Penguin Books
Animals in the Wild
PENGUIN Vincent Serventy 0-590-40102-5
A Smart Start Reader Penguins Scholastic books 0-590-96962-5
Day 1:
The kids generate "I wonder" questions. I wonder where penguins live?
I wonder what penguins eat? I wonder how penguins move? I wonder how
the penguins take care of their babies? I wonder how penguins stay warm
in the ice? I wonder ....
Then we read a penguin
book together. I use A Smart Start Reader Penguins Scholastic books
0-590-96962-5 to begin this unit of study. It is set up with bold print
headings and is similar to many text books.
After reading a
page, I ask what "I wonder" question did the page answer. Sometimes
the page doesn't answer any question we had. Sometimes, the page generates
another round of questions.
I then give the
kids 15 minutes to read the penguin books I have available. I let the
kids read alone or in partners or in small groups. They do a variety
depending on the kids.
Then the kids tell
the class one fact they have learned so far from their reading.
Day 2:
We continue reading and adding to KWL everyday. The children begin reading
penguin books of their choosing. The kids get into groups and research
specific penguins. I gather the children together to have them sign
up for penguins that they want to learn about. I list the 17 penguins
on the board. They sign up for the penguin they want. I am not particular
if more than one child wants to study the same penguin. I also don't
hold the kids to studying everyone of the different penguins. Working
together is part of the goal of this project. Then the kids read and
learn about their specific penguin. At the end of each day we add to
the "learn" section. As the kids want to add to the learn section, I
have them read from their book where they learned that fact.
Day 2-4 the kids
work together learning about penguins. They make some kind of visual
for an oral presentation.
Day 5:
The kids share their reports with the rest of the class and me.
Science
I put crisco — thick white vegetable oil (not liquid) in a double baggy.
Then the kids put their hand inside the "blubber" baggies so their hand
doesn't get messy, then they stick their hands on the ice cubes. They
figure out that the hand with blubber is warmer than the hand with straight
ice cubes. Then the kids understand that penguins blubber helps keep
them warm.
