how it was used.

Search online to find more information about Sabertooth tigers

CURRICULUM: Science

Icy AncestorsAsk students to identify a modern day descendent of one of the animals of the Ice Age. Each child should make a reversible stick puppet that shows the Ice Age animal on one side and the modern day animal on the other. Use a wooden paint stirrer or a large tongue depressor for the stick and glue the pictures on either side. Students should write the most interesting characteristic of the animal on either side of the stick. They can introduce their animals and ancestors identifying their characteristics, size, habitat, enemies, and habits.

CURRICULUM: Science • Art

Ivory Carvings—The Legal KindDuring the Ice Age people made carvings from ivory. Although ivory carvings are no longer legal, it legal to make carvings from Ivory soap! Have students carefully carve an Ice Age animal from a bar of soap using a plastic knife. The first step is to make an outline drawing of the animal on thin paper. Next, pin the drawing to a bar of soap. Finally, using the knife, carve around the drawing to create the animal.

CURRICULUM: Art

Cave DwellersThere is an extensive description of the cave that Jack and Annie enter in their adventure in Sunset of the Sa-bertooth. Have students make a diorama of the cave that the characters discover. You may want to have students use papier mâché or clay to add texture to the cave and to make replicas of the animals and other details inside. Students can identify well-known caves and identify the unique features of this unusual environment. Have them compare the caves that people can visit today with those visited by Jack and Annie.

CURRICULUM: Science

Teaching materials provided by Dr. Peggy A. Sharp, a national children’s literature consultant, and Rosemary B. Stimola, Ph.D., former professor of children’s literature at City University of New York. MagicTreeHouse.com

Descendants on Ice

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Directions: Identify a prehistoric creature and a similar animal living today. Use the Venn Diagram below to compare the animals’ sizes, diets, habitats, enemies, and other characteristics. In each of the large circles, write how the animals are different from each other. In the intersecting circle, write how they are alike.

Prehistoric Animal Animal in Our World Today

Activity for Sabertooths and the Ice Age: A Nonfiction Companion to Sunset of the Sabertooth by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce. MagicTreeHouse.com

Cro-Magnon Cave Painting

Activity for Sabertooths and the Ice Age: A Nonfiction Companion to Sunset of the Sabertooth by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce.©

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Make your own painting of an Ice Age beast based on Jack and Annie’s descriptions of Cro-Magnon cave paintings. Be sure to use authentic colors, such as red, black, and yellow.

Educators’ Guide

ACTIVITIES FOR Dolphins at Daybreak

Create an Underwater SceneJack and Annie are amazed to find colorful mountains, valleys, caves, and sea planets on the sandy bottom of the coral reef waters.

Have students compile animal, plant life, and topographical data about this underwater location using information in Dolphins at Daybreak and other library and Internet resources. A large sheet of roll paper offers a perfect palette for a jointly created underwater landscape mural of coral shapes and swaying grasses done in tempera.

CURRICULUM: Art •Science

Dolphins at Daybreak and Dolphins and Sharks:

A Nonfiction Companion to Dolphins at Daybreak

ABOUT Dolphins at Daybreak Jack and Annie are off in the Magic Tree House again, this time to a whole new world

under the ocean. Complete with a giant octopus, a hungry shark, and dolphins to the rescue, this Magic Tree House book delivers an underwater adventure kids can dream about.

ABOUT Dolphins and Sharks: A Nonfiction Companion to Dolphins at Daybreak

How fast can some dolphins swim? What is the biggest shark? Why do sharks attack? Find out the answers to these questions and more in this Fact Tracker! Includes an illustrated gallery of dolphins and sharks, information on the ocean, dolphin communication, how sharks hunt for food, ocean exploration, and lots more!



If I Could be an Ocean AnimalWhen Jack and Annie dive into the ocean in their mini-sub, they enter a strange new world filled with many unusual sea creatures. Have students list the different ocean animals that Jack and Annie encounter on their undersea adventure. Ask them to choose which of these sea creatures they would like to be for a day. In explaining and justifying their choices, have students address the following aspects of that animal’s life in a short composition to be read aloud:

Undersea environment Shelter/protection

Physical characteristics Predators/prey Friends

CURRICULUM: Art• Language Arts •Science

ACTIVITIES FOR Dolphins and Sharks: A Nonfiction Companion to Dolphins at Daybreak

Getting StartedUsing a map or a globe, locate and name each of the four oceans on our planet. Using Internet or library resources, invite students to find out how large each of the four oceans is, listing from largest to smallest. Have students compare the size of each ocean with the size of the United States to demonstrate how vast these bodies of salt water are.

Ask students to name and share what they know about some of the millions of creatures who make their homes in the ocean. Discuss how, in the ocean, larger and stronger animals eat smaller and weaker ones, creating a food chain. Ask them to guess, which among these sea creatures are called predators given their place at the top of the food chain.

Have students ever seen dolphins or sharks at an aquarium, sea show, or in their natural habitat? What were their impressions? What famous fictitious dolphins and sharks (such as Flipper or the shark in Jaws ) have they heard of? Indicate that the information they gather about dolphins and sharks through the following activities will help to distinguish the reality of these spectacular creatures from the myths that surround them.

How Deep Is the Ocean?Oceans are wide, covering almost 140 million square miles of the earth’s surface, but they are also deep, some going as far as six miles down. Using a large shoebox, have students create their own ocean diorama showing the three layers of the ocean and some of the different creatures who live in each zone. Students can paint the back of the inside of the box different shades of blue to show light variations at each layer. They can use browns to create the ocean floor on the bottom.

Then, have students draw and color or cut out pictures of undersea creatures and suspend them with string of different lengths to hang in their appropriate zone. Pipe cleaners can be used to fashion coral and seaweed; glitter can be used to add the right touch of underwater sparkle.

CURRICULUM: Science Art

The Art of the BoneIntroduce students to the term scrimshaw , the craft of carving designs into bone, practiced by the whalers in the 1800s and learned from many native peoples. Whalers would use the teeth or jawboned of the whales to create elaborate carvings. Discuss how this technique can be done with other materials, without harming animals.

Supply each with a paper and pencil, a large bar of soap (such as Ivory) with the name scraped off to create a smooth surface, a plastic knife, and black water-based paint with brush. Have students draw outlined images of one or more dolphins or sharks they have become acquainted with. Lay outline on soap and trace into surface using the plastic knife. Remove paper and go over lightly with black paint. After drying for a few minutes, lightly run water over soap to remove excess paint, allowing color in carved areas to remain and enhance their images.

CURRICULUM: Research• History Art

Sidewalk PreditorsA great white shark may grow to 21 feet and weigh as much as 7,000 pounds. A hammerhead shark may grow as much as 20 feet and weigh in at 1,000 pounds. Go outside with chalk (if you have a driveway or a large blacktop area close by). Using tape measures or rulers, measure out the length of the predators and approximate their sizes in life-size outline chalk drawings. Then stand inside each drawing, estimating how many times larger each shark predator is.

CURRICULUM: Math • Art

Cetacean SongsThe language of marine animals in the group known as Cetacea includes various clicks and whistles that often sound musical to the human ear. Most striking is the song of the humpback whale. Download and have students listen to the song of this majestic creature of the deep. How does the music sound? Like an instrument? Like a cry? What feelings do these songs evoke? Ask each student to write a free-verse poem about the song of the humpback whale, describing how it makes them feel. Complete this musical adventure by singing “Baby Beluga” by Raffi.

CURRICULUM: Music • Science • Language Arts

Shark BytesUsing Internet or library resources, have students further research the unique attributes of each introduced in this guide, including their abilities to hear, smell, see, swim, sleep, find and eat food, and protect themselves.

CURRICULUM: Research Science • Art

Teaching ideas by Rosemary B. Stimola, Ph.D., former professor of children’s literature at City University of New York, and Dr. Peggy A Sharp, a national children’s literature consultant.

MagicTreeHouse.com

Dolphins or Sharks?

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Directions: Dolphins and sharks live in the same waters, but they belong to different animal groups with very specific attributes. Complete the following dolphin and shark webs by choosing those attributes typical of their animal groups.

Drink milkAre cold bloodedHave lungsHave live babiesHave lots of teethHave rough skinAre mammalsAre warm bloodedHave gillsAre ChondrichthyesHave a cartilage skeletonUse echolocationAre Cetacea

Activity for Dolphins and Sharks: A Nonfiction Companion to Dolphins at Daybreak by

Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce.

All sharks ______________________________________

SHARKS

DOLPHINS

All dolphins ______________________________________

Dolphins or Sharks?

Answer Key

All dolphins are Cetacea.

All sharks are Chondrichthyes.

Dolphinsdrink milkhave lungshave live babiesare mammalsare warm bloodeduse echolocation

Sharksare cold bloodedhave lots of teethhave rough skinhave gillshave a cartilage skeleton

Page ReferencesDrink milk . . . . . . . . . . . p. 30Are cold blooded . . . . . . . . p. 61Have lungs . . . . . . . . . . . p. 30Have live babies . . . . . . . . p. 30Have lots of teeth . . . . . . . . p. 64Have rough skin . . . . . . . . p. 65Are mammals. . . . . . . . . . p. 29Are warm blooded . . . . . . . p. 30Have gills . . . . . . . . . . . p. 67Are Chondrichthyes . . . . . . . p. 63Have a cartilage skeleton . . . . p. 64Use echolocation . . . . . . . . p. 36Are Cetacea . . . . . . . . . . p. 28

Activity for Dolphins and Sharks: A Nonfiction Companion to Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce

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Dolphins or Sharks?

Activity for Dolphins and Sharks: A Nonfiction Companion to Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce MagicTreeHouse.com

Directions: Dolphins and sharks are in danger due to fishing, hunting, and pollution. Read pages 99–105 in Dolphins and Sharks, then use the template below to create a poster promoting conservation of our ocean friends.

SAVE OUR DOLPHINS AND SHARKS!

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polar bears past bedtime and polar bears and the …...help them use the information as part of a...

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