Penguins, penguins, penguins

I love this unit! Penguins are just so much fun. If only we had more time . . .
We read many non-fiction stories about penguins. We learned that a emperor penguin stands 4 feet tall! So we pulled out my yard stick and made a life size emperor penguin. Each child got a chance to compare themselves to the emperor penguin. Thank you First Grader at Last for this idea.


This activity came from Deanna Jump’s penguin unit. I was so impressed with how well my class did on this writing assignment. I let them use their post-it from our new learning as a resource.

This one says, “Penguins have feathers. Emperor penguins are 4 feet tall. Penguins swim. Emperor penguins weigh 100 pounds.” WOW! You go Lilliana.
My kiddos decided they wanted to make rockhopper penguins and emperor penguins. They turned out so cute!

Love this guy inspired by the First Grade Parade and First Grader at Last. My kids freaked when they learned he was a rockhopper penguin.

Every class at our school has to complete a science fair project. EEEK, brings back awful memories of 7th grade. I hated science. I used the experiment from Deanna’s penguin unit. Here is our science fair board all ready for the judges.

We learned that penguins stay warm because they have oil on their feathers and blubber.

Penguin glyph (also from Deanna’s unit)


When I saw this on First Grader at Last I was so happy I had the book Pink! These turned out just darling!

Reader’s workshop

Post Edit
I am a huge fan of There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed . . . books. We just read the story There was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow. After reading the story we sequenced the things she swallowed.

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I Know an Old Lady

Up next . . .
PENGUINS!

literacy station activities

All of these were a big hit in my classroom. Thank you teachers!!
How many ways can you make 9 from Deanna Jump’s snowman unit on Teachers Pay Teachers.


Valentine syllable sort from What the Teacher Wants


/ow/ sound sort also from Deanna Jump’s snowman unit


cookie jar blends from The First Grade Parade

100th day of school!

Post Edit
The 100th day of school is almost here! Time to celebrate. Here are a few activities ready for download (inspired by Mrs. Kimbrell).
Oh my gosh this activity is so much work but turns out super cute.
WARNING do not attempt this without help from parents.

For a more doable project use stickers. No mess and the kids love stickers. 10 strips X 10 stickers makes one cute 100 days smarter headband and 1 tired teacher.

Click to download

100 days smarter

snowman fun

Deanna Jump's units on Teachers Pay Teachers are amazing. Here is a look at some of the activities from her snowman unit. Too cute!
We read the story Snowman at Night and Snowmen all Year Long. Then we made these darling snowmen and wrote about what a snowman does at night,

We read these two poems and then glued a copy of each into their poetry journals. I have each child illustrate the poem then butter the sight words with a yellow crayon.


We completed the interactive writing “How to Build a Snowman.” The children took turns making the different snowman parts while another child wrote a step.


We made snowmen using the snowman glyph. I love how each one looks so different.

We completed a lot of snowmen story problems using my problem solving board. We solve the story problem together then they glue the question into their math journal and solve the problem on their own.

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problem solving board

Martin Luther King

I actually had a walk through during this lesson. Good thing it was a good one. We read Martin’s Big words. Then as a class we brainstormed a list of dreams to make our world a better place to live in. We recorded our ideas on chart paper. Then each child wrote and illustrated their dreams. They did a great job. Inspiration by Primary Perspectives.

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I can dream like Dr. King

The Mitten

We read The Mitten by Jan Brett, of course! We did a lot of graphing activities with The Mitten. We graphed our favorite character in The Mitten. We also graphed what you like to wear best, mittens or gloves. The First Grade Parade has so many great ideas to share.






And my favorite, a mitten themed story map, also from The First Grade Parade.

Baby it’s cold outside . . .

During our lovely snow unit we read one of my favorite winter books to read, The Jacket I Wear in the Snow. Then the kids drew themselves dressed head to toe in the snow. They also labeled the clothing.


Here are some of the things we did for shared writing.

Snowman brace map inspired by the amazing Mrs. Carrol of The First Grade Parade. My kids loved this brace map so much I found some making their own version in write the room.


This idea came from Growing Kinders. We discussed what would happen if you tried to build a snowman indoors. They did pretty good.

snow, snow, snow

Have you read, The snow globe family by Jane O’ Connor? It is DARLING! We read the story and then mapped the story on my anchor chart.

Story Map inspiration from Growing kinders.


For readers’ workshop I had my kids map the story on their own. They did an amazing job.


{Ok, let me just brag on this girl- hello can you say, amazing!}

click to download

story map

The kids brought in snow globes for show and tell to observe, then we made these darling snow globes from Deanna Jump’s snowman literacy and math unit. They had to write about living inside a snow globe.