Hello all,
“Fall/Autumn Week” was full of Fall excitement! Read on below to learn about all the fun that was had and learning that took place.
The teachers began the week by asking the students what happens in the Fall. Hands flew into the air as responses such as “the leaves fall down” and “the leaves change color” were shared, but Fall is not just about leaves! Other answers such as, “we do not go swimming at the pool anymore” or “we wear sweaters and coats” were mentioned. One student brought in a football to share because as she said, “Fall means Football!” Regardless of what the students associated Fall with, one thing was for sure – Fall is Fun! Throughout Fall/Autumn Week, the students created beautiful Fall-inspired art to honor this beautiful and dynamic season!
On Monday, the students created a beautiful and glittery Awesome Autumn Acorn art project. Take a look below to see the students in Acorn Action!
On Tuesday morning, the students created another colorful fall art project – a fall tree!
On Monday and Tuesday afternoon, the students brainstormed a list of “What Happens In The Fall?” Naturally, Halloween made the list but take a look below to see what else did!
During the afternoon on both Wednesday and Thursday, the students had music class where they danced, sang along and even learned some special fall songs. Here are the lyrics of two of their new favorites:
Red and yellow, green and brown,
All the leaves are tumbling down.
Days are nippy, Nights are clear,
Summer’s over, Fall is here!
The Leaves of the Trees
(tune: “The Wheels on the Bus”)
The leaves of the trees turn orange and red
orange and red, orange and red
The leaves of the trees turn orange and red
All through the town.
The leaves of the trees come tumbling down
tumbling down, tumbling down
The leaves of the trees come tumbling down
All through the town.
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish,
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish
All through the town.
Wednesday morning was all about fall again but in a mathematical way this time! For their morning work, the students were asked to create then count colorful leaves! Working one on one with a teacher, each student glued green, red, and yellow leaves onto their bare tree branches. Once they had added a sufficient amount of leaves, the students were asked to count how many leaves there were of each color! Depending on the age/ability of each student, the numbers were either written or stamped! Take a look below to see how the “Counting Colors” Fall project turned out!
Before heading outside to the park on Wednesday, the teachers read a special book called, Autumn Leaves, by Ken Robbins. From the story, the students learned that different types of trees have different types of leaves. They also learned that you can figure out which type of tree a leaf came from by looking closely at the leaf! The teachers asked the students to put on their scientific thinking caps as they posed the question, “Do you want to figure out which types of trees are in our park?” The students put their coats and pinnies on and headed outside to begin gathering leaves from the park to analyze! The students raced through the park and quickly filled up a large garbage full of leaves to examine later that day!
Finally, the time had come to examine the leaves and figure out which trees they came from! During rest time, the teachers had sorted out the bag full of leaves and determined that there were four different types of leaves collected which the students realized meant that there were four different types of trees in the park! The first of the four types of leaves was brought out and the students were asked to describe what they saw. Was it a big leaf or a small leaf? Was it long and thin or short and wide? Did it have smooth edges or jagged edges? The students did a great job of identifying and describing each of the leaves! In fact, they did such a great job that they were able to identify all four leaves to match four different types of trees photographed in the pages of the Autumn Leaves book! Using comparative picture analysis, the students learned that the following four trees are in our park – Oak, Maple, Birch, and Gingko Trees!
As if their scientific discovery was not exciting enough, the students then learned an AMAZING fact about the Gingko Trees!
Can you believe that? The classroom erupted with laughter when the students realized that the dinosaurs would be having lunch in OUR park if they were still around!
On Thursday, the students created an assembled another fall favorite – a scarecrow!
Friday afternoon wrapped up with a technology presentation all about – yep, you guessed it – FALL! However, to really understand the Fall, it is important to consider what happens in each of the seasons! Watch below to play the game “Guess The Seasons!” like the students did! They got an A+, how about you?
Friday was the Park Prep Pumpkin Picking Party – try saying that three times fast! Due to rain, the Park Prep Pumpkin Patch was moved indoors but it did not affect the level of fun that the students had pumpkin picking! The students walked around the indoor pumpkin patch and carefully selected the perfect pumpkin! After the pumpkins had been “picked”, the students moved over to the tables and began decorating! Using felt pieces, sparkly sequins, feathers, pompoms and more, the students and their parents transformed the regular pumpkins into sparkly masterpieces! The pumpkins were set aside to dry before the party wrapped up and the students headed home to enjoy the weekend! The pumpkins sure looked incredible! Thank you to all of those in attendance for our Pumpkin Picking Party! We hope you had as much fun as we did.
Wow! What an amazing week! Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post to view all of the photos from the PPA Pumpkin Picking Party. Although “Fall/Autumn Week” has come and gone, the students have a while left to enjoy all of the fun and wonder that the Fall brings! As always, thank you for reading and have a wonderful and safe weekend!
-PPA
Reminders:
Upcoming School Events:
School Picture Day
Wednesday, October 5th
ALL STUDENTS (regardless of enrollment schedule) should arrive by 8:30 a.m. Individual portraits and class photographs will be taken. Students who do not attend school on Wednesdays (2 dayers) will be picked up before lunch at 11:45 p.m. Students who attend school on Wednesday will stay for the full school day.
School Closed – October 10th
PPA Halloween Party
Monday, October 31st
(2:00-3:00 p.m.)
All PPA students and parents are welcome to attend this event.
Aftercare is not available.
Theme for Next Week:
Click here for photos from the 2016 PPA Pumpkin Picking/Decorating Party!