Letter A week was the perfect place to start our Alphabet curriculum and what better season to start A week during than Autumn! Between alligators and Autumn, the students brought in many excellent Letter A shares.
On Tuesday, the students worked on their letter identification tracing and coloring pages. They also practiced making the sounds of the letters in the different pictures on their pages. Later on in the afternoon, the students observed a computer clip with amazing alligator facts. One of the facts mentioned in the clip was that alligators dig a hole in the ground to lay their eggs in. This reminded one of our older students of another animal that we discussed last week during letter T week – the turtle!
While searching for photographs and clips to show the students, the teachers came across this obviously edited hilarious baby alligator clip which we knew our students would enjoy! We hope you enjoy it just as much as they did!
On Wednesday, the students continued to work on their letter identification tracing and coloring pages where they practiced making the sounds of the letters in the different pictures on their pages.
In the afternoon, we had our first ever Park Prep Academy Spanish class! Miss Saily and Miss Genie explained that you can say everything in Spanish that you can say in English. Miss Jocelyn said, “My Name is Miss Jocelyn” and then Miss Saily said, “Me llamo Miss Saily”. Miss Jocelyn then said, “Happy Birthday Julia!” and Miss Genie said, “!Feliz Cumpleanos Julia!” The students were amazed that two things that sounded so different could mean the same exact thing! To further demonstrate this point, Miss Genie read Eric Carle’s, La Oruga Muy Hambrienta or The Very Hungry Caterpillar! The students did a great job of recalling the words of the story in English to guess what the words were in Spanish.
The students could hardly wait to begin. Miss Saily explained that everyday we will begin Spanish class by singing a song – The Hola Song!
The Hola Song
Sung to the tune of “London Bridge”
Hola means Hello-o-o,
Hello-o-o, Hello-oo,
Hola means Hello-o-o
!Hola, Amigos!
The students practiced singing the Hola song several times and then practiced greeting their friends by shaking hands and saying “Hola (name)”. It was clear that they really enjoyed speaking Spanish.
Just when we thought the fun was ending, Miss Genie informed the students of the way to say goodbye –Adiós. Naturally, the excitement continued as the students practiced saying “Adiós” to their friends and walking away.
Then Miss Genie sang the Adiós Song which we will use to conclude Spanish everyday!
The Adiós Song
Sung to the tune of “London Bridge”
Adiós means Go-od-bye,
Go-od-bye, Go-od-bye,
Adiós means Go-od-bye,
!Adiós, Amigos!
PPA Spanish classes will be held two afternoons each week – on consecutive days to ensure that all students have at least one formal Spanish lesson a week. The Spanish curriculum will be divided into six, possibly seven, units: Greetings and Numbers, Colors, Food, the Face, Clothing, Animals, and (if time) Transportation. Each unit will take approximately 4-6 weeks to complete and of course will require a lot of repetition and reinforcement at school and home. Over the next few weeks, our Spanish teachers, Miss Genie and Miss Saily, will be greeting all students in Spanish. We encourage you to take part in saying “Hola” and “Adiós” to our Spanish teachers in the morning as a way to support your child’s learning and motivation.
On Thursday, the students created an Alligator art project. First, the students threaded small pipe cleaners through holes in a paper towel roll. Next, the students glued a googly eye onto the alligators head and wrote/traced an A on the alligator’s tail. With some help from a teacher, the head and the tail of the alligator were put into little slits in the paper towel roll. The students then used green paint to turn the paper towel roll into the alligator’s body!
In the afternoon, the students had another Spanish lesson where they reviewed the Hola and Adiós song and even learned the word for Alligator – el caimán! The students took turns coming up to the alligator and greeting it in Spanish.
And at the end of the lesson, the students took turns saying, “Adiós Caimán”.
On Friday, the students put and glued together puzzle pieces that when assembled revealed an alligator! The different levels of difficulty made these puzzles really challenging but also really fun!
Friday afternoon was the Park Prep Pumpkin Picking Party – try saying that three times fast! Due to rain, the Pumpkin Patch was moved indoors but it didn’t affect the level of fun the students had pumpking picking!
The students walked around the pumpkin patch and carefully selected the perfect pumpkin!
After the pumpkins had been “picked”, the students moved over to the tables and began decorating them with sparkles, pom-poms, feathers, and felt faces!
The pumpkins 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.
See you next week for some more alphabet fun – it’s going to “B” Brilliant!
-PPA