Penguin Study in Third Grade? What?

Sunday, March 8, 2020

If you would have asked Anne and me a few months back if we studied penguins in third grade the answer would have been a solid, "No!"  If you would have asked us if we were interested in studying penguins in third grade, again the answer would have been a definitive "No!"

And here we are...writing a blog about our latest thematic lessons centering around penguins.  This was definitely not planned, but those are the best lessons, wouldn't you agree?

It all started last fall when we read about the Amazon Forest fires in our Scholastic News and Time For Kids magazines. This topic of hurt, or endangered animals, due to human behaviors was of high interest to our students.

Zoom forward to December and the featured article in Scholastic News was Will They Survive? It was an article about the decline of the South African penguin population.  We assigned this article to the students to read and annotate during our guided reading time.  The discussions afterwards were engaging, emotional, and energetic.  Many students kept referring back to the Amazon Forest animals.

I forgot to mention that we did have the students choose one of the above extended response questions to answer.

A few days later I found an article on Newsela titled Tiny Krill Have a Huge Impact.  Again, the students were assigned to read and annotate it.  After another lively discussion, we noticed many similarities between this article and the Scholastic article.  So, bring in the Venn diagram and comparative writing activity.  Perfect!  We were hitting so many Common Core Third Grade Standards while keeping our students engaged and enthusiastic.

We have found that adding the topics on the side of the Venn keeps the students focused.

These were just some of my ideas I jotted down prior to the lesson with the kids.

I always write out a sample response so I can guide my students' thinking.  This was one of their first times writing a comparative paragraph.

It was now time for some hands-on action.  We decided to create a quick STEM penguin activity for our students.  They were over the moon from the word "Go."  They were charged with creating a realistic, life-sized penguin species of their choice.  The first step was to gather information about the different penguin species available to them.  Then, the students had to look up information about their penguins' heights, as well as find photos of them. With construction paper and liquid glue students created their penguin models. Researching more information about their bird came next. Specific information about the penguins' diets, habitats, and anatomy, as well as fun facts about their chosen penguin was part of the STEM requirement.  Word Art was then used to create an image using the researched penguin information.  It took most of Friday afternoon, but we got the project completed.

Part One of the project completed.

Just a few of the penguins that were made by our third graders.

Working together to research!

Creating word art with information about his penguin.

More word art about their penguin.

These are the moments Anne and I truly feel like teachers.  We feel like we are inspiring our kids to be curious and passionate about our world.  At the same time, we are giving them the tools so they can build their confidence in becoming independent, self-driven, successful life-long learners.

So, do we study penguins in third grade?  This year we did, and we are so grateful for the opportunity.

Have a great week.
Kim and Anne