Penguin Fun!

Oh how I LOVE learning about penguins!!  They are just the dang cutest things, aren’t they?!  I’ve tried to get my boys into Happy Feet, but they aren’t big fans just yet.  Boo.  Anyway, we had a lot of penguin fun this week and I can’t wait to continue with more in the week to come!  First off, if you haven’t had a chance to purchase Deanna Jump’s Penguin Unit, GO.NOW.  It’s FULL of awesome ideas and activities which is one of the reasons I’ve extended our penguin learning for another week.  AND…you need to check out Babbling Abby’s post about her week of Penguin fun!  She has some DARLING ideas too and a 5-day lesson plan to download.  LOVE it!

This post is all shades of random because it was a wild week at school.  We just started mid-year testing {thankfully not much!!}…and it was a FULL MOON…so I’m sorry if things are a little all over the place :)

We started the week reading a few non-fiction penguin books and added to our anchor chart.  I got this idea from Deanna Jump’s unit and copied Babbling Abby’s anchor chart idea :)  The kids DIED over this!!!! 

One of our objectives this week was inferencing, so I introduced “regurgitation” and did a little inferencing lesson with that.  I had the kids write about what they thought the word meant and when we finally learned what regurgitation really was, the kids FLIPPED.  There were a few facts that the kids were “oooohing & aahhhhing” over, so I had them write using the prompt, “I’m glad I’m not a penguin because…”  I got some really good responses! 

Graphics courtesy of DJ Inkers

After we read a few non-fiction penguin books, I set-up this little activity at the writing center {another great idea from Deanna Jump’s penguin unit}.  I had the kids write 4 facts they learned about penguins and then they made their own little penguins.  They were all SO different and I just LOVE that!

We went fishing for –sh words {beginning & ending} for word work one day this week.  The kids loved this one!  I mixed up a ton of digraph words {ch, sh, th, wh} and had the kids sort through them to find the beginning and ending –sh words.  

Graphics courtesy of Digi Web Studio

And here’s a fun little blend activity!  I set out 3 baking pans {Dollar Tree, of course} and labeled each with a blend.  The kids had to sort through lots of cut-up “cookies” and make real {gr, tr, br} words by matching the onset to the rime.  Then they had to place the “cookies” on the baking sheet :) 

Graphics courtesy of Digi Web Studio 

OH…here’s a fun little problem solving activity I did a few weeks ago and forgot to share.  I loved this!

Graphics courtesy of Digi Web Studio

As I was cleaning out some old boxes, I found these activities that I made FOREVER ago.  This was before I knew I could get things done A LOT faster on the computer!  I actually drew these penguins, ran a gajillion copies, and then colored EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE. And I cut out and glued the clip art to each and every little thing, too!!!   My word.  Clearly, this was PRE-kids.  Wow.  I don’t have the template to share because I’m pretty sure I made these my 3rd year teaching when I was in Kindergarten, so I have NO clue where that is anymore!  But here are just a few little ideas…

For this one, each penguin was labeled with a different word.  The kids had to find the fish with the picture that matched the word.

And for this one, the kids did a little digraph sorting.

Looks like I made this one on the computer, but when I left my old school, I didn’t save ANY of my files.  This is a little CVC activity where the kids had to look at the picture and build the word.

I’m looking forward to another fun filled week learning about penguins!  We still have a lot to cover!!  And I’m SO happy that Sarah Cooley just posted her latest & greatest penguin activities!  I’m DEFINITELY incorporating some of her fabulous ideas into my week as well!!