Ice Age Literature Focus Unit EDU 315

1. IceAge Literature Focus Unit EDU 315

2. Literature Selection • Journey Through the Ice Age byPaul G. Bahn and Jean Vertut • Ice Age: The Classic Storybook by Nancy Krulik • Adventures in the Ice Age by Linda Bailey • Ice Age by Stewart Ross • Ice Age Giants by Steve Parker • The Ice Age by Dougal Dixon • Mammoth’s: Giants of the Ice Age by Adrian Lister, Paul Bahn • The Ice Age Tracker's Guide by Adrian Lister • In the Ice Age by J. C. Greenburg • Ice Age Neanderthals by Rebecca Stefoff • Life in the Great Ice Age by Michael and Beverly Oard

3. Theme Study • The thematic unit will be based on climate changes and the animals of the Ice Age. The unit will involve language arts, social studies, science, mathematics, art, music and physical education. Integration will occur between reading and writing and the other subjects. • Students will learn about climate changes, most specifically of the most recent ice age, animals of the Ice Age and how they survived.

4. Language Arts: Reading Activities • Students will get to select a chapter book listed under the Literature Selection category and read it silently. • Students will read their Ice Age stories aloud to the class. • The teacher will read aloud from Journey Through the Ice Age byPaul G. Bahn and Jean Vertut. • The students will have the option to read their review of Journey Through the Ice Age aloud to their peers. • Students will have the option to read their poems aloud to the class.

5. Language Arts: Writing Activities • Students will write an Ice Age story that will be based on how their life would be if they lived during the ice age instead of today. • The students will write a review of Journey Through the Ice Age byPaul G. Bahn and Jean Vertut. • Students will write one-page book reports for ever 100 pages they’ve read. • Students will write a poem of their choice on something they’ve learned about the Ice Age.

6. Language Arts: Speaking Activities • Students will engage in a group discussion about the book, Journey Through the Ice Age. • Students will read their Ice Age stories aloud to the class. • Students will have to option to read their Journey Through the Ice Age to the class. • Students will have the option to read their poems to the class. • Students will give an overview of the book they read to the class.

7. Language Arts: Listening Activites • Students will listen as the teacher reads Journey Through the Ice Age. • Students will listen to their peers read their Ice Age stories. • Students will listen to their peers read book reports. • Students will listen to their peers read Journey Through the Ice Age book reviews. • Students will listen to the group discussion about Journey Through the Ice Age.

8. Language Arts: Viewing Activities • Students will view the movie, Ice Age. • Students will view cave paintings from the Ice Age. • Students will view a museum that has fossils and other artifacts from the Ice Age. • Students will view the poems they wrote and decorated.

9. Language Arts: Visually Representing Activities • Students will take a picture of their favorite display at the museum. • Students will create a miniature fossil dig. • Students will make a mammoth art project. • Students will visually display poems they wrote in the unit.

10. Mathematics Activities • Using a line graph, students will compare temperatures of the Ice Age to temperatures today. • Students will determine how old fossils are up by adding the years B.C. and A.D. • Students will complete an Ice Age worksheet that will go over multiplication facts. • Measure snowfall around the world and compare it to the snowfall during the Ice Age.

11. Science Activities • Students will research a specific animal of the Ice Age and write and read their report to the class. • Students will learn different weather patterns that were common during the Ice Age. • Students will research different plants alive during the ice age. • Students will perform a fossil dig. • An archaeologist can come speak to the class about important facts when digging for bones. • Students will learn about the theory of evolution and determine which species elephants could have come from. • Students will take a trip to the zoo to see animals that resemble those of the Ice Age. • Students will do an ice melting experiment.

12. Social Studies Activities • Students will use the animal they chose for their report and find out where it was located. • Students will research the different weather patterns during the Ice Age for different continents. • The students will determine where the continents were located during the time of the Ice Age. • Students will play the Ice Age trivia game at http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Movies/Ice-Age-11693.html

13. Music and Art Activities • Students will create music instruments that can mimic the sounds of the animals of the Ice Age. (creativity will be encouraged) • Students will create an art piece that replicates the environment of the ice age. • Students will use the animal they chose for their report and create it using different forms of media for an art lesson. • Students will be split into two groups to create a song about anything about the ice age to perform for the other group.

14. Physical Education Activities • Students will compete in an Ice Age relay. • Students will play mammoth tag. • Students will go ice skating. • Students can go outside and build an igloo. • Students will go sledding.

15. Technology • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age • http://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/iceage.html • http://culter.colorado.edu:1030/~saelias/glacier.html • http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Movies/Ice-Age-11693.html • The DVD, Ice Age. • The internet and other forms of conducting research.

16. Language Arts Strategies • Activating background knowledge: Students think about what they already know about the ice age. • Brainstorming: Students think of many ideas related to the specific animal they chose for their report. • Inferencing: Students draw conclusions from clues presented in the book, Journey Through the Ice Age. • Proofreading: Students identify mechanical errors when performing the writing tasks of this unit. • Questioning: Students ask questions to clarify or expand meaning during our class discussion. • Visualizing: Students will draw pictures in their minds when the teacher reads Journey Through the Ice Age.

17. Language Arts Skills • Print: Students will capitalize proper nouns and adjectives when writing their reports. • Comprehension: Students will classify the animal they chose for their report under species and family. • Language: Students will use punctuation marks and avoid sentence fragments. • Reference: Students will locate synonyms in a thesaurus to help improve their reports.

18. Grouping Patterns • Large Group: Class discussions, museum trip, fossil dig, physical education activities, art projects, song lesson, creating musical instruments, watching the DVD, archaeologist visit, teacher reading, and listening to peers’ reports. • Small Group: Art project (replicating Ice Age environment), creating miniature fossil dig, • Individual: Ice Age climate research, reports, quiet reading, mathematics activities, poem writing, review writing.

20. Assessments • Participation in group discussions. • Participation in music and physical education activities. • The animal report’s grammatical structure and information included. • The depth of the art projects. • The number of quality book reports turned in. • The student’s ability to deliver his or her report to the class. • Poems will be graded according to a rubric.