Hello all,
“Letter O is for Ocean Week” was certainly one of the most outstanding weeks of the 2015-2016 school year yet! The students entered school each day with an outrageous amount of Letter O shares! Everything from Oranges to Orangutans, Octopus to Owls, and of course, all things Ocean were sent in and shared! While all of the activity stations during “Letter O is for Ocean Week” were enjoyable, it was clear one Ocean-themed station was the most exciting. Filled with assorted ocean items including: shells, sea glass, sand dollars, coral, stingray egg sacks (ick!), and more, the water table was by far, the clear-cut favorite “exploration station” of the week! Well, “Letter O is for Ocean Week” has come and gone. Be sure to read on below to discover the learning that took place and fun that was had throughout the week!
On both Monday and Tuesday, the students worked one on one with a teacher to complete their letter O tracing and identification morning work activities. Some of the O words included: Ostriches, Outer Space, Ovals, Ocean and more! The students really did an Outstanding job! In the afternoon(s), the students created the following Letter O Word List and of course, went hunting for the letter O around PPA! The students had some fun getting silly with the Letter O as they created their lists but also BECAME O’s! Take a look below!
Can YOU name the O shares in the picture above?
Answer: Owl, Octopus, Oatmeal, and an Orange!
Throughout the remainder of the week, the students continued exploring the ocean by investigating a few animals that begin with the letter O and who call the ocean their home! On Wednesday, the students were beyond excited to learn that they would be creating an art project in honor of one of the best predators (hunters) in the ocean – the Orca whale! The students were fascinated to learn that the black and white coloring of an Orca is actually a very helpful hunting tool! The top of an Orca is black which makes it harder for prey above water, such as a seal on an ice floe, to see them as they approach. The bottom (bellyside) of an Orca white which blends with the light streaming down into the sea from the surface, making it hard to spot an Orca from below. With orcas camouflaged so well, those prey fish, penguins, or seals are likely to miss the danger heading their way. Just like real Orcas, the students created the following Orca art project – black on top, white on bottom – to help them remember this amazing fact about this amazing Ocean animal!
On Thursday, the students put on their imaginary scuba suits and dove into the ocean to get a closer look at the letter O ocean animal who is very bendy and has an interesting body shape along with eight tentacles! Do you know which animal this is? If you said, “An Octopus!” then you are correct! The students learned so many Outraegous facts about octopus through their investigation which included a very cool technology presentation featuring high definition footage of actual octopuses in the ocean! One fact they learned was that Octopus do not have any bones in their bodies – just muscles -which is why they can fit into teeny, tiny crevasses and stay safe from ocean animals trying to find or eat them! They also learned that Octopuses squirt a dark ink to protect themselves by blinding predators (hungry fish/ocean animals trying to hurt or eat them). By far, the most amazing clip the students observed was the one featured below showing just how well they can change the color of their body to blend in with their surroundings (camouflage). See for yourself!
WOW! Isn’t that AMAZING? Did you know that octopus was there? The students decided that the Octopus must be the best “hider” in the entire ocean with that talent! To test this idea, the teachers asked the students to search and find the octopuses in the following well-known clip! The students had such a great time singing along and shouting out, “OCTOPUS!” each time the ocean creatures flashed on screen! In total, the octopuses appear 11 times! The students concluded that they must not have been camouflaging while dancing with all the other ocean friends! Enjoy!
Here is the octopus art project that the students made on Thursday! Aren’t they Outstanding? 🙂
In Spanish class on Wednesday (and Thursday) afternoon, the students began a new unit – Los Animales (Animals). Seeing that it was “Letter O is for Ocean Week”, the timing could not have been more perfect! Take a look below to see the long list of vocabulary the students will be learning and practicing throughout the next few weeks!
el pez – fish
el tiburón – shark
la medusa – jellyfish
el pulpo – octopus
la ballena – whale
el cerdo – pig
el caballo – horse
el pájaro -bird
el oso – bear
el perro – dog
el gato – cat
la vaca – cow
la jirafa – giraffe
el león – lion
la cebra – zebra
el caiman – alligator
el cocodrilo – crocodile
el hipopótamo – hippopotamus
el rinoceronte – rhinoceros
el tigre – tiger
el elefante – elephant
el mono – monkey
la rana – frog
la tortuga – turtle
el serpiente – snake
On Friday, the students welcomed a PPA parent reader in the morning to start the day off right! The Mommy and daughter duo featured below selected two very special stories to read to the class. One story featured a new spin on a classic tale – Goldilocks and the Three Koalas! The Mommy and daughter selected this book because koalas come from Australia… and so do they! 🙂 The students loved hearing this fun tale and also another story inspired by the upcoming holiday – Valentine’s Day! What a wonderful way to start a Friday! A special PPA Thank You to this Mommy and daughter team for visiting!
The students investigated another letter O/Ocean animal on Friday morning – the Oyster! Once again, the students ventured to the depths of the ocean during a technology presentation all about this ocean creature. They were so excited to learn that oysters are responsible for making something very beautiful – pearls! The teachers explained that when some dirt or sand gets into an oyster’s mouth it bothers the oyster – much like when we get a piece of hair in our mouth or food stuck in our teeth. Unlike people, an oyster does not have arms and hands to remove the sand from its mouth so the sand gets stuck inside. Instead, the oyster coats the sand (or irritant) with layers of special goo which harden overtime to form a beautiful pearl! For their morning work, the students created the following adorable oyster craft to help them remember this amazing ocean animal fact!
Friday afternoon wrapped up with a special PPA Valentine’s Day Celebration and a discussion all about next week’s theme – DRESS UP FOR LETTER P WEEK! 🙂 It was clear from the smiles on their faces, the students are Particularly PumPed for P Week!
Well, that is all for “Letter O is for Ocean Week”. What an incredible week of ocean exploration it was! We hope you enjoyed this week’s blog entry. As always, thanks for reading and we will see you next week!
-PPA
REMINDERS:
School Closed Monday, February 15th – Observation of President’s Day
THEME FOR NEXT WEEK:
