Hello all,

PPA’s alphabet curriculum is off to an Amazing, Astonishing, and Awesome start!  Can you guess which letter the students learned about first?  If you said, “the letter A”, then you are correct!  To help explore the letter A, the students also studied all about apples!  Well, “Letter A is for Apple Week” has come and gone.  Read on below to discover the learning that took place and fun that was had throughout the week!

After a weekend of Absolutely gorgeous weather, the students returned to school with an Assortment of Letter A shares! Everything from Animals, Aliens, Astronauts, Anna (from Frozen), and Apples were sent in and shared!  As you will see in the photograph below, there was certainly an Abundance of Awesome letter A shares!

Monday and Tuesday morning marked the introduction of alphabet “morning work” – letter and sound recognition activity coloring pages. Working one on one with the teachers, each student took a break from their morning activity stations to come over, sit down and get to work!  The teachers were so impressed with how easily the new students recognized the letter A and also how well the older students remembered all things “A” during their morning work!  Whether it involved tracing, writing, or sounding out letters, the activity pages were completed beautifully!  The 2018-2019 students of PPA are surely shining stars already.

In the afternoon on both Monday and Tuesday, the students worked together as a group to create the first letter list of the school year!  As a whole group, the students took turns brainstorming and contributing words that begin with the letter A!  The list below features all of the words the students came up with!  After the list had been created, it was time to go hunting – Letter A hunting!  In partners, the students took off around the room to find all of the A’s around the classroom!  There were A’s on the bookshelves, A’s on the walls, A’s in the cubbies, even A’s on the students (well, on their clothing).  Who knew there were so many A’s at PPA?

 

How many A shares do you see?

Answer:  Animal Antics Book, Airplane, Apple, A and Alligator!

Since Wednesday was School Picture Day at PPA, the hands-on exploration of the letter A/Apples began on Thursday as the students participated in an Apple Tasting where they sampled and assorted different types of apples including: Granny Smith, Red Delicious, and Golden Supreme!  After tasting each apple, the students were asked to describe what they tasted.  After all the apples had been tasted, the students charted their favorite apple type.  Although it was a close race, we found out our class likes Granny Smith Apples the best!

 

 

Also on Thursday, the students were visited by a PPA Uncle and Cousin Guest Readers who traveled all the way from SWITZERLAND to meet them!  What a special visit it was!

 

 

On Thursday (and Friday) afternoon, the students participated in their first two Spanish lessons of the school year!  For the next few weeks, the students will be learning about Greetings.  You may hear your child(ren) using some of the following vocabulary at home!

Greetings:

Hola (Hello)

Adios (Goodbye)

Gracias (Thank You)

De nada (For Nothing/You’re Welcome)

Buenos Días (Good Morning)

Buenas Noches (Goodnight)

The Park Prep Academy foreign language program takes place two afternoons each week. Please encourage your child(ren) to utilize this vocabulary as often as  possible as a way to reinforce what is being taught in the classroom and also increase motivation for Spanish class.  As the weeks progress, the students will be divided into two separate groups – Introduction to Spanish group  (comprised of new/younger students) as well as a Beginner Spanish group  (comprised of returning/older students).  The learning goals for each group are similar- introduce and utilize Spanish vocabulary- but will be approached in different, more individualized and developmentally appropriate ways.

The Introduction to Spanish group will be led by Miss Justine and Miss Sabrina and will be a very interactive approach to help expose and introduce the students to the Spanish language.  The Beginning Spanish group will be led by Miss Jocelyn and Miss Vanessa and will utilize a more “immersion” approach to teaching/learning the Spanish language.  Students in this group will hear both the Spanish and English translation of stories, conversations, and more!  Keep checking your child’s daily note and the blog weekly to stay informed as to the vocabulary the students are studying.

 

 

On Friday morning, the students worked to prepare a delicious and nutritious apple snack!  Here’s how they did it!

 

 

Also during the week, the students participated in a technology presentation all about, you guessed it – APPLES!  First, the students learned about where apples come from by watching a time lapse video of the life cycle of an apple tree!  Not only is this process fascinating, the clip below features a really catchy Apple tune!

 

 

Next, the teachers asked the students where we find apple trees.  Do we see apple trees in Jersey City?  Hoboken?  Union City?  Weehawken?  The students explained that apple trees are found on farms or in an orchard.  They were right!  In fact, the students had the chance to view photographs detailing Miss Jocelyn’s trip to an apple orchard and farm.  The students giggled as they saw their teacher outside, climbing trees and even using an apple picker pole to grab apples from way high up in the treetop!

 

 

Now, the teachers explained that Miss Jocelyn picked 25 apples on her trip to the farm and it took her a long time!  They asked, “How do apple farmers pick so many apples?  Do they pick all of the apples by hand?”  Through their investigation, the students learned that many machines are involved in the process of apple harvesting!  They even “traveled” inside an apple packaging factory to see some of those machines for themselves and learn how apples make their way from the farm to our grocery store!  What a fun and informative journey it was!

Finally, the students ended their investigation of the letter A and Apples with a PPA classroom favorite – The Storybots!  Watch below to meet these super silly letter-loving robots!  Enjoy!

 

 

Hooray for A!  Well, that is all for “Letter A is for Apples Week” at PPA. It sure was Amazing! As always, thank you for reading and have a fun and safe weekend!

-PPA

Reminders:

SCHOOL CLOSED:  Monday, October 8th

Observation of Columbus Day

Upcoming School Events:

PPA Halloween Celebration

Wednesday, October 31st

(2:00-3:00 p.m.)

All PPA students and parents are welcome to attend this event – IN COSTUME!

Three Day Students and families should arrive at 2:00 p.m.

Aftercare is not available.

Theme for Next Week: