Hello all,

“Letter E is for Elephant Week” was Exciting, Extraordinary, Exuberant, and Eventful! Throughout the Entire “Letter E is for Elephant Week”, the students brought in some great letter E shares! Whether it was an Elephant, an Egg, the Eiffel Tower, Elmo, or the Empire State building, one thing was for sure – Everything had to do with the letter E! Read on below to learn about all the fun that was had and learning that took place.

The students spent both Monday and Tuesday morning working one on one with the teachers to complete their Letter E identification/fine motor activity sheets. The teachers were so impressed with how easily the new students recognized the letter E and also how well the older students remembered all things “E” during their morning work! In the afternoon on Monday and Tuesday, the students created the fifth letter list of the year! Naturally, the letter E list was full of Excellent answers! As a whole group, the students took turns brainstorming and contributing words that begin with the letter E and also hunted around the classroom for letter E items!

How many E shares do you see?

Answer:  Eggs, E, Elephant, Envelope, and Elmo!

Wednesday was Halloween at PPA!  The students arrived at school in their Halloween costumes and boy, did they look great!  Wednesday afternoon was the PPA Halloween Party!  Nearly all of the students (and their families) were in attendance and in costume too!  After reading a silly story and singing a super silly Halloween song, the students marched around the classroom in their costumes!  Once the parade had made its way through, the students had a chance to play and dance together as well as enjoy some special Halloween treats!  What an amazing day it was!  A special PPA thank you to all of the families who attended the Halloween Party.  Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this blog entry to view ALL of the photographs from the 2018 PPA Halloween Celebration!

On Thursday morning, the students listened to a read aloud of a book titled, “Elephants Can Paint Too!” written by Katya Arnold. Ms. Arnold is a schoolteacher in New York City who also teaches students in Thailand. The students in Ms. Arnold’s New York City classroom are just like the students at Park Prep Academy; they are children. Ms. Arnold’s students in Thailand are not children; they are elephants! Ms. Arnold encourages all of her students to create beautiful works of art using paint and paintbrushes. Like the students of Park Prep Academy, the New York students hold the paintbrushes in their hands while painting. Do you know what part of their body the elephants use to hold their paintbrushes? Take a peek at the photo below to find out!

The students enjoyed the story so much that later on they transformed their fingers into miniature elephant trunks while creating their painting!  Here is how some of the “Elephant Paintings” turned out!

During the afternoon, the students participated in a technology presentation about Ms. Arnold’s elephant artists! The students watched with wide eyes as the elephants walked to the easel and began painting. What was it? The students could hardly wait to find out. Be sure to look below – you will certainly be Entertained!

(Here is another AMAZING elephant painting video – this one you might want to fast forward through a bit – ENJOY!)

The students particularly enjoyed observing these two elephants, Naram and Lucky, bathing and playing together in some water!

Also the afternoon on Thursday (and Friday), the students learned and practiced an elephant song! Sung to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot,” the song was a huge hit. Here are the words of the song!

I’m a little elephant,

Aren’t I so cute?

I have floppy ears

and a long trunk to boot!

I like to be silly

and splash around,

The earth sure shakes

when I stomp on the ground!

Things got really silly at Park Prep on Friday. The students learned that elephant transformation would continue from Thursday. This time, the transformation would be much more than just a finger – it was the whole face! Look below to see how the students changed from children into rather Eclectic Elephants!

Friday afternoon wrapped up with a birthday celebration and PPA Daddy musical performance!  Naturally, the students LOVED hearing him play and had a blast singing and dancing along!  A special PPA Thank you to this Daddy (and Mommy) for helping us jam! 🙂

Well, that is all for “Letter E is for Elephant Week”. As always, thank you for reading and have a fun and safe weekend!

-PPA

Reminders:

Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences are here!

Monday, November 5th – Friday, November 16th

Please check your email and/or see the school calendar board for your scheduled conference time.

November School Closings:

Wednesday, November 21st – 12:00 p.m. School-wide Dismissal – No Lunch

Thursday and Friday, November 22nd and 23rd – Thanksgiving Recess

Theme for Next Week: