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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.



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

Homeschool Coffee Break

February Homeschool Round UP {Homeschool Collection}

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Throwback Thursday Blog-Style #292: January 30, 2020

Welcome back to... 


I know, I know, Throwback Thursday seems to be all about sharing pictures from the past, great memories that mean something to you, that you would like to share with others. At least that is how it appears to me. Throwback Thursday wasn't something I was participating in, and then I came up with an idea.

I thought it would be great fun and a help to my blog to share old content, but not just any old content. Each week I will share an old blog post from a previous year, any year, BUT it has to be from the current week (for example, something I've posted around January 30th, from any previous year)  I will go in, edit the post if needed, add a pinnable image if I don't already have one, and share it on Facebook.

Would you like to join in? You do not need to edit your past post in any way, you don't need to create a pinnable image, though it couldn't hurt, in fact it will help your blog traffic to add quality pinnable images to your posts.

Just go into your archives, choose a favorite post from this current week from any previous year, and link it up below. (If you don't have anything from this current week, it is still okay to link up with a post from a previous year around this time. And if you haven't been blogging for a full year, feel free to share any earlier post.)


Please make sure to share from the past as instructed above.  The spirit of Throwback Thursday Blog-Style is to share posts from the past. Please follow the guidelines. I would hate to have to delete your link.
Thank you

I will be pinning posts to my appropriate Pinterest boards and will be randomly selecting a Featured Throwback Thursday post to share next week. Just a note, I will be sharing a picture from your post if you are selected as the featured post, but I will link back to your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. By linking up you are giving me permission to use your picture in the post. 

Here is my Throwback Thursday post
(I've been sharing reviews this year, but this time of year there aren't many reviews, so I decided to share something different today):

Originally posted January 22, 2019
Littles Learning Link Up: Paper Plate Walrus Craft


Here is this week's randomly selected
Featured Throwback Thursday post:

Danielle from Confessions of a Fairy Tale Mom shared


To participate, link up below. It would be great if you could visit several of the other posts that have linked up. Stop by, comment, and pin images so we can help each other.

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 Throwback Thursday Blog-Style permalink please.



Happy Throwback Thursday!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

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.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Monday, January 27, 2020

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- January 28, 2020


Welcome to Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up with your hosts Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

So glad you could join us as we share our giveaways on  Tuesday's Giveaway Link Ups. 

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up

1. Post your reviews and/or giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date (family friendly please)

2. Help spread the word about the giveaway link up by grabbing our button, Tweeting or posting on Facebook. (Not mandatory- but it helps get more exposure to your giveaways as well!)

3. Take a moment to enter any giveaway that strikes an interest to you!

Featured Reviews





If you would  like to follow the  hostesses, we will gladly follow you back! Simply leave us a message to do so.

Thank you for linking up with Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily ReviewsShelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife .


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter