Hello all,
“Letter G is for Guitar Week” was Great, Glorious, Gigantic, Gorgeous, Grand and Groovy! All week long, the students brought in letter G shares and learned about the theme of the week – Guitars! The students shared such a wonderful assortment of letter G shares including: goggles, giraffes, goats, and various games! Can you identify the G share items shown below?
On Monday morning (as well as Tuesday), the students worked on their letter G tracing and letter G identification activities. The students traced or wrote the letter G, distinguished the letter G against other letter sounds, and colored the letter G pictures. It was hard work but definitely fun! In the afternoon, the students created a list of words starting with the letter G. The students were slightly confused when giraffe made the list because it sounded like a “j” sound. The teachers explained that some letter sounds change when they are next to other letters. The students happily continued listing G words to create the following list. Here is what they came up with.
The G fun continued as the week progressed and the exploration of the theme of the week -Guitar- began! For Wednesday morning work, the students created gemmed mini-guitars using assorted craft materials! Take a look below to see the students in action!
Wednesday afternoon was an exciting one because it marked a new unit of Spanish class – Los Colores (Colors). Here is the vocabulary and song the students will be learning about over the next few weeks.
New Student Vocab:
Red – Rojo
Blue – Azul
Yellow- Amarillo
Green – Verde
Purple – Morado
Orange – Naranja
Beginner Group:
(above list plus the following)
Pink – Rosado
Gray – Gris
Black- Negro
Brown -Marrón
White- Blanco
Light – Claro i.e. Azul Claro (Light Blue)
Dark – Oscuro i.e. Azul Oscuro (Dark Blue)
El Canción de los Colores – The Colors Song
(sung to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel)
Red is rojo. Green is verde.
Blue is called azul.
Yellow is amarillo.
These are our colors!
Purple is morado.
Orange is naranja.
Learning them is lots of fun!
These are our colors!
On Thursday morning, the students were treated to the first of two Great Guitar Guests that visited PPA during the week! The PPA students were delighted to welcome back a recent visitor and PPA Daddy. The Daddy photographed below once again brought his guitar in and put on a rocking performance with the students! Unlike last time, the Daddy also brought along another string instrument for the students to listen to and observe – the banjo! The students noted that the banjo and the guitar looked similar but they sounded very different! The Daddy explained that the shape of the instrument helps change the sound that instrument makes! Naturally, the students LOVED learning about the two instruments and had a blast singing and dancing along! A special PPA Thank you to this Daddy (and Mommy) for helping us jam! 🙂
As if the morning was not already exciting enough, the students were delighted to learn that they would be baking some Gooey cookie-chip cookie Guitars for morning work! First, the students mixed and measured the ingredients in the recipe to create the cookie dough! Once it was ready, the students each rolled the dough into two balls then skewered and pressed their dough into the shape of a guitar. After a quick trip to the oven, the cookies were ready but they were missing a very important part – the strings! Using assorted colored icing, the students iced the strings of their guitars before the guitars were enjoyed! Yummy! What a delicious and great guitar!
Friday morning began with another Great Guitar Guest! The Daddy photographed below is an elementary school music teacher who brought some extra special excitement to his guitar lesson! He encouraged the students to not only sing along but even make up the lyrics for their own songs! Be sure to listen in to the song the students wrote about the upcoming holiday, Thanksgiving! A special Park Prep thank you to this Daddy for being such a Great Guitar Guest on letter G week – We think you really Rock! 
After rocking out in the morning, the students of PPA learned what they would be creating for morning work on Friday. The school erupted with shouts of laughter and excitement as the teachers informed the students would be transforming into Rockstars! With the help of a classmate’s super cool electric guitar, each student posed for a Rockstar photograph which would be prominently displayed on the cover of their album! Take a look at some of the most exciting and most rockstar-riffic shots! After all the photos had been taken and printed, the students began part two of their album cover art project – the album cover design! Using crayons, gems, and more, the students decorated their album covers beautifully. The final step of the project was coming up with the name of the debut single or “Hit Song” off the album! Take a look to see some of the most creative song titles the students came up with as well as the completed albums. 🙂
Also throughout “Letter G is for Guitar Week”, the students practiced identifying various musical instruments in songs during their daily music class. Friday afternoon wrapped up with a technology presentation all about the various classifications of instruments. Through their exploration, the students learned about woodwind instruments such as: flutes, clarinets, and harmonicas, as well as string instruments such as: the guitar, piano, and violin. Not surprisingly, the students LOVED learned about the percussion instruments including: the drums, cymbals, and tambourines! Of course, brass instruments such as: the horn, saxophone, and trumpet, were also discussed! The teachers then asked the students if there were any other types of instruments. They were shocked to learn that the human voice is an instrument too! What an exciting and informative afternoon it was!
Well, that is all for “Letter G is for Guitar Week!” As always, thank you for reading and we hope you have wonderful and safe weekend!
-PPA
Reminders:
Next School Closing:
Wednesday, November 23rd – 12:00 p.m. School-wide Dismissal – No Lunch
Thursday and Friday, November 24th and 25th – Thanksgiving Recess
THEME FOR NEXT WEEK:
