Polar Bear Math: Learning About Fractions from Klondike and Snow - Hardcover

Nagda, Ann Whitehead; Bickel, Cindy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805073019 ISBN 13: 9780805073010

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2004

Synopsis

That night Cindy took the tiny cubs home with her. She didn't sleep at all-she was too busy feeding milk to the twins, cleaning them, and checking on every little cry.
When dawn came, the small bears were still clinging to life.

Children learn about fractions while following the Denver Zoo's baby polar bears, Klondike and Snow

Early one morning at the Denver Zoo, a polar bear gives birth to two tiny babies, then abandons them.

The zoo staff must raise the babies, but there are many things they don't know. What foods are best? How much should the cubs eat? Once they figure out the answers, the cubs quickly become healthy, happy young bears.

Young readers follow Klondike and Snow as they grow from fragile newborns to large, lively bears, and along the way they'll learn about fractions.

About this title

About the Author

Ann Whitehead Nagda is the author of two other math picture books about baby zoo animals, as well as several other books about wildlife. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Cindy Bickel has worked at the Denver Zoo for more than thirty years, where she has helped raise many baby animals, including the polar bears Klondike and Snow. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Reviews

Grade 1-5–Following the lives of two cubs that were born at the Denver Zoo and abandoned by their mother, this book provides information about polar bears and fractions. Right-hand pages tell the story of Snow and Klondike, with excellent, full-color photos showing how zoo personnel raised them from newborns until their first birthday. On each left-hand page, a lesson on fractions incorporates data about the animals. The explanations, which combine text with pictographs, are clear and well formulated. The first lesson, for example, defines fractions and their parts, and compares the one-third of polar bear mothers that have twins with the two-thirds that have single births. Other lessons deal with preparing formula for the cubs, milk consumption, hours in a day, and polar bear weight. Although this title would be helpful as reinforcement for youngsters who have had some prior exposure to these concepts, those unfamiliar with fractions are unlikelyto grasp the ideas without some adult guidance. However, readers can appreciate Snow and Klondike's interesting history without reading the other sections. This thoroughly enjoyable offering has many worthwhile features, and teachers and children alike can make good use of it. Lesley A. DuTemple's Polar Bears (Lerner, 1997) provides more details about these animals, while David A. Adler's Fraction Fun (Holiday, 1996) teaches the basic principles in a slightly less technical way than Nagda and Bickel's volume.–Lynda Ritterman, Atco Elementary School, Waterford, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gr. 3-5. Like Nagda's Tiger Math (2000), this book has dual texts and purposes. Illustrated with color photos, the right-hand pages present the story of two polar bear cubs, Klondike and Snow, who were born in the Denver Zoo, abandoned by their mother, raised by zoo staff until their first birthday, and sent to their new home at SeaWorld. On the left-hand pages are mathematical expressions of fractions in graphs, charts, and formulas, as well as explanations of how to interpret the visuals. These math pages, which may be difficult for students with little knowledge of fractions, demonstrate aspects of the bears' care, such as the proportion of their allotted formula drunk at each feeding, the hours each day spent at the zoo hospital and at keepers' homes, and a comparison of the bears' weights. Though teachers may find ways to relate the math concepts to the curriculum, it's the narrative and appealing color photos that will hold children. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805073019
• ISBN 13: 9780805073010
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32