Create Your Own Cartoon Penguin: Antarctica K-2 Lesson
BBC Antarctica Lesson Collection
Learning Objectives
Students will:
• Recall what they already know about Antarctica
• Collect details about penguins and their habitats from BBC video clips
• Use their imagination to create a unique penguin cartoon character based on what they learned
Resources for This Lesson
In The Go Jetters Discover the Magic of Antarctica!, Ubercorn and friends travel to Antarctica, the coldest and windiest place on Earth. In this frozen land, you'll discover huge ice rivers called glaciers, and even hear the ice creak as it moves! Learn all about the South Pole, where penguins live and play, and explore the world’s biggest glacier, the Lambert Glacier. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Go Jetters, a series that follows the adventures of four plucky international heroes as they travel the globe visiting the world’s most famous landmarks with their friend and mentor, Ubercorn, a disco-dancing unicorn.
Invite students to create their own penguin cartoon characters based on what they have learned about the characteristics and behavior of real penguins. Use these printables with the K-2 Antarctica lesson: Create Your Own Penguin.
In The Go Jetters Discover the Magic of Antarctica!, Ubercorn and friends travel to Antarctica, the coldest and windiest place on Earth. In this frozen land, you'll discover huge ice rivers called glaciers, and even hear the ice creak as it moves! Learn all about the South Pole, where penguins live and play, and explore the world’s biggest glacier, the Lambert Glacier. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Go Jetters, a series that follows the adventures of four plucky international heroes as they travel the globe visiting the world’s most famous landmarks with their friend and mentor, Ubercorn, a disco-dancing unicorn.
Invite students to create their own penguin cartoon characters based on what they have learned about the characteristics and behavior of real penguins. Use these printables with the K-2 Antarctica lesson: Create Your Own Penguin.
Teaching the Lesson
Engage
1. Start by asking your students if they have a favorite cartoon character. Invite them to turn to a partner and share who the character is and where the character lives!
2. Then tell your class that today, they are going to create a new cartoon character that they can use when they write stories in the future. The character will be a penguin who lives in Antarctica!
3. Share a world map or globe and show students where Antarctica is in relation to where they live.
4. Then ask your class to share what they already know about Antarctica!
Analyze
1. Explain that you are about to watch three BBC videos together to learn more about Antarctica and penguins. Each video will give information that your students can use to create their own penguin character.
2. Prepare a T-chart on the board, labeled Antarctica and Penguins, and read the headers aloud.
3. Then play the following three videos, pausing at the noted times to ask your class questions. Write their answers in the appropriate column on your T-chart.
○ Antarctica Funky Facts video from BBC’s Go Jetters
- Pause at 50 seconds and ask:
• What is the weather like in Antarctica?
○ Antarctica is the coldest and windiest place on Earth!
• What is Antarctica mostly covered in?
○ Antarctica is mostly covered in ice, with rivers of ice called glaciers!
- At the end, ask:
• Do you have any other observations about penguins or Antarctica that you think we should add to our chart?
○ Emperor Penguins video, from BBC’s Andy’s Animal Babies
- Pause at 50 seconds and ask:
• How do penguins keep their eggs and babies warm?
○ Dads huddle together, keeping the egg or baby tucked safely under their bodies on their feet!
- Pause at 1:31 seconds and ask:
• Who searches for food and what kind of food do they search for?
○ The mom searches for food by going fishing.
- At the end, ask:
• Do you have any other observations about penguins or Antarctica that you think we should add to our chart?
○ Adélie Penguins video, from BBC’s Andy’s Animals Babies
- Pause at 55 seconds and ask: How do penguins get around?
• Penguins don't fly! Their main way of getting around is swimming. When they are babies (or chicks), they also must learn to walk.
- Pause at 1:21 and ask: How do baby penguins look different from adults?
• Not only are they smaller, but their feathers are a lighter color! They also don’t yet have white stomachs like the adults.
- At the end, ask:
• What do penguins eat and how do baby penguins get their food?
○ Penguins eat fish. Baby penguins eat from their mothers’ mouths.
• Do you have any other observations about penguins or Antarctica that you think we should add to our chart?
4. Wrap up by going over the notes on the board about penguins and their habitat.
Collaboration & Create
1. Explain to your class that now that they know more about penguins and where they live, they’re going to create a penguin cartoon character based on what they learned!
2. Distribute the Penguin Activity Sheets to your student, and make sure everyone has coloring supplies.
3. Then explain that you are going to ask some questions to help everyone make their own unique penguin character. Your students should “answer” each question by adding details to their penguin!
Tip! It may be helpful for students to discuss their answers with a partner before drawing.
Questions:
○ Based on what you learned about penguins, would your penguin be carrying a plate of fish or a plate of green beans?
○ Is your penguin a baby chick or an adult? Make it the right color!
○ If your penguin had to wear shoes, do you think it would wear winter boots or a pair of flip flops?
○ If your penguin is an adult, what might be hiding by their feet?
○ Is your penguin relaxing at the beach or living somewhere colder? Color the background so we can see where your penguin lives!
○ Add one or two other details to your penguin, using what you watched in the BBC videos for ideas!
4. Collect your students’ penguin characters when they are complete. You may use the Bulletin Board Header to display and share them with your school on a Welcome to Our Penguin Colony Bulletin Board!
5. Optional Follow-Up: Refer back to the students’ penguin characters in upcoming lessons. The following activities are just some of the ways that students can use their characters to write and tell stories:
○ Narrative Writing: Write short fiction stories featuring their character.
○ Penguin Diary: Create diary entries about the penguin’s day-to-day activities.
○ Comic Strips: Create comics that illustrate and sequence events in their penguin’s day.
○ Dialogue Practice: With a partner, imagine a conversation between their two penguin characters.
○ Penguin Poems: Compose acrostic penguins about their character.
More Like This
