Pupils and polar bear become fast friends
Kindergartners create class pet during their study of Arctic region
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Valerie Klug, Chase Masterson, William Wyrovsky and Lainie Kofman (l-r) work to finish creating their new friend, Crystal Husky Chubba Wubba. The students in Ann DeSantis' kindergarten class at the Marlboro Early Learning Center created the life-size polar bear while they were studying the Arctic region.

MARLBORO - A female polar bear is delighting the children at the Marlboro Early Learning Center, Tennent Road, but have no fear, the students are in no danger from this classroom pet.

During their exploration of the Arctic region, the pupils of Ann DeSantis' morning and afternoon kindergarten classes created the life-size bear, named Crystal Husky Chubba Wubba, who stands guard in the hallway outside classroom 130.

During the project the children not only learned about the polar bear's body by creating their model, they also gained knowledge of the differences between polar bears and themselves.

In addition to crafting the polar bear, the pupils in both classes wrote stories about their subject. The children in DeSantis' afternoon class described what they learned to a guest last week.

In order to construct Crystal's skeleton, saw horses were used, upon which boxes representing muscle were placed. On top of the bear's muscles is a layer of blubber, which Chase Masterson, 5, said the youngsters constructed using clusters of crumpled paper.

The next step was the children's favorite part: creating papier-mâché to represent the bear's skin. The skin was painted black since a polar bear has black skin to help absorb the heat of the sun, Alex Ratner, 6, explained. Using scraps from a paper shredder, the students created the polar bear's fur.

The kindergartners giggled recalling the fun they had with the sticky papiermâché glue.

DeSantis said it took two weeks to complete Crystal, with the students working on the project each day.

To determine a name for their creation, the children from both classes offered suggestions to be voted upon.

Kaylee Freid, 6, said it was her suggestion that led to the bear's first name, Crystal.

Eager to discuss what they learned, the children described the various animals polar bears eat and said the bears have webbed feet to help them swim. The youngsters also discovered that polar bears only stay with their mother for the first two years of their life, said Lainie Kofman, 5.

When asked if she thought it was sad that the polar bear left its mom so young, Lainie said no, because at that point the bear is "all grown up."

When the polar bears emerge from the water, they roll around in snow to dry off. This act confused the students because it did not make sense that the bears would dry off in that fashion, since snow is water.

"Their fur is really very small tubes," Chase explained.

Continuing Chase's description, DeSantis said the children learned that the tubes fill with air or water, so the act of rolling on the snow after a swim squeezes the water out of the bear's fur.

The students found the polar bear project to be a lot of fun, which gave them quite a bit of new knowledge.

DeSantis said the classes have now moved on to study the Antarctic region and are learning about penguins.