Penguins Unit – All About Penguins Slideshow – Penguin Hat & Activities

This All About Penguins unit is packed full of Antarctic learning and fun! Complete with an informational “All About Penguins” PowerPoint, a penguin craft and hat/crown, and lots of printable materials, this set will turn your students into little ornithologists. With eye-catching display materials including headers for three anchor charts along with colorful vocabulary word posters and word wall cards, children will have what they need to read, talk, and write about penguins. This unit teaches students about the penguin life cycle, habitat, and characteristics, parts of a penguin, and more!

This informational penguins unit is also included in my Thematic Units BIG Bundle.

What’s included in this penguin unit?

This “All About Penguins” thematic unit includes materials to help you integrate learning about penguins into science, social studies, literacy, and math in your primary classroom.

Here’s what’s included:

✔ Informational PowerPoint Slideshow “All About Penguins”

This slideshow is packed full of information about penguins. Filled with clear photographs, this presentation includes nonfiction text about the similarities and differences between penguins and other birds, the habitat and diet of penguins, their habits, life cycle, and characteristics, and more. This PowerPoint slideshow is 14 slides long and is copied at the end of the PDF in addition to the PPT file (for those without access to PowerPoint).

✔ Penguin Vocabulary Word Posters and Word Wall Cards

The included penguin vocabulary word posters, each with a photo and a simple definition are: huddle, toboggan, brood pouch, camouflage, down, rookery, krill, and predator. The word wall cards, each with an illustration, are: bird, feathers, egg, Antarctica, fish, penguin, leopard seal, orca, and chick.

✔ Anchor Chart Materials and Posters

Printable materials are included to help you create meaningful penguin anchor charts with your students. You’ll find what you need to make a KWL chart, a “Can, Have, Are” chart, and a “To Survive in Antarctica” comprehension chart. In addition, this set includes a “Parts of a Penguin” poster, a “Penguin Life Cycle” poster, and two short, illustrated songs to display.

✔ Printable Penguin Activities

▶ Themed Informational Writing Materials: In addition to writing organizers, this set includes various penguin-themed lined writing sheets, a Can/Have/Are book template, and scaffolded writing templates.

▶ Penguin Science Activities: Students cut and glue to complete these life cycle and diagram (parts of a penguin) worksheets. A simple life cycle cut & staple book and a “Penguin Actions” handwriting practice page are also included.

▶ Cut and Fold Penguin Book: This informational easy reader is designed to be printed double-sided, using only one sheet of paper. Students can color the pictures and practice reading and print concepts. This book has one simple sentence per page.

▶ Penguin Chick Craft: Students use a sheet of newspaper along with a template to make this reversible chick/egg writing craft that is perfect for display.

▶ Penguin Hat: Use a sentence strip to complete this simple hat that includes two versions of a visual directions sheet for students. This cute crown is a great culminating activity for your penguin unit.

▶ Thematic Printables: This section includes a selection of reading and math skill worksheets with a penguin theme.

How do I use this All About Penguins unit?

Begin by accessing students’ background knowledge about penguins by having a class discussion. As you discuss, fill in the “K” (What I Know) and “W” (What I Want to Know) columns of the KWL chart. Follow up with the PowerPoint slideshow, which can be read aloud in one sitting or can be used across several days. Young children will need time to discuss the information as it is presented, so be sure to build in time for conversations and questions! Upon completion of the PowerPoint (or as you go along), have students help fill in the final column of the KWL chart.

To guide students toward informational writing about penguins, begin with the “Can, Have, Are” chart, having the students help determine what you should write in each section (a sample chart is included). Students can then begin to work on their own organizers which will scaffold them toward writing three informational sentences about penguins. The Can/Have/Are book template, which is included in three levels of difficulty, is a great way for students to showcase their writing skills.

The “To Survive in Antarctica” chart and the accompanying writing template help students build comprehension. These cards can be used in a pocket chart as whole group comprehension activity. Use this activity as part of a discussion about how penguins survive in icy cold conditions. Add sentence cards to the chart while reading the PowerPoint. Have students help select the photo that best supports the sentence. Students can use the follow-up writing page to draw and write about how penguins survive in Antarctica.

The original penguin songs (to be sung to the tunes of “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”) help students remember facts about penguins while also working on memorization. Consider having students come up with hand motions to go along with the songs. Students can sing these songs while wearing their hats! A cut-and-glue comprehension sheet accompanies one of the songs.

The thematic activities can be completed in any order (and you can pick and choose based on the needs and levels of your students).

Have students make penguin hats to culminate their studies and encourage them to share penguin facts with anyone who asks about their hats!

This informational penguins unit is also included in my Thematic Units BIG Bundle.

What Teachers Are Saying about “All About Penguins”:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “This was a really nice way to bring a little more technology to my penguin unit with a PowerPoint that I can control. Love to be able to stop and listen to comments/questions. Nice activities as well. Great resource. Just for the record, this is not my first purchase from this seller, and most certainly will not be my last.” –Tara H.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Great resource. I am embarrassed to say I own wayyy too many non-fiction resources about penguins but this one is by far my fav and supports a range of different learners.” — Caitlin D.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “This was a great resource for both in-person and virtual learning (sharing my screen). I’ve used it two years in a row as we explore animals in our winter science studies.” –Nicole C.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I used this PowerPoint to teach my students vocabulary related to our Penguin unit. It has wonderful visuals and my students really looked forward to learning something new from this presentation each day.” –Meredith W.

You may also like:

▶ Digital Penguin Activities
▶ Arctic Animals Unit
▶ Penguin Math Puzzles
▶ Fine Motor Activities for Winter

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Susan Jennings (My Happy Place)

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