Tacky the Penguin Activities and Lesson Ideas with a Free File.
This read-aloud is SO FUN! See examples of kindergarten and first-grade responses in this blog post for the reading comprehension strategies: Prediction, Retelling, Inferring, Comparing, and Opinion Writing. Download the lesson plan template and add your own ideas!
Tacky the Penguin was one of the first Engaging Readers book units we created… but it is still a classroom favorite!
We start the week by working on making predictions. Kindergarten teachers will find that student are MORE than capable of making their meaning known through pictures!
The image below (on the left) is an example of a first-grade response to the prompt. Many teachers use both versions of these response pages so they can add differentiation.
Here are a few pictures from the Tacky the Penguin retelling activity. After the classroom works together to put the story in order, they turn to their partner and orally practice the retelling. This is such an important step, but it is often skipped. If you want your students to be proficient with retelling a story, they must have ample practice. My class loved this part and would fuss if we cut it short. After the retelling discussion, the students work on their own retelling. Naturally, the class version of the retelling is made available to them if they need to refer to it.
This is what the digital retelling looks like. Digital retelling PowerPoints were added to the Engaging Readers this year!
Students also worked on comparing, inferring, and opinion writing. Don’t’ forget the cute Tacky craft!
You can see the classroom display was a sight to behold!
You can find these reading comprehension lessons, response pages, and retelling activities clicking:
This is my favorite version of the video. If you don’t follow StoryTime at Awnie’s House on YouTube, you are going to want to for sure! By the time we get to the end of the week, the students enjoy hearing another person’s voice (honestly… I the breather.) But seriously, hear another person’s example of fluency and intonation is powerful.
Here are a few extension activities you can do with Tacky the Penguin. There is a fun STEM Penguin Race.
And Tacky the Penguin Math and Literacy Centers (Kindergarten and First Grade Skills)
You can find these resources in our Engaging Readers Extension Units
You may download these lesson plans for kindergarten PDF or an editable template. I have used Hello Literacy Fonts (which are free for non-commercial use). You may want to download her fonts and install them on your computer first. This way the formatting will not be off. Naturally, you can change the fonts if you prefer.
Are you looking for more January Read Aloud Ideas? I have linked a few below:
Have a great week and be sure to scroll to the bottom for your free math activity!
What are some of your favorite Tacky the Penguin Activities?
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My teaching career allowed me to experience teaching in different classroom environments and grades. My heart belongs to early childhood education. My job is to make teaching FUN, ENGAGING, and EASIER. Welcome!
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