More penguins...

We have had a horrible cold traveling around the classroom this past week. Yesterday was the first day in four school days that no one was absent! I'm glad to have everyone back now and I hope no one else gets sick.

On Monday we learned about the Gentoo penguins. They are 3o inches high and 13 pounds. Thirteen pounds does not sound like that much but we soon discovered that it was pretty heavy for us to lift. Gentoo penguins have orange feet and black beaks with a little orange on top of their beak. They lay two eggs and have white feathers from eye to eye. Gentoo penguins live at the tip of the Palmer Peninsula.


Lifting the weight of a Gentoo


Measuring the height of a Gentoo


More measuring

On Tuesday we woke up to snow and had a two hour delay. Tuesday was also my first day being observed as a student teacher. My lesson was about Antarctic seals. We learned about four seals: Leopard seal, Weddell seal, Elephant seal, and Crabeater seal. At one of the stations the students measured the length of one of the four seals. At the second station the students did a puzzle and wrote down the anatomy of a Weddell seal. At the third station the students did independent research on seals. We discovered some really interesting facts and we learned that seals are a lot bigger than we thought they were! The Crabeater seal is 8.5 ft long, the Weddell seal is 10 ft long, the Leopard seal is 11.5 ft long, and the elephant seal can get up to 20ft long! After we measured the seals we compared the length. I wish I would have had my camera on me because it was really neat to see how long the seals are compared to us and each other.

Since Wednesday was the first day we had every one back, we decided to have a catch up period so that everyone would have the information on the penguins that we have covered. Later on the students will be making life size penguins!

Today we learned about the Chinstrap penguin. It is really easy to distinguish between the other penguins because it has a black strap under its chin. It has a black beak and pink feet. The Chinstrap penguin lay two eggs and live on the Sandwich Islands. One colony is said to have a population of 10 million Chinstrap penguins! Chinstraps are 28 inches tall and weigh 9 pounds.

Tomorrow we are going to learn about our last penguin, the Emperor Penguin. Tomorrow we are also having our Valentine's party!!! It should be a very fun day. I'll try to remember to take pictures.