Penguins

Here we are at the end of our unit! My students are currently making some Paper Mache Penguins, our room doesn't have an electronic whiteboard for the moment so we are back to printing out resources... feels a bit like the 1990s!

So here is a printable - a collection of Adelie Penguins so students may paint the markings onto their sculptures correctly.

Penguins

Finding Antarctica: Mapping the Last Continent

The State Library of NSW currently has an exhibition and an excellent collection of online resources focusing on the mapping of Antarctica.
In 2011 Australia celebrates 100 years of Australian expeditions to the Antarctic. The Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE), which departed from Hobart in December 1911 and was led by Sir Douglas Mawson, was the first Australian-led Antarctic expedition.

In celebration of this centenary, this exhibition will focus on the mapping of Antarctica from the 15th to the 21st century, from crude woodcut maps to the latest satellite imagery. The exhibition will tell the story of the gradual discovery, exploration and charting of this significant land mass.

The exhibition focuses on:
- Early trade and exploration
- Dutch supremacy
- French interests
- James Cook and closer inspection

The exhibition will showcase the magnificent collection of rare maps and charts held by the State Library, accompanied by rare published accounts and original sketches from Antarctica exploration by Cook, d'Urville, the United State Exploring Expeditions and the Australasian Antarctic Expedition.

The Library has an amazing collection of material on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition due to a number of significant acquisitions over the past 100 years. A substantial collection of the official papers of the Expedition team were also deposited with the State Government of New South Wales, in exchange for the State undertaking to publish the remaining records of the expedition team.The records were subsequently transferred to the State Library. A selection of this material will be in display as part of the exhibition.

There is a number of interesting presentations and talks (one on Mawson's forgotten men!), I might just have to attend!

Mawson's Hut & Travel Oz

Here are some great resources from the Australian TV travel show, Travel Oz. Each clip runs from 5-10min and is certainly appropriate for Stage 3 students. Enjoy!

Mawson's Hut


West of Mawson's Hut


The Restoration of Mawson's Hut


Hunting Antarctic Orcas


Emperor Penguins


Mertz Glacier


Macquarie Island




Humpback Whale Migration

Food Webs

This week our class is being introduced to food webs, shortly we will be looking at food webs specifically in relation to Antarctica (our current unit of work).

Bill Nye - The Science Guy has a good introduction to foodwebs here (sorry, it wont let me embed) I'd definitely watch this first, it's lots of fun and very well made - first part runs for 8 minutes.
The second part has a good explanation of food webs and pyramids at about 7:50.
In part three there is a good summary that begins at around 2:20.

What is a food web

The Gould League has a simple online Antarctica food web activity here and another one here.

Some other cool food web games can be found here - this one is a little more difficult!

A food-web game not requiring a computer can be found here.

A fun music video about the food web - I dare you to try and sing along!


The Lyrics may look a little mis-spelled here but if you hit the 'view in full screen' button it all comes up perfectly:
Food Web - Lyrics

And a very funny clip about how we are all connected:


For Teachers: Here's a lesson plan about Antarctic Food Webs. There also appears to be alot of science-related Antarctica content on this website!

Scott's Antarctica

Shortly we will be moving on from 'Symbol Systems' and on to 'Antarctica.'

Today we briefly learned the story of Robert Falcon Scott's 2 expeditions to Antarctica.

Here is some extra information to support this lesson.



Listen to the story of Scott at NPR. On the same website is an excellent collection of images.

A dog called Chris listening to Scott's gramophone!


Some original newsreel footage of Scott's ships can be found here.