Penguin Problem Solving

I really love visiting other blogs to see all of the great things that other people are doing.  One of my favorite blogs, http://ericabohrer.blogspot.com/search/label/Penguins is written by Erica Bohrer.  A while back I saw a Penguin Addition problem that her students solved.  What I liked most is that the kids did a penguin craft to go along with their problem.  I knew I wanted to do something like that, however I really wanted it to focus on what we were currently learning.  Around the same time I decided I was definitely going to do this penguin activity, our principal mentioned in our staff meeting that she wanted up to use more nursery rhymes in class to assist with learning.

So here’s what I did.  I created a rhyme that was a culmination of several math skills taught.  My kiddies had to solve a story problem which required them to divide a given number of pink and purple fish equally.  I wanted my students to focus on creating equations that were equal without trying to give each side the same amount of each color. So they were given an odd number of each color.  However, each penguin had to receive some purple and some pink fish. 

I know I just went around the world and back with that explanation.  But the kids did great.  Here are samples of our finished product.