Sunday, July 10, 2011

Precious Penguin Book and More...

Yep, I know it is summer, but I've got penguins on my mind, and here is why: Don't you hate it when you find a great idea or book after you've already taught a particular unit/subject? I'm always finding myself thinking, "Oh man, I wish I would have..." So here is a new find I wish I would have known about... In second grade, I LOVED teaching about the ways that emperor penguins care for their young. Absolutely fascinating. This was one of my favorite books to use, although I talked so much that it took my class 3 sittings to finish. It describes the life of a penguin extremely well.



Now, I've found another BEAUTIFUL, poetic, sweet, lovely book! The text is actually a song that can be sung or read as poetry. I really really wished that I would have used it!



Isn't this cover sweet?

I will miss teaching about penguins when I move up to fifth grade, but at least I got to do one of my favorite penguin activities: The Blubber Glove!! Have you ever done this activity? It is PERFECT for any arctic/tundra unit. You make a glove of crisco/lard and have students put one hand inside. Students put both hands in a bucket of ice-water. They quickly find that the hand in the blubber glove stays warm, while their other hand can only stay in the water for a few seconds before getting too cold!

Instead of gloves, I used bags. I put a few cups of crisco in one gallon sized bag. Then, I placed another bag within that bag and rolled the tops over. I taped the tops together, sealing the crisco in the first bag. That way, their hands are surrounded with the crisco, but they do not actually have to get any crisco on their hand. 20+ little hands covered in lard = HUGE mess. The kids LOVED this...



Great memories!

4 comments:

  1. My friend was just telling me her daughter's teacher did the blubber glove but didn't do as you suggested and it was CRAZY trying to get the kids hands cleaned!
    Jenn
    Finally in First

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  2. I cannot even imagine having all of my kid's hands covered! This was a much easier way to do it :)

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