Reflective Journal Week 4

Reflection Journal
a. Age group with which you will implement the plan.
The age group I chose to implement my interactive reading lesson plan will be transitional
kindergarten.
b. Theme
The theme I am going to use for an informational wordless book is Emperor Penguins. I will
expand this theme through discussing their unique characteristics, their natural habitat, what they
like to eat, the ways they move, and the growth life cycle of an egg to an adult. Penguins are not
like most birds the children encounter in their daily lives. They are unusual in how they look,
cannot fly, live in cold climates, can sleep standing up, and care for their eggs to name a few. By
learning about the Emperor penguin, children will build upon their previous experiences with
other birds. Comparing differences and similarities in body parts this will grow more knowledge
and language. Learning about the particular habitat will help children realize more about
extreme weather climate and conditions. Talking about their love of seafood would tie into why
they live near the ocean, and explain why they are expert swimmers and divers. This will
capture children’s attention and build more vocabulary. Developing scientific awareness of the
life cycle of an egg will build their literacy, word base, and vocabulary.
c. What you want the children to get out of the reading (e.g., vocabulary, expressive language
development).
What I want the children to learn from the reading is to build receptive and expressive language
skills, increase comprehension, practice comparing and contrasting, learn new vocabulary words
and their meanings, relate to similarities and differences, participate in discussion, and learn
biological facts. From the reading I also want them to learn to develop critical thinking.
d. How you will build in time for pauses that allow the children to make meaning of the text.
This book will be very informational and full of facts, but will have a story line with the penguin
chick narrating as the lead character. Before I begin reading the wordless book. I will pause and
say, “I have a very exciting and interesting book to read today. (hold it up, and turn to the right
and left for each child to see). Next, I will say, “The title of the book is An Emperor I am.” I
will pause and ask, “What is an emperor?” (take responses) I will answer, “It is something like
a king or ruler. I will question, “How many of you know what kings wear?” (take responses). I
will give a response, “Kings wear crowns made out of shiny gold. We are going to read about a
different kind of emperor. This is actually a special kind of bird called an Emperor Penguin.
They have bright yellowish-gold markings on the side of their head and neck, sort of like a
crown and they are the largest type of penguin. These facts may be way they are called emperor
penguins!” I will continue and by pointing to the front cover and say, “This is a picture of
Emperor penguins. There is a mommy, daddy, and a young chick. Baby penguins are called
chicks.” I will start by sharing, “This story is about a little penguin chick who learns how to
become an adult Emperor penguin by watching his parents.”
I plan to point at each picture, holding them up for the children to see, pausing to give an
explanation after sharing the storyline. It will open with a picture of just the baby emperor
himself. He will introduce his family and explain they live in the Antarctica where it is freezing
cold weather all the time and sometimes there are strong blizzards. (I will ask them to repeat the
name Antarctica and blizzard). I will say, “Blizzards are strong, windy snowstorms.” Then
share how he hatched from an egg his dad cared for by balancing it carefully on top of his
webbed feet (I will stop and pause, point to the feet and say something like, “All birds have very
special webbed feet that help them swim. Can you see them?” I will continue and how his
father protected the egg by covering it with his thick warm waterproof feathers to keep for 2
months until time to hatch. (I will show three pictures). After Little Emperor hatched, his
parents protected, fed and cared for him while he grew and grew. He was always so awfully
hungry. He dad would leave to go diving for food to bring back to feed Little Emperor often. (I
will stop and explain how penguins love seafood! They have a special diet of krill, squid, and
fish and point at them separately). As little emperor continued to grow, he watched and learned
how to become an adult someday. He exercised his flippers to make them big and strong, he
practiced gliding, and built up stamina by waddling all around. (I will pause and ask the children
to say, waddle.) He and his friends learned how to huddle together to stay warm and survive.
Someday all the adults and parents will have to leave to go back to the sea. The story will end
with little emperor feeling happy he learned to jump and dive for food himself. His parents will
be pleased and tell them how proud they are of him.
e. How you will help children connect to the characters.
Through use of the illustrations I will pause and point to the characters. The front cover will
have a mother, father, and baby emperor penguins. I show them who Little Emperor is and
introduce his family to the children helping them connect it to their own understanding of what a
family is. The next page is of Little Emperor himself. It will be a picture of a cute downy baby
penguin chick. He will narrate his life and begin by introducing his parents. He will describe
how his father took care of him when he was growing inside an egg. Throughout the story he
discusses how his parents cared, fed, and helped show him what he needed to learn when he
became an adult.
f. How you will help children connect with the characters’ feelings.
In the story, Little Emperor expresses feelings of hunger, love of seafood, learning how to wait
patiently, learning how to live and survive on his own like his parents. He will feel proud. I will
stop and ask the children if they ever felt hungry? Do they like to wait? Saying, “It is hard isn’t
it?” When Little Emperor explains his family loves to eat squid, krill and fish. I will stop and
ask, “What are some of your favorite foods?” When he talks about how he learns how to dive
like his parents he feels proud of himself. I will question, “Have any of you ever felt proud of
anything you have done or accomplished?”
g. How you will help children connect with the characters’ experiences.
I will use Little Emperor’s experience of growing up in Antarctica to discuss cold weather. Also,
how Emperor penguins live in a large colony that help each other survive and stay warm by
huddling close and watching out for one another. From these examples, I will help children
connect their learning and own idea of weather and people in their lives that support them. As he
experiences growing up, I will help the children think about how they are growing too.

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Reflection Journal

a. Age group with which you will implement the plan.

e. How you will help children connect to the characters.

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