Hello all,

Happy New Year!  The students returned to school for the first time since the arrival of 2016 on Monday and dove right in – to the ocean, that is!  “Letter J is for Jellyfish Week” was Jolly, Joyful, Jubilant and Jazzy!  From the gak table to the rubber band station, the students clearly had jellyfish on the brain!  Throughout the entire week, the students brought in some great letter J shares!  Whether it was a Jake from The Neverland Pirates, Jazzy Jewelry, Jump ropes, a Jack in the box, or Jingle bells, one thing was for sure – everything had to do with J!  Be sure to continue reading to learn about all of the fun that was had and learning that took place!

On Monday and Tuesday morning, the letter J excitement began with the students completing their letter J identification activity sheets. The students had to trace/write the letter J, distinguish the letter J against other letter sounds, and color the letter J pictures. It was hard work but definitely fun! In the afternoon on both Monday and Tuesday, the students created a list of letter J words.

Do you see any letter J shares?

Answer:  Jungle Book, Juice, Jewelry, Joke book!

Wednesday began the artistic exploration of the theme of Letter J week – Jellyfish! The students could hardly believe their eyes when they saw what they would be making – a realistic looking jellyfish! With a little contact paper, glitter, sequins, and ribbon, the students created super see-through jellies that certainly were swimmy! Take a look below too see the students in action!

During both Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, the students participated in Spanish class where they began a new unit – La Comida (food).  The students learned vocabulary for four different types of food – leche (milk), jugo (juice), queso (cheese) and papa (potato).  They also learned La Cancion de la Comida (The Food Song).  Be sure to practice this with your child over the next few weeks.

La Cancion de la Comida
(The Food Song)
(to the tune of She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain)

Queso is cheese, yum, yum, yum!
(clap, clap)
Leche is milk, yum, yum, yum!
(clap, clap)
Jugo is juice,
Papa is potato.
These are the things we like to eat and drink.

The students were thoroughly enjoying learning the new vocabulary but it was clear one word in particular was their favorite.  As soon as the teachers stated that potato in Spanish was called papa, the classroom erupted in laughter!  The students were laughing hysterically at the thought of a Daddy potato.  No surprise, the students seemed to remember the Spanish word for potato with great ease.  Perhaps it was because they played a super silly game of, “Papa Caliente” a.k.a. “Hot Potato”. 🙂

Opting not to use the traditional paper plate, the teachers wracked their brains on Thursday morning to find an alternative material to create a jellyfish craft – behold the cupcake wrapper jellyfish!

The last day of the week began with some “cooking”.  The students worked together to make a few jiggly batches of Jell-O! Once the Jell-O mixtures had been mixed and stirred thoroughly, the students filled the bottom third of a see-through cup and dropped in two sweet raisins (for eyes). Off to the fridge the cups went and the students headed back to their morning work stations.

A few short hours later, the students woke up from rest time and participated in a technology presentation all about – You guessed it, Jellyfish! The students loved watching them swim in the ocean and even learned some amazing Jellyfish facts! Do you know what a Jellyfish Bloom or a Jellyfish Smack is? The students do! That is what a group of jellyfish in a small space is called!

Things really got exciting when the students learned that their Jell-O Jellyfish were ready! The students dove right in and gobbled up those Jell-O Jellyfish faster than real sea predators! Judging from the yummy smiles, the students really enjoyed their Jell-O Jellies!