Hello all,
“Letter I is for Insects Week” was Inventive, Inspiring, Intense, and Incredible! Throughout the entire “Letter I is for Insect Week”, the students brought in some great letter I shares! Whether it was an Ice cream cone, an Igloo, Ironman, an Iguana, or Insects, one thing was for sure – everything had to do with I! 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 I identification/fine motor activity sheets. The teachers were so Impressed with how easily the new students recognized the letter I and also how well the older students remembered all things “I” during their morning work! In the afternoon on Monday and Tuesday, the students created the ninth letter list of the year! Naturally, the letter I list was full of Insightful answers! As a whole group, the students took turns brainstorming and contributing words that begin with the letter I and also hunted around the classroom for letter I items!
How many I shares do you see?
Answer: Iguana, Insect cards, Ice cream, and Instruments!
By Wednesday the students were ready to learn about Insects! A spider in Wednesday morning’s sharebox helped spur a very informative discussion about what makes an insect an insect. The teachers read a book all about different types of bugs that revealed the main features of insects. From the story, the students learned that all animals/bugs can be grouped into different categories. The name of the category that each animal is grouped in depends on many different things. One fact that the students learned was that in order to be called an Insect (belonging to the Insecta Class) the “bug” has to have six legs (along with a segmented body of three parts, antennae and usually wings).
After hearing this fact, the students commented that spiders have eight legs, not six! They determined that spiders must not be insects because they have too many legs! The teachers informed them they were correct! Spiders are not insects; they are actually arachnids which have eight legs. After that very “big-kid” discussion, the students began listing some other insects. Here is the list they came up with.
The students concluded that a lot of insects were a bit “yucky” or “scary”. This being said, the teachers made sure to pick out special stories to read throughout “Letter I is for Insect Week” that featured insects that were not yucky or scary but rather fun and Interesting.
On Wednesday, the students started their day with a reading of Eric Carle’s The Very Lonely Firefly. In the story, the students met a firefly who is feeling quite lonely because he has no one to play with. The very lonely firefly shines his light, as fireflies do, to help him find another firefly friend to play with. Before long, he sees a bright light in distance and decides to fly towards it. Much to his surprise, the light is not a firefly but rather a lightbulb in a home. The firefly’s search continues and leads him to various lights including: a candle, a flashlight, a lantern, even fireworks! Thankfully the firefly finally sees a group of other fireflies and is not lonely anymore! The students created the following art project using special glow-in-the-dark paint to help them remember this exciting firefly “friend-finding” fact! The fireflies were so beautiful that the teachers displayed them on a classroom bulletin board. The students all noted that since the PPA fireflies will be altogether, they will not have to worry about ever being lonely! 🙂
The Insect exploration continued on Thursday morning as the students Investigated another Insect with a SUPER COOL name. Do you know the name of this insect?
If you said, “Dragonfly” then you are correct! After listening to a story featuring dragonflies, the students assembled and decorated their own dragonfly to keep! Here is how the final project turned out – definitely not yucky or scary at all!
During the afternoon on both Wednesday and Thursday, the students had a blast in music class where they were singing and dancing to help get into the winter holiday spirit. Not surprisingly, icy hits from the hit Disney movie, Frozen, were featured (and rocked!). Afterwards, they participated in Spanish class where they finalized their exploration of their Los Colores (Colors) vocabulary.
On Friday, the students not only investigated another type of Insect – they transformed into one! Take a look below to see the Incredible Insect Infestation at PPA!
Later in the afternoon, the technology fun continued as the students observed a technology presentation all about – you guessed it – Insects! During the presentation, the students listened to different insect sounds and had to try to guess which insect was making the sound. The students nailed the sounds of the crickets and bees but had some trouble with the cicadas noisy sounds! Video clips like the ones below helped the students observe how these noises are made. Can you tell which part of their body, insects use to make noise? Here is a hint – it is not the mouth like people! Take a look!
Isn’t that amazing? Grasshoppers rub their hind legs together to make sound. Take a look at the cricket below! Can you tell what body part he uses to make his chirping sound?
(Answer – Wings – just like bees!)
Watch below to view one of the video clips that was incorporated into the presentation. This one has some great close ups of insects and also a catchy hook!
Wow! Talk about an Incredible Week! Well, that is all for “Letter I is for Insect Week”. As always, thank you for reading and have a fun and safe weekend!
-PPA
REMINDERS:
PPA Winter Holiday Celebration– Friday, December 18th
(2:00-3:00 p.m.)
Aftercare is not available.
Due to space, we kindly request that attendance is limited to PPA students and PPA parent(s).
Winter Recess 12/21– 1/1
School Resumes on Monday, January 4, 2016
Theme for Next Week:
