I stole this idea from a professional development day we had earlier this year. I love the wording of that question. It forces the students to come up with their own questions but it also forces some limitations on those questions. The class came up with a great list of questions:
- Where did this happen?
- How cold was it?
- Did any polar bears die?
- Hom many polar bears was it too cold for?
- How did polar bears get too cold?
It was that last question that I wanted to know the answer to as well. I mean they are polar bears. After making the list, I passed out the article and the class read the text. As they read the text they would put an "A" above the spot where they found their answer. Here is the text of the article if you want to read and find the answers.
It's too cold for Chicago's resident polar bear.
The city's Lincoln Park Zoo says its polar bear, Anana, was kept inside Monday because of the record-low temperatures.
Zoo spokeswoman Sharon Dewar says that the below-zero weather might be comparable to what polar bears experience in the wild. But Anana doesn't have a thick layer of fat that bears typically get from eating things such as seals and whale carcasses.
That extra insulation would make it uncomfortable to live in Chicago during the rest of the year. So Anana gets a different diet.
While she stayed inside, Anana lounged in her comparatively balmy indoor climate that's kept at 40 to 50 degrees.
Anana usually has access to both an indoor and outdoor area. She'll be allowed to venture outside Tuesday.
I thought that was an amazing article. I think the class was pretty interested to learn about how polar bears are different in the zoo than in their habitat. What I love about the exercise is that students are creating their own questions as they read. They also are realizing that the answer to their questions can be found in text.
Hope you are all having a great week.
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