Letter U week was Unbelievable! Read on below to see what took place throughout the week!
On Monday and Tuesday morning, the students completed their letter and tracing identification activity sheets. It was a real challenge to come up with U words for the share box. By far, the sweetest U share was the Ultrasound picture that one student brought in of the baby in Mommy’s belly. Although the sex of the baby is unknown at this time, the student below explained very clearly that the picture was of her baby sister and NOT a baby brother – no pressure Mom and Dad! 🙂
In the afternoons, the students created their Letter U lists and went on letter U hunts around the room. Although the letter U is not a very popular letter to find at the beginning of a word, it is a very common to find in the middle of words!
On Wednesday morning, the students listened to the story, The Crimson Comet by Dean Morrissey. In the story, a brother and sister notice that the light in the moon has gone out. They create a rocketship using a wagon and some toys and fly it to the moon. Upon their arrival, the children meet the Man in the Moon who informs them that his engine has failed. Luckily, the children had collected several shooting stars on their journey to the moon. They then use the shooting stars to ignite the engine and restore the moon’s glow!
After hearing the story, the students headed over to the morning work tables to begin crafting their own shooting star. Selecting between shiny gem stones, colorful foam pieces, and sparkly sequins, the students decorated their star as they deemed fit. To complete their star, the students created squiggly swirls with colorful glitter pens. With some help from teachers, ribbons were attached and curled to finish the shooting star.
During rest time, the non-sleepers got to watch as the teachers climbed Up to hang each star in the classroom sky. Here is how they look around the classroom.
During the afternoon, the students had Spanish class where they reviewed their clothing (la ropa) vocabulary from last week. In addition to reviewing, the students added dos mas or two more words to their repertoire – el gorro (hat) and el vestido (dress). The student below proved to be an excellent gorro (hat) model. So much so that after the teachers asked him to bring over his Boston gorro, he insisted upon wearing it for the remainder of the day.
Thursday was a particularly exciting day. It started out with a mixed Up morning meeting message that threw the teachers and students through a loop. Watch the video below to see what happened.
Unbeknownst to everyone, one of the teachers had played an April Fool’s Day prank and changed the morning meeting message! The students thought it was hysterical and could hardly wait to see what other pranks would pop Up throughout the day.
Since the teachers were in a particularly tricky mood, Miss Justine thought she would have some fun with the parents. Below is the daily note that went home for each child who attended school on Thursday. Be sure to click the photo to enlarge it and read the super silly (and slightly exaggerated) note detailing what the students did.
On a more serious note, the students created another Up art project. Using Popsicle sticks, construction paper, and crayons, the students assembled the various parts of their very own helicopter. The teachers used a paper fastener to stick the propellers to the top. Once the paper fastener was in place, the students could spin the helicopter “blades” around and make their helicopter come to life!
In the afternoon on Thursday, the students practiced their new vocabulary. As was the case on Wednesday, when el gorro (hat) was mentioned, the hat model raced over to his cubby, put on his gorro, and then returned to the rug awaiting his moment to shine.
Friday was a pretty light day as many of the students had headed off to begin their Spring Recess and holiday celebration a bit early. Many of the students headed UP into the sky in airplanes to visit family members all over the country and for a few, all over the world. The teachers felt Friday would be a perfect day for a fun and relaxed art project – free paint! Free painting is always so exciting for the students as they get to paint with any and every color they wish and also get to paint however they like. The paintings always turn out differently and are all very beautiful.
On Friday afternoon, the students brainstormed a list of various things that either go UP or are UP already. After creating the list, the teachers decided to send the students off into their Spring Recess with a sweet treat – mini slow-melting icepops! Needless to say, the students were not unhappy with the sweet surprise.
What a great time! Well, that’s all for letter U week. As always, thanks for reading and we’ll see you next, next week!
-PPA