Letter L week was full of laughter, love, and lots of lobsters! In addition to our red ocean-dwelling friends, the students brought in a landslide of letter L shares. Some of the shares that really stuck out included- ladybug earrings, Lambchop (the puppet), lavender pants, and a head of lettuce with a leaf for everyone to try at lunch! The teachers sure got a workout when they lugged the share box over to morning meeting! The teachers weren’t the only ones lugging things around this week – the students got a workout of their own in the block area when they constructed this larger than life lobster!
On Monday and Tuesday morning, the students completed their letter L tracing and identification activity sheets. Some of the L words included: lobsters, lions, leopards, ladybugs, lamps and more! Despite being this week’s theme, the picture that proved to be most difficult to decipher was the lobster. One after another the students sat down at the tables, took one look at the clawed creature and shouted, “CRAB!” When the teachers asked if the word crab started with the letter L, the students quickly noticed their mistake and they correctly identified the lobster. This was the case with all of the students, except for one, who got particularly creative when he shouted, “CROBSTER!” which the teachers assumed was the result of the crossbreeding of a crab and a lobster. Although incorrect, the crobster made for some extra morning work giggles.
The fun continued in the afternoon during music when the teachers took out a Limbo stick. After a few rounds of “run and duck under the stick”, the teachers decided to rework their Limbo explanation strategy. Using the ceiling as guide, the teachers explained that rather than looking at the floor, the students would have to look up as they limboed under the stick. Be sure to view the students in action as they limboed the afternoon away!
The crafting began on Wednesday as Park Prep transformed into quite the lobster hotbed. Using paper towel rolls, construction paper, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners, the students created a legion of lobsters. The lobsters seemed to come to life when their creators starting to wiggle and jiggle the little legs.
Talking about lobsters all morning sure made everyone hungry. This was a nice segue into Spanish class where the students reviewed last week’s food vocabulary and even learned some more. Ensalada (salad), pollo (chicken), and pan (bread) were the words of focus this week. We even learned how to incorporate this new vocabulary into La Cancion de la Comida (The Food Song).
La Cancion de la Comida (The Food Song)She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain
Queso is cheese, yum yum yum(clap clap)Leche is milk, yum, yum, yum.(clap clap)Papa is potato. Jugo is juice.Pan is bread, yum, yum, yum.(clap clap)Pollo is chicken, yum, yum, yum.(clap clap)Ensalada is salad, yum, yum, yum.(clap clap)Queso, Leche, Papa, Jugo,Pan, Pollo, Ensalada,yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!(clap clap)
Seeing that the students had so much fun playing with their lobsters on Wednesday, the teachers decided to turn them into lobsters on Thursday! Thanks to the students, leftover party hats quickly became lobster bodies complete with colorful claws, googly eyes, and even a little lobster tail. The students could hardly wait for the glue to dry before slipping them on. The classroom quickly began to look like the deep sea as it filled up with laughing lobsters.
Thursday afternoon, the students enjoyed Spanish class again during which they continued to practice saying and hearing the new vocabulary. Play the video below to watch the students analyzing their food and reviewing their new Spanish words.
On the last day of the week, the students used their limbs to create the last lobster of the week! Here is how the completed lobster craft turned out. Can you figure out which limbs the students used for the different parts of the lobster?
If you guessed arms (well, hands) for the claws and leg (or foot) for the body, then you are correct! With a little help from the teachers, the lobster’s legs were added and the claws were attached. The limb lobsters were a huge hit!
Things got really exciting on Friday afternoon when Dr. Greenwald brought some special guests with him – two LIVE LOBSTERS! The students could hardly contain themselves when they saw the lobsters inside the school. The teachers cleared a space for the lobster to walk around on the floor. Some students were a bit nervous but the teachers assured them it was safe because the lobster had rubber bands on his claws and couldn’t hurt anyone. The bravest students took turns coming up to pet the lobster while some others watched their friends touch they lobsters. Either way, the students clearly enjoyed seeing the lobsters up close and for some, getting to FEEL them!
Well, that is all for Letter L Week. We hope you enjoyed this week’s blog entry. As always, thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week!- PPA