At Home >>

This resource is an excellent way for families to learn about the threats facing the Arctic region in a relaxed and entertaining way.

The Story includes many events from the journey that Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley undertook in 2009. The team are joined by a cast of characters that help and guide them. Through growing friendships and discussions, this unusual collection of characters enable each other, and therefore the reader, to further understand climate change issues.

The Story is a perfect introduction to climate change for all young people.

Beautifully narrated by Pen, it can be read as a family, following the text onscreen or as a podcast that can be downloaded and played at anytime.

The Story is also an ideal way to encourage independent reading among young children. If you have families with children of different ages it means that each can work at their own pace, following The Story on the screen.

Its length gives ample opportunity for the exploration of other resources at the end of each episode; Climate Change, Maths on Ice and Danger! Melting Ice all link perfectly with the storybook and present the dangers of thinning ice in a non-threatening way.

The inclusion of the song, To Know the Real Answer, means that this versatile resource can help children and adults engage with The Story and its subject using a different medium.

To Know the Real Answer also offers an opportunity to see how some young people are learning about the Arctic Survey.

As it is possible to download the song onto your MP3 player it can be played wherever you want – even in the car!

Inclusion of the sheet music means that you can perform it at home and stage your very own family production.

At School >>

The Story can be used in primary schools as an add-on to literacy hour. The four part structure to the literacy hour lends itself very well to The Story as it is centred on a shared text.

There is ample opportunity for students to manipulate the text that they are given with the addition of acting out the characters, writing their own endings to episodes and using the resources provided by the website to complement The Story.

The plenary section of the literacy hour is an ideal time for students to share the information that they have learned through the characters and to give guidance to each other for the next day’s session.

The Story is complementary to other Arctic Survey Education resources, particularly Maths on Ice, Danger! Melting Ice and Climate Change. It could be used to add depth to whole class or individual projects on the issues of global warming, climate change and the loss of our Arctic ice.

As it is both narrated and on screen there is ample opportunity for differentiation and for students to work at their own pace.

The cast list can be downloaded to allow a whole class re-enactment of The Story or it could be adapted as a whole year play.

The To Know the Real Answer song is an ideal assembly opener that puts the Arctic Survey into context, in a language that young people are able to access.

The versatility of the song means that there is the option to download the sheet music and challenge your own classes to replicate it.

To Know the Real Answer is a good resource for the end of “story time” where children are notoriously restless. It encourages cooperation and teamwork as the whole group can join in. Seeing peers enjoying performing the song should act as an incentive for your own students to “have a go” themselves.

Once other Arctic Survey Education resources have been explored, a good idea might be to compose an additional verse as a class or in groups to perform to the rest of the class; further information can be found in the Maths on Ice resource.