Last week you learned about Arctic animals. The Arctic is one of the two polar regions. Can you identify the other one?

Lesson 11 : To know where the polar regions are and what the conditions are like there

Antarctica is at the bottom of the Earth. It includes the areas around the South Pole. Unlike the Arctic, Antarctica is actually a continent. This is because Antarctica is an area of land, covered in ice.

Antarctica isn’t officially owned by anyone, so it is not called a country. It has no government and no towns or cities.

It is looked after by a special agreement called The Antarctic Treaty. This means that the environment is protected and Antarctica can only be used for peaceful purposes.

Antarctica is the coldest and windiest place on Earth. The lowest temperature ever recorded here was -89ºC! The average temperatures range from about 10ºC in the summer to -60ºC in the winter. Antarctica’s winter also lasts for 8 months.

Because it is so cold, over 98% of Antarctica is permanently covered in ice. The average thickness of this ice is about one mile! Antarctica is also home to the driest place on Earth. There are places in Antarctica which haven’t had rain or snow in over 2 million years!

There are lots of different physical features in Antarctica. These include:

…and even volcanoes! There are 138 volcanoes in Antarctica. However, only two of them are currently active. The most active is called Mount Erebus and it has been active for about 1.3 million years.

Humans in Antarctica No people permanently live in Antarctica because it is too cold for them to live there for a long time. Scientists take turns living there for short periods of time to study the ice and the animals. Tourists also sometimes visit in the summer. There are no towns or cities in Antarctica.

ACTIVITY 1: Write a short paragraph explaining what you think it would be like to live in Antarctica.

Lesson 12: To know some of the animals and plants found in the Antarctic

Antarctica is a very harsh and extreme environment though is very rich in wildlife, Animals need to have a whole range of adaptations to be able to take advantage of the abundant summer food.

There are lots of different animals that live in Antarctica.

There are two types of flowering plant:

Activity 2: Label the image trying to identify as many animals and plants as possible.

Snow, ice, iceberg, glacier, penguin, Leopard seal albatross, killer whale ice fish, hair grass, pearlwort, krill, Dusky dolphins

Word bank:

Lesson 13: To know how penguins live in the Antarctic

Did you know? An adult emperor is about the same size as a six-year-old person!

Emperor Penguin There are 7 different types of penguin that live in Antarctica. One type of penguin that lives in Antarctica is the emperor penguin. Emperor penguins are the biggest type of penguin in the world. They are only found in Antarctica. Emperor penguins don’t build nests. The male penguin keeps their egg warm by balancing it on top of his feet under a loose fold of skin. He will do this for up to 75 days! All this time, he won’t eat anything until the egg has hatched and the female has returned with food.

Emperor penguin adaptations:

Large size retains heat - Emperors are twice the size of the next biggest penguin, the king, so are able to survive the winter fast and the extreme cold temperatures endured at this time Short stiff tail helps balance on land, to give the least contact area to prevent heat loss Chicks have soft down for insulation, this is a more effective insulator on land than the parents feathers Huddle together in the winter to conserve heat, without this they wouldn't be able to survive the Antarctic winter Breed during the depths of the Antarctic winter, so the chicks are large enough to become independent during the summer abundance of food

Click on the link to find more

information https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/bi

rds/emperor-penguins/

Activity 3: Read the information below and answer the questions.