Mrs. Hayworth's second grade read Little Penguin's Tale by Audrey Wood.  We read the story up to the point where the narrator says it could have happened differently. And there the fun began.
We decided to write our own ending to the tale.  Having just completed a unit of study on animals of the tundra, students brainstormed a list of animals that we might want to include in our adventure.
We reread the story to look for phrases repeated by the author.  Students did a think-pair-share activity to come up with other adventures Little Penguin could embark upon.
For the next few days, the students participated in a shared writing experience to tell the tale of Little Penguin's next adventure and our own ending.
After we finished writing our tale, we illustrated it with KidPix, printed it and bound it for our classroom library.
One of our second grade literacy objectives is to differentiate between real and make-believe.  Our Kidspiration activity gives students an opportunity to think about those differences.

Look at me! I'm in a whale's mouth! Now everyone knows a little penguin shouldn't play hockey when he is in a whale's mouth.

But he didn't.

He pulled out his trusty stick and tickled the whale's tongue with it. The whale's tongue started to wiggle and jiggle up and down.

A-A-Ah-Choo!

Little Penguin flew through the blowhole and landed on a sleeping polar bear. He began bouncing and turning 360's on his stomach.

"Whee!" "Look at me!" laughed Little Penguin. "I'm jumping on a large polar bear's stomach just like a trampoline."

Now everyone knows a little penguin can get frightened when a polar bear is awakened suddenly.

And he did.

He leaped off the polar bear to go home. Just then a snowy owl swooped down, picked him up, and carried him home.

Little Penguin gathered Grand Nanny and all the other penguins around him. With great excitement he told the tale of his wild adventures.

 

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