Penguin/Antarctica Unit: Book List

As promised, here is our reading list for our study of Penguins and Antarctica:

Mr. Popper's Penguins is our (almost) daily read-aloud, and we are enjoying it immensely. Mr. Popper is a house painter who has a passion for geography, exploration, and especially penguins and Antarctica. His (and his family's) adventure begins when he receives a mysterious package from Admiral Drake - directly from the South Pole!

The sweet illustrations in The Emperor's Egg make it seem more like a story than a non-fiction account. It does a wonderful job of describing the life of emperor penguins as they lay their eggs, keep them warm, and care for their young. Readers of all ages will enjoy learning about some of the most dedicated parents in the animal world!

The above three books are shorter, non-fiction books that I used as read-alouds. They provided lots of good information that my 7 and 9 yr. olds have used in their lapbooks without being so wordy as to bore my 5-yr. old. All three have fantastic photographs.

My 9 yr. old is using this Magic Tree House Research Guide for independent reading. I require him to narrate a fact or two from the end of each chapter, one of which he uses for copywork each day.

This Zoobook about Penguins is a good source of information. It's not really what I'd call a read-aloud, but it has good illustrations, and we're using it as a source for looking up facts to complete mini-books.

We haven't used the above two books yet, but they are nice little-easy readers with easy-to-understand information and great photos.

Two more titles we've not gotten around to reading yet, but when I scanned them at the library I thought they were worth checking out. I'll let you know our thoughts after reading them. :)

Enjoy browsing, and have a great weekend!

(Disclosure: The above images are my Amazon affiliate links.)

Penguin/Antarctica Unit Plans and Resources

We just finished up a unit called Winter Wonders, one of Amanda Bennett's really neat Download-N-Go unit studies. I'll write more about that in a later post.

Right now I want to share the resources we'll be using for a new unit that we'll begin tomorrow on Penguins and Antarctica.

Many of these came from Jimmie's Penguin resources and printables. If you've never checked out her personal blog, Squidoo lenses, or her new notebooking blog, you ought to treat yourself to a visit. Her hard work helped me to pull this unit together fairly quickly.

Of course, we won't use or do all of these, but this will be my go-to list for activities and printables.

Printables:

• Mr. Popper's Penguins unit study from Homeschool Share 
• Polar Animals Lapbook from Homeschool Share. There are also other polar resources on this page, including printables for Penguins and Antarctica: A Magic Tree House Research Guide.
• Penguin Lapbook from Lapbook Lessons
• Sea World Teacher Guides: Scroll down the page to the guides for penguins.
• Penguin Teacher's Guide from New England Aquarium (Scroll down a bit.)
• Penguin shape template from ABC Teach
• Map of Southern Hemisphere from EduTeach
• Interactive map of penguin habitats around the world
• Penguin Family Coloring Page from National Geographic
• Penguin Lapbook - has really nice printable minibooks
• Antarctic Food Chain
• Penguin Mobile - We'll use these cutouts to make popsicle stick puppets and/or a diorama
• Waddle and Hop -  neat activity that demonstrates how penguins get around on land
• Stages of A Penguin's Growth
• Notebooking Pages from The Notebooking Fairy
• More notebooking pages

Arts/Crafts/Music

• Song: All The Penguins (sung to tune of O My Darling Clementine)
• Cute Penguin Craft from Kid's Craft Weekly (a great craft site!)
• Penguin Art Activity - also a lesson in following directions
• Rockhopper Penguin Mask

Science Experiments and Activities

• How Do Penguins Keep Warm?
• How Do Emperor Penguins Keep Their Eggs Warm?
• Comparing Penguins With Other Birds

Penguin Activities for Littles

• Preschool File Folder game and other activities
• Cute penguin printables for tots.

Antartica Resources

• Antarctic Penguin Index Cards
• Antarctica Board Game

Next post will be our book list. :)

Have a great week!

Back in The Saddle

It seems I've been a wee bit absent here lately. The month of January was an adventure for our family to say the least.

The first week or so of 2011 was smooth sailing with homeschooling and other activities until Sweet Pea and I came down with the flu. You know, influenza - the kind that knocks you flat of your back for a few days. After a week of fevers, chills, and upper respiratory symptoms (and a trip to the doctor), we both developed pneumonia. I ended up in the hospital for 5 days, but thanks be to God, hers was not as severe, and she did not have to be hospitalized.

During this whole time, my beloved husband was truly my hero. He waited on us both, hand and foot, along with the normal tasks of taking care of the two healthy children, the new puppy, and doing household stuff.

As my condition deteriorated, we knew he needed some help, so we called my dear parents, who came up from Georgia to lend a hand. I am incredibly thankful for them as well.

My stint in the hospital taught me not to take good health for granted. Never in my life have I experienced the feeling of struggling to breathe. It's scary and not something I want to ever go through again. My heart truly goes out to those with asthma and other such conditions.

I'm so thankful to the Lord that Sweet Pea and I are both recovered and that no one else caught what we had. It took a couple of weeks for us to be back to normal, but everyone is healthy now!

Hoping to be back in a couple of days with a homeschool update.

Have a great weekend!