This lesson is designed to introduce learners to the region of the world known as  "The Great North" which includes the Arctic Circle, North Pole and Northern Europe. They will be introduced to life in this region and how the native inhabitants demonstrate stewardship of the Earth's resources through their daily living by viewing the IMAX film or DVD of the same name.

NOTE: A copy of the movie Great North may be purchased from Amazon.com

The learner will:

• locate the Arctic Circle, The North Pole, and Northern Europe.
• name the countries within the arctic circle.
• draw and label a free hand drawing to the countries where the Inuit and Saami people live.

Before Viewing the Movie

Materials: 

• World map
• Globe
• Map of the Arctic circle
  (http://www.athropolis.com/map3.htm)
• Student atlases
• Drawing paper

Teacher's Note:

There are a few scenes in the movie that may be disturbing to some students. A graphic birth of a caribou is shown as well as reindeer that are shedding the felt from their antlers. This does show some blood on the animals.

Instructional Procedure(s): 

Anticipatory Set:

Show the students the cover of Jan Brett's book , The Wild Christmas Reindeer. (See Biographical Reference) Ask them if they believe reindeer are real animals. Show them the cover of the book. Then read the story to the class. After reading, ask the students if they have heard the names Inuit and/or Saami? Some students might say they have heard the word Eskimo. Tell them that the word Eskimo is what the Inuit people used to be called. It means "eaters of raw meat" and was used by the Algonquin Indians of eastern Canada for their hardy neighbors who wore animal-skin clothing and were adept hunters. The name became commonly used by European explorers. Inuit, which means the "real people” is the preferred term used by the native people within the Arctic Circle in Northern Canada, Greenland and Northern Siberia.

Refer back to the pictures of the book pointing out the way the Teeka is dressed and the look of the land where she lives. Tell them that they will be seeing a movie about some of the cultural traditions of these people and their relationships with the animals and land of their region. This area is usually described as the portion of the Earth that is above the Arctic Circle (Latitude 66 ° ; 33´ North )

• After a short discussion show the students on a map and globe where the Inuit and the Saami live. Point out that they live above the Arctic Circle. Show the students the arctic circle. (If necessary explain lines of longitude and latitude, and their purpose and notation.) Ask student whether the map or globe gives them a better idea of the arctic area. Why?
• Have the students use the Atlases to locate the countries that are within the Arctic Circle where the Inuit and Saami people live. (Countries of Northern Europe, Greenland, Northern Russia, Northern Canada and Northern United States – Alaska.)
• After students have located these countries, use map pins to locate them on a world map displayed in the classroom.
• Show a map the Arctic circle from http://www.athropolis.com/map3.htm,Discuss the climate and what the land looks like in the Arctic Circle. (The Arctic is sometimes defined as the area where the average temperature for the warmest month of the year, July, is below 10°C (50°F). and as the area above the "treeline," farther north than trees can grow, where there is only tundra and the Arctic Ocean.) Ask the students to conjecture about some of the difficulties of living within the Arctic Circle for animals and people.
• Give each student a 9X18 sheet of white drawing paper. They will use the atlases to locate the countries' shapes and relative location. Each student will produce a map of the Arctic Circle by drawing a large circle in the center of the paper (labeled latitude 66° 33' North ) with a dot in the middle indicating the North Pole (labeled 90°North). Have students draw in the countries that have land within the Arctic Circle, properly labeling each country.

Assessment: 

Teacher checks students' maps for accuracy.

After Viewing the Movie

Post Viewing Lesson Purpose: 

Students will discuss the animals and their relationships to the cultures mentioned in the movie. Students will read about Tuktu’s the new-born caribou and discuss his journey across approximately 2400 kilometers (1,491 miles).

Objectives: 

The learner will:

• identify the two large groups of animals seen in the movie. (caribou, reindeer)
• compare physical characteristics of each group.

Write a paragraph responding to these questions:
What do you think was meant by the remark “My father had reindeer that worked for us but I think we worked for the reindeer”? How does this relate to stewardship of nature? Remind students to support their answers using things they saw in the movie or prior knowledge.