Thematic Thursday: Penguins

I am linking up with Carla from Comprehension Connection again for another great Thematic Thursday.  This week it's all about Penguins. Ork!  One of my favorite classroom themes!  So many great books and so much fun to be had with these adorable little creatures.

Way back in my early years of teaching I was lucky enough to take a job teaching 2nd grade where they read the novel Mr. Popper's Penguins.  Oh, did I have a blast planning that unit! Nowadays with Pinterest at our fingertips the plethora of penguin ideas for classroom fun with these adorable black & white friends is endless. You can follow my Penguins Pinterest Board to see all the additional great ideas I don't have room to include here today.

Follow Mom2punkerdoo's board Penguins on Pinterest.  

We all know that penguins are fantastically adorable, but they also allow classroom teachers to easily integrate science and language arts, making them a very popular classroom theme.  There are so many great fiction and non-fiction books starring penguins that it is easy to get students excited about both.  You will see some of my favorites linked in the graphic below.

Click to open document with clickable links for each book and idea!

I've also linked  a small sampling of some of my favorite penguin activities.  There are two art activities, including this very simple directed draw from Drawing Lessons for the Young Artists Blog. Simply sketch and then use pastels to color and you will have a some wonderful works of art.

I found an adorable photo writing prompt on Pinterest that reminds me so much of how always imagined Mr. Popper! It would be great to use for writing captions. I wish I was able to find the source of this clever capture.

Caption This!

The last activity is a matching game to help students learn basic facts about the many different species of penguins. It is a part of my larger unit on Mr. Popper's Penguins that was recently updated to include QR codes for students to self check.  Don't forget to check out the links at the bottom of the PDF for some great research resources to compliment your study of penguins.

Click the cover below to preview this Unit that includes:

      •Chapter Notes: prediction, inference, alliteration, simile, metaphor, foreshadowing, onomatopoeia & idioms by chapter
•56 Comprehension Questions
•53 Vocabulary Words for word walls & flashcard activities with quizzes included
•Integrated science and math activities
•Graphic Organizers
•Bonus Bookmarks for the 15 most popular species of penguins that include an illustrations and basic facts about the species.
•And More

Click to preview

And guess what? You can win this thematic unit along with several other fantastic penguin themed products this week!  Woot! Be sure to hop on over to the Comprehension Connection to enter the giveaways and to check out more fun penguin themed ideas!

Click to enter to win!

Click to enter to win!

Penguins!

What's not to love about penguins?  Honestly, I could waste a lot of time looking at pictures of penguins.   Seriously, is this not stunning?  I wonder what they are chatting about?

I recently finished putting some updates on a unit revolving around the novel Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater.  If you are not familiar with  this classic novel it is about a man who suddenly finds himself caring for quite a number of guest penguins.  This hilariously funny book is perfect for integrating your science and language arts programs.

The story provides some great opportunities for discussing and learning about habitats and why they are important.  I like to use it as a jumping off point for doing some non-fiction research.  There are over 15 types of penguins that can be researched!  You can keep it simple and just learn basic penguin facts or really delve deep and have students write reports and design presentations to share.

Additionally, there is a wealth of vocabulary to be learned from this book.  The adjectives used to describe the penguins alone introduce words that many students may not have heard; words like pompous, droll, stout and indignant.

The Mr. Popper's Penguin Unit focuses heavily on comprehension questions, vocabulary and penguin facts.  The updated fact posters include QR Codes with links to one of my favorite kid friendly penguin research websites.

I also added QR Codes to the Penguin Fact Cards so that students can play matching games and self-check!

Click to Preview Game and Posters

Be sure to check out my Penguins Pinterest Board for lots of fun ideas to compliment your penguin study!