1-2-3 Come Do Some Penguin Activities With Me

Studying penguins is one of our winter themes that my students really enjoy. With that in mind, I designed “Waddle Lot Of Fun”.

Because my school does Daily 5, word work is a part of our day; so I’m always looking for quick, easy and fun ways to build vocabulary within a specific theme.

Besides word work, this penguin-packet is filled with lots of activities that will help you practice a variety of standards, while learning a bit about penguins.

Simply choose what’s appropriate for your kiddos then “Print & Go!”

The packet includes:

* A super-cute“Where’s the Penguin?” Spatial direction craft & game.
* “1-2-3 Sequence Me” chick & egg ordinal numbers game.
“Oh My! Opposites” penguin picture & word game cards.

* “Label the penguin” worksheets
* “‘Waddle’ Lot Of Fun!” word work booklet
* A list of 30+ words related to penguins along with their definitions

* Picture cards of 15 different kinds of penguins. (Share, sort, alphabetize, pattern, play games or make an Itty Bitty booklet with them.)
* An alphabetical list of penguins with “1-2-3 ABC Me” worksheets
* Penguin Species & Penguin Vocabulary word searches

* Comparison & contrast activity with Venn diagrams
* Graphing whole group activity
* Penguins ARE, CAN, HAVE worksheet
* Alphabetize the words worksheet

* Write a caption for the penguin photo posters
* “Favorite penguin” bookmark writing prompt
* “If a baby penguin could talk, what are some of the things it might say?” writing prompt worksheet.
* “I would/would not like a penguin for a pet because…” color-me writing prompt worksheet.
* “Pp Is For Penguins And …” worksheet.

* 32, mini-photo cards of real penguins doing various actions (4-on-a-page for quick printing).
* I’ve also included many links, so students can see real penguins doing these things, along with several links where students can hear the penguins “braying” too.
* Matching verb word cards (waddling, tobogganing, nesting, calling etc.)

* “How many words can you make using the letters in penguin?” worksheet. (Color & BW, plus an answer key with 27 words.)
* “Words that describe penguins” color-me worksheet

Color word fun:
* 11, pocket chart color word cards. (Includes gray/grey spelling options).
* 6 sets of “Penguin Colors!” game cards for Memory Match and “I Have; Who Has?” games.
You can also use them for sorting, patterning, and color-word practice.

* A “My Penguin Book Of Colors” trace, write & color emergent reader booklet, with a certificate of praise, and finally . . .

A set of color & BW penguin name cards.

Today's featured FREEBIE is an "oldie but goodie" called "Frosty Flakes" and practices fact families. I hope you find it useful.

Well that's it for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Two of my 8 grandchildren are coming over today, and we're making snowman cookies!

Time to put my baker's hat on. Wishing you a day as sweet as frosting.

Had to pop back to share a photo of our fun morning!

"Even on a dreary and cold winter's day, grandchildren are sunshine to the soul that truly warms your heart." -DLH

1-2-3 Come Do Some Penguin Activities With Me

I designed the Penguin Emergent Reader packet to go along with my Silly Shaped Penguin craft. The craftivity is today's featured FREEBIE.

For your convenience, I’ve included them in the packet.

You don’t have to make the Silly Shaped Penguins, but I really think they get children excited to make this short emergent reader booklet, which includes 50 Dolch sight words!

Children read the sentence, add end punctuation ( ? . ! ), trace & write the shape word, then trace, draw and color the shape.

I've included an extra page with the hexagon, pentagon & octagon if you study those as well.

The last page is also optional. “This penguin is in the shape of my shoe. It’s a special keepsake that I made for you.” where children trace their shoe, and add details to make it look like a penguin.

There are 2 size options for the booklet: full-page (great for a teacher’s edition), plus a 2-on-a-page half size, to conserve paper and ink.

The packet also includes:

* A set of trace & write the shape word cards, which can be turned into an Itty Bitty booklet, or used for a Memory Match or “I Have; Who Has?” game. I’ve also included a full-color set as well.

* A graphing extension

* A “Roll & Color” the shapes game, where children choose a partner & take turns rolling the dice. Whatever number they roll, is the matching numbered shape that they color.

* And finally, an “I Spy a Shape” game worksheet, which is a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess.   You can use the worksheet 5 times too! 

Well that's it for today.  I hope your kiddos have as much fun with the silly shaped penguins, as I did creating them.

Who knew? "Penguins have only one mate, and "propose" by giving then a pebble."

1-2-3 Come Do Some Creative Christmas Writing With Me

No matter what your age, pretending is so much fun, particularly with children.  It's easy for them to become princesses and pirates. 

With that in mind, I designed 7, creative, Christmas-themed, writing prompts. 

They are easy-peasy "print & go" worksheets, that I'm sure your students will enjoy.

The more creative aspect, has students "think outside the box" and really try and become an elf, reindeer, snowman or gingerbread cookie.

What would these "characters" say, or what might they overhear in a conversation that Santa is having? 

You can simply give students a choice, and only do one, or add the cute journal cover, and have students write a new one each day.

Another option, is to have students do a non-fiction prompt, using factual information that they've learned about penguins and snowflakes.

What would they say, that would tell us factual information?

When everyone is done, go around the room, and have each student share one thing.

No time to complete them all in class? They make fun "homework" that your students will enjoy doing.

To add a bit of technology to the lesson, give them the sites you want them to visit to get some facts about penguins, reindeer, or snow, that they can then include when writing their sentences.

My full-color, completed samples, will give you an example that you can share with your students, to help explain what you want them to do. They match the black & white templates for students.

Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to have a look at the Now You're Talkin' Christmas Writing Prompts/Journal.

Here's hoping your kiddos enjoy "pretend writing" as much as I did creating the samples.

The featured FREEBIE today, is another form of writing.  Using a Venn diagram helps your students learn to compare and contrast in a fun way. 

There are 7 Venn diagrams in this packet, all featuring an elf. I've included color as well as black and white templates. 

Use the black and white copy for students to write their own, then call them up for a whole-group discussion and add everyone's ideas onto the colored Venn diagram. 

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. 

It's a chilly, but sunny morning, and I'm in the mood and energized to start decorating for Christmas!  Wishing you a festive day.

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family, all wrapped up in each other." -Burton Hillis

1-2-3 Come Frolic With Me: Winter Craftivities, Bulletin Boards and Games

I was really on a creative roll yesterday.  All one needs to do is spend a little time on Pinterest and your brain will shoot into over drive!  So many ideas and not enough time in my life to do everything I'd like to.  Sound familiar?

While browsing, I found a wooden snowman used as a countdown to Christmas.  I found versions of this idea all over, so not sure who was the originator, but I thought the moveable carrot nose would be perfect for the classroom. 

It was fun designing a paper snowman face that can review upper and lowercase letters and numbers to 20.  I've included a face for skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's or 10's.  

You can also simply make one for your calendar center and countdown the days in January.  

These make a quick and easy way to whole-group assess too. 

Call out a number/letter and have students move their snowman's nose to that position or... move your teacher sample to an uppercase letter, and have students find the matching lowercase letter on theirs. 

For added pizzazz I ran the carrot noses through my crinkle machine.  My Y5's called this the "Cruncher Muncher."  It provided great fine motor practice as students turned the crank to get the paper through the rollers. 

Poke a hole at the end of the carrot and use a brass brad to fasten the nose to the snowman.   Click on the link to view/download the Snowman's Nose packet.

For more letter and number practice, have your students put together these winter pine tree puzzles.  They can be done as an independent center activity, or you can make copies for your students. 

Children cut the green number/letter tiles and then glue them in appropriate order on the boxed grid.  For that extra bit of pizzazz, run the template off on blue construction paper and have students dot on "snowflakes" with a Q-tip. 

If you celebrate 100 Day in January, this is a wonderful "craftivity" that makes a cool bulletin board.  Caption:  Mrs. Henderson's Kinders Are Doing Tree-mendous Work!  Click on the link to view/download the Pine Tree Puzzles

Another awesome bulletin board for January, features a New Year's writing prompt. 

Basketball, soccer and football are all sports where players score goals, so I thought it would be fun to have students write what their goals were for the New Year on the ball of their choice.  

I've included a poster that you can put in the center of your bulletin board as a caption. 

Besides the balls, there are also 2 writing prompt pages for journal writing, which includes one with a hockey theme.   Click on the link to grab the New Year Goals Packet. 

Another New Year's activity you can have your kiddo's do, is see how many words they can come up with, using the letters in Happy New Year.   I've included a list of 267 words. 

When students are done, share your list to see if there are any words that they aren't familiar with; have them write them on their paper and look them up.   Click on the link to check out the How Many New Year activity.

Since the fact family houses have been such popular downloads, I designed an igloo "Frosty Fact Family Fun" packet.  Choose whatever number you want your students to work on. 

They write it in the center of the snowflake and then write all of the equations that they can think of, on the outer sections of their snowflake, to show that number.  

Do one each day; to make their booklet, have students glue their snowflake to an igloo-shaped page.  Add their photo for that finishing touch.  Click on the link to view/downlaod the Frosty Fact Family Fun packet.

For More number fun, I think you'll enjoy the snowflake number cards.  Use these for your word wall, a bulletin board, flashcards, games, or an independent center. 

Print; laminate and cut into puzzles for even more ideas.   I've also included 3 sets of snowflake tiles so students can sort, pattern and make groups/sets to match the number on the cards.  Click on the link to grab the Snowflake Number cards.

Finally, I had a request from Karla out in Vermont, for penguin alphabet and number cards. 

She wanted something small that her pre-schoolers could manipulate.  She only needed numbers to 10, but I included a blank template for you to program with more. 

There's also a list of ideas you can use the cards for, including games like "Kaboom!"  Click on the link if you'd like a set of these mini-penguins.   

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  My "Pin It!" button is at the top.  As you can see I design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow to see all the newest FREEBIES, created by this brain that needs a shut-off button!

"Celebrate what you want to see more of." -Tom Peters

Silly Shaped Penguins

These shapely penguins make an easy center that’s a fun way to review shapes. My inspiration for the shoe-shaped penguin came from Merryn’s Crafty-crafted sight. 

Her son painted his foot and made this adorable penguin.  Click on the link to check out her other cute ideas and see Ethan doing this project.

I felt that tracing a student’s foot with their shoe on, was an easier-no mess project to take on with a bunch of little kids, and still makes a nice keepsake.

Have your students stand on a sheet of black construction paper and trace around their shoe with a piece of chalk.   A room helper cuts these out and then traces them on white copy paper so that they can cut a smaller white foot for the center of the penguin.

Students glue this together, along with their beak and feet, which can simply be triangles of orange construction paper.  Use the manipulatives to get the wiggles out and do The Penguin Pokey.  Click on the link to view/print The Penguin Pokey.

Help students review their body parts by having them put their penguin on their thigh, hip, waist, wrist, shin etc.

Their penguin can also help them review spatial directions and you can whole group assess as you tell your students to put their penguin behind them, over their palm, on their right side etc.

The silly shaped penguins, as well as the shoe penguins, make an adorable January bulletin board.  Captions can be:

"Things are shaping up in _________________'s room." "Things are taking shape in kindergarten." "Waddle on down to room 206 to see what's shaping up!" "The shape of things to come with ______________________'s  first graders." "Penguin Power Prints!"

Teachers can make a set to show the students and then do a graphing activity of which is their favorite.  So each child has a set, do this as a daily center activity for the week. End with the shoe penguin and sing a round of The Penguin Pokey using the manipulative.

I also made an easy-reader booklet: Look It’s A Penguin! to go along with these goofy little guys.  Students read the sentence, trace and write the shape word, color the silly-shaped penguin, and finally trace and draw the shape.

The last page says: This penguin is in the shape of my shoe, a keepsake especially for you.  There’s also a graphing extension + shape flashcards that students can make into an Itty Bitty booklet.

Click on the link to take a look at Silly Shaped Penguins.

Are you looking for more penguin-themed ideas?

Shapes are also reviewed under the wings of this adorable penguin booklet and squencing numbers with this fish-gobbling cutie is also lots of fun.  Both can be found in my Winter Art and Activity Book.

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." -Mark VAn Doren