Ahoy Thar, Mateys!
“Letter P is for Pirates, Princesses, Princes, Pajamas and Pizza Week” was certainly one of the most Phenomenal, Playful, Pleasant, Perfect and Priceless weeks of the 2014-2015 school year yet! Phew! That’s a lot of P words! Throughout the entire Letter P week, the students were invited to dress up as their favorite letter P words! Each day, the students arrived in Perfect “P” attire – they certainly did not disappoint! Take a look at some of the highlights from Wednesday!
Instead of beginning the week with Letter P writing/tracing activity pages, the teachers decided to begin the week with project fit for a pirate! The day began with a reading of two Pirate-riffic tales – How I Became A Pirate by Melinda Long and Pirates Don’t Change Diapers by David Shannon. In the first story, the students met Jeremy Jacob, a young boy who loves all things pirates and adventure! Jeremy Jacob loves pirates so much that he actually wants to be one! With the help of his imagination, Jeremy Jacob joins Captian Braid Beard’s Pirate Ship and begins to learn a bit about what being a pirate is like! Throughout the story, Jeremy Jacob learns the good, the bad, and even the ICKY parts about being a pirate! Did you know that pirates do NOT brush their teeth?!? Yuck!
In the second story, Jeremy Jacob is paid a visit at his home by Captain Braid Beard and his crew! There to reclaim the treasure they buried in Jeremy Jacob’s backyard, the Captain and his crew are eager to get digging right away. Jeremy Jacob explains that before the treasure hunt can begin, his sister, Bonnie Anne, will need to take a nap! Jeremy Jacob quickly learns that while pirates make great pirates they DO NOT make great babysitters! Before long, Jeremy Jacob and the pirates get Bonnie Anne to fall asleep and the treasure is found!
The students spent the morning creating the following treasure chest art project! Be sure to take a look at some of their creative answers as to where the treasure was found!
During the afternoon on Wednesday, the students were visited by a PPA Mommy who came in to teach them all about the Chinese New Year which would be celebrated later that evening! The mommy and son photographed below taught the students all about the various customs that are associated with the celebration of this holiday including: food, clothing, and traditions! The students were fascinated to learn about customs such as lighting firecrackers to ward off “bad luck” and also receiving tiny red envelopes like the ones photographed. The mommy and her son had prepared these red envelopes containing a dollar bill to symbolize the family’s wish for everyone to have a wonderful and prosperous new year! What a special day it was! A special PPA Thank you to this mommy and her son for sharing their culture with us! Xīnnián kuàilè! (Happy New Year!)
The Letter P fun continued on Thursday and the students participated in Pajama Day at PPA!
Despite having such a fun and silly theme for the week, the students did not let it interfere with their hard work! They worked diligently on their Letter P identification activity pages on both Thursday and Friday morning. During the afternoon on Thursday and Friday, the students created their letter P word list. This list was quite easy to come up with – particularly because there were so many living and breathing letter P words walking and talking around the room! The plethora of letter P items in the sharebox also proved pretty helpful in putting together the list!
How many letter P words do you see?
Answer: Pirate Hat, Pig, Pear, Paintbrush, Potato, P Alpha-bot, Police Badge, Pie, and The Princess and the Pea
Also during the afternoon on Thursday (and Friday), the students added some letter particularly phenomenal P words to their vocabulary in Spanish class!
The students arrived on Friday in their coziest PJ’s with one thing on their minds – Pizza Party at PPA! While the students were all smiles as they showed off their jammies, little did they know that the letter P fun was only just beginning! A few moments later there was a knock on the PPA door. Standing outside was a group of Jersey City Police Officers who were here to visit the students of PPA! The PPA students and teachers welcomed the police officers warmly but one student in particular rushed over to give one of the visitors a big hug! That is because the PPA student photographed below saw his uncle, Lieutenant (Lt.) Nick Flora of the Jersey City Police Department! Lt. Flora and his Police Officers informed the students that they had heard it was “Letter P Week” at PPA and wanted to come and join the fun!
Lt. Flora introduced the students to Officer Petersen who spoke about the important job police officers do to keep everyone in the community safe. Officer Petersen informed the students that he had someone very special he wanted them to meet. After a quick trip to his police car, Officer Petersen returned with Ali, the Police K-9 (Dog).
The students were so excited to meet Ali! Officer Petersen explained that Ali is an official Police Officer in the Jersey City Police force. A PowerPoint presentation led by the officers helped better explain what Ali does during his job as a police officer. The students also learned how Ali become an officer. Did you know that Police Dogs go to school?!?
Would you like to meet Ali? If so, click the videos below!
For being such great listeners during the presentation, the students received special sticker badges as a reward! The wonderful police officers also explained that they had some extra goodies for the PPA students. After receiving their stickers, the students said a special PPA “Thank You” to the officers for spending the morning with them and teaching them so much about the important job police officers do each day. What an INCREDIBLE day it was! 🙂
Well, with all the excitement of the morning, the students nearly forgot that they had ANOTHER special P-thing happening on Friday! It was time for the Pizza Party at PPA! Once the students had all washed their hands and found their seats, the pizza was distributed. From the look of these photos, do you think the students enjoyed their Pizza Party? 🙂
Wow! Letter P week may have just been PERFECT! Be sure to scroll to the end of this blog entry for ALL of the P week photos! As always, thank you for reading. Have a fun and safe weekend!
-PPA
Reminders:
March Tuition is due on Thursday and Friday.
Letter and Theme for Next Week:
