Polar Expedition Journals

Post & Lesson Contributed by Ally Bernstein, Teacher Assistant

Expedition Journals

Traversing Oak Park on an extremely chilly day can feel like a journey, but it’s nothing compared to the travels of Ernest Shackleton! Today’s lesson on extremely cold environments involved some research, a lot of imagination, and a ton of delight.

"You Wouldn't Want to be a Polar Explorer: An Expedition You Would Rather Not Go On"

We read a fun book* about Ernest Shackleton’s daring expedition to the Antarctic on the ship Endurance. Shackleton and his crew were stranded by ice floes, and it took him many long journeys to reach Elephant Island (an inhospitable island) and South Georgia, where they sought help. Amazingly, not a single human life was lost on this journey – but it didn’t sound fun! Frostbite, hunger, cold and storms all threatened Shackleton’s crew. But he persevered and, with a lot of ingenuity, was able to seek help for his shipwrecked men.

*You Wouldn't Want to be a Polar Explorer: An Expedition You Would Rather Not Go On by Jen Green

Lucy with her journal ready to go!

We created our own expedition journals, using accordion books that we created ourselves using paper and cardboard. These beautiful little journals were perfect for writing down tales of our imagined exploits. Students were encouraged to create a fantasy trip to the Arctic (the North Pole, think polar bears) or Antarctica (the South Pole, think penguins).

Lucy's completed expedition journal

The level of creativity and care that students took to craft their expedition journals was impressive. Students wrote about floods of penguins, strange organisms dwelling at the bottom of frozen lakes, animal encounters and more. Beautiful illustrations made the journals feel convincingly real. Thankfully, we did not need to make an actual treacherous expedition to a polar area – we could rely on our imaginations to take us there instead! 

From left tot right, Joseph, Ben and Theo making the covers to their expedition journals

Norah, (front) and Joel, (back)

Jackson

Joseph

Emily, with animals from both polar regions

Emily, 1st and 2nd page entries

Emily, 3rd and 4th page entries

Jackson, aerial view of the land and sea

Norah's journal with illustrations of all the wildlife encountered on her journey

Shlok, making notes about ermines and penguins

Emory adding entries to his expedition journal

Emory's journal: day one: drawing of the ship with science lab below

Emory's journal, day one, continued, documenting his arrival

Ethan with completed journal

Theo and a panoramic illustration of a narwhal (see close-ups below)

Theo's narwhal and squid, left side

Theo's narwhal, turtle and fish, left side

 

Theo's travels on the reverse (part 1)

Theo's travels on the reverse (part 2)

Dexter's amazing journey to Lake Vostok, documenting a flood of penguins on Day 2

Dexter: Day 3, drilling and a swim with the penguins; Day 4, discovers Spiduchai

Dexter: Day 5, More Spiduchai holes discovered; Day 6: Finds New Species "Cragonite"

Dexter: Day 7, finds huge Triops; Day 8 Adds "Grasri" to the list of discoveries

Ms. Bersnstein's journal (top)

Ms. Bersnstein's journal (bottom)