My Montessori Journey: Penguin Life Cycle

Since we have been learning about penguins and the frog life cycle work was so popular last fall (although the tadpoles have not moved forward AT ALL in their life cycle since September; I think they're mutants!), I decided to create a penguin life cycle activity. I found a great resource on Lapbook Lessons; however, I needed to modify it somewhat to make it doable for preschoolers. (NOTE: There is a bunch of free stuff on Lapbook Lessons, so be sure to check it out. To access the free penguin lapbook materials, you will probably need to register on their website......however, it's free and easy to do so. The penguin lapbook materials are listed under the category "Animal Lapbooks.")

Yuck! This photo didn't turn out very well. OK.......I have this work set up on top of a shelf in my cultural area. Just like I did with the frog life cycle activity, I have it set up so that 2 students at a time may do the work; they sit at the two white tables you see in the photo. The model of the activity is stuck to the back of the shelf for reference as you can also see in the photo. All the supplies they need are on the shelf as shown. I will show them closer and describe them in the following photos.

Each student takes one sheet with the life cycle (on the left in photo) and one sheet of pictures (in the green basket). Originally, all of that was on one sheet. I cut and pasted (in real life, not virtually) to make 2 new masters. I copied the life cycle wheel on cardstock so it would be sturdier and the pictures on regular copy paper.

Each student also takes a wooden bowl which contains one black and one gray colored pencil, a pair of scissors, and a glue stick.

They also need one paper fastener (in the little wooden bowl) and a gluing mat

Once the student gathers all the materials, the first step is to color the pictures just like the model. I only provided the black and gray pencils for coloring so the pictures are accurate to real life.

After coloring the pictures, the child cuts them out. Then they cut out the two parts of the wheel and glue the pictures to the wheel as shown in the model above. Finally, with an adult's help, they use the paper fastener to attach the wheels together. The top wheel then rotates so that each step of the life cycle can be viewed.