Antarctica Unit
This is our second continent study of the year. We are loving exploring our world together. In this one we grabbed the Waseca Biome 3-Part Cards and explored different aspects of the continent itself. Our daughters were very into penguins and we did a whole unit on penguins in addition to this following our arctic unit work.
Waseca Biomes 3-Part Cards
These cards are very well done! I grabbed the cards geared towards 6-12 thinking we could use them for both. They work for now but the next time we have this unit, I will need to grab the 3-6 age as well. My youngest will be 3/4 and my oldest will be 6/7. This are not something an emerging reader would do well with and there is no picture to picture matching like there are for Primary 3-part cards. Again, we love them and my oldest (five in May) listened to each card and made it through the whole stack. They are very well done! You experience the whole polar biome in Antarctica: the fish, mammals, plants, people, etc. Would definitely recommend them.
Antarctic Food Web
I love the way Waseca’s curriculum introduces the food chain. It’s the lesson called, “All energy comes from the Sun” in their free curriculum (we use it to supplement our cultural curriculum). They story tell the food chain (as opposed to just explaining it). It starts with the plant which is eaten by the grasshopper, who is eaten by the snake and so on.
I used this format to tell the story of the Antarctic Food Web (free printable from Trillium Montessori’s Free Resource Library). I started with krill and worked my way up to the killer whale. Our tot loved the pictures and our preschooler asked me to tell the story twice. Then she told the story. After that, she chose to complete the matching activity (pictured) and then to draw the story herself. I think she may have even worked with this longer if we hadn’t done the initial presentation so close to lunch time. She did select it again off the shelf a couple times over the next couple of days.
Antarctic Transportation 3-Part Cards
These were fun BUT were not selected off the shelf after initial presentation by my oldest. It was interesting, and fun to learn but she isn’t into transportation per se so it didn’t draw her back in the way the other cards did. It is not something I would have skipped though. I will definitely leave it in our Antarctica/Polar Regions Resource box for the next study! Plus there is a ton more that we didn’t use this time around that is also from Every Star is Different’s Antarctica Study.
Physical Features of Antarctica 3-Part Cards
Little Miss LOVED these! This was very interesting to her. She loved seeing what this polar region looks like in real life (her words). This is another lovely and FREE material from Trillium Montessori’s free resource library.
Iceberg Cards and Posters
Initially I had planned to do this the day after I presented the Physical Features of Antarctica Cards BUT she was begging to go ahead and pull them out so we spent two days on Icebergs and LOVED every minute! These are beautifully done and engaging. We did the three part cards and matched to the poster that comes with it (which was her favorite part!) She pulled these out a few times over the next few days as well just to look at. These are from Green Urban Creative.
Penguin Mini Unit
This has actually become its own unit. It blew up on me but the girls are loving it and I am here for it! Here’s a few pictures from this study (above). There are actually only two species that live exclusively in Antarctica (Emperor Penguins and Adelie Penguins) and our study started with these. There are eight types that total that are in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic Islands. There are 18 species total – some that even live in warm climates (like the African penguins!) We LOVED this unit. It spanned a little over two weeks. I will do a separate post on the activities we did.
That is a wrap! Our first study of Antarctica. What have you done for your Antarctic continent studies? Have you started your continent box to add to?
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