Penguins

First graders created collage penguins.  This project has a number of steps and new materials.  The penguin collage helps students with spacial skills and strategies.  Believe it or not it comes as a great surprise to young students that if they fold a paper in half and cut out a circle they end up with 2 matching circles.   This is a concept that takes a while for some younger students to understand.  Even older students forget about it if they don't use it once in a while!  Imagine their surprise when they fold it one more time and end up with four!  First graders also play some mind Twister when they learn that if you use a triangle for an arm, you can turn that tringle a variety of directions and get different arm positions!  I don't know how many times I have come across a kiddo who is frustrated because they can't get the arm to point the way they want and it turns out that they forgot they could flip it over to the back side!

Printing the snowflakes is a tricky fine motor (hand control) task.  I warn the kids that if they want to make special snowflakes they will need to be very careful!  I tell them that if they don't think they can be careful then they are allowed to use dots of paint.  All the kids usually resolve to be extra careful and try the challenge!  I discovered that presenting the challenge this way gets better results from my kiddos who love to rush.

Learning Goals: I can...
- Create a collage

- Use a double-cut to make matching shapes (fold the paper in half first and cut through both)
- Create an oval from a rectangle by cutting off corners (this method is used so that the oval stays large and so that the kids learn to differentiate between the different parts of a shape)
- Cut fabric (new materials)
- Print snowflakes