Hello all,

“Letter R is for Robot Week” was Radiant, Robust, Resounding, and Really, Really Radical! Read on below to learn about the fun that was had and learning that took place!

The students returned from the weekend and immediately began filling the share box with what seemed like every letter R share under the sun! Race cars, Rocketships, recyclable items, Rabbits, Rescue Vehicles, Rats, Radishes and of course, a lot of Robots were brought in and shared during morning meeting. After morning meeting wrapped up on Monday and Tuesday, the students worked one on one with their teachers to complete their letter R tracing/writing activities in between working in their morning activity stations. Later in the afternoon, the students created their Letter R word list and also hunted around the room for the Letter R. Take a look below to see the list they came up on Tuesday.

Can you name these letter R shares?

Answer: Robots, Rabbit, Rapunzel, Raccoon, Ring, Rocks, Rubber bands, Red, Rhino

Wednesday began the art exploration of the theme of the week – Robots! First up was a really radical robot construction project! The students spent the morning completing, assembling and creating the cutest little robots you could ever see! After completing the robot, the students headed back to their morning stations for some more letter R week fun!

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 was celebrated recently! The mommy and daughter 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 envelopes symbolize a 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 daughter for sharing their culture with us! Xīnnián kuàilè! (Happy New Year!)

For their morning work on Thursday, the students created another artistic interpretation of a robot using a letter R-named shaped.  Can you guess which shape they used?  If you said, “RECTANGLE”, then you are correct!  What a cute craft!

During both Thursday and Friday afternoon, the students participated in Spanish class where they began a new unit – Mi Cuerpo (my body). Some of the new vocabulary is listed below!

Mi Cuerpo (My Body)

Head – Cabeza

Arms – Brazos

Hands – Manos

Legs – Piernas

Feet – Pies

Friday was a very special day at PPA as it was beloved children’s book author, Dr. Seuss’s, birthday!  To help start the morning off right, the students welcomed a PPA Mommy as a guest reader.  The Mommy and daughter photographed below shared a reading of the hit book, Green Eggs and Ham, and then also informed the students of the goodies they had prepared for the class.  What a wonderful way to start the day!  Thank you to this Mommy and daughter for visiting!

The Dr. Seuss exploration continued on Friday morning as the teachers read the classic environmental tale, The Lorax.  In the story, the lonely Once-ler details what happened to the once beautiful but now dismal land where he lives.  The Once-ler tells of a time long ago when the land was beautiful!  The Once-ler describes the colorful Truffula Trees that used to cover the fields, the Swomee-Swans who would sing, the Brown Bar-ba- loots who would play, and the Humming-Fish that would hum!  He explains that all of these beautiful creatures left long ago because of the things that the he had done.

It all started when the Once-ler noticed that the beautiful Truffula Tree tufts could be turned into an amazing thing called a THNEED!  What is a Thneed, you ask?   “It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. It’s a glove. It’s a hat.”  (Mostly, it is a symbol for anything which can be mass-produced at the expense of nature).  With Thneeds being something that everyone wanted, the Once-ler grew his business quite quickly – so quickly in fact, that before long a humungous factory was built on the land!  Shortly thereafter, the Once-ler was visited by an old, grouchy creature called the Lorax who warned that the Truffula Trees needed to stay and not be chopped down!  Did the Once-ler listen to the wise old Lorax?  No, he did not!  His business was booming!  People needed more Thneeds so they just kept chopping!  That is when everything changed in the town.

In no time at all, every last Truffula Tree had been chopped down.  Well, without any Truffula Trees left, the hungry Brown Bar-ba-loots had no more fruit to eat – so they left!  With such a big Thneed factory in town, the air quickly became full of smog that the Swomee-Swans could barely sing anymore- so they left too!  The Thneed factory put so much gunk into the river, the Humming-Fish were so sticky and gummy that they could no longer hum – so they left too!  Well, with all those creatures long gone – the Lorax also had little choice but to find a new home as well.  The Lorax left with a warning – “Unless”.  The Once-ler tells the children who visit that the Lorax was saying, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”  Thankfully, the students of PPA certainly care about the environment!  In fact, for their morning work, the students “planted and grew” their very own Tasty Truffula Tree Treats! Here is how they did it!

During the afternoon on Friday, the teachers and the students participated in a technology presentation all about the letter R/Robots and Dr. Seuss! Here was one of their favorite songs!

Well, that’s all for Letter R week. As always, we hope you enjoyed Reading this week’s post. See you next week!

-PPA

 Reminders:

Next School Closing:

Spring Recess

School Closed – Friday, March 30th – Friday, April 6th

THEME FOR NEXT WEEK: