Penguins, Winter, and more Penguins

Hello Friends!!!  It's that time of year when my class learns about Penguins.  This unit is always fun for me to teach because of the fascination, and curiosity the kids have about Penguins.  In fact, they are still talking about Penguins, which makes me happy that they got so much out of it. 

Here are the highlights of ...

PENGUINS, WINTER, and more PENGUINS 

I started out the unit with a KWL chart. We charted what they already knew, and wanted to know about Penguins.  

I read a variety of non fiction books about Penguins to my class.  These are a few of my favorites.

I taught a mini lesson about the continents & oceans, and then we marked where Penguins live around the world.

We learned about the parts of a Penguin by using this diagram.

After reading a few non fiction books about Penguins we completed this anchor chart about what they learned.

The kids used the chart above to write three sentences about Penguins.

 My class made their own Penguin by cutting different shapes out of construction paper.

Here are a few of my favorite YouTube videos about Penguins.

We focused our learning on the Emperor Penguins- this particular video is amazing!

We also observed Penguins by watching these two live Penguin cams. 

Sea World Penguin Cam

Monterey Bay Aquarium Penguin Cam

Moving on to Winter...

My class painted these cute snowmen, and measured how tall they were with linking cubes.  Also, they practiced making an addition sentence with the eyes and nose of their snowman. This idea came from Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten.

My class used watercolors to make a snowflake.

We learned all about winter by reading these non fiction books.

We recorded our learning on a bubble chart (forgot the picture).

Here is a picture of one of my winter themed centers.  I wrote cvc words on blue paper and then crumpled them up like a snowball.  The kids had to read the word and place it on the correct chunk. We played this game whole class a few times before it went into my center rotation.

After this post I'm so ready for spring!!!! How about you?

Winter in Kindergarten

 

Here is a picture of my winter bulletin board.  I modeled it after the book Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson.  

We read many books about the winter season and then recorded what we learned on the chart pictured above.  The snowflakes were made with watercolors and glitter.  I love how sparkly they are!

On this cold winter day we painted snowmen.  After they had dried I had the kids estimate how many cubes high their snowman was and then measure to see if they were correct. I found this idea on Mrs. Lee's Kinderkids blog. 

Here is a picture of our winter words.  My kinders use these words for writing in their journals.

My class learned about penguins.  Here is a glimpse of what what we did.

We read an array of non fiction books.

I always love how this art project turns out! If you want an explanation on how to make this check my post on Penguins. 

My kinders loved this movie I found on You Tube about the Emperor Penguins.

 We recorded what we learned on this anchor chart.              

Here is the poem we added to our poetry books.  We made up fun movements to help us remember the

 words.

We diagramed the parts of a penguin.

I'll leave you with one last movie I found on You Tube about the Emperor Penguins.  Trust me you'll love it!

Miss H.

Penguins!

My class learned all about penguins.  Here is a glimpse of what we did.

                                          

   We read an array of non fiction books about penguins.  These are some of my favorites.  

 Here is the poem the class added to their poetry books.  We made up fun movements to remember the words.                                         

 We learned about the parts of a penguin.  Here is a sample of our diagram.  They glued the words onto the penguin.

 

 The class made penguins by cutting paper into the shapes needed to resemble each part of the body.  I did not let them use any pencils or crayons for this art project.  I wanted them to use scissors to cut the shapes they needed.  If you look at the picture on the right you can see the world map that I drew.  We put penguins on the continents that they live on.  This is a GLAD strategy.  You outline the continents lightly in pencil before you begin teaching and during the lesson you trace over each continent as your discussing it.  

I have this cool life size poster of an Emperor Penguin.  I hung it on  the door and had the kids stand by it to see if they were as tall as an Emperor Penguin.  The pictures were adorable that I took!