Learning Center

Learning Center Description

            In this learning center, the students are a given a brief overview of Alaska and its majesty. The center will be available for the students to use throughout the unit.  The center includes many student activities, while displaying a number of pictures of wildlife, scenery of Alaska, and some background knowledge of the state.  Students will be given a “learning center” folder in which to keep their completed activities.

            A tri-fold board provides the focus of the learning center.  The background of the board is painted with a picture of the Aurora Borealis.  On top of the board are cut out letters spelling ALASKA.  They are posted on construction paper and held up by wire and duct tape.  On the sides of the tri-fold board there are pictures of various animals a person may find in the Alaskan wilderness.  They include the following: moose, bald eagle, ram, polar bear, artic wolf, humpback whale, and Kodiak bear. Just below the animal pictures are pictures of Alaskan scenery.  The picture on the left is of a glacier, and the one of the right is of a dogsled team racing.  On the bottom of each of the side panels there is a writing activity for the student to complete. “Imagine” challenges the students to write a journal entry based on the situation they pick from one of the cards.  “Make a Postcard,” will allow the students to illustrate and write as if they were in Alaska writing to a friend or family member. 

 In the middle of the board there is a map outline of the state with four important places marked on it.  Around the map are pictures of the places with strings attaching the picture to the location on the map.  The places that were used are: Katmai National Park, Mount McKinley, Anchorage, and Juneau.   Toward the bottom of the board there are authentic pictures of the Aurora Borealis, with an explanation for the students to read. 

Books, stuffed animals, and various other things from the state of Alaska, which we have found in our homes, surround the board.  Included are: bears, moose, dog, blanket, and photo album.  There are also five activities the students are presented with.

Activities:

1. Create an Advertisement
   1. Follow the sheet inside and create an advertisement about the state of Alaska; entice people to come visit the state. (Find the sheet at http://www.abcteach.com/States/advert.htm )
   2. Hang your advertisement on the Alaska bulletin board when you are finished.  
2. Word Find
   1. Complete the word find inside.    (http://www.abcteach.com/wordpuzzles/WordSearches/alaska.htm )
   2. Check your answers with the key.
   3. Challenge: try and create your own word find using words from Alaska, give it to a friend so he/she can find the words. 
   4. Add the completed word find to the center folder.
3. Vacation in Alaska
   1. Plan a trip to Alaska: Follow the guide inside.
   2. Share your trip with a friend.
   3. Add you plan to your center folder.

4. Iditarod Math
   1. Answer the questions about the serum run of 1925.
   2. Check the answer key to see if you are correct; correct those that are incorrect.
   3. Put the completed worksheet in your center folder.
5. Mosse.com
   1. Look up the website on the sheet inside. (http://www.northstar.k12.ak.us/schools/awe/moose/moosepage.html )
   2. Follow the sheet and answer the questions.  The answers will be found on the website.
   3. Complete the activity for question #7 on the back of your paper.
   4. Add this sheet to your learning center folder. 
6. Make Your Own Igloo:
   1. Use the sugar cubes, stack them to build your own igloo.
   2. Look in the books provided for examples of different kinds of igloos you can make.
   3. Experiment, see what you can make.

Books:

• Craighead George, Jean.  Julie of the Wolves.  New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
• Craighead George, Jean.  Julie’s Wolf Pack.  New York: HarperCollings, 1997.
• Stefoff, Rebecca. Alaska.  New York:  Benchmark Books, 1998.
• Kaplan, Elizabeth.  The Tundra.  New York: Benchmark Books 1996. 
• Fradin, Dennis.  Alaska: In Words and Pictures.  Chicago: Childrens Press, 1977.
• Pryde, Duncan.  Nunaga:  Ten Years of Eskimo Life.  New York:  Bantam Books, 1973.
• Craighead George, Jean.  Snow Bear.  New York:  Hyperion Books for Children, 1999.
• Planche, Bernard.  Living with the Eskimos.  Ossining, NY:  Young Discovery Library, 1988.
• Shemir, Bonnie.  Houses of Snow, Skin, and Bones.  Montreal, Quebec: Tundra Books, 1989.
• Alexander, Bryan and Cherry.  An Eskimo Family.  Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co., 1985.
• Briggs Martin, Jaqueline.  The Lamp, The Ice, and the Boat Called Fish.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
• Jenness, Aylette, and Alice Rivers.  The Two Worlds: A Yup’ic Eskimo Family.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989.
• Kaplan, Elizabeth.  Taiga.  New York: Benchmark Books, 1996.
• Wood, Ted.  Iditarod Dream:Dusty and his sled dogs complete in Alaska’s Jr. Ititarod.  New York: Walker and Co., 1996.
• Miller, Debbie S. The Great Serum Race: Blazing the Iditarod Trail. New York: Walker and Co., 2002.

• Hall, Amanda. The Stolen Sun. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2002.

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