Published on AASL Learning4Life Lesson Plan Database
Penguin Facts
Created by: Neely Swygert
Title/Role: Teacher Librarian
Organization/School Name: Gadsden Elementary
Location: South Carolina
Grade Level: K
Type of Lesson: Lesson in a unit
Type of Schedule: Flexible
Collaboration Continuum: Intensive
Content Area:
Language Arts
Science
Content Topic: Penguins
Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Skills Indicator(s):
1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital)
in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that
express new understandings.
3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding
in ways that others can view, use, and assess.
Dispositions Indicator(s):
2.2.4 Demonstrate personal productivity by completing products to express learning.
3.2.2 Show social responsibility by participating actively with others in learning situations and by
contributing questions and ideas during group discussions.
Responsibilities Indicator(s):
1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within the learning community.
Self-Assessment Strategies Indicator(s):
1.4.2 Use interaction with and feedback from teachers and peers to guide own inquiry process.
2.4.1 Determine how to act on information (accept, reject, modify).
Scenario: To prepare to teach the children how to research the teacher and teacher-librarian meet to
design and plan a beginners lesson on research about penguins. The teacher-librarian prepares a
LiveBinder of resources to share on the SmartBoard, and pulls Non-Fiction books from the shelves on
penguins. When the students come as a class the teacher-librarian reads 2 Non-Fiction books, goes over
the parts of a book as a review, and discusses books from readings done in the classroom. To begin to
teach the students how to research, the teacher-librarian will present the "Super 3" research method. Then
the students will be shown the resources bookmarked in a LiveBinder to learn where they can find
resources to do research on animals. The class will brainstorm facts from the books and websites and
write them on the board. Students will then draw a picture of a penguin and write a sentence or a one to
two word phrase with 1 fact about penguins. These pictures and sentences/phrases will be turned into an
online book with voiceover by the end of the unit. The online book will be shared with the children in the
classroom on a later day.
Overview: Concept: Students will begin to learn about how to research and find facts for a project. The
essential question for this unit is, ?How are penguins alike and different from us??
Final Product: For this unit, students' pictures will be uploaded into software at www.littlebirdtales.com
where they will do a voiceover of their sentence or phrase. The final product will be an online book that the
librarian will print out for the classroom to have a copy and students will be able to share the online result
with their family and friends through a link provided in their take home folder.
Library Lesson: Goals include: - At the end of the unit, students will be able to recognize the parts of a
book and remember what an author and illustrator?s roles are in creating a book. - The students will be
able to analyze penguin facts they learn and compare them to what they have learned about humans,
ladybugs, and flowers. - The students will be able to evaluate what penguins need to survive in their
environment. Students will be able to name the parts of a penguin. - Students will design and produce a
penguin book using www.littlebirdtales.com. - Students will be able to summarize penguin facts from their
lessons into their voiceover of the penguin book - The students will be able to understand the difference
between fantasy and reality and Fiction and Nonfiction. - The students will be able to name at least one
part of the ?Super 3? research method of Plan, Do, and Review. - The students will be able to begin to
classify and prioritize websites for finding facts about animals. - The students will be able to develop
questions and share them with the class for research purposes. - The students will be able to use
technology to analyze and create a way to share their learned information with others.
Estimated Lesson Time: 60 minutes
Assessment
Product: The students will have drawn a picture of a penguin or have colored a picture of a penguin,
depending on their ability, and will have copied a fact from the board or have written one from memory.
The teacher and teacher-librarian will check students to see if they followed directions in drawing,
coloring, and writing a factoid about penguins. If they chose not to participate, or could not participate,
they will have to share what they learned from their time with the teacher librarian.
Process: The students will be reminded/taught how to identify a Non-Fiction book from a Fiction book.
The students will take knowledge from their classroom learning, the Non-Fiction books they have read,
and from our online research as an entire class to brainstorm a list of facts and create their product. The
students will be able to tell the teacher-librarian or teacher what a Non-Fiction book is and at least 1 fact
they learned about penguins. They will also participate willingly in the creation of the final product using
a Web 2.0 tool. Because they are kindergartener's they will gain or lose points by their participation, their
ability to ask questions if they are confused, and a willingness to answer a question when asked.
Student self-questioning: What is a fact? What kind of books do facts come from? Does the website
or book answer most of my questions? Did I write down the source information so I can find the specific
fact again? What do I do if I cannot find any information about what I am researching, in this case
penguins?
Instructional Plan
Resources students will use:
Still image (i.e.paintings, drawings, plans, and maps)
Moving Image (i.e. animations, movies, tv program, video)
Interactive Resource (i.e. webpages, multimedia learning objects, chat services)
Software
Sound (i.e. music playback file, audio compact disc, recorded speech or sounds)
Text (books, letters, poems, newspapers, etc.)
Interactive Resource URL: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=843583
Resources instructor will use:
Laptop
White board
Smart board
Other
Other instructor resources: Non-Fiction books about penguins
Instruction/Activities
Direct instruction: The teacher-librarian will review what Non-Fiction and Fiction books are and show
the spine so that students can see the difference. The teacher-librarian will talk about the "Super 3"
research method and will begin to teach the kindergarteners how to research for facts. The teacherlibrarian will read 2 Non-Fiction books and the entire class will brainstorm facts from those books onto
the board. The teacher-librarian will then work with the students on the SmartBoard using a prepared
LiveBinder to share online resources to find facts about penguins. After each website the students will try
and add more facts to their brainstorm board.
Modeling and guided practice: The teacher-librarian will guide the students through a prepared
LiveBinder of online resources and demonstrates how to find facts for their online book. Through
discussion the students and teacher-librarian will decide which information found are facts and what they
want to write on the board for later use in their online book.
Independent practice: The students will draw or color a picture of a penguin and copy from the board
or write a sentence, phrase, or word fact about penguins depending on their level of ability.
Sharing and reflecting: The students' pictures and facts will be turned into an online book. The
teacher-librarian will share this book with the students in the classroom at the close of the penguin
section of the unit as a review. The students will reflect on their experience and share facts they learned
with the teacher-librarian, teacher, and other classmates.
Have you taught this lesson before: No
Strategies for differentiation: Based on the student needs, the student will either draw a picture or color
a picture of a penguin. The student will also either copy a word, phrase, or sentence from the board or
write their own fact on the picture. The students also have the option of doing a voice over of their page in
the online book.
AASL/Common Core State Standards Crosswalk
English Language Arts:
CC.K.W.1 » English Language Arts » Text Types and Purposes » 1. Use a combination of drawing,
dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the
book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite
book is ...). (K)
CC.K.W.2 » English Language Arts » Text Types and Purposes » 2. Use a combination of drawing,
dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing
about and supply some information about the topic. (K)
CC.K.W.3 » English Language Arts » Text Types and Purposes » 3. Use a combination of drawing,
dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in
the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. (K)
CC.K.R.L.10 » English Language Arts » Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity » 10. Actively
engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. (K)
CC.K.SL.1.a » English Language Arts » Comprehension and Collaboration » a. Follow agreed-upon
rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under
discussion). (K)
CC.K.SL.2 » English Language Arts » Comprehension and Collaboration » 2. Confirm understanding of
a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering
questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood. (K)
CC.K.SL.1 » English Language Arts » Comprehension and Collaboration » 1. Participate in collaborative
conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small
and larger groups. (K)
CC.K.SL.3 » English Language Arts » Comprehension and Collaboration » 3. Ask and answer questions
in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood. (K)
CC.K.R.F.4 » English Language Arts » 4. Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.
(K)
CC.K.R.L.1 » English Language Arts » Key Ideas and Details » 1. With prompting and support, ask and
answer questions about key details in a text. (K)
CC.K.R.I.2 » English Language Arts » Key Ideas and Details » 2. With prompting and support, identify
the main topic and retell key details of a text. (K)
CC.K.R.I.3 » English Language Arts » Key Ideas and Details » 3. With prompting and support, describe
the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. (K)
CC.K.R.I.7 » English Language Arts » Integration of Knowledge and Ideas » 7. With prompting and
support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what
person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts). (K)
CC.K.R.I.8 » English Language Arts » Integration of Knowledge and Ideas » 8. With prompting and
support, identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text. (K)
CC.K.R.I.9 » English Language Arts » Integration of Knowledge and Ideas » 9. With prompting and
support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in
illustrations, descriptions, or procedures). (K)
CC.K.W.7 » English Language Arts » Research to Build and Present Knowledge » 7. Participate in
shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express
opinions about them). (K)
CC.K.SL.4 » English Language Arts » Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas » 4. Describe familiar
people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail. (K)
CC.K.SL.5 » English Language Arts » Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas » 5. Add drawings or other
visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail. (K)
CC.K.W.6 » English Language Arts » Production and Distribution of Writing » 6. With guidance and
support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in
collaboration with peers. (K)
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Name:
Date:
Today we are learning about Penguins.
Where do Penguins live?
What do Penguins eat?
What else do you know about Penguins?
Please draw a picture of what a Penguin looks like below: