Penguins Galore!

Last week students learned about the features found in a non-fiction text. This week we are going to capitalize on that learning with a focus on penguins! Later in the week, students will write their own non-fiction story about penguins using the text features they previously learned.

To kick off the penguin fun, my teammate had the idea to let students solve a "mystery picture" of a penguin to find out what Arctic animal they would be learning all about for the next few weeks. They were super excited when they solved the picture!

Next, students walked around the room and looked at a variety of photographs of penguins. When I told them to stop, they each found a picture and wrote something about the picture, a question they had, or something they knew about penguins on the paper. This was a great way to activate their current schema! This attention-getter can be explained in more detail on the blog of the famous Reagan Tunstall. After students got several turns to stop and write, we met on the carpet and discussed things they observed or facts they already knew. We will read books and complete activities about penguins for the next few weeks...stay tuned!

Students on the gallery walk observing the penguin pictures.

Students stopped to write about the pictures.

"It is cute. The two penguins are holding hands."

"The penguin is sliding."

"Some penguins can sing."

"This penguin is catching fish."

"The penguin is a good swimmer."

"It laid an egg."