Well, for week 3 of our Polar Animals unit, I had planned to look at more of the animals found in the Arctic and Antarctic this week, but after our field trip last week, some of us......ok, pretty much all of us, are all caught up in a penguin fascination! I decided to go with the flow and leave other animals (except how they relate to penguins, of course) until next week. (In case you've missed the past posts here are Polar Animals week 1, and Polar Animals week 2 )
We loved these potato print penguins from Molly Moo, so we made our own:
D is getting more interested in notebooking, but since he's only 5, his writing skills are limited. I downloaded the free Mr. Popper's Penguins lapbook from Homeschool Share, and he's been gluing various bits and pieces that we found online into his composition book as they're completed, along with his sketches and anything else he deems to be important to include. I also take dictation, so he can narrate to me what he wants to say about each chapter or two of the book. He's recently developed an interest in colour-by-numbers activities, so I'm glad there are a lot of penguin-themed versions available.
Penguin identification
A map of Antarctica, and a tangram shapes puzzle he especially liked.
For the colour by numbers, I put the colour over the word, because he can't read the names of all the colours yet.
(Notice how his potato print penguin that he used as a journal cover mysteriously turned into a rockhopper penguin one afternoon?)
I made him some word writing practice pages, which if you'd like, you can download free here. I tried to make them relatively low-ink.
Don't forget to check out what No Doubt Learning, Journey 2 Excellence, Montessori Tidbits and Childhood Beckons have been up to this week! We also have a collaborative Polar Animals Pinterest board for even more ideas.
A few other links you might like to check out:
Penguin Party emergent reader mini-book from Preschool Powol Packets
Icy Activity Bin from Happy Hooligans
Antarctica Small Worlds Play in the Bath from In Lieu of Preschool
Arctic animals packs (free) from Royal Baloo, for ages 2-7
