Polar Bear Math: Learning About Fractions from Klondike and Snow

By Ann Whitehead Nagda and Cindy Bickel

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, in Polar Bear Math

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781466867239

Ann Whitehead Nagda

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

Book preview

Reviews for Polar Bear Math

[mssan5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book shows how students should learn by including more than one content area. It includes science (learning about animals specifically the polar bear) and math (learning about fractions). It tells the story of two polar bears using charts and recipes. This can help students that have difficulty with fractions by making math more interesting.

[mburgess_58 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to read this book to my group of fifth graders, but i felt that it was for a younger crowd. Personally, I loved the book. This book compares fractions to real life. In order to cook you have to be able to read a measuring cup and understand fractions. The illustrations were great.

[ssandoe_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Polar Bear Math: Learning About Fractions from Klondike and Snow is a non-fictional informational text that tells the story of two premature baby polar bears, Klondike and Snow. After their mother abandons them the staff at the San Diego Zoo must quickly figure out how to take care of these two wild animals before it is too late. The book takes you on a true life journey of how humans learn about the proper ways to raise bear cubs while teaching you about fractions through pictographs, charts and baby bottles!I would recommend this book to students in grades first through third. Because it is extremely rare for humans to raise young polar bears this book may appear even more exciting to students. Anyone who is interested in animals and non-fiction would enjoy this inspiring story about the important role math plays in keeping the cubs alive and well. Many pictographs are prevalent throughout the book to demonstrate the concept of numerator and denominator, fractions equivalent to a whole, and milk qualities. Charts are also used to show elapsed time during feedings and in their lives as a whole. These visual representations allow students a simple way to think about the concept of a fraction while also realizing the practical and real world applications these math concepts hold. Without knowledge of fractions the San Diego Zoo staff would have have been able to save and raise Klondike and Snow! One interesting aspect of the book is the large amount of pictures - each with a caption. Not only do the pictures allow students to observe real baby polar bears and their struggle with survival but they also can read quotes that the author writes from the perspective of Klondike and Snow that make the story both funny and interesting for the reader. It also provides students with additional knowledge about polar bears while allowing them to use fractions to figure out this information - such as their large weights!

[dcarlill_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a clever way to introduce math and to tie it to a career. One one side of the book the story of the polar bear babies captures children's attention. Real photos taken at the Denver Zoo show the bears at birth and growing up.On the other side of the page is visuals--graphs, charts, and recipies are used to show fractions and how math is used at the zoo and in raising these little bears.