Penguins Unit This is a HUGE unit packed with hands-on, engaging, math, literacy,

and writing activities all related to Penguins! There are 2 weeks of

activities in this unit. There are crafts and anchor charts too! These

activities go along with the common core in literacy,

writing, and math.

Here is what is all included:

MATH Activit ies:

• Double Spin & Subtract o Student get to use a double spinner to practice subtraction. There is also a game

included for students to play with a partner!

• Goldfish Sort, Graph, Add o This is a tasty activity where your students will be sorting colorful goldfish crackers,

graphing their results, and filling out information to go with their data such as: writing

the number, tallies, comparing, and adding!

• Number Line Subtraction Mats & Practice o Students will work on subtraction using a number line by hopping Tacky along to solve

subtraction equations.

• Penguin Subtraction Story & Craft o This is a subtraction craft with fish and penguins that your students will create and

write about.

• Sorting Subtraction F ish o Students will practice solving subtraction equations on fish and glue them onto the

penguin with the correct answer.

• Subtraction Cross Out Mini Book o This is a mini subtraction book where your students will practice the crossing out

strategy to find the answer. There are 2 different books for you to choose from.

• Subtraction Around the Room o Your students will get to walk around the room and search for penguins holding

subtraction equations! They will record the subtraction equation and determine the

answer using one of their subtraction strategies!

• Subtraction Draw & Cross Out Mat & Practice o Students will practice the cross out subtraction strategy on these hands-on mats.

They will practice looking at the equations, drawing the correct number of pictures,

and crossing pictures out to find the answer.

• Subtraction Cross Out Practice o Students will get to practice crossing out fish to solve subtraction equations.

© A Spoonful of Learning

MATH Activities Continued…

• Subtraction Cut & Glue Cross Out Book o A math subtraction mini reader where your students will read simple short

sentences, act out the story by gluing pictures and crossing them out, and writing a

subtraction equation to go with the story.

• Subtraction F l ip Book o Students will make a subtraction flip book and act out each subtraction equation by

taking away fish and placing it in a penguins belly!

• Subtraction Practice o Students will get to use any strategy that they have learned to solve different

subtraction equations.

• Subtraction Stories Book o Students will get to show all of their subtraction strategies in one book! They will read

a subtraction story, draw a picture to go with the story, show the story on a

number line, and write the subtraction equation to go with the story!

• Subtraction Taking Away Mats & Practice o A great introduction to subtraction and/or activity to give your students a deeper

understanding on what subtraction is all about!

• Waddling on a Number Line o Students will draw lines on the number line to find the answer to subtraction

equations!

LITERACY & WRITING Activities

• All About Penguins Research Book o Students will get to take all of their new knowledge on penguins to create their very

own penguin research book. This includes a cover, table of content, penguin facts,

food, emperor, baby penguins, penguin play, predators, diagram, and more! There are

many different versions of each section of the research book that you can choose

from!

• All About Tacky the Penguin Book o Students will create a book about the different story elements from ‘Tacky the

Penguin’. This book focuses on characters, main character, setting, and sequencing:

first, next, then, & last.

• Comparing Different Tacky Story Anchor Chart o This is an anchor chart for students to see the similarities and differences between

many of the different stories of ‘Tacky the Penguin’. This chart will focus on

characters, setting, problem, and solution.

• CVC Words Bui ld o This is a cut and glue activity where your students will practice creating CVC words

with different letters to match the picture.

• Fishy Facts o This is a fish & penguin display for your room for your students to write a fact that

they have learned about penguins!

© A Spoonful of Learning

LITERACY & WRITING Activities Continued…

• KWL Anchor Chart o An anchor chart to write about what students already know about penguins, what

they wonder, and what they learned about penguins.

• Penguin Diagram o Students will get to label the different parts of a penguin.

• Penguin Facts Mini Book- Can, Have, Are & Craft o Students will make a mini penguin fact book about what penguins can, have, and are.

Then they will turn their book into a penguin!

• Waddling Words o Students will learn new vocabulary words throughout this unit. They will get an

understanding of these ‘waddling’ words with a display of each word that includes the

vocabulary word, definition, and picture to go with the word.

• Penguin Vocabulary Words & Book o Students will make their very own vocabulary book with new words they have learned

throughout the unit. They will write the word, definition, and draw a picture to help

them understand the vocabulary words.

• Penguins Can, Have, Are Anchor Chart o Students will help fill out the chart with what penguins can, have, & are. They also will

do a writing activity and make their own informational chart.

• Penguins Prior Knowledge & Wonderings Writing o This is a writing activity that will tap into your students prior knowledge about

penguins and what they wonder about penguins.

• Tacky the Penguin Character Traits Anchor & Writng Map o Students will get to describe Tacky the Penguins character by create a Character

Trait Anchor Chart Map. They will also get to make a character trait map of their

own about Tacky.

• Tacky Character Writ ing & Craft o Students will get to write about Tacky’s character and also make a Tacky the

Penguin craft where they design their own shirt for him.

• Tacky the Penguin Story Map o An anchor chart that your students can refer to that focuses on the title,

character, main character, setting, problem, solution, and sequencing.

• Tacky VS. Real Penguins Venn Diagram & Activity o Students will get to compare Tacky the Penguin to Real Penguins on a large Venn

Diagram. They will also get to fill out a Venn Diagram of their own.

This Penguins Unit also comes with a ‘Unit At-A-Glance’ that gives you a 2 week long

layout of when you can do all of these activities in your class. This helps as a great

guide for planning!

Each activity comes with step-by-step details and instructions on how to prep,

complete, and teach the activity. There are pictures of each completed activity for

you to see exactly how to use it.

You can also see this unit in action on my blog at: www.aspoonfuloflearning.blogspot.com

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