Hello all,
Letter G is for Gorilla week was Great, Glorious, Gigantic, Gorgeous, and Grand! Read on below to find out about all of the learning and fun that took place!
Monday’s share box was overflowing with letter G shares! The students clearly have a Great amount of G’s in each of their homes! There were Giraffes, Gardening tools, Ghosts, Garbage trucks, Gold coins, Gummies, Gap clothing, and of course Gorillas! Check out the student below with a Gigantic Glove!
The G fun continued as the students worked on their letter G identification activities throughout the morning on Monday and Tuesday! The students surely did a Great job playing Letter G Games in their stations.
In the afternoon, the students worked on their letter G list. The picture below shows the highlighted G words but the list really seemed endless because the G words kept coming! The teachers nearly ran out of room on the board!
On Wednesday the students created their first Letter G art project – a Glittery and Goofy Gorilla! In order to create the gorilla, the students first had to use special crayons called Silky Sticks to color in their gorilla.
Once the gorillas had been colored, the students used their fingers to rub and blend the colors together!
Wow! These gorillas sure were colorful and goofy – but not goofy enough! To help make them even more goofy, the students painted some glue on top of the gorilla’s head then poured on some glitter. With a little lift of the paper, the glitter came off but the Goofy, Glittery hair stayed on!
To make them a little more goofy, the students added some Googly eyes and then some Gems! Here is the final product. What a Goofy (and Glittery) Gorilla!
Here is a close up! So Goofy!
On Wednesday (and Thursday) afternoon, the students wrapped up the color unit in Spanish class. In partners, the students scoured the room to find the perfect items to represent each color! Do you know what color the student below is holing up?
The answer is AZUL (blue)!
On Thursday morning the students learned about gorillas and their habitats by creating a jungle ” free- paint” using light and dark green paint.
After the jungle had been painted, the students sprinkled some grass blades into the wet paint to give the habitat some realistic texture.
The jungle was finished but something was missing – a gorilla, of course! The students gave their gorilla some googly eyes before gluing the gorilla into its habitat.
Here is how the project turned out! Isn’t it Great?
Thursday afternoon was very special – PPA was paid a visit by a very talented musician who just so happens to play a letter G instrument! Can you Guess which instrument the musician (and PPA parent volunteer) plays?
If you said “Guitar” then you are correct!
The father pictured, Jonathan Fritz, is an accomplished musician who volunteered his time to come in and perform for the students of Park Prep Academy.
The style of music he introduced the students to is called Nuevo Flamenco. Click below to hear a sampling of this exciting and impassioned sound!
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Nuevo Flamenco music can also sound extremely soft and smooth. Listen below to hear another and somewhat different sampling from Jonathan Fritz.
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
The students (and teachers) noted that the softer song sounded familiar for some reason. It took a second for everyone to realize that it is one of the rest-time songs! Jonathan was nice enough to donate a CD full of his music at the start of the school year. After listening to the CD, the teachers (who have listened to Nora Jones’s album for four years of rest-times) thought it would be the perfect replacement for some soft music during rest! They were right! The students love it! One student even surprised Jonathan by raising his hand and saying, “You are like a REAL rockstarrrrrrr!” Needless to say, Jonathan graciously accepted the compliment! 🙂
The students had such a blast learning about and hearing Jonathan’s guitar that they invited him back to PPA for an encore performance on Friday afternoon! In order to get ready for the performance, the students spent the morning creating their very own guitars! These guitars sure were groovy (and grainy) as they were made entirely with food!
The students enjoyed these special musical treats during snack time. Boy, were they yummy!
Friday’s musical performance was equally as awesome as the one on Thursday! Take a look at the students’ faces.
Jonathan returned and continued to rock the house school down! A special Park Prep thank you to Jonathan for being such a Great Guitar Guest on letter G week- We think you really Rock! 🙂
Well, that is all for letter G is for Gorilla Week! As always, thank you for reading and we hope you have wonderful and safe weekend!
-PPA
Reminders:
Next Upcoming PPA Event:
PPA Winter Holiday Celebration – Wednesday, December 22nd
2:00 -3:00 p.m. – No aftercare available.
Next week is letter H week. To help get into the holiday spirit, 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.
Wednesday
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)
Thursday
PPA Helps Senior Citizens!
The students will be creating multiple holiday cards which the teachers will
distribute (later that evening)to the senior residents of HPHCC.
Hamilton Park Health Care Center
(525 Monmouth St, Jersey City)
Friday
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!
Operation Goodybag
(New Jersey-based)
In lieu of shares next week, we kindly ask that you bring in a non-perishable item(s)
– i.e. canned or dried goods.
At the end of the week, all food donations have been made by the PPA families will be brought to a Jersey City based Food Pantry.