Penguins

Past & Present

 

Dr. Steve Emslie

Principal Investigator

UNCW Department of Biology and Marine Biology

Welcome to the Second Grade Page!

To access the instructional materials click on the link below. A window will appear and it will ask you to open or save the file. Save the file to your computer. The files have been zipped together into a folder to make the information easier to access. Extract the files from the zipped folder. All materials needed for this unit are in the folder you download. Enjoy!

Second Grade Curriculum

If you have trouble downloading a zipped file, use this back-up plan. Below, the second grade unit plan is linked as "Second Grade Unit Plan." It has a total of seven lessons. They are going to be listed and summarized below. To access the unit plan, click on the link titled "Second Grade Unit Plan." After clicking on the unit plan link, you will now have all the lessons, but you will need additional materials. There will also be links for the additional instructional materials that are needed for each lesson. Enjoy!

Second Grade Unit Plan

Lesson One - An Introduction to Brush-tail Penguins

Summary: This lesson is the first in a unit about penguins. In this lesson, students will be introduced to three types of penguins that belong to the Brush-tail group. These three penguins are the Chinstrap Penguin, Adélie Penguin (pronounced a-dell-ee), and the Gentoo Penguin. Students will learn basic information about the penguins such as where they live, what they look like, and what they eat. At the end of the lesson, students will begin a My Penguin Book by documenting two things they learned about penguins, and writing two questions to be posted on a class blog to UNCW researchers.

Materials: My Penguin Book (one for each student), My Penguin Book teacher guide, United Streaming video: Penguins, PowerPoint: Penguins of Antarctica

Lesson Two - The Life Cycle of a Penguin

Summary: In the second lesson of the unit, students will continue to learn facts about penguins, while also learning about the life cycle of the penguin. They are going to learn about important vocabulary words when talking about penguin life cycles. They are also going to draw pictures that correspond with the different stages of the penguin life cycle.

Materials: My Penguin Book (one for each student), My Penguin Book teacher guide

Lesson Three - Comparing and Contrasting Life Cycles

Summary: This lesson is the third lesson in the unit about penguins. Inform the class that today they are going to compare (find similarities) and contrast (find differences) between the life cycles of penguins and other living things. In this lesson, students will be reminded of the penguin life cycle. Then they will be asked to compare and contrast the life cycle of penguin to other living things. 

Materials: My Penguin Book (one for each student), My Penguin Book teacher guide

Lesson Four - Penguin Centers

Summary: The students are going to be completing some experiments that will help them understand what it is like to be a penguin. Inform students that they will be working in centers.

Materials: My Penguin Book (one for each student), My Penguin Book teacher guide

Lesson Five - Penguin Poetry

Summary: In the fifth lesson of the unit, students will continue to learn facts about penguins, while also learning how to write a sensory poem about a penguin.

Materials: My Penguin Book (one for each student), My Penguin Book teacher guide

Lesson Six - Penguin Web-quest

Summary: In the sixth lesson of the unit, students will continue to learn facts about penguins, while also learning about how to search the Internet to find facts about penguins. They will use the Internet to search for answers to penguin questions that will be in their My Penguin Book.  The book will serve as a place for the students to complete assignments designed for this assignment. Click on the following link to access the web-quest: Penguin Webquest.

Materials: My Penguin Book (one for each student), My Penguin Book teacher guide

Lesson Seven - Global Warming

Summary: In the seventh lesson of the unit, students will continue to learn facts about penguins, while also learning about how global warming is affecting the habitats of penguins. At the end of the lesson, students will begin a My Penguin Book by documenting their observations of a science experiment. Also, they will be writing up different ways to help prevent global warming, as well as, how global warming affects the penguins they are studying. 

Materials: My Penguin Book (one for each student), My Penguin Book teacher guide