This article provides an overview of using rubrics as a method of assessment and discusses technological tools that facilitate the creation of rubrics.

This Readers Theater script includes parts for 8-9 students. It is based on the Feature Story, At Home in the Cold and discusses various adaptations that allow animals to survive in the cold oceans of the Arctic and Antarctica. The script was written for students in grades 4-5.

This article reprints and links to informational text about the adaptations that allow mammals and fish to survive in polar oceans. Versions are available for students in grades K-1, 2-3 and 4-5. Related science and literacy activities are included.

This script for choral reading was written to be used with two groups of students. The script is based on the Feature Story, At Home in the Cold and discusses various adaptations that allow animals to survive in the cold oceans of the Arctic and Antarctica. The script is appropriate for use with students in grades K-1.

This informational text explore adaptations that allow penguins, whales, walruses, seals, and fish to live in the cold water of the Arctic and Southern Oceans. The text is at a reading level appropriate for second through third grade. This version is a full-color pdf file that can be printed, cut, and folded to form a book. Each book contains color photographs and illustrations.

This informational text explores adaptations that allow penguins, whales, walruses, seals, and fish to live in the cold water of the Arctic and Southern Oceans. The text is at reading level appropriate for students in second through third grade. It is a PDF file that contains text as well as a glossary.

This informational text explores adaptations that allow penguins, whales, walruses, seals, and fish to live in the cold water of the Arctic and Southern Oceans. The text is at reading level appropriate for students in fourth through fifth grade. It is a PDF file that contains the text as well as a glossary.

This informational text explores adaptations that allow penguins, whales, walruses, seals, and fish to live in the cold water of the Arctic and Southern Oceans. The text is at reading level appropriate for students in Kindergarten through first grade. It is a PDF file that contains the text as well as a glossary.

This Readers Theater script includes parts for 11 students. It is based on the Feature Story, At Home in the Cold and discusses various adaptations that allow animals to survive in the cold oceans of the Arctic and Antarctica. It is designed for use with students in grades 2-3.

This article includes links to expository text for students in grades K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 about the aurora.

This informational text explains the colorful phenomenon known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) and the southern lights (aurora australis). Students explore the cause of the aurora. The text is written at a grade four through five reading level. This is a PDF containing the informational text and a glossary.

This article lists seven art techniques and four poetry types that can be used to depict and describe the aurora.

This professional development article describes approaches to using social media in harnessing the power of Web 2.0 technologies to reinforce the connection between multimedia literacy and powerful content-area learning in grades K-5. The emphasis is on collaboration with the school librarian. The article appears in the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which is structured around the seven essential principles of the climate sciences.

This article provides a brief discussion of the importance of teaching students to analyze data and representations of data as well as two resources that can help teachers implement these strategies into their instruction.

This article provides an overview of how teachers can use bibliotherapy to help students deal with social, emotional, and behavioral issues.

This article continues an examination of each of the seven essential principles of the climate sciences on which the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is structured. Principle 3 states that life on Earth depends on, is shaped by, and affects climate. The climate dictates where and how species can survive. The author discusses the scientific concepts underlying the life forms' dependence on the climate and expands the discussion with diagrams, photos, and online resources.

Join us on a special trip up to Bathurst Island to record birdsongs, and learn about how you can use bird observations to create scientific inquiry in your classroom using ebird.org and birds.cornell.edu/birdsleuth.

This article profiles Paul Siple, a Boy Scout selected to accompany Admiral Byrd to Antarctica in 1928.

This presentation of a digital story (narration, images, and soundtrack in a short video) features the polar regions. The story was produced by the free, online magazine Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears.