Penguin Unit: Cool Resources

Winter is a great time to teach students of all ages about cold weather animals. Kids love to learn about these cool animals. Using these materials, educators can teach beginning research skills while meeting ELA standards. Here are some excellent resources for whole group instruction or independent learning.

Resources

Penguins

by Anne Wendorff       © 2009   ISBN: 9781600142062

From the publisher: Did you know that penguins toboggan? They sometimes travel by sliding over ice on their stomachs. Beginning readers will discover the physical characteristics of penguins and learn how they move in water and on land. Blastoff! Series

You can Check their understanding

Using and glossary and table of contents

Through classroom research projects you can begin to introduce the big concept of text features. Map reading skills is an important skill covered while researching these animals.  Where are they located?

Penguin Chicks

by Ruth Owen (author)       © 2013

ISBN: 9781617726330

From the publisher: Through the bitter Antarctic winter, a father emperor penguin nurtures and broods a large egg while his partner is out at sea, feeding. When the chick hatches, mom returns from the ocean to meet her new baby for the first time and bring it a nourishing meal of regurgitated fish. So begins the life of one of the most fascinating birds on Earth! In Penguin Chicks, readers will learn the details of how these baby birds grow up in a penguin nursery among thousands of other chicks. Each little penguin grows bigger and bigger until the day when its parents no longer arrive with a meal. Then the chick must trek to the freezing ocean to look for fish and begin its adult life. The colorful interior spreads and gorgeous photos of penguin chicks are sure to delight emergent readers. Penguin Chicks is part of Bearports Water Babies series.

Include Fiction, too!  This will allow your students to compare the differences between fiction and nonfiction.

The Penguin Lady

by Carol A. Cole (author), Sherry Rogers (illustrator)       © 2012

ISBN: 9781607185451

From the publisher: Penelope Parker lives with penguins! Short ones, tall ones; young and old—the penguins are from all over the Southern Hemisphere including some that live near the equator! Do the penguin antics prove too much for her to handle? Children count and then compare and contrast ten different penguin species as they learn geography.

Homesick Penguin

by Ken Bowser (author), Ken Bowser (illustrator)       © 2014

ISBN: 9781939656032

From the publisher: Penguin likes to visit his friend Duck. But he begins to miss some of the things at home. How can Duck cheer up his homesick friend? Concept: Empathy/Caring for others. Book features: Big Words and Big Questions; original illustrations.

Connection with Common Core

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.2 — Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.7 — Participate in shared research and writing projects