Waddle like a Penguin

Today's student-chosen theme was Penguins! After our literacy centers, we read the fiction story Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester and thought about what it would be like to be a penguin. To help us put ourselves in their (webbed) shoes, we watched a really cool National Geographic video clip on penguin families. Then we went to the zoo with Mr. Rogers and watched while a Daddy penguin held an egg while his baby hatched. Click here to watch penguins with Mr. Rogers! 
Then we tried to "hatch" our own eggs the way penguins do... with their feet! 

Since penguins live in cold, icy areas, we did a science experiment with ice. We observed what would happen to an ice cube if we sprinkled salt on it. Then we put a piece of string on our ice cube, sprinkled salt on top, and watched as the string became stuck to the ice cube! 

For our craft we painted penguins. Our preschoolers are getting very good at using scissors to cut out irregular shapes. Using sponges, we added white bellies and snow to our antarctic friends.