Penguin Parade!

1st graders from Mrs. Roach, Ms. Noble, and Mrs. Barrow's classes visited the Media Center last week to learn about African and Adelie penguins. Students have been learning about the penguin species in their classroom and this enrichment group allowed them to research one penguin in depth and work on their literacy and technology skills at the same time. Students chose which penguin they wanted to learn more about and then used the PebbleGo database to find their information.

At the end of each research session the students shared their findings with a partner. It was so interesting to hear what our friends learned! 

One day we read an article about how scientists are using penguin robots in Antarctica to study the penguins without scaring them. It was so neat! They call the robot a 'chick cam.' If you would like to read about it and see a video of the chick cam in action, visit this website: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/11/08/362377186/watch-the-robotic-baby-penguin-that-spies-for-scientists

Chick Cam--photo credit: NPR

After the students gathered their research, I taught them how to use the Word Cloud maker from ABCya. I challenged the students to select the key words or phrases from their research to use in their word cloud. Each student typed their own key words and were so excited to see the final product! The Word Cloud maker allows you to choose the font, colors, and layout of the word cloud, ensuring that each student ends up with a unique and thoughtful creation. You can see a few of their word clouds below. After leaving the Media Center, the students went back to their classroom to share what they learned with the class. Great job, 1st grade researchers!