Our current theme is all about penguins. Prior to this lesson, many of the students were describing penguins as cute and fluffy animals– they really were not able to describe much more. In expanding our knowledge of penguins we learned about what they eat, what they sound like, and how they take care of their babies. Next week we will discuss more of the different types of penguins.

In addition to the non-fiction books we have read, we are reading various books in the Tacky the penguin series by Helen Lester. Tacky is not like the other penguins. His friends are neat, graceful, careful– he is pretty much the opposite! The stories show that even though Tacky is unique, he is able to help his friends. His story inspired us to make our own original penguin. We used markers, glitter, pom poms, buttons, and anything else we could find in the classroom to decorate our penguins. All of the penguins turned out being different from the others. All of the penguins turned out fantastic and were especially wonderful because they were all different.

In Math Workshop we are continuing work with patterns. We worked with arrows pointing in different directions to create patterns. We also did patterns with pom poms and markers. The students are very interested in working with different manipulatives to create patterns.

This week we have started editing our chosen Writer’s Workshop piece to present at our Writer’s Celebration. Each student was able to have their writing typed onto the computer. The students then used this typed version for their published work.

Have a great weekend!