Word of the Week
Rookery: A fancy word for a group of penguins.
Hello again!
Who is a penguin’s favorite family member? Aunt Arctica
I’ve been on a roll with my jokes lately, but now I’ll get right to it. January 20th is Penguin Awareness Day! It’s basically an excuse to celebrate what I believe to be the cutest type of bird out there.
The word penguin comes from the Welsh word gywn, meaning “whitehead”. Did you notice that this week's pronunciation and word origin were missing? Well. . .I felt the word was pretty straightforward, and I could not find the origin for rookery. I'm stumped! Let me know if any of you find out where it comes from.
I have so many fun facts to share with you about penguins. Let’s dive right in! Get it. . .?
- A group of penguins in the water is called a raft BUT a group of penguins on land is called a waddle.
- Their tuxedo pattern isn’t just for cuteness. It’s actually a clever type of camouflage called countershading.
- Penguins huddle together to retain warmth and protect themselves from predators.
- They cool off just like dogs! They pant. They also ruffle their plumages (fancy for feathers) and keep their wings away from their body to cool off.
- The larger the penguin is, the colder its environment. Smaller penguins live in warmer climates.
- Penguins eat fish and other sea life. They even drink saltwater! Yuck! But they have a special gland behind their eyes that filters the saltwater out of their bloodstream. Neat!
- NO penguins live in the North Pole. They are found in New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa.
- There are 17 different species.
- Even though they don’t have visible ears, they have excellent hearing!
Sooo. . .what did I have in mind for this week’s project? It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been in the kitchen, so I thought we should celebrate this creature by making “Party Penguins”. What is a “Party Penguin?” It’s a penguin made from three simple ingredients! Olives, cream cheese, and carrots! Here’s how it’s done!
Ingredients: Jumbo black olives Small black olives Cream cheese Carrots Toothpick
Directions: 1. Cut a slit through one side of your jumbo olive, and fill this olive with cream cheese. You want to use enough that the cream cheese stretches the olive open to show the white. . .this is the penguin’s belly! 2. Slice your carrot so that you have small, 1/8-1/4” circles. 3. Lay the carrot slice flat and cut a small triangle out of it. The opening will look like the penguin’s feet, and the sliver/triangle will be used for his nose. 4. Make a tiny slit in the small olive and push the triangle piece into the slit to make the beak. 5. Voila! Connect them! Using your toothpick, skewer the small olive, then jumbo olive, then feet. You’ve made your self an adorable and delicious penguin!
Each penguin will have it's own unique look and characteristics, just like the real ones!
Enjoy and until next time!
