5 Favorite Polar Bear Books

It's "5 Fave Friday!"  Our Polar Animals unit was completely derailed by snow days and delays this month.  (I had everything really well planned, of course.  You know what they say about the best laid plans.)  Anyway, we learned about Arctic animals this week.

Here are our:

#1 - The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett

I love everything Jan Brett writes, and this is no exception.  Her version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears is visually stunning, and provides a lot of insight for our students into life in the Arctic region.

#2 Bedtime for Little Bears by David Bedford

This is a sweet book about a mother polar bear and her little cub who just isn't tired at bedtime.  The bears take a walk to see all of the other polar animals getting ready for bed.  When they finish their walk, the little cub can barely keep his eyes open.  The illustrations in this book are fantastic, and the length of the text is just right for even our youngest preschoolers.

#3 The Magic School Bus Arctic Adventure

I generally have a policy that forbids any "TV" books in my classroom library, but the Magic School Bus books are an exception.  Ms. Frizzle is a wacky, hands-on teacher who always takes her class on wild adventures to learn about the topic at hand.  In this adventure, they visit the Arctic and lose their bus/jet in a snow storm.  I love that the book includes lots of factual information that is simple enough for our young students to understand.

#4 Polar Babies by Susan Ring

This book has very simple text and beautiful illustrations.  Our students love reading about all the things that the polar babies do in a day.

#5 That's Not my Polar Bear by Fiona Watt

If you're looking for the perfect polar bear book for an infant or toddler, this is it!  All of the Usborne books in this series (That's Not My Plane, That's Not My Fairy, That's Not My Snowman, etc.) are simple board books that have an element of "touch" that little kiddos just love.  The simple, repetitive text makes them a good candidate for the first books that preschoolers can "read" to themselves.

Now it's your turn to weigh in!  What's your favorite polar bear book?

Have fun playing, learning and reading with your children this week.