Alaska Unit Study
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Alaska Unit Study
Library List:
Eat your way through the USA by Loree Pettit
Little Walrus Warning by Carol Young
Wally the Lost Baby Walrus by Chris Kiana
Aurore of the Yukon – A Girls Adventure in the Klondike Gold Rush by
Keith Halliday (a read-aloud book)
Northern Lights A to Z by Mindy Dwyer
Running with the Big Dogs: A sled dog puppy grows up in Denali National Park, Alaska by Lori Yanuchi
Akiak: A Tale from Iditarod by Robert J. Blake (a read-aloud book)
Dog Team by Gary Paulsen
Call of the Wild by Jack London (Read-aloud)
Jack London: A Life of Adventure by Rae Bains (Read-aloud)
If you Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe
If you lived in the Alaska Territory by Nancy Smiler Levinson
White Fang by Jack London
Unit Study on Alaska. I teach multiple ages, so all activities and books are not on the same grade level. Modify as needed for the ages you are teaching.
Beginning Activities:
Color the Alaskan flag.
Locate Alaska on a map.
Discuss the North Pole and Northern Lights.
Study facts of Alaska – 49th state, the largest state, home to 17 of the highest mountains in the U.S., only state where polar bears live in the wild.
Science:
Study the caribou, moose, walrus, seal, and polar bears.
Have the child write an animal report on selected animals (unique characteristics, habitat, awake in day or night, what it eats etc.)
Also, have them draw a picture of the animal.
Study the flower forget-me-not. This is the state flower of Alaska. Color or draw a picture of this flower.
History:
Study about the Klondike Gold Rush.
Geography:
Study the following: glaciers, icebergs, tundra, Point Barrow, Mt. McKinley.
Malaspina Glacier is located in Alaska and is North America’s largest glacier.
Have your child write a geography report on the above terms – what is the definition, draw a picture etc.
Math:
After reading If You Give a Moose a Muffin, play a math game. Make construction paper muffins and do math games with them. Say, if I give a moose 5 muffins and he eats two, how many are left? and other equations.
Writing Activity:
Have your child write a story about competing in a dog race. Have your child write about an adventure that takes place in the Alaskan Wilderness.
Activities:
Pan for gold. Fill a sandbox, plastic swimming pool etc. with sand. Bury pennies in the sand. Take a tin pie plate, punch holes in the middle of the pie plate, the children sift the sand through the pie plate and the pennies are caught in the plate.
After reading If You Give a Moose a Muffin, bake muffins.
Watch the movie Balto.
Bake a traditional Alaskan meal.
Resource Sites – Links sent in by Jennifer C.
Polar Bear Web Cam – click on polar bear web cam
