Today is International Polar Bear Day! It's a day to learn about polar bears and support efforts to protect them. This is the time of year when the mothers and their babies are snug in their dens, waiting for spring to arrive.
I am currently working on a new set of Crypto-Animals puzzles that is all about the babies! These puzzles will focus on decimal operations practice so are most appropriate for 5th grade and up (maybe 4th, depending on your students abilities). Just click on the puzzle you see above to download a sample that is all about baby polar bears!
For this type of puzzle, students will first solve all the decimal problems at the top of the page. Then they will use their answers paired with the indicated letters to complete the clues at the bottom of the page. When they read and study the clues, they should be able to guess the mystery baby animal! So this does require not talking about polar bears before you give them the puzzle or they will already know the answer! If students don't know what a baby polar bear is called (or can't figure out the animal), they can also solve the hints under the answer blanks to then find the letters that will reveal the animal.
Here are some links to explore more about polar bears:
Polar Bears International - contains an awesome miniposter with a word search, faqs, and flipgrid resources
And a cute video!
I hope your students enjoy learning about polar bears this week!
