This digital storybook, read in Spanish, tells the story of a polar bear mother and her cub working to survive in a melting arctic, including an uncertain ending.
Students will learn about some of the factors causing climate change and the devastating impacts that these changes are having on polar bears.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This book has both Spanish and English text on each page, which may help support multilingual learners.
This story is entertaining to young learners as it includes fictional, imaginative elements, yet also features important themes.
Additional Prerequisites
The title, dedication, and author's note are read in English, but the story is read in Spanish.
This story deals with themes of hunger, the loss of a parent, and suffering animals so prepare for how to support students' big emotions that may arise around the reading of this book.
This resource is also available with the book read aloud in English, as the subtitles in English may not work properly.
Differentiation
Introduce key concepts in students' native language before reading the book, and then provide opportunities for students to listen to the book in both English and Spanish.
Either print the last page of the book or give students a blank sheet of paper to draw their own sunset as directed on the last page of the book.
Pair students up to discuss an alternate ending for the book in which Ollie and his mother are able to survive in the arctic due to humans' actions to reverse climate change.
Provide opportunities for the content in the Author's Note to be explained in Spanish since it contains important information about polar bears and climate change.
Give students the opportunity to explore resources from Polar Bear International, such as this polar bear tracker or this coloring sheet asking students to write a message from a polar bear.
Use ideas from the final page of the Author's Note (possibly with translation assistance) to spark ideas about how students can reverse climate change and help polar bears, and then have students share ideas on posters or in writing.
Facilitate a class discussion about the ending of the book and what it means since it isn't explicitly explained.
Scientist Notes
This is a video of the book "Still Waiting" being read aloud in Spanish. The book text is in English and Spanish. The book discusses global warming and its effects on polar bears and whether or not they will be able to adapt. The book encourages students to think about actions they can take to make a difference. This would be a great resource for a classroom with younger children.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-5 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
LS4: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
3-LS4-3 Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.2 Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.2 Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (ACTFL)
Communication: Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situations and for multiple purposes.
1.2 Interpretive Communication: Learners understand,interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.
Communities: Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.
5.1 School and Global Communities: Learners use the language both within and beyond the classroom to interact and collaborate in their community and the globalized world.
Comparisons: Develop insight into the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence.
4.1 Language Comparisons: Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.
