Now Enrolling - Email Director@ParkPrepAcademy.com to learn more and APPLY!
Apply Today!

“Letter B is for Bumblebee Week” is Next!

Hello all,

The students returned to school ready to get to work after enjoying a long Columbus Day weekend. This past week, the students dove right in as they began their letters of the alphabet study. 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! Read on below to learn about all of the fun that was had and learning that took place!

Tuesday and Wednesday morning marked the introduction of morning work – letter and sound recognition activity coloring pages. Working one on one with the teachers, each student took a break from their morning play stations to come over, sit down and get to work! Whether it involved tracing, writing, or sounding out letters, the activity pages were completed beautifully! The 2011-2012 students of PPA are surely shining stars already.

In the afternoon on both Tuesday and Wednesday, the students worked together as a group to create the first letter list of the school year! The list below features all of the words the students came up with! Talk about A lot of A‘s!

After creating the list, the students went hunting – letter hunting! The students spread out across the classroom and began locating all of the A’s they saw! The student below found an A in the bookshelf! Can you find the A he found?

Once the A’s had been found all around the school, the students discussed the various places where the A’s were – in the kitchen, on the books, on the walls, even on their clothing! Can you believe how many A’s were in the classroom? The students were sent home and told to find some more A’s in their homes. Do you see any A’s around you right now?

By the time Thursday rolled around, the students were ready to start discussing apples! Miss Caitlin had the perfect plan to make applesauce from scratch so the students could really get “hands-on” with the apples. Over the long weekend, both Miss Caitlin and Miss Jocelyn headed to Battleview Orchards in Freehold, New Jersey to pick scrumptious apples and even some pumpkins! Having boiled some freshly picked apples in the morning, Miss Caitlin arrived at Park Prep on Thursday ready to get started! In small groups, the students were given tiny mashers to mash up those apples into a goopy, chunky applesauce! Once the students had mashed away, the students added some cinnamon into their applesauce and it was enjoyed by all at snack time!

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

Greetings:

Hola (Hello)

Adiós (Goodbye)

Gracias (Thank You)

De nada (For Nothing/You’re Welcome)

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 Caitlin and Miss Patty 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 Beverly, Miss Justine, and Miss Jocelyn 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 participated in a technology presentation which detailed Miss Jocelyn and Miss Caitlin’s trip to the apple orchard/farm. The students giggled as they saw their teachers outside, climbing trees and even using an apple picker pole to grab apples from way high up in the treetop!

Later on Friday morning, the students had their second Spanish lesson of the week because Friday afternoon was the 2011 PPA Pumpkin Picking Party! Watch below as three students sing one of their new Spanish songs.


Photo SharingVideo SharingPhoto Printing

Friday afternoon was the Park Prep Academy Pumpkin Picking Party! Fortunately, the rain held off and the PPA Pumpkin Party was able to be held outside. One by one, the PPA parents began to arrive. Needless to say, the students greeted them warmly!

Once everyone had arrived, the students headed over to the pumpkin patch and began selecting their pumpkins!

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!

Well, that is all for Letter A Week. It sure was Amazing! Thank you to all of the Park Prep Families that attended the Pumpkin Picking Party on Friday. We hope you had as much fun as we did! Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post to view all of the photos from the PPA Pumpkin Picking Party.

As always, thank you for reading and have a fun and safe weekend!

-PPA

REMINDERS:

School Picture Day

THIS Friday, October 21st

ALL STUDENTS (regardless of enrollment schedule) should arrive by 8:30 a.m. Individual portraits and class photographs will be taken. Pick up time is 11:45 a.m. for students who do not attend school on Fridays.

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 to view all of the photos from…

Miss Jocelyn and Miss Caitlin’s Apple Picking Adventure!

The 2011 PPA Pumpkin Picking Party!