Hello all,
Letter G week was Great! All week long, the students brought in letter G shares and learned about different types of games. The students shared such a wonderful assortment of letter G shares including: goggles, giraffes, goats, and of course, various games! Some of the games even turned into some of the morning stations and helped inspire a few of the activities later on in the week.
On Monday, the students worked on their letter G tracing and letter G identification activity sheets. 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. Things only got more confusing when Gem made the list. 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.
On Tuesday, the students continued to work on their letter G tracing and identification activity sheets. During the afternoon, the students went around the classroom locating the letter G wherever they could. Books like The Greedy Dog and Grover’s Guessing Game made for some good letter G hunting! After hunting, the students had a surprise visitor come in! The boy and his Mommy featured below came to Park Prep to help teach the PPA students learn about the letter G country where their family comes from – Greece! The Mommy read several stories in Greek and then translated them into English so the students could understand. One thing was for sure, Greek is quite a different language than English – especially the alphabet! Listen in below to see for yourself!
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
The students learned how to say several common phrases in Greek and enjoyed dancing the Zorba’s Dance, a Greek dance which involves fun leg kicking movements! A special PPA thank you to this PPA Mommy for coming in and teaching us about Greece!
On Wednesday, the teachers introduced the students to a very popular game – Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Since there were several extra cow drawings in the PPA scrap bin, the teachers modified the game a bit to Pin the Tail on the Cow! Much to the surprise of the teachers, most of the students had never played this game before and had little idea what it was about. The teachers divided the students up into small groups and the fun began!
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
In the afternoon, the students really had a laugh as they helped the teachers play a round of their own. One by one, each teacher was blindfolded and spun around by a student. The students giggled as the teachers placed the tail all over the cow!
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Here is how the board turned out at the end – Miss Jocelyn was WAY off! 🙂 What a fun day!
Thursday was very exciting! During the morning, the students played various games in their stations including Chutes and Ladders, Bilingual Matching, Animal Memory, ABC Bingo! During the afternoon, the students partook in a special musical performance led by a PPA Daddy, Jonathan Fritz. Jonathan came in to PPA to play a musical instrument that begins with the letter G – do you know what it is?
If you said, “Guitar!” then you are correct! Jonathan is a professional musician who performs all over the world. Take a look below to see and hear some of the fun that was had during Jonathan’s visit to PPA! Jonathan showed the students all of the different sounds an electric guitar can make!
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Did you know that guitars can laugh?
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Listen in as the students and Jonathan jam out together!
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
At the end of the performance, the students raised their hands to ask Jonathan some questions. One of the questions was, “What made you choose to play the guitar?” Jonathan answered that he felt that the guitar chose him because he enjoyed playing it so much! Jonathan also explained that he began playing the guitar at the age of fifteen mainly because he did not know that he could ask to play it earlier! He encouraged the students to tell their Mommies and Daddies if they ever want to try something! What great advice! 🙂 A special PPA thank you to Jonathan Fritz for coming in and rocking out with us on Letter G Week!
On Friday morning, the students played some exciting Gross Motor Games in their stations including Hopscotch, Frog Toss, and Freeze Dance! Friday wrapped up with another musical performance by Jonathan Fritz and then the students headed home for the weekend! Wow, what a GREAT week Letter G Week turned out to be. Thank you to all of the PPA students who shared their Mommies and Daddies this week! We really had a blast! See you next week as PPA Helps during Letter H is for Helping Week! Please read below for more details about this AMAZING week!
-PPA
Reminders:
January Tuition is due on Thursday and Friday – December 15th and 16th.
Please remember to adjust your automated payment schedule to avoid incurring a late fee of $25
PPA Winter Holiday Party – Wednesday, December 21st
(2:00-3:00 p.m.)
no aftercare available
Winter Recess 12/22 – 1/2
School Resumes on Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Theme for Next Week:
Next week is letter H week. We will be learning what the holiday spirit is about – Helping others! For this reason, next week will be called,
Letter H is for Helping Week!
The students will take part in Park Prep Academy’s efforts to help various local organizations. Here is the Helping schedule for next week.
Tuesday
PPA Helps the U.S. Troops through Operation Goodybag!
The students will be decorating and stuffing as many goodybags as possible to send to the U.S. troops spending their holidays overseas!
Presentation by the Founder of Operation Goodybag – Jane Cosco (1:30 p.m.)
Operation Goodybag
New Jersey-based
Wednesday
PPA Helps Senior Citizens!
The students will be creating multiple holiday cards which the teachers will distribute (later that evening) to the permanent senior residents of HPHCC.
Hamilton Park Health Care Center
525 Monmouth St, Jersey City
Thursday
PPA Helps Rescued Animals of HCAL and LHS!
The students will be baking and wrapping Dog/Cat treats that will be distributed to the rescued animals.
Presentation by the Hudson County Animal League Representatives (1:30 p.m.)
&
Liberty Humane Society of Jersey City
235 Jersey City Blvd, Jersey City
Friday
PPA Helps the local Jersey City Community Helpers!
The students will be making holiday cards and baking cookie treats that the teachers will distribute to the local Jersey City Fire Department and Police Department!