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“Letter T is for Turtles/Tortoises Week” Blog Recap!

Hello all,

“Letter T is for Turtles/Tortoises Week” was certainly the most Tubular, Terrific, and Tremendous week of the 2016-2017 school year yet!  The students entered school each day with what seemed like Trillions of Letter T shares! Everything from T-Rex to Toys, Trains to Tigers, and of course, all things Turtle/Tortoise were sent in and shared!  There were Tons of Letter T books that were sent in including some PPA class favorites: Tickle The Duck by Edward Long and Listen To My Trumpet by Mo Willems!   Well, “Letter T is for Turtles/Tortoises Week” has come and gone.  Read on below to discover the learning that took place and fun that was had throughout the week!

The students spent Monday morning working one on one with the teachers to complete their Letter T identification/fine motor activity sheets. The teachers were so impressed with how easily the new students recognized the letter T and also how well the older students remembered all things “T” during their morning work!  In the afternoon on Monday, the students created the twentieth letter list of the year! As a whole group, the students took turns brainstorming and contributing words that begin with the letter T and also hunted around the classroom for letter T items!  With what seemed like Tons of letter T items to be found inside PPA, the letter T list was full of many more answers than other less common letter-weeks prior!

 

Letter T MW List Shares

What letter T shares do YOU see?

Answer: Turtle, Tiger, Tomato, Tambourine, Toaster, and a Taco! 🙂

 

On Wednesday, the letter T fun really began as the students began the art exploration of turtles/tortoises!  They began by creating a sea turtle made from a plate and some construction paper. The students did a wonderful job of painting their plates evenly and entirely and then decorating their turtles’ faces.  The turtles sure were wonderful and the students loved playing with them.

 

sea turtles

 

In the afternoon on Wednesday (and Thursday), the students continued their exploration of Mi Cuerpo (My Body) in Spanish class.  Naturally, the words:  TORTUGA (Tortoise) and TORTUGA DE MAR (Sea Turtle) were introduced to the students.  Speaking of Tortuga and Tortuga De Mar, things got really exciting when the teachers held a discussion about the differences between turtles and tortoises. With the help of the computer, the teachers were able to show the students each step of how turtles come out of the water to lay their eggs. The students were in awe as they watched the baby turtles pushing out of their shells and scrambling through the sand to get back into the water. The teachers couldn’t help but laugh when one of the recently turned three-year-olds squealed at the sight of the baby turtle and said, “He’s so cute!” After a classroom vote, it was clear that sea turtles were more popular than the land-dwelling tortoises. Regardless, it was really exciting learning and watching them both!

The day began on Thursday with a read aloud of one of Aesop’s Fables, The Tortoise and the Hare.  In the story, a fast rabbit (hare) teases a tortoise for moving slowly.  Not one to be poked fun at, the tortoise challenges the hare to a race.  The hare accepts the tortoise’s challenge and the story begins!  Not surprisingly, the hare takes the lead as the tortoise slowly, but steadily, paces along.  The hare, feeling overly proud of his speed, decides to take a nap – in the middle of the race!  Well, that silly rabbit fell into a DEEP sleep and while he was snoring away, guess who was working slowly (but steadily) the whole time?  The tortoise!  All that hard work really paid off because before long he had crossed the finish line and was crowned the winner of the race!  Later, when the hare awoke, he raced to the finish line but it was too late, the tortoise had already won.  The hare apologized to the tortoise and decided that is not nice to ever make fun of anyone because they do things differently.  The students loved hearing the story; they were so excited to learn that there were many more fables to enjoy!

For the morning work on Thursday, the students tried their hands at creating some tortoise art inspired by the fable.  Seeing that the students had recently discussed rabbits during “Letter R is for Rabbit Week”, the teachers decided to get a little silly and put a new a new spin on the classic tale, The Tortoise and the Hare… we mean, The Tortoise and the HAIR.  Take a look below to see this super silly Tortoise art project in full effect!

 

tort and hair

 

On Friday, the students welcomed a PPA Mommy, Nicole, owner of Give Peas A Chance, a cooking school in Hoboken.  At Give Peas A Chance, kids and parents work together to create yummy and healthy foods and snacks!  Since Friday happened to be St. Patrick’s Day, this PPA Mommy wanted to come in and show the students just how delicious all things GREEN can be!  Nicole explained that the students would be making Shamrock Shake Smoothies!  In small groups, the students were given scoops and measuring cups to add all of the ingredients (bananas, avocados, mint leaves, vanilla yogurt and milk) in a big blender.  With a quick push of a button, those delicious ingredients blended together to create a yummy green smoothie that was clearly enjoyed by all!  What a yummy snack and fantastic way to start the day!  A special PPA Thank you to PPA Mommy, Nicole, from Give Peas A Chance for spending the day with us!  🙂  For more information about class offerings, click here:  Babies For Peas.

 

st pats smoothies

 

Friday afternoon wrapped up with a technology presentation all about – you guessed it – Turtles and Tortoises!  During the presentation, the students learned about how Mommy sea turtles come out of the water to lay a lot of turtle eggs in the sand.  After about four to eight weeks, the baby turtles are ready to hatch from their eggs and head to the water!  Take a look below to see the fantastic journey that baby sea turtles must begin on the day they are born!   Talk about some Tough baby Turtles! 🙂

 

 

Well, that is all for ”Letter T is for Turtles/Tortoises Week”.  As always, thank you for reading!  Have a wonderful, fun, and safe weekend!

-PPA

REMINDERS:

Parent-Teacher Conferences Sign-Ups begin next week.

Conferences will be taking place April 3rd-13th.

PPA Spring Recess:  April 14th – 21st

THEME FOR NEXT WEEK:

under the sea