This article features activity books and polar-themed children's literature for use in the elementary classroom.

This issue of the free online magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, highlights ways to teach about the extremes in day and night and seasons in the Arctic and Antarctica. The targeted literacy skill is cause/effect relationships. Art and poetry are integrated through a study of the aurora.

This article assembles free resources from the Polar Patterns: Day, Night, and Seasons issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine into a unit outline based on the 5E learning cycle framework. Outlines are provided for Grades K-2 and 3-5.

This article highlights children's literature about day and night, seasons, the aurora, and cause and effect for use in the elementary classroom.

This article from Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle provides ideas on how school librarians can work with elementary teachers to teach about the Sun's impact on weather and climate. The author introduces the Standards for the 21st Century Learner, developed by the American Association of School Librarians. The author focuses on Standard 1, which calls for students to inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge through developing and refining questions, investigating answers, seeking divergent perspectives in information, and assessing whether the information found answers the questions posed. The free, online magazine draws its themes from the Seven Essential Principles of Climate Literacy, with each issue focusing on one of the seven principles.

An original informational story about Sun's role in heating Earth's air, land, and water and Sun's connection to the seasons and weather. The story encourages young readers to observe Sun's impact on weather and the seasons and to make predictions about the weather. The story is available in separate versions for grades K-2 and 3-5 and as a downloadable, full-color pdf. The story is a feature of the free online magazine that focuses on the seven principles of climate literacy.

This article provides elementary school teachers with background knowledge about science concepts needed to understand the first of seven essential principles of climate literacy--the sun is the primary source of energy for our climate system. Graphs, diagrams, and oneline resources provide more background for the teacher. The article appears in a free online magazine that focuses on the seven essential princples of the climate sciences.

This book list contains children's books that have been screened for accuracy in depicting scientific concepts. Each book's content is briefly described and its cover pictured. The topics of the books support learning in Grades K-5 about the issue's theme. The list appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the essential principles of climate literacy.

Beginning with examples from the polar regions, this article examines the question Š—“Why do we have seasons?Š— Included are links to lesson plans, a list of childrenŠ—Čs books, and suggested alignments with science, literacy, geography, and climate instruction in K-5 classrooms. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears.

Students will first use CoSpace to create a virtual model of Newton's.  Students will learn how to use CoSpace to create 3D virtual models.  Next students will review concepts of rotation, revolution, seasons, tides, barycenter, precession, nutation by further exploring CoSpaces.  Students will learn to write code to enable the earth to rotate and then revolve around the sun.

In this Science Update, learn how the earth got tilted on its axis. Audio and transcript versions are available. Supplemental resources, including a background essay and discussion questions, are also provided.

This list of children's books recommends nonfiction titles that supplement basic information found in lessons and activities of this themed issue of the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The books are grouped by topic -- water, weather and climate, and atmosphere. Each book is described by its content, reading level, and possible uses in the classroom. Covers are pictured. The online magazine is produced for elementary school teachers and is structured around the essential principles of climate sciences and climate literacy.

This free, standards-based website developed for elementary teachers provides hand-picked, reviewed, on-line resources to enhance teacher content knowledge regarding reasons for the seasons.

There are six small readings about dry and wet diets for herbivores in this activity sheet to investigate.

Four unit plans provide opportunities for in-depth explorations of important foundational climate concepts -- weather, water as a solid, liquid and gas, and the water cycle -- that are appropriate for K-2 and 3-5 learners. These unit plans incorporate many of the lessons highlighted in other articles in this issue of the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The magazine is structured around the essential principles of the climate sciences.

In this article, teachers find two unit plans (grades K-2 and 3-5) that use resources featured in the science and literacy articles in the magazine. The unit plans are modeled after the five key steps in the learning cycle: engage, explore, explain, expand, and assess, or evaluate. The plans are aligned with the science content standards of the National Science Education Standards and the English language arts standards of the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association. The plans appear in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle.

This lesson is the eighth lesson in the unit Weather Trackers (http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/unitplan/11468.htm). The activities in this lesson serve as a comprehensive review for the unit on weather. Students review weather concepts through interactive games, role-play and experiments.

This classroom activity helps students understand how the angle of the Sun affects temperatures around the globe. After experimenting with a heat lamp and thermometers at differing angles, students apply what they learned to explain temperature variations on Earth. The printable six-page handout includes a series of inquiry-based questions to get students thinking about what they already know about temperature patterns, detailed experiment directions and a worksheet that helps students use the experiment results to gain a deeper understanding of seasonal temperature changes and why Antarctica is always so cold.

This formative assessment item uncovers student understanding of weather and seasons. It uncovers student ideas about differences in seasons depending on whether a person lives in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, or along the Equator. The probe follows along with National Science Education Standards. Resources are available to assist teachers in background information as well as lesson ideas dealing with the seasons of the world.