Our Caribou Contact

A small group of students had the honor to interact through a Skype call with Laura Thompson, a Ph.D. student from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.  She shared a slideshow that she'd prepared for the caribou researchers, aka the second graders. WOW - Did we all learn so much about this impressive animal!  Ms. Thompson shared with information from the following categories: special adaptations, diet, behavior, and research.  Please check out her slideshow using the link above - the pictures are wonderful. 

The students were busy taking notes, unprompted!  They were so immersed in their learning.  The reactions on their faces as they heard interesting and important facts about the arctic animal they chose to investigate further were really neat.  It was wonderful to learn about how Ms. Thompson works on her research too.  We were able to interact with her more during her presentation since this was a small group format.  She also took many of their additional questions after.  I was glad to be a part of this call - it's wonderful to see that students are comfortable with this format of learning from and along with others!

Thank you to Laura Thompson, Field Trip Earth, and Mark MacAllister for making this such an adventure in learning for this group of aspiring animal experts! 

Encounter with an Expert

Today we Skyped with a science expert, Mr. Gerkin, from Field Trip Earth.  The call was used as a kick-off to the Arctic habitat. 

Before the call, we shared what we had in our schema on the topic of Polar Bears on the following Lino Canvas. 

Here's a glimpse of three parts of the Skype call...

Learning about Polar Bears -

Interesting Parts of the Polar Bear -

Question and Answer Time -

Later this afternoon, we made this quick video about our favorite new learning.  Here's what the kids came up with below.

The students are currently working on a special thank you and mode of virtual communication to keep in contact with Mr. Gerkin.  They will also be sharing their progress with their Arctic Animal projects. 

Thank you to Mr. Gerkin and Mr. MacAllister

for this special event!