Antarctica History Day 4
Race to the South Pole!
Objectives for these activities:
-
Each activity has its own goal.
Students will use context clues to learn definitions to vocabulary words.
Students will use illustrations to gain further information.
Students will use their background knowledge to understand new content.
Students will apply their knowledge gained from reading.
Students will participate in collaborative conversations with peers about grade level topics.
Antarctica-Big Idea

Antarctica is a huge continent that is very far away from other countries and has extreme weather.
History-Enduring Understanding:

Many explorers tried to reach the South Pole first in order to claim it for their country.
History-Essential Question:

Why did countries want to be the first to reach the South Pole?
Materials: The Race to the South Pole! book, Journal Activity, and Quiz
Assign out to students: Book 3/Day 4-Max Support, Book 3/Day 4-Mod Support, Book 3/Day 4-Min
Support
Activity A
4
Writing
Day
Activity B
Activity C
Shared Reading
Writing Activity
Quiz
Read to imagine what it would
be like to be the first person to
reach the South Pole.
Write a journal entry imagining
you were the first person to
reach the South Pole.
Take a quiz about the
words and concepts
introduced in this book.
Boardmaker Expedition Education ©2014 by Mayer-Johnson LLC a Tobii Dynavox company. All Rights Reserved Worldwide
1
Antarctica History Day 4
Race to the South Pole!
Activity A : Shared Reading
The goal of this activity is to provide a new purpose in which to explore the text as a way to increase
reading comprehension.
Beginning Instructions



Show the cover of the text.
Say, “Let’s read this book one more time. This time, let's read to imagine what it would be like to be
the first person to reach the South Pole.”
Follow the teacher text in gray as you conduct shared reading of this text.
The Race to the South Pole! book
Page Number
Text
Teacher Text
cover
The Race to the South Pole!
Remember: we are reading this book
this time to imagine what it must have
been like to be the first person to
reach the South Pole.
1
Get ready! Get set! Go! It was a
race across thousands of miles
of snow and ice. It was a race to
the South Pole!
Do you like to compete in races?
Would you like this race?
2
No one had ever been to the
South Pole. Which country would
place their flag in the center of
Antarctica? Who would be first to
discover the last place on Earth?
3
One team was from Norway.
They studied the ways of people
from the Arctic. The other was
from England. They did not. Can
you guess who won?
Boardmaker Expedition Education ©2014 by Mayer-Johnson LLC a Tobii Dynavox company. All Rights Reserved Worldwide
2
Antarctica History Day 4
Race to the South Pole!
4
They all needed good
transportation to get to the South
Pole. The Norwegians studied
how the Arctic people traveled.
I bet the winning team was glad they
had worked so hard to train.
5
They brought skis and practiced
for months. They trained sled
dogs to pull heavy loads.
6
The English brought ponies and
invented sleds with motors. The
ponies died of cold. The sleds
were too heavy and fell through
the ice.
7
They all needed warm clothing to It's hard to imagine what it would be
get to the South Pole. The
like if you are not dressed properly in
Norwegians studied what the
this weather.
Arctic people wore.
8
They dressed in many layers.
They lined their coats and boots
with warm fur.
9
The English brought coats from
home. Their boots did not have
fur.
10
They all needed energy-rich
foods to get to the South Pole.
The Norwegians studied what
Arctic people ate.
11
They brought frozen seal meat
and ate it at almost every meal.
They fed seal blubber to their
dogs.
12
The English packed canned food
from home. They ate chocolate,
What kind of food would you want if
you were traveling to the South Pole?
Boardmaker Expedition Education ©2014 by Mayer-Johnson LLC a Tobii Dynavox company. All Rights Reserved Worldwide
3
Antarctica History Day 4
Race to the South Pole!
cookies, and candy.
13
Both teams were brave and
determined. Both teams made it
to the South Pole. Both teams
placed their country’s flags.
14
Sadly, only one team made it
home safely.
15
Today, we celebrate Norway and
England for being first to
discover the last place on Earth.
Can you remember our purpose?
What do you think it would be like to
be the first to reach the South Pole?
Closing Instructions


Say, "That was great. Let's return to our purpose for reading. Can you imagine what would it be like
to be the first to reach the South Pole? Think about that for a minute."
Say, “Next we will write about what we think it would be like to be the first to reach the South Pole.”
Activity B : Write a Journal Entry
The goal of this activity is apply the knowledge gained from this book in written form.
Beginning Instructions




Introduce the form and features of a journal entry.
Say, "A journal is like a diary or a log of your experiences. Can you imagine what it would be like to
be first to reach the South Pole? Use this activity to write a journal entry from that perspective."
Have your student complete writing activity.
Match your student to the leveled writing support that maximizes fluency and success.
Boardmaker Expedition Education ©2014 by Mayer-Johnson LLC a Tobii Dynavox company. All Rights Reserved Worldwide
4
Antarctica History Day 4
Race to the South Pole!
Closing Instructions



Say, "That was great. Are there any questions or comments about this writing assignment?"
Have students compare and discuss writing as time and attention allow.
Say, “Next you will take a quiz on the information we learned in this book.”
Activity C : Quiz
The goal of this activity is to provide an opportunity for assessment of the vocabulary, knowledge
and comprehension skills for the content of the unit.
Beginning Instructions



Introduce the quiz.
Say, “We have finished our book. Let's take a quiz about the words and concepts we've learned in
this book. These questions should feel familiar. Let me know if you have any questions."
Have students complete the quiz.
Closing Instructions


Say, "That was great. We learned a great deal about the geography of this place. Are there any
questions? Later, we'll review the results of your quiz. Then you can decide if you need to do more
research and/or take it again."
Say, “That is it for this book. We learned a lot about the explorers who raced to the South Pole. We
will learn about the people who live on Antarctica in our next book.”
Boardmaker Expedition Education ©2014 by Mayer-Johnson LLC a Tobii Dynavox company. All Rights Reserved Worldwide
5