All About Penguins!

This week we learned all about penguins. The children loved this mini-unit.

Our favourite part of the day:

On Monday we learned about penguins and read our poem.

On Tuesday we had centres and learned about penguin life cycles.

On Wednesday we learned about penguin chicks and saw a picture of a leopard seal.

On Thursday we had centres and learned about chicks.

On Friday we had centres and Dante had his show and tell.

Penguin KWL:

The children seemed to already know a lot about penguins so we listed what they knew and what they wanted to learn. 

I will post the learned chart next week. 

Penguin Poem:

We read the following poem and discussed rhyming and number words. 

Six Little Penguins

Six little penguins off an iceberg did dive,

One bumped his beak, then there were five.

Five little penguins swam the ocean floor,

One saw a whale, then there were four.

Four little penguins spun around, whee-ee!

One spun off, then there were three!

Three little penguins, with nothing to do,

One went fishing, then there were two.

Two little penguins, having lots of fun,

One fell of, then there was one.

One little penguin, when the day was done,

Went home to sleep, then there were none.

Penguin Lap Book:

We created a lap book to show everything that we learned about penguins. They turned out really neat and the children loved having a book to take home after.

The front cover of the lap book.

The inside of the lap book.

The book included:

Life Cycle of Penguin

I found this activity at Lapbook lessons.

Penguin Species Cards

They were so excited to learn about all of the different penguins. In class we focussed on the Emperor Penguin but they liked being able to see all of the different types. A favourite of most of the children was the Macaroni Penguin. Take the cards out and look at the height of the penguins and where they are from. An activity to complete at home would be organizing them from tallest to smallest. 

These cards can be found at Seaworld website in the k-3 Teacher Guide. 

Penguin Information Book

I found the information book at Homeschool Share. The book includes fill in the blanks for appearance, food, habitat, reproduction and predators. 

Parts of a Penguin

We completed the parts of penguin nomenclature during class time. I then enlarged one the picture of the penguin for them to colour and put the labels in a separate pocket for them to practice labelling. I found the nomenclatures at Montessori Print Shop. 

 Penguin Facts

I asked the children to write down two of their favourite penguin facts to add to the book.

Please discuss and explore these books at home. They are great for practicing writing, speaking, labelling and much more. 

Special Guest:

We had a special appearance from one of our students this week. She brought in her guitar and sang some songs. She was adorable and did a fantastic job! We hope that she keeps learning and practicing. 

I love the pink guitar!

Share the Magic:

Last week "Share the Magic" came to our school. They read to the children and then gave each child 2 age appropriate books. The children were so excited!!

Here is a link to learn more about the program:
http://canlearnsociety.ca/family-literacy/share-the-magic/

Multicultural Show and Tell:

This week Michael, Milan and Dante presented their Multicultural Show and Tells. They did a wonderful job! We even got tasty donuts from Milan. 

The past two weeks were brought to you by: The letters A, S, T, I and J

Finally we learned about the letters A, S, T, I and J. We practiced writing the uppercase letters and discovered words that start with that sound. These are tough letters because we are now introducing the curves and there are no straight lines. When you have a moment practice writing A, S, T, I and J as well as what words start with "aaa" (for "ant"), "sss" (for "sat"), "tuh" (for "tub"), "i" (for "ink") and "juh" (for "jug"). Another activity could be finding different objects in the house that start with the letters/sounds that we have been learning. 

Don't Forget:

**Our "Winter Celebration" will be on December 16 at 7:00pm. Contact the school for more details. **

Remember that examples of past presentations can be found on the table when you drop off or pick up your child.

Please send a small healthy snack for your child every day. Also, if you know that your child will not eat the lunch provided please send a lunch as well. 

On cold days please make sure to send hats and mittens. Also, on days where there is snow or it is slushy please send boots and snow pants. Thank you!

Feel free to contact me anytime with any questions or concerns. I can be reached at the school, by email or just drop in (I am usually around before school).