Animal Adaptions: BLUBBER

Last week, we learned about the 3 ways that animals survive during the winter: hibernate, migrate, and adapt. 

We started learning about adapting by talking about Polar Bears. We read the following non-fiction book:

After reading, the students had a chance to place their hands in freezing cold water.

If you can tell by their facial expressions, it was FREEZING!

I posed the question, "how are polar bears able to survive in freezing cold winter?" The number one answer was because of their fur. 

We focused on the following page in our book to learn more information:

We did some research on blubber and learned that blubber is a layer of fat that these animals develop under their skin. I asked, "do you think we can create something that is like blubber so we can feel what the polar bear feels when it swims in freezing cold water?"  As a class, we created our own "blubber" out of crisco. 

Each student went back to the ice water and felt the water with and without our blubber. They could not believe how warm the blubber kept their hands in the ice water.

After experimenting with the blubber, they recorded their findings in their wonder journals.