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Username: sustain
Password: school

Easy to navigate site, good reading level for most students

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A curriculum-connected, supplemental learning tool for elementary school educators

How PebbleGo Works

With just one simple username and password for your entire school, signing in for even your youngest students is a snap.

Your students are all set for simple, safe, and fun research that will develop a lifelong thirst for knowledge.

What Five Years of PebbleGo can mean for your students.

Georgia Brown Dual Immersion School's five-year journey with PebbleGodemonstrates that when a school is empowered with resources that support and share its beliefs, students are successful.

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Discover the go-to curriculum-connected research tool specifically for elementary school educators and students

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This is a very helpful site, that's super user friendly. The reading level is high for second grade though.
Username: gischool
Password: britannica

First, login. Then choose "elementary". Then click "search" near the top to type something into the search bar.

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Enter the Access ID and Passcode provided by your school to access Britannica School.

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This has a lot of information about animals, but if you use the search bar you can also find lots of information about the human impact on our planet.

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This has lots of articles and information about animals. The reading level is very high for second grade.

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Polar bears, or "sea bears," are the world's largest land predators, weighing up to 600 kg (1300 lb.) and measuring up to 3 m (10 ft.) tall. On average they live to be about 25 years old, reaching sexual maturity at around 4 years.

Although they appear white or yellow in color, their fur is actually clear and hollow, and their skin is black. Their visibly pale coloring is caused by the reflection and scattering of light.

Inhabiting the ice and sea of the Arctic, polar bears are well-equipped for survival in a harsh environment. Two coats of fur and a thick layer of blubber help insulate the polar bear's body from the cold, keeping its temperature at an even 37° C (98.6° F). In addition, polar bears' paws are especially adapted for walking on the ice and swimming in the sea. Hairs and bumps on the soles of their feet provide traction, while webbing between their toes allows for effective swimming strokes.

Polar bears are also equipped with strong noses. They use their powerful sense of smell when hunting for seals, their main source of food. They can smell a seal's breathing hole, or aglu, up to one mile away. Once located, a polar bear will wait patiently by the hole and attack the seal's head when it comes up for air. In ideal hunting conditions, the bear will just eat the seal fat, leaving the carcass for other animals. However, when food is scarce, polar bears will eat just about anything. Supplemental foods include walruses, short-legged reindeer, birds, bird eggs, kelp, and beached whales. When in proximity to human settlements, they have even been known to eat garbage such as Styrofoam.

Polar bears do not hibernate like other bears, but females do enter into a dormant state while pregnant. After mating in the spring, a female polar bear spends the summer ingesting large amounts of food and building a maternity den in a snow drift to prepare for the arrival of her cubs.

In the fall, she enters into a dormant state, remaining this way even as she gives birth. The litter, usually two cubs, will spend two years with their mother learning essential hunting and survival skills.

Conservation Status

Polar bears are currently listed as vulnerable by IUCN's Red List. Global warming greatly impacts the fate of the polar bear. A reduction of large masses of ice results in limited access to seals. Not only does this adversely affect the health of adult polar bears, it also hinders the successful reproduction and nourishment of new bear cubs. Rising temperatures also result in unstable maternity dens, as snowdrifts melt and collapse.

What You Can Do to Help

To help save the polar bear habitat, you can support the Climate Reality Project, which urges world leaders, companies, and communities to take action in curbing global warming.

Polar Bear Range

Polar Bear Resources

Blog Posts about the Polar Bear

About the Author

Abi Cushman is a contributing editor of Animal Fact Guide and My House Rabbit. When she's not writing about weird animal facts, Abi writes and illustrates funny books for kids. Her picture books, and Animals Go Vroom!, are available now from Viking Children's Books.

To learn more and to download free activity sheets, visit www.abicushman.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AbiCushman and on Instagram at @Abi.Cushman.

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Although polar bears appear to be white or yellow, their fur is actually clear, and their skin is black. Learn more polar bear facts at Animal Fact Guide!

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This is a very user friendly site, although the reading level will be a challenge for many students.

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Discover fun facts and quizzes all about amazing animals, plants, and their natural habitats, from the rain forest, to the African savanna, to the polar regi…

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Lots of information on this site, but it might be hard for students to navigate on their own.
The reading level will be a challenge for many students.

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User friendly site for reading about animals.  You can also search to find out about pollution, oil spills, deforestation, and other topics that teach about the human impact on animal habitats.  The reading level might be a challenge.
Username: sustain
Password: school

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A comprehensive suite of e-learning resources designed for all ages and abilities with articles, videos, educator tools, eBooks, research guides and more.