Hello all,

“All About ME Week” was simply outstanding!  The second week of the 2014-2015 school year was such a great one; we simply cannot wait to see what the rest of the year has in store!  Read on below to learn all about the fun that was had and learning that took place!

After having a phenomenal first week of school, the students returned to PPA ready to get right to work on Monday!  Seeing that the theme for the week was “All About ME”, the students spent the entire week getting to know their friends (and teachers) by discussing what makes them unique and what makes them similar to their friends.  The students’ homework assignment to create an “All About ME” poster really helped everyone learn about each other!  Throughout the week, the students took turns coming up in front of their classmates and telling (or sharing) all about their poster.  By the end of the week, the teachers had strung together the AMAZING “All About ME” posters to be displayed throughout the classroom. As you can see, the students (and families) of PPA did such a fabulous job on these posters.

 

 

After story time and morning meeting each morning, the students headed off to their activity stations.  In small groups, the students worked and played around the classroom.  While working in their morning stations, the students were called over by the head teachers to begin their morning work.  Each activity that the students worked on throughout the week related back to the theme – “All About ME”.

On Monday, the students put on their art smocks and created a beautiful painting on a colored paper of their choosing.  The paintings were set aside to dry and the students took turn posing for “looking up” photographs.  The teachers explained that this silly way of taking a photo would make sense in just a bit when the paintings were dry.  After just a little while, the students were ready to add their photograph to their project and also some “All About ME” statements!  The students were asked to complete the following sentence, “I am __________!”  Their answers were nothing short of amazing!  Take a look below to see the completed “I AM …” art project!

 

 

On Tuesday morning, the students created an “All About ME” inspired self-portrait!  The students peered into a mirror to identify the various parts needed in order to create their portrait appropriately.  Needless to say, this was a fun part of the project.  Assorted craft materials including yarn, pompoms, and buttons were selected and the portraits were constructed to match!  Here is how the completed “All About ME” self-portrait projects turned out.

 

 

During the afternoon on Monday and Tuesday, the students practiced an activity known to PPA as “Charting”.  Charting is an activity that is done everyday at PPA to help practice very important mathematical skills including counting and comparing number values, organizing data, recognizing and writing numbers and more! Throughout the week, the students charted about everything including their hair color, age, gender, hometown, and favorite food!  Below is the chart that was created to determine (or find out) the student’s hair color.  In order to complete this chart, the teachers asked each student the question, “What color is your hair?”  Each student responded and a tally was added to the board to represent their answer.  Once all the students had answered the question, the students counted the tallies and learned that there are eighteen friends with brown/black hair, fourteen friends with blonde hair and three friends with red/orange hair at PPA on Monday.

 

 

For their morning work on Wednesday, the students were asked to bring in a family photograph.  This photograph would be used to help them construct a PPA student family portrait.  Using crayons, the students began drawing and their family portraits started coming to life.  The family portraits were so incredible that they will be kept at school to be displayed on a clothesline in the classroom so everyone at PPA can see them!  Be sure to take a look at your family on your next visit to PPA!

 

 

In the afternoon on Wednesday, the students participated in their first technology presentation of the 2014-2015 school year!  Seeing that is was “All About ME Week” and the students would be learning about themselves but also one another, the teachers created a fun and interactive “Who am EYE?” game!  In order to play the game, the students were asked (earlier in the day) to pose for a photograph.  Using a photo editing tool on the computers, the teachers cropped each photograph to only show a part of each student’s face.  Take a look below to see how you do?  Can you EYE-dentify who this is?

 

 

For their morning work on Thursday, the students practiced identifying the letters of their names by assembling a special name crown.  The students searched for each letter in their name then glued it onto a beautifully colored crown in the correct order.  Since it is the policy of PPA to never publish a photograph of a student revealing his/her name, the completed crowns are not shown below.

 

 

In the afternoon on Thursday, the PPA students had music class where they sang along to a few classroom favorites including “Five Little Ducks” and “Apples and Bananas”.  Seeing that the students of PPA are such a sensational bunch, the teachers taught them a song called, “I Am Special”.  Listen in below to hear a few students performing for their friends!  Be sure to hit play again to learn the song and sing along with them!

 

 

For their morning work on Friday, the students created another art project which would help decorate the classroom!  The students used paint, glitter, gems and sequins to decorate and design their very own star!   Seeing that it was “All About ME Week” at PPA, a week where the students discuss and share all about their-amazing-selves, the teachers posed a question – “What Makes You A Shining Star?”  One by one, the students came up to decorate their star as well as answer the question.  Needless to say, their answers were excellent!  Be sure to take a look at all of the Super Star bulletin board on your next visit to PPA!

 

 

Friday afternoon wrapped up with another awesome music class!  The students rehearsed their “I am Special” song from Thursday but also had a blast playing the “All About ME” Hokey Pokey.  In the game, the students were asked to listen carefully to figure out what part of themselves to put in.  The students put their green eyes in, took their green eyes out!  They put their brown hair in, took their brown hair out!  It was quite a silly way to play an old classic and learn about ourselves in the process!

Wow!  What a great week “All About ME Week” was.  The 2014-2015 school year is bound to be a fabulous one!  As always, thank you for reading and we will see you next week!

-PPA

Reminders:

If you have not done so already, please send in a family photo + the All About Me Poster next week.

Back to School Night – Wednesday, September 24th

(7:00-8:00 p.m.)

This is a parent only event where the school-wide curricular goals, policies and procedures will be discussed.  Please try to make arrangements to have at least one parent attend.