I love Penguins!!

Activitiy

1. Read a book about penguins to introduce the topic to students. Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester is a good book to start with ( and the kids love it).
2. On Day Two, read a nonfiction book about penguins to the class. Make a list of penguin facts. Have students write at least three facts on lined paper and draw a picture. (see website below)
3. Watch Antarctic Antics on United Streaming.
4. Have students work in partners, choose a type of penguin and research it using the websites below. What does it eat? Where does it live? How many babies? Size? Weight? Discuss vocabulary like the following words: South Pole, Antartica, flippers, ocean, penguins, emperor, feathers, diving, swim, slide, tuxedos, waddle, colony, chick, hatch, weather, rookery, Africa.
5. Students can present their report to the class using PowerPoint, Kidspiration, KidPix, MovieMaker, PhotoStory, etc. (I've actually had a grandparent visit Antarctica and bring back pictures to the class to use in the past-it was wonderful). Students can draw these or get pictures from the Internet.
6. We also do a myriad of other activities around penguins like writing penguin cinquains, do a reader's theater, etc.

Last year, I had my GT students come up with murals showing what they thought a colony would look like. One of my students loved Sponge Bob and came up with "The Krill Grill" for a penguin restaurant.