Penguins and Sounds of Y

I tried to start penguins last week, but my duplicating did not come back in time. It worked out just fine, I replaced my penguin plans with Martin Luther King Jr. activities. I was able to introduce penguins with a penguin schema chart and some non-fiction read alouds. Then we did a few pieces for our interactive notebooks. This week, I hope to get to these interactive notebook pieces below (they can be found in my updated Penguin Packet).

Here are the pages we completed last week. These are full size pages in my packet but I copied them at 75% and they fit nicely in our science notebooks.

Here are some of my favorite penguin themed books and movies:

More images from my Penguin Packet:

FREEBIES

For a freebie from the packet, click here to check out an older post! For my original penguin art and math project click here. I have evolved this project from the freebie version for this packet. There are now four versions, essential questions, “kid friendly” font, and various student directions.

My Favorite Penguin Clips and Movies

LaLa a pet King Penguin in Japan. I cannot believe how smart he is!

Penguin Life of Crime! This is too cute and too funny.

The ever-fabulous Deanna Jump has some awesome penguin posts that I suggest you check out! She posted this clip about the transfer of an egg from an emperor penguin mother to father:

I love the movie The March of the Penguins. It is a documentary but it is appropriate for first grade. My students last year loved it. And who doesn’t love Happy Feet? Soo cute. This DVD double pack is only around $8 on Amazon! Click the picture below to check it out.

Here is a little freebie for you, a listening response log for Little Penguin Lost:

and the freebie I shared last week for The Emperor Lays an Egg:

For phonics, we are focusing on the Sounds of Y.

To tie in with our nonfiction unit on penguins, I am jumping to Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills‘ 5th Writing Unit.

I cannot say enough about how much I love these units. I consider myself a “good” teacher but even “good” teachers need support to keep them on track. I love the way the lessons in these units are written out. They are so easy to follow, with concrete examples. They are even easy enough to leave for a sub to follow! Yes, I know how to do Writer’s Workshop and I have all the tools, but I was letting other things take priority. Not anymore. So thank you, Deanna and Deedee for your hard work.

Here is a pic from one of my student’s How To’s:

I am a huge Classroom Dojo fan, so I loved that the student chose to write about Classroom Dojo.

Again, I am linking up with Deedee!

Here are my plans for the week:

Have a great week! I have a huge week ahead of me. I get observed on Tuesday and leave for Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday night! I am heading to visit the prestigious Ron Clark Academy. I had the honor of reviewing Kim Bearden’s book over the summer and was invited to attend. I am excited and nervous!!

You may know Kim Bearden and Ron Clark from these books/movies below.