Penguin Fun

I found the cutest penguin activities this summer on First Grader At Last!  I'm so glad I saved the idea-- and actually remembered it!  The kids learned about penguins today and had lots of fun.  We started by creating a penguin schema chart.  I was really impressed with what the children already knew.  They weren't super excited about sharing until I started writing their names next to the fact they gave (on the sticky notes).  After that, there were hands flying high!  Next we read Penguins by Gail Gibbons.  As we came to "facts" that were incorrect, we moved the sticky notes to the Misconceptions fish.  I also wrote new facts on our penguin chart as we found them in the book.

My favorite part of the day was making pink penguins.  We read Pink! by Lynne Rickards.  What a cute book!  Afterwards, the children used construction paper and scrapbook paper to make their penguins.  I didn't give them any patterns.  They had to listen and follow directions as we made each piece.  I love how different they turned out.  The last part of our project was to write about their pink penguin.  This is probably the best they have done with writing all year!!  They were so excited about it.  Most started out the same way "My penguin's name is ____".  After that I allowed them to write anything they wanted (a description of their penguin, about their penguin's family, activities their penguin likes, where their penguin lives...).  After I modeled mine they got started.  It was SO quiet in the room as they created their descriptions. 

Next week the kids will measure themselves against an Emperor Penguin, complete a graph in their math notebook ("Have you seen a real penguin?"), and read more fiction and nonfiction penguin books.
Click here to download the graph.

We will also complete the activity below.