A guide for using our resources

Children will examine the adaptations and defenses of the arctic hare.

Vocabulary: dangers, camouflaged

Simple, spectacular ideas to boost your lessons.

• This adorable, icy version of “Over in the Meadow” features many Arctic animals, including the Arctic hare.

• Use what children learned in the issue to write about a day in the life of an Arctic hare, from the hare’s point of view.
• Children can dictate their ideas as you write them on chart paper, as well as come up to write any letters or words they know.

• Work together to find and circle each h in the issue.

Skill: apply knowledge

Materials: Give the Hare a New Coat skill sheet, paintbrushes, brown paint, glue, cotton balls

• Pass out the skill sheets and paint. Ask children what an Arctic hare looks like in the summer. (It is brown.) Have kids paint their hares. As the paint dries, talk about why Arctic hares are brown during the summer—the color helps them blend in with the vegetation.
• Now pass out the glue and cotton balls. Say that winter is coming! It’s time for the Arctic hare to change its coat. Remind students that the hare must be camouflaged against its snowy surroundings to protect itself from predators!
• Have children use a paintbrush to brush glue over their Arctic hare’s body. Then have them cover it with cotton balls, pulling and stretching the cotton balls to make them look like fur. Now their Arctic hares are ready for winter!