AUTHOR CONNECTIONS:
An award-winning novelist and picture book creator, Jennifer
Armstrong was raised in New York state. She writes "I knew I was going
to be an author in first grade, and I never wanted to be anything else - except
in sixth grade when I though I might become an archaeologist." She enjoys reading,
gardening, traveling, canoeing, and spending time with friends. Armstrong currently
resides with her husband and three dogs in Saratoga Springs. For more biographical
information visit her personal home page.
Email address:
SendtoJMA@aol.com
Jennifer Armstrong: A Children's Book
Author:
http://www.jennifer-armstrong.com
Site features an interview with photographs, published works, and school
visit information.
CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS:
 Your
students plan to undertake a long sea voyage to Antarctica. Using a world map
or the globe in the classroom, chart the most direct course from their location
to the planet's most inhabitable continent. Include Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic
Expedition route marked in a different color. Include a map legend and compass
rose.
Have
the students assume the role of a news reporter and interview Shackleton after
he returns from his trip. Develop five good interview questions and ask the students
to role play as the reporter and as Ernest Shackleton. Videotape the polished
interview and view as a class.
Students
present oral reports about the crewmembers, Ernest Shackleton, Frank Hurley, Frank
Wild and others. Have them develop a "personality bag" to enliven their presentation.
Students choose objects that reflect their expedition member's major characteristics
and then apply it to the object for the presentation.
Ernest
Shackleton displayed special leadership qualities on his Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
Make a list of his attributes to begin a discussion that answers the question "What makes an effective leader?" Discussion might consider familiar school, community,
political, and religious leaders.
While listening to Shipwreck, invite students to determine the length and
width of the James Caird, the largest of the three lifeboats the crew sailed
to Elephant Island. How did the boat compare in length to some common items such
as a classroom table, the length of a football field, a school bus, or the Titanic?
Collect a wide range of measurement data and create a bar graph that illustrates
the comparisons.
INTERNET CONNECTIONS:
 The
Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/shackleton/index.html
The companion site to the exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History
chronicles the infamous expedition. Includes expedition photographer, Frank Hurley's,
famous black-and-white images.
National
Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
http://www-nsidc.colorado.edu/
Part of the University of Colorado Cooperative Institute for Research in
Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), the site provides
an excellent educational resource link detailing all facets of snow, ice, glaciers,
avalanches, blizzards, and icebergs.
The
Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI)
http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/home.htm
Recognized as the oldest research institute in the world focusing on
both the Arctic and Antarctic. Sponsored by the University of Cambridge in England.
Shackleton's
Antarctic Odyssey
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/
PBS Nova Online Adventure offers classroom resources, such as lesson plans,
iceberg analysis data, astronomy, nutrition, and further Internet links.
FOR FURTHER LISTENING AND
READING:
  BLIZZARD
- The Storm that Changed America, by Jim Murphy. Unabridged audiobook
and book available from Audio Bookshelf.
Black
Whiteness: Admiral Byrd Alone in the Antarctic (Atheneum, 1998) by Robert
Burleigh
HATCHET,
THE RIVER, BRIAN'S WINTER, and BRIAN'S RETURN by Gary Paulsen. Brian Robeson survives
an airplane crash in the Canadian wilderness. Discover how Brian survives and
how these adversities change him in these four audiobooks. UNABRIDGED AUDIO and
books available from Audio Bookshelf
Into
the Ice: The Story of Arctic Exploration (Houghton, 1998) by Lynn Curlee
Island
of the Blue Dolphins (Houghton Mifflin, 1960) by Scott O'Dell
LOST!
ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE by Donn Fendler as told to Joseph B. Egan. In the riveting
audiobook, twelve-year-old Donn Fendler survives after nine days alone in the
Maine wilderness. Find this UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK on our Audiobooks By Title Page.
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