Warning - Non Running Post

When I got home today my husband asked me how my day was.  I gave one of my three usual replies which range from good to stressful to overwhelming.  I said, "Good." Then I told him that wasn't true it was great!  It isn't often I can say that on a Friday night so what made today so great?  I hope and think it was one of those days students will remember years later with fondness and a smile on their faces as they look back at third grade.  It is an activity I have done for several years now.

We start studying Antarctica in January.  Naturally one aspect we study are the penguins with some emphasis being put on the Emperor penguin.  We talk about how the father penguin is the one who sits on the egg while the mother goes off to the sea to find food.  While the father is sitting on the egg there are many dangers including the cold, other penguins, and the nasty SKUA bird! Last night at home I hard boiled two dozen eggs.  I brought the eggs in and the students are penguin fathers for the day with the responsibility of caring for the egg.  I tell them the day before so they can bring in things to house the egg in and protect it (even though Emperor penguins don't have nests, they house the egg under a flap and on their feet - well we weren't going to walk around all day with eggs on our feet).  Many kids bring in pouches, or boxes.  This year one boy brought in a safe!  The problem is that the adults in the room are the predators or Skua birds!  I warn the students that if they aren't guarding the eggs carefully the skua will swoop in and steal them.  And NO they won't get them back!  (Not everyone takes it well when the skua comes around!)

The students all arrive in a state of high excitement.  I give them about 20 minutes before the skua visits.  The first one stolen is the hardest to take but eventually they really get into it.  I make a big deal of it teasing about whose egg I  will get next and how hungry I am. There is lots of giggling and fun.  I snatched one egg out of one boys hand and he thought it was great fun and loved how I surprised him.  Not everyone has quite that reaction.  Near the end of the day I got an egg from a boy who had been taunting me all day about not getting it and the whole class cheered.  I am sure the class next door wondered what we were doing.  We also played goldfish bingo with Antarctica words and anything that involves eating is always a hit.  But all in all I had a great time teasing the kids and hamming it up most of the day!  All days can't be like this one was with a great deal of time spent fooling around but they surely are great now and then.