Tots and Me... Growing Up Together: January 2020

Friday, January 31, 2020

Littles Learning Link Up: Penguin Unit- Lesson 2: Emperor Penguins

Littles Learning Link Up is now on Friday!!

Each month you will find:

Posts where I share what I have been up to with my elementary-age children and the preschoolers I work with at our homeschool co-op (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).
The occasional round up post.

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme. Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up.

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

Here's a peek at what we have been up to in our homeschool.

In our history lessons we have been learning about Japan and China. We learned things I don't remember learning, like Japan's great leader, Hideyoshi and the first Tokugawa ruler. Then we looked at how Japan closed it's doors to all other countries except a select few. Then we started learning about China, reading about the Manchu conquest of the Ming Empire. The children have gotten to reenacting with their Lego blocks while I am reading.

That's really all that is new. The children continue to do their math independently and we try to fit English in.

Science is definitely being neglected a bit right now, though we have started working on some geography with Let's Go Geography, a new review product. We are skipping around in the program, so we can learn about countries we have focused on in our history reading. So, right now, we are learning about Japan. The children are watching different videos that have been linked and we worked on some map work and the flag.

Moving on to our preschool lesson:

We have been working on our penguin lesson.

We sing the songs I came up with every week.

Did You Ever See a Penguin (tune of Did You Ever See a Lassie)

Did you ever see a penguin, a penguin, a penguin

did you ever see a penguin waddle around?

Waddle this way and that way, waddle this way and that way

Did you ever see a penguin waddle around?

See the Penguins (tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)

See the penguins standing there, standing there standing there

See the penguins standing there,

In Antarctica

They would go tobogganing, tobogganing, tobogganing

The would go tobogganing

Down the snowy hill.

Of course I have motions and movements for these like our songs from last year.

We also sang our snowy, winter songs from last winter.

We read the book The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins.

I thought it would be cute to make a penguin out of a toilet paper roll. But, I wanted a bit more. So, I decided to glue it to a paper plate, adding cotton balls for snow. Then I decided to wrap the paper plate up with foil first, to give it an icy feel. I then decided to finish it up with a white pompom on the penguin's feet for an egg. Because you know, Emperor Penguins incubate their eggs on the dad's feet under the flap of skin to keep them toasty warm.

Here are the materials you will need:

Paper plates

Foil to cover the plates

School glue

Construction paper (black, white and orange)

Cotton Balls

Paint brushes

Scissors

Black Paint

Toilet paper rolls

white pompoms (about 1/2 in)

Wiggle eyes

I love having children paint toilet paper rolls. All they have to do is hold it with one hand, sticking most of their fingers inside, and then paint with the other hand.

We set them aside to dry while the children went to snack and gym. When they came back they glued on the white bellies and black flippers.

While they were drying, the children worked on their snowy habitat. I had them start by pulling the cotton balls apart gently, trying not to separate them but keep them in long strands.

Then we glued them onto the foil-covered plate.

We left a section in the middle uncovered and then they glued on the penguins feet.

Then we put a bunch of glue down and glued the toilet roll penguins to it.

Last, we added the wiggle eyes and beak. I'm not sure if this would have been easier to do before gluing the penguin on. I did it afterward so they wouldn't knock it while attaching it to the plate, but then it was difficult to glue them on because they were standing upright.

We set them aside to dry and worked on making a life-sized emperor penguin. I used this opportunity to talk about measurements such as inches and feet.

I had already taped the black paper together and attached it to the wall. Then the children took turns adding different features.

Then the children took turns standing next to it to see who was taller, the child or the penguin. They learned that the penguin was taller than all of them. I then cut pieces of yarn in the children's heights for them to take home.

For our final activity, the children practiced standing with a hard boiled egg balanced on their feet.

Here are some things I would like to share with you:

Penguins, Penguins All Around Round Up

Arctic Fun Round Up

Homemade Valentines Round Up

The Tons-of-Fun Valentine's Day Round Up

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 2 wonderful posts linked up. I will be featuring both of them.

Please, don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's first featured post is:

Megan from My Full Heart shared ABC Jesus Loves Me: Year 1, Weeks 1 and 2

This week's second featured post is:

Gale from Imaginative Homeschool shared A Kiddo Directed School Day

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Littles Learning Link Up permalink please.

I am sharing over at

February Homeschool Round UP {Homeschool Collection}

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Wordless Wednesday: January 29, 2020 (w/linky) - We Just Love Swiftpaw

Looking forward to seeing your Wordless (or not so wordless) Wednesday posts this week.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button on your Wordless Wednesday post or in a list of Wordless Wednesday linkies. Just link it to my Wordless Wednesday permalink please.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Littles Learning Link Up: Penguin Unit- Lesson 1 How Penguins Stay Warm and Dry plus a Shape Penguin Craft

Littles Learning Link Up is now on Friday!!

Each month you will find:

Posts where I share what I have been up to with my elementary-age children and the preschoolers I work with at our homeschool co-op (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).
The occasional round up post.

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme. Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up.

Here's a peek at what we have been up to in our homeschool.

In our history lessons we have been learning about India from the time of the Mogul Empire to the time of the English gaining power there. We learned about the Taj Mahal.

The children use the computer for math. Tabitha and Amelia also use computer time to work on their Bible verse memorization for Bible Quizzing. And Amelia is still working on her story.

Harold and Hannah have been using SchoolhouseTeachers.com for grammar (which I posted my review for last week), while Amelia is using Easy Grammar Plus from last year, and Tabitha is using Grammar Planet.

Other than that, we aren't getting a lot done. I'm still trying to find a balance with our homeschool and my Pampered Chef consultant business.

Moving on to our preschool lesson:

I started a Penguin unit with the prek/k class at co-op this month. I started out with a bit of a review of the Arctic, to see how much they could remember from last winter. They did a pretty good job. Then I showed them the globe and explained that Antarctica is on the opposite side of the world. We read a bit about Antarctica and Penguins.

We talked about how cold it is in Antarctica and the penguins living on the ice and snow. Then we sang a couple of songs I came up with about penguins.

Did You Ever See a Penguin (tune of Did You Ever See a Lassie)

Did you ever see a penguin, a penguin, a penguin

did you ever see a penguin waddle around?

Waddle this way and that way, waddle this way and that way

Did you ever see a penguin waddle around?

See the Penguins (tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)

See the penguins standing there, standing there standing there

See the penguins standing there,

In Antarctica

They would go tobogganing, tobogganing, tobogganing

The would go tobogganing

Down the snowy hill.

Of course I have motions and movements for these like our songs from last year.

We also sang our snowy, winter songs from last winter.

Then we started our Shape Penguin Craft. This is a craft I came up with a few years ago when Harold was still in what was then the Nursery class. The only difference was, this time I used cotton balls for the snow on the ground.

Here are the materials you will need:

Black construction paper

White construction paper

Orange construction paper

White paint

School glue

Glue sticks

Cotton balls

Wiggle eyes

Paper fasteners (brads)

Light blue construction paper or cardstock (not shown)

Q-tips (not shown)

In preparation I cut the black paper into oval bodies, and rectangle flippers/wings, the white into circle bellies, and the orange into triangle beaks and star feet.

The children started by using the Q-tips to make snow falling from the sky with the white paint.

We set them aside to dry while we started assembling the penguins.

This was what was completed when they had to go for snack and gym.

I attached the penguin's flippers with the paper fasteners so they would be ready to attach to the snowy scene when the children returned.

After the penguin was safely attached, I had them glue on the wiggle eyes.

Then we glued on the fluffy snow.

Here are their finished Shape Penguins in a Snowy Land.

We also read this cute book to learn more about penguins, and the one pictured toward the beginning of the lesson.

We talked about how penguins stay warm because they have so many feathers overlapping. I found this idea online. We took feathers and playdough, plus I had a ruler to measure out 1 centimeter square of space. They learned that the penguins have nine feathers in every square inch.

First they were given some playdough and nine feathers and told to arrange them however they wanted.

Then they were challenged to fit all the feathers in that 1 centimeter square.

We also talked about how they stay dry because they have an oil that they secrete near their tail which they then preen all over their feathers. So, we did a little science experiment to see how oil and water don't mix.