Hello all,
After studying the alphabet for nearly nine months, it finally was Letter Z Week! The students arrived at school on Monday morning extremely excited to learn all about the last letter of the alphabet! With a share box full of alphabet books, zucchini, zippers, zeroes, and more, the Letter Z shares sure were plentiful! Of particular abundance were various zoo animal shares including tigers, lions, monkeys, rhinos, and of course, zebras! “Letter Z is for Zippers (Buttons, Snaps, Laces, etc.) Week” was Zany, Zesty, Zippy, and certainly Zip-tastic! Read on below to learn about the fun that was had and learning that took place.
The students spent Monday and Tuesday morning working one on one with the teachers to complete their Letter Z identification/fine motor activity pages. The teachers were so impressed with how easily the younger students recognized the letter Z and also how well the older students remembered all things “Z” during their morning work! In the afternoon on Monday and Tuesday, the students created the twenty-sixth and final letter list of the year! As a group, the students took turns brainstorming and contributing words that begin with the letter Z. They also hunted around the classroom for letter Z items!
Can you name the letter Z items above?
(Answer: Zoo sign, Zucchini, Zebra, Zipper, Zig-Zag, Z’s and Zero!)
The Z fun continued on Wednesday as Zippers, buttons, snaps, laces and more were infused into nearly every morning activity station. Whether it was the “Dress Up” station, the shoe string station, or the practice panel station (shown below), the students surely did A LOT of Zipping, buttoning, snapping, lacing, buckling and more!
On Wednesday afternoon, the students participated in a technology presentation all about the Letter Z and Zippers! First, the students went on a magical journey all the way to a real Zipper factory to see just how Zippers are made (watch below). Of course, the Storybots made a FINAL appearance as well!
On Thursday morning, the students began their day with a reading of Ellen Stoll Walsh’s classic story, Mouse Paint. In the story, three mischievous mice climb into jars of colored paint – a yellow jar, a red jar, and a blue jar. After a while, the mice come out of the jars and begin playing and dancing around which leads to a big, drippy but colorful mess! They quickly begin to notice that the colors are mixing and changing before their very eyes! After hearing the story, the students had the opportunity to test this idea out themselves! Instead of getting super messy like the mice, the students poured different colored paint in a large Ziploc baggie, Zipped it up, and began mixing! They LOVED seeing the Z’s and Zig-Zags appear in the baggies! What a fun (and mess-less) way to paint!
In the afternoon on Thursday and Friday, the students participated in Spanish class where they completed the final unit of the school year – La Musica (Music). They certainly had a blast learning and practicing their new vocabulary along with playing the various instruments in the PPA classroom!
On Friday, the students spent the morning zigging and zagging all around the classroom at the PPA Letter Z/Zig-Zag Maze! Take a look below to see them in action and be sure to view the video below to see them skipping over the PPA Zig-Zag Zany Rope!
Well, that is all for “Letter Z is for Zippers Week”. As always, thank you for reading. Have a fun and safe weekend!
-PPA
Reminders:
Summer Camp First Installment Due Wednesday, May 23rd
Please see Ms. Jocelyn if you are interested in enrolling your child this summer!
Next School Closing:
Monday, May 28th
Observation of Memorial Day
Next School Event:
PPA Father’s Day Celebration
Friday, June 15th
2:00-3:00 p.m.
(No aftercare available)
Theme for Next Week:
