Letter J week was Jolly, Joyful, Jubilant and Jazzy! From the play-dough table to the rubber band station, the students clearly had jellyfish on the brain!
On Monday, the letter J activities 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, the students created a list of letter J words. Letter J proved to be one of the most popular letters we’ve seen yet – definitely in student (and teacher) names! Ask your child if they can name some of their school friends/teachers whose names start with J – there is a bunch!
On Tuesday, the J fun continued as the students continued to work on their letter J tracing and identification activity sheets. During the afternoon, the students went around the classroom on a Letter J Hunt and then had music where they sang and danced a “Jig” as shown to them by PPA’s silliest teacher, Miss Elizabeth.
On Wednesday morning the students crafted a jellyfish to help create a school mural. They colored in and decorated their jellyfish then added the tentacles.
With a “little” help from Miss Rima, the backdrop was complete and the mural was ready to be displayed. It turned out absolutely perfect and was a huge hit with students, teachers, and parents alike.
In the afternoon, the students had Spanish where they reviewed los colores by playing “Four Corners” or in this case, “Seis Esquinas!” The teachers divided the classroom into six sections, each marked by a specific color. The students had to race to the color section that the teachers shouted. Needless to say, the students LOVED this game!
Since the students had such a blast creating the jellyfish for the mural, the teachers decided to come up with a jellyfish craft that the students could take home. One of the students brought in photos of jellyfish from her trip to the Baltimore Aquarium this summer. Here are some of the photos from her trip. The pictures were beautiful but also informative! They really served to help the students create their jellyfish later on in the day.
Opting not to use the traditional paper plate, the teachers wracked their brains to find an alternative craft material to create a jellyfish craft that looked like a jellyfish, rather than an octopus or a squid – behold the contact paper jellyfish!
On Thursday afternoon, the students completed the Spanish color unit by playing Seis Esquinas again! The next unit that we will be focusing on in Spanish class is FOOD! Yummy! The students can hardly wait!
The last day of the week began with some “cooking”. The teachers held up a little box and asked the students what is was. Much to the teachers’ surprise, the students were speechless and clearly puzzled as they had never seen such a box before. Here is the mystery box that the teachers showed.
When the teachers explained that it was Jell-O, the students noted that Jell-O comes in small plastic containers – not boxes! Their suspicion only grew as they ripped the bag open and the powder poured out.
This DID NOT look like Jell-O! The teachers added the hot and cold water in the kitchen and the students began to see the powder change into a liquid. They did acknowledge that it looked more like Jell-O now as a liquid than it did as a powder but it was clear that they were not 100% sold just yet.
Once the “Jell-O” mixture had been mixed and stirred thoroughly, the students filled the bottom third of their cups and dropped in two sweet treats (for eyes). Off to the fridge the cups went and the students headed back to their morning work stations.
A few short hours later – Voilà!
A Jell-O Jellyfish!
Wow! How did this happen? Was it magic, was it a miracle? Who cares! It was Jell-O! The students dove right in and gobbled up those Jell-O Jellyfish faster than real sea predators! The teachers are sure that when the students learn about physical changes of matter in science class one day this will all make a little more sense! But as you can see, they didn’t seem to mind.
Letter J week was not only fun but delicious too! Have a great weekend and we’ll see you next week for some K week fun!
-PPA