Hello all
“Letter D is for Dr. Seuss Week” was dynamic, dynamite and simply delightful! The students showed up more than ready to discuss Dr. Seuss – and dozens of other D things! Some of the share highlights included: ducks, dragons, dogs, doctor kits, and more! One students even shared a diaper borrowed from a new sibling! Fortunately, the student did not take the Letter D theme too seriously and bring a Dirty Diaper in for share! Thank you to everyone who brought in shares to help reinforce the letter D.
The students spent both Monday and Tuesday morning working one on one with the teachers to complete their Letter D identification/fine motor activity sheets. The teachers were so impressed with how easily the new students recognized the letter D and also how well the older students remembered all things “D” during their morning work! In the afternoon on Monday and Tuesday, the students created the fourth letter list of the year! Naturally, the letter D list was full of Dozens of answers! As a whole group, the students took turns brainstorming and contributing words that begin with the letter D and also hunted around the classroom for letter D items!
How many D shares do you see?
Answer: Dog, Dinosaur, Dolphin, Doughnut, and a Lacing D!
Throughout the week, Dr. Seuss and his kooky characters seemed to be working their way into nearly everything! Check out what the “Tree Rug” students charted about for their Morning Meeting Math activity on Friday.
On Wednesday, the students created their first Dr. Seuss-inspired art project of the week! During morning meeting, the students listened to probably the most famous Dr. Seuss book of all – The Cat In The Hat! In the story, a mischievous cat surprises two children who are stuck inside the house on an icky, rainy day. The Cat in the Hat takes the little girl and boy in the story on quite a chaotic, messy, and wild adventure! The students were thrilled to learn that they would be creating a special art project in honor of this Crazy Cat! Here is how they did it!
During the afternoon on both Wednesday and Thursday, the students participated in Spanish class where they reviewed their Los Numeros vocabulary by learning the following song. Here are the words!
Uno, Dos, Tres Amigos
Cuatro, Cinco, Seis Amigos,
Siete, Ocho, Nueve Amigos,
Deiz Amigos Son.
The Dr. Seuss exploration continued on Thursday as the teachers read the classic environmental tale, The Lorax. In the story, the lonely Once-ler details what happened to the once beautiful but now dismal land where he lives. The Once-ler tells of a time long ago when the land was beautiful! The Once-ler describes the colorful Truffula Trees that used to cover the fields, the Swomee-Swans who would sing, the Brown Bar-ba- loots who would play, and the Humming-Fish that would hum! He explains that all of these beautiful creatures left long ago because of the things that the he had done.
It all started when the Once-ler noticed that the beautiful Truffula Tree tufts could be turned into an amazing thing called a THNEED! What is a Thneed, you ask? “It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. It’s a glove. It’s a hat.” (Mostly, it is a symbol for anything which can be mass-produced at the expense of nature). With Thneeds being something that everyone wanted, the Once-ler grew his business quite quickly – so quickly in fact, that before long a humungous factory was built on the land! Shortly thereafter, the Once-ler was visited by an old, grouchy creature called the Lorax who warned that the Truffula Trees needed to stay and not be chopped down! Did the Once-ler listen to the wise old Lorax? No, he did not! His business was booming! People needed more Thneeds so they just kept chopping! That is when everything changed in the town.
In no time at all, every last Truffula Tree had been chopped down. Well, without any Truffula Trees left, the hungry Brown Bar-ba-loots had no more fruit to eat – so they left! With such a big Thneed factory in town, the air quickly became full of smog that the Swomee-Swans could barely sing anymore- so they left too! The Thneed factory put so much gunk into the river, the Humming-Fish were so sticky and gummy that they could no longer hum – so they left too! Well, with all those creatures long gone – the Lorax also had little choice but to find a new home as well. The Lorax left with a warning – “Unless”. The Once-ler tells the children who visit that the Lorax was saying, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Thankfully, the students of PPA certainly care about the environment! In fact, for their morning work, the students “planted and grew” their very own Truffula trees! Here is how they did it!
On Friday, the students began the day with a reading of another amazing Dr. Seuss story, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!. This motivational story details of all of the amazing things one can do if they put their minds to it! After hearing the story, the students sat down with the teachers for an interview. They each took turns answering the question, “If I could go anyplace in the whole wide world, where you go and why?” Needless to say, the answers were … Darling! 🙂 Take a look below for some of the highlights.
During the afternoon on both Thursday and Friday, the students participated in a Dr. Seuss-themed technology presentation! They particularly loved seeing some of their favorite characters come to life in animated clips like the one below! Enjoy!
Well, that is all for “Letter D is for Dr. Seuss Week” at PPA! As always, thank you for reading! Have a fun and safe weekend! See you next week!
-PPA
REMINDERS:
Monthly Tuition Plan Users:
Tuition due on Thursday (2 dayers)
Tuition due on Friday MORNING (3 and 5 dayers)
PPA Halloween Party
Friday, October 30th
(2:00-3:00 p.m.)
All PPA students (and parents) are welcome to attend this event.
Aftercare is not available.
Due to a near 100% projected attendance, attendance to the party is limited to the PPA student and Mommy and/or Daddy.
November School Closings:
Wednesday, November 11th – Veterans Day
Wednesday, November 25th – 12:00 p.m. Dismissal (BEFORE LUNCH)
Thursday/Friday, November 26/27- Thanksgiving Recess
