Magic Tree House #40: Eve of the Emperor Penguin

Antarctica, Penguins & Magic!

My first experience with Magic Tree House books was a success! The pictures throughout Eve of the Emperor Penguin and other Magic Tree House books are very welcoming to reluctant readers and who could pass up an exciting adventure with Jack and Annie? In this Magic Tree House book, Jack and Annie are off to find the last secret to help Merlin find happiness. They find themselves in Antarctica the land of penguins, snow and adventure! Mixed up in a group of scientists and reporters, Jack and Annie must hide their identity lest they be found out to be children. They have no idea how they will tackle their mission with all these adults around, but they know they must try their hardest... pick up this book to learn a little bit more about Antarctica, penguins and the Magic Tree House saga by Mary Pope Osborne.

Teachers: Here are some resources and ideas to help you teach this book from the Magic Tree House series...


Web Resources:

• Teacher's Guide: This guide has lots off great ideas for reading activities as well as across the content area in Math, Social Studies and Science. This guide also has ideas that go along with Penguins and Antarctica: A Nonfiction Companion to Eve of the Emperor Penguin. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page there are print outs available as well.
• Partner Reading: This is an article by Reading Rockets about Paired/Partner Reading. It's a great strategy for students who lack fluency. Eve of the Emperor Penguin is one book suggested to use with this strategy.
• Magic Tree House: Bookmark this website on your classroom's computer to let students explore the Magic Tree House series.

Vocabulary: Here are some words you may need to preteach: alas, cavern, compassion, deserted, dignity, dread, eerie, enchanter, expedition, fiery, fragile, frantic, hovered, immense, preserve, ravine, slab, squall, streak, summit, urgent, usher

Activities:
Before Reading: Sometimes a KWL doesn't work well with a fiction selection, but being that there is a lot of nonfiction information in this book, you may choose to do a KWL about Antarctica for this book.

During Reading: Jack and Annie face some tough decisions throughout their time in Antarctica. Choose a decision they make a write an entry in your journal explaining if you would make the same decision. Explain why or why not. If you wouldn't make the same decision, explain what you would do differently.

After Reading: Finish the KWL chart. Research (as a class or in groups) to find the answers to the questions you were not able to answer by reading Eve of the Emperor Penguin.

Across the Curriculum: Click here to visit the Magic Tree House teacher's resource for Eve of the Emperor Penguin where you will find connections to Science, Math and Social Studies


Osborne, Mary Pope. Eve of the Emperor penguin . New York, NY: Random House Children's Books :, 2008. Print.

Happy Reading (&Running) =)