Hello all,
“Letter T is for Turtles/Tortoises Week” was tubular, terrific, and totally tremendous! Read on below to learn about all the fun that was had and learning that took place!
The school week kicked off with a rather full share box. Some of the “share highlights” from Letter T week included: T-Rex, Tripod, Turtles, Tarantulas, Tigger, Tigers, Trains, Thomas, and even a real (old) telephone! Can you name some of the T shares found below?
The letter T learning continued during the morning on Monday and Tuesday as the students worked on their letter T tracing/writing identification activity pages. During the afternoon, the students brainstormed as many letter T words as they could come up with. Here is the list from Tuesday.
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. Once the paint had dried, the students attached the turtle limbs. The turtles were wonderful and the students loved playing with them.
In the afternoon on Wednesday (and Thursday), the students began a new unit in Spanish class – Los Animales (Animals). Naturally, the words: TORTUGA (Tortoise) and TORTUGA DE MAR (Sea Turtle) were introduced to the students. Watch below to see how the students practiced some of their new vocabulary.
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 several short YouTube clips, 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 tortoises challenge and the story begins! Not surprisingly, the hair takes the lead as the tortoise slowly, but steadily, paces along. The hare, feeling overly proud of his speed, decides that he is so much faster than the tortoise, he 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 hard) 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 art Tortoise art project in full effect!
The students spent Friday morning creating a very exciting Scratch Art Turtle! In order to create a Scratch Art project, the students were given special paper and little tools. This paper looked green at the start but the students quickly learned that there was something special underneath – COLORS! Using the tools, the students scraped away the top layer of paint to reveal the beautiful colors and create an amazing design on their turtles shell! Here is how the Scratch-Art Turtles turned out!
Friday afternoon wrapped up with a technology presentation 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 will be taking place 3/31-4/11. Please check the school calendar board or your email for your schedule time.
Spring Recess: April 14th – 21st
THEME FOR NEXT WEEK:
