Caterpillar/Butterfly Week is Next!

Hello all,

Beach and Ocean Week has come and gone and boy, was it great! Read on below to learn about all the fun that was had and learning that took place!

The students arrived at camp each day with plenty of beach and ocean shares. Whether it was seashells collected at the shore, photographs of sand castles, or stuffed sea animals, one thing was for sure – the PPA campers LOVE going to the beach! For their craft on Monday, the students created a particularly playful animal that can be found swimming in and leaping up out of the ocean! Can you take a guess which animal they made? If you said, “Dolphin” then you are correct! To keep with the oceanic theme of the week, the students used watercolor paints to decorate their dolphins! They looked beautiful!

During the afternoon, the students created a list of all the different underwater animals they like! Here is the list they came up with.

Tuesday was the first day of Field Day/Outdoor Games! The students spent the morning outdoors playing various games including (but not limited to) soccer,

baseball,

Frog-Toss,

and everyone’s favorite – the parachute!

Needless to say, the students had a blast having fun in the sun!

After returning to the classroom, the students worked to create another sea animal craft. It was such an elaborate craft that they continued working on it throughout the late morning into the afternoon! Taking a note from a classroom favorite book, the students created their very own Rainbow Fish like the one featured in Marcus Pfister’s award winning book, The Rainbow Fish. The story tells the tale of how the most beautiful fish in all of the sea, Rainbow Fish, learns how to be a friend by sharing his shimmery scales. The students began by coloring in their Rainbow Fish entirely. They added beautiful sequins to replicate the scales and then used glittery glue to add some extra shimmer.

Here is how they turned out. Marcus Pfister was right! With all the sparkles, Rainbow Fish is definitely the most beautiful fish in the ocean!

On Wednesday, the students enjoyed another Field Day full of fun! When they returned to school, the students got right to work on step one of their three step project! First, the students began by breaking one of Park Prep Academy’s rules. The students were asked to “scribble-color” all over a paper plate with as many crayons as they wanted to! They were so excited to quickly fill their plates with color!

During rest time, the teachers cut out and assembled the plates into a sea-animal shape. After rest-time, the students were called over to tape of little legs, glue on eyes and a smile. After all their hard work, each student had transformed a regular old paper plate into their very own lobster!

On Thursday, the students headed off to the Newark Museum and Planetarium! Bus Driver Mike arrived with his amazing school bus and the students were off! Before-long, the students arrived at the museum and headed into a private show at the planetarium!

Cameras were not permitted inside the planetarium once the show started but below is a photograph of the students getting ready to watch the show about the planets and see the constellations in the sky!

What an amazing show it was! The students loved learning about the different constellations! The museum tour continued as the students observed and discussed various pieces of art around the museum.

The students particularly loved the “Dynamic Earth” section of the museum. After a quick elevator ride up to the third floor, the students observed a short video clip about the different changes that have taken place on planet Earth. They then headed through all the different areas of the Dynamic Earth exhibit including the gemstone area,

the cave exploration area,

the fossil area,

the exotic animal area,

and even an active bee colony!

The museum and planetarium really blew the students away! What a great day it was!

Friday was the PPA Family Picnic at the Park. As has been the case throughout this summer, the weather on Friday morning did not prove to be picnic-worthy. Rain clouds filled the sky and moisture filled the air so the teachers decided that the Pizza Party picnic would have to take place inside the classroom. Regardless of the new location, the students and their families had an amazing time enjoying the pizza lunch and an indoor dance party!