Are we at the Pole?

Below: Enjoying jerky at lunch to simulate the conditions of a polar expedition

So we took advantage of the 

100th anniversary of Robert Falcon Scott reaching the South Pole on January 17, 1912, to do a mini unit on Antarctica beginning on Tuesday, January 17, 2012.  Though we covered a number of things, our focus was heavily on the polar expeditions of Roald Amundsen (who reached the geographic pole first- but it was on December 14, 1911, and we were just too busy with the holidays to have caught that!), Scott (who reached the pole, but died, along with the rest of his party, trying to get back to camp) and Ernest Shackleton, my favorite.  I don't believe Shackleton ever actually made it to the pole on any of his 4 trips to Antarctica, though he came within a few miles years before Amundsen attempted it.  Shackleton turned backed that time fearing loss of life.  But the tale of his voyage on the Endurance is a truly remarkable one  that still inspires me.  Pack ice trapped the Endurance  in the early stages of what was to be an expedition to cross the Antarctic continent.  The Endurance eventually sank, yet Shackleton managed against all odds to get all of his crew home safely.

Ernest Shackleton and The Endurance

In addition to penguins, we discussed leopard seals and the whaling industry which facilitated Antarctic exploration.

Penguin races:  Can you keep your egg on your feet
as move across the continent?

This image courtesy
of the Edinburgh  Zoo

Of course if you were studying Antarctica, you'd want to play in snow.  I had been saving some instant snow powder and magic ice blocks, etc. for the right moment.  If I weren't having such a time formatting this blog, I'd show you more.

And though the Inuits live in the the North, not the South, we attempted to build an igloo shelter.  Amundsen owed some of his success to the lessons he learned from the Inuit when he explored the Arctic.  So in the spirit of Amundsen, we brought one more example of Inuit ingenuity (say that three times fast) to the South Pole.

We would have never finished the igloo without Brad.
  I mean that-  despite what it looks like in the
picture.  It was in fact very hard work.

Finally, a frame from tubular newspaper poles.

Big enough

I was most determined to complete an igloo
 so that we would have a use for the excess
 of fake snow in our possession.

Xavier hid his ice balls in the snow,
 determined that this made them
similar to land mines, and also
  doesn't care for the Mama-razzi (no photos!)