Nobody thinks less of the penguin because it cannot fly. It’s simply a different kind of bird.” -Stuart Duncan
This quote really spoke to me as it talks about acceptance. The difference between penguins and other birds are not flaws, but rather strengths. Something I work hard to empower my students with.
The book I selected for this month was If You Were a Penguin by Florence Minor.
The book description: “The short text by Florence Minor pairs perfectly with the gorgeous, detailed illustrations by acclaimed illustrator Wendell Minor. Fun facts about penguins are featured at the back of the book.”
The skills worked on this month are many. Here’s but a few:
- book knowledge (i.e., title, author, page turning, image walking)
- use of low vision tools while reading the book
- develop hand and eye coordination
- turning pages
- soliciting assistance appropriately
- fine motor
- communication
- positional concepts
- choice making
Penguin
- Foam sheets
- Googly eyes
- Water bottles (the sturdier the better)
- Cotton balls
- Hot glue gun & glue sticks
- Painters tape
- Parchment paper
- Black paint
- Foam brush
- Penguin template (or an alternative penguin craft)
One Little Project has a blog post on how to make Water bottle penguins. This looked fun and supported the learning in the different classrooms about winter and winter animals.
Prep work consisted of gathering the supplies, printing the templates and then cutting out the feet, wings, and noses. I also cut the cotton balls in half to make it easier for several of my students to push inside the bottles.
This was a three-day craft for the students as the paint needed to dry before we could continue. I put their initials on the lid of the water bottle to notate who the bottle belonged to.
Day one was all about painting. When possible, the students helped put the painter’s tape on the bottle to protect the area not to be painted. 2/3 of the bottle needs to be painted. I put the bottle on parchment paper to keep the bottle from sticking to whatever it sat on to dry. The students were allowed to paint the bottle however they wanted…strokes or dabbing. They were the drivers in their own creative process. This was a different task for them as the bottle is curved and not flat like they are used to. Keeping it from rolling was a task they hadn’t encountered yet. GREAT opportunity to consult with the OT’s here!
Day two was about putting the cotton balls in the bottle. This is another opportunity to consult with the OT’s or cotreat with them! The students had to pick up an individual precut cotton ball to insert into the bottle and then use a finger in isolation to push it in. I am the queen of sabotage. I handed every student the bottle and the cotton balls with no offer to assist them. Just verbal directions. Several had to ask for help in hand positioning to hold the bottle. I also had them use an unsharpened pencil to help them push down the cotton balls to reduce the visual gaps when looking into the bottle.
Day three was about finishing the penguin. The students assisted me in affixing the wings, feet, beak, googly eyes and the hats to the bottle. They told/showed me where to put the items while I did the hot glue part. We also worked on our own body parts and discussed the differences between a penguin and humans such as humans have arms and penguins have wings.
Tips
- 1 bag of 100 count cotton balls cut in half will fill 3 bottles.
- The typical water bottles are a little flimsy and can crush easily. I like
to drink Lipton peach tea and those bottles were a little sturdier. I
recommend checking out the sturdiness of the bottle before
attempting the craft. - Have a student that doesn’t like touching paint? I use disposable
vinyl gloves on the hand that is holding the item in place while the
hand that is using the paint brush does not. - Having trouble holding the sponge paint brush? Try using Foam Grip
Tubing. The occupational therapists may have extra you can
borrow.
Extension activities
- Watch videos of penguins to see how they move and what they
sound like. We also pretended to be penguins and move like them. - Teacher Pay Teacher has Arctic-animals-color sheets available for
$2.00. - Teacher Pay Teacher has Arctic-animals-themed-positional-game
available for $0.95. I plan to use this as a mid-year check on their positional terms. I created a data sheet based on the information I was interested in ascertaining. - Homeschool Preschool has a blog post containing penguin-tracing
pages for free. The student can trace the line, cut along the lines, or
do both! This would be a great activity to cotreat with your OT’s on! - Homeschool of one has a blog on Different types of penguins
worksheet as a free printable of the nine different types. - Co-treat a lesson with speech and write sentences, phrases, or words
that relate to penguins using their low tech or high tech tools.
